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History of Cincinnati Ohio,
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1 7 : ; 9
HISTORY
OF
CINCINNATI,
OHIO,
WITH
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches.
COMPILED BY
Henry A. Ford, A.M., and Mrs. Kate B. Ford.
L. A. WILLIAMS & CO.,
PUBLISHERS,
1881.
cod turn
Id I I 7 ; , . , — I I--J
3~ ■' ■' -<v
FROM PRINTING HOUSE OF W. W. WILLIAMS, CLEVELAND, OHIO.
Prefatory Note,
The reader looks forward to this, the first history of
Cincinnati that has yet found itself in print. The
writers look back across its half-century of chapters and
the century of years embraced by its annals, and have,
chiefest of all, to regret many unavoidable errors, both
of omission and commission. The more important of
these, it is hoped, will appear in our page of errata; but
there are still many, doubtless, that have escaped the
compilers' attention. In a few cases, discrepancies
appear between their statements and those of an extract
immediately following. In those instances they must
assure the reader that the former rest upon an authority
believed to be superior to the other in regard to the mat-
ter in hand; but time and space could not always be
taken for the discussion and settlement of points con-
cerning which there are variant reports. In all really
important matters, they believe the history will be found
quite trustworthy, especially when corrected from the
page of errata.
For the biographical feature of the work, except so
much of it as is embodied in the chapters before the
Lth, the writers have not, in general, any responsibility.
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL,
CHAPTER
I. — A Brief Description of Cincinnati
II. — Ancient Works Upon the City's Site
III.— The Site of Losantiville
IV. — Before Losantiville
V. — Losantiville
VI. — Fort Washington
VII. — Cincinnati's First Decade
VIII. — Cincinnati Township
IX. — Cincinnati's Second Decade .
X. — Cincinnati's Third Decade
XI. — Cincinnati's Fourth Decade .
XII. — Cincinnati's Fifth Decade
XIII. — Cincinnati's Sixth Decade
XIV. — Cincinnati's Seventh Decade
XV. — Cincinnati's Eighth Decade
XVI. — Cincinnati in the War
XVII. —The Siege of Cincinnati
XVIII. — Cincinnati's Ninth Decade
XIX. — The German Element in Cincinnati .
XX. — Religion in Cincinnati
XXI.— Education .
XXII.— Public Charities .
XXII. — Benevolent and other Societies
XXIV.— Science
XXV.— Art
XXVI.— Music ....
PAGE
9
CHAPTER
XXVII.-
14
XXVIII.
18
XXIX.-
20
XXX.-
26
XXXI.
37
XXXII.-
42
XXXIII.
5°
XXXIV-
52
XXXV.
62
XXXVI.-
74
XXXVII.-
81
XXXVIII.
90
XXXIX.-
99
XL.-
103
XLI.-
106
XLII.-
112
XLIII.-
119
XLIV-
127
XLV-
146
XLVI.-
172
XLVII.-
202
XLVIII.-
213
XLIX.-
222
L-
235
246
-Libraries
—Literature
-Bookselling and Publication
—Journalism
'.. — Medicine ....
-The Rench and Bar
— Manufacturing
—The Industrial Exposition
'. — Commerce and Navigation
—Banking — Finance — Insurance
—The Post Office .
—The Local Militia — The First Appointments
—Amusements
—Cemeteries
—The City: Government
—The Fire Department
—The Water-works
-Penal Institutions
-The Police — Board of Health
-Markets . ...
-Streets — Street Railroads — Bridges — Parks, etc.
-Annexations and Suburbs
-Biographical Sketches
-Personal Notes
-Appendix.
PAGE
258
264
276
284
293
310
324
34o
348
356
362
36S
368
376
379
383
388
393
396
398
401
407
416
477
PAGE
315
428
431
440
466
200
29S
310
136
140
177
294
315
448
443
455
465
469
132
138
140
200
29
199
136
137
200
264
294
295
320
BIOGRAPHICAL,
Baum, Martin ....
127
Burkhalter, Christian
128
Burnet, Jacob ....
265—311
Burnet, Dr. William
294
Blackburn, Dr. John
298
Bramble, Dr. David D.
431
Buckner, Dr. James H.
438
Bailey, Samuel, jr. .
450
Bouscaren, Louis G. F.
465
Cists, the .
265
Cary Sisters, the
273—419
Cramer, Dr. John . . . .
295
Cox, Hon. Joseph
43°
Cappeller, Hon. W. S.
448
Carey, Milton Thompson
441
Chickering, J. B.
454
Covington, Hon. S. F.
462
Denman, Matthias
27
Drakes, the
. 204
Drake, Dr. Daniel . . . .
296
Dunlevy, Hon. A. H. .
312
Davis, William Bramwell
436
Duckworth, George K.
467
Dodson, William Beal
473
Eshelby, E. O
451
Eaton, Morton Monroe
468
Eells, Samuel ....
475
Filson, John . . . .
27
Frankensteins, the .
141
Flint, Rev. Timothy
265
Findlay, Samuel ....
3"
Fox, Charles .
Force, Hon. Manning F.
Follett, Hon. John F.
Fishburn, Cyrus D.
Fehrenbatch, Hon. John
Guilford, Nathan
Goforth, Dr. William
Goudy, Thomas .
Hemann, Joseph Anton
Hofer, Nikolaus
Herron, Joseph
Hole, Dr. John .
Hammond, Charles
Hunt, Samuel F.
Hickenlooper, Andrew
Harper, Professor George W. .
Hunt, Colonel C. B.
Johnston, Campbell and family
Klauprecht, Emil
Kautz, August V.
Kron, Pastor
King, Rufus
Ludlow, Colonel Isaac
Lewis, Samuel .
Molitor, Stephan
Moor, August
McGuffey, Dr. William H.
Mansfield, Edward D.
Morrell, Dr. Calvin .
McClure, Dr. Robert
McMillan, William .
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Matthews, Hon. Stanley'
Mussey, Dr. Reuben D.
Mussey, Dr. W. H.
Miles, 'Dr. A. J.
Muscroft, Dr. C. S
Maley, Dr. P. F
McClung, Colonel David
Nast, Wilhelm
Patterson, Colonel Robert, .
Pulte, Joseph H.,
Pike, S. N. .
Picket, Albert
Powers, Benjamin F.,
Reese, Rev. Dr. Friedrich
Rodter, Heinrich,
Rumelin, Karl Gustav,
Rattermann, Heinrich A., .
Rentz, August, .
Roelker, Dr. Friedrich,
Rehfuss, Ludwig,
Ray, Dr. Joseph
Ramsay, Dr. Samuel
Riddle, Colonel John
Ramp, Samuel W. '
Symmes, John Cleve,
Stallos, Theodore,
Stowe, Calvin, E.,
PAGE
416
Stites, Dr. John,
422
Symmes, Daniel,
423
Short, John Cleves,
433
Smith, Hon. Amor,
439
Staley, L. A.,
442
Sadler, L. L.,
444
Stowe, James G. ,
128
Santmeyer, Captain C. A. ,
27
Steele, Charles McDonald,
133
Skaats, Hon. George W. ,
142
Starbuck, Calvin W.,
200
Smith, Samuel Sherwood,
3i5
Underhill, Dr. J. W., .
128
Von Stein, Albert, .
129
Von Masters, Heinrich, .
130
Varwig, Henry,
133
Voight, Captain Lewis, .
'35
Von Seggern, Christopher,
I3S
Walker, George
137
Weitzel, General Gottfried
200
Wright, Dr. Marmaduke B
298
Wild, John S
417
Ward, General Durbin
449
Wright, Dr. C. O
73
Wulsin, Drausin
143
White, James S
200
Zinn, Major Peter
PAGE
293
3"
416
446
447
452
4S3
456
464
4S8
472
473
434
128
132
470
47i
476
136
138
299
312
427
442
459
460
424
ILLUSTRATIONS,
PAGE
PAGE
The Cincinnati Music Hall
Frontispiece.
Portrait of Colonel David W. McClung
facing 192
Portrait 0
Judge J. C. Symmes
facing
9
" Amor Smith, jr.
facing 200
Fort Washington
facing
37
L. A. Staley
facing 208
Cincinnati
in 1802
56
Hon. W. S. Cappeller
facing 216
Plan of Cincinnati in 1815
facing
68
Samuel F. Hunt
facing 224
The Trollope Bazaar .
facing
70
Samuel W. Ramp
facing 232
The Church of the Pioneers
150
Samuel Bailey, jr,
facing 240
The First Cincinnati College Building
facing
179
E. O. Eshelby
facing 248
The Tyler
Davidson Fountain
between 404 and
405
" L. L. Sadler
facing 256
Portrait 0:
John Cleves Short
facing
16
James G. Stowe
facing 264
•'
Hon. Stanley Matthews
facing
24
Prof. J. B. Chickering
facing 272
"
Alonzo Taft
facing
28
" Alice Cary
between 272 and 273
"
Colonel John Riddle .
facing
32
" Phcebe Cary
between 272 and 273
"
Dr. Reuben D. Mussey
facing
4°
" Professor G. W. Harper
facing 280
"
Dr. W. H. Mussey
facing
48
" Captain C. A. Santmeyer .
facing 288
"
Major Peter Zinn .
facing
64
" Murat Halstead
facing 291
"
General Rees E. Price
facing
72
" Hon. George W. Skaats
facing 296
■■
General Durbin Ward
facing
80
" Drausin V,
facing 304
"
Hon. Manning F. Force
facing
88
James S. W wite
facing 312
"
Hon. Joseph Cox
facing
96
S. F. Covington „
facing 320
'•
Hon. John F. Follett
facing
I04
" Charles McDonald Steele
facing 328
•■
David D. Bramble
facing
112
Colonel C. B. Hunt .
facing 336
"
Dr. A. J. Mills
facing
I20
" Louis G. F. Bouscaren
facing 344
"
Dr. J. W. Underhill
facing
128
" Hon. John Fehrenbatch
facing 352
"
William Bramwell Davis
facing
I36
George K. Duckworth
facing 360
"
Dr. James H. Buckner
facing
144
" Morton Monroe Eaton, M. D.
facing 368
"
Dr. C. S. Muscroft
facing
152
Henry Varwig
facing 376
"
Dr. Cyrus D. Fishburn
facing
160
" Captain Lewis Voight
facing 384
"
Dr. C. O. Wright
facing
168
William Henry Cook, M. D.
facing 392
"
P. F. Maley
facing 176
" Christopher Von Seggern
facing 400
"
General A. Hickenlooper
facing
184
W. H. Bristol
facing 408
,.->-.
wm^s*
JOHN CLEVES SYMMES.
HISTORY
OF
Cincinnati, Ohio.
CHAPTER I.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CINCINNATI.
How blest is he whose doom it is
A wanderer to roam,
Who even in memory can return
To such a lovely home.
Oh, were I in the fairest clime
That smiles beneath the sky,
Here would my spirit long to come —
If not to live, to die.
As yearns the weary child at night
To gain its mother's breast,
So, weary with my wanderings,
Here would I long to rest.
"To the Queen City," by Charles A Jones.
Where grand Ohio rolls his silver floods
Through verdant fields and darkly waving woods, ^
Beholding oft, in flowery verdure drest, .
The green isle swelling from his placid breast ;
Here where so late the Indian's lone canoe,
Swift o'er the wave, in fearless triumph flew,
Behold the stately steam-borne vessel glide,
With eager swiftness, o'er the yielding tide ;
And where so late its shelter, rude and low,
The wigwam reared, beneath the forest bough,
Lo ! cities spring before the wondering eyes,
And domes of grandeur swell into the skies.
[Lines prefixed to Bullock's Sketch of a Journey, 1827.]
To the Queen of the West,
In her garlands dressed,
On the banks of the Beautiful River.
H. W. Longfellow.
Cincinnati is situated on the north bank of the river
Ohio, the part of it first settled being opposite the mouth
of the Licking river, upon the site of the original village
of Losantiville. Its latitude is thirty-nine degrees six
minutes north; longitude eighty-four degrees twenty-
seven minutes west. It is three hundred and ninety
miles west of Washington city; four hundred and sixty-
six miles by the river, or two hundred and fifty miles in a
direct line, southwest of Pittsburgh; one hundred and
twenty miles southwest of Columbus, and two hundred
and fifty-five from Cleveland; and five hundred miles by
river, or two hundred and ninety directly, to the mouth
of the Ohio at Cairo. (The city is built upon three ter-
races, The first, or that next the river, has an average
height, above low water in the river, of sixty feet; the sec-
ond of one hundred and twelve feet; and the third, or
the general level of the hills, rises to commanding heights
varying from three hundred and ninety-six feet on Mount
Adams to four hundred and sixty feet on Mount Harri-
son, west of Mill creek. /The first terrace was found by
the early settlers to extend from a gravelly hill or bluff
near the present line of Third street, between Broadway
and a point west of John street, to an abrupt but not
very high bank about one hundred feet south of the hill,
which was penetrated here and there by small coves.
Between this bank and the river was a low but sloping
shore, always flooded in time of high water. All this has
been changed, including the disappearance of the bank
and bluffs, by the progress of improvement in the older
part of the city. The second terrace stretched from the
general line of Third street in a gentle rise, as .now, back
to the hills. From this the ascent to the third plateau,
or the summit of the hills, is in many places exceedingly
abrupft and is surmounted in part by graded and macad-
amized roads up the ravines between the spurs, and in
part by four inclined places — at Mount Adams, at the
head of Main street, at a slope on Mount Auburn, near
the head of Elm street, and at Price's hill, near the west
end of the city, up all of which cars are pulled by powerful
steam engines. These hills, with the popular resorts and
places of amusement thereon, constitute the chief attrac-
tion of the city, and are almost world renowned in their
fame. Mr. John R. Chamberlain, writer of the valuable
article on Cincinnati in the American Cyclopaedia, says
they form "one of the most beautiful natural amphithea-
tres on the continent, from whose hilltops may be seen
the splendid panorama of the cities below and the wind-
ing Ohio. No other large city of the United States af-
fords such a variety of position and beauty." They are
described as having been exceedingly attractive in their
pristine loveliness. Mr. J. P. Foote, in his "Schools of
Cincinnati," writing of the hills as they appeared in the
early day, says; "At that period they formed a border
of such surpassing beauty, around the plain on which
Cincinnati stood, as to cause us, who remember them in
their beauty, almost to regret the progress of improve-
which has taken from us what it can never restore." The
names of the principal eminences, from east to west of
the city, are Mount Lookout, the Walnut Hills, Mount
Adams, Mount Auburn, Clifton Heights, Fairmount,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Mount Harrison, Mount Hope, Price's Hill, and Mount
Echo. The average height of the hills above tidewater
at Albany is eight hundred and fifty feet, and of the
second terrace five hundred and forty feet; it being
twenty-five feet below the level of Lake Erie. Low water
mark in the river at Cincinnati in four hundred and
thirty-two feet above the sea, and one hundred and thirty-
three below Lake Erie. The descent from the upper
plane of Cincinnati below the hills to low water is there-
fore one hundred and eight feet.
The major part of the city, for population and busi-"
ness, though by far the smallest in territorial extent, lies
upon the first and second terraces. They are part of a
beautiful and fertile plain, lying in an irregular circle,
and extending on both sides of the river, about twelve
miles in circumference. It is cut into unequal parts
by the course of the river, which here makes several
curves, but has a general northeast to southwest direc-
tion. On two sides of the northern section of the plain,
which is the smaller, the city is built along the narrow
spaces between the hills and the river, and to some ex-
tent on the hills themselves. On the northeast, for four
and a half miles, or to and including Columbia, now a
part of the city, this belt is but about five hundred yards
wide; on the southwest the width is only three hundred
yards to the city limits, a mile and three-quarters beyond
the point where the hills, after curving around this part
of the plateau, return to the river, about three miles from
the point at which they left it on the other side. The
city has thus a very extensive water-front — about eleven
miles, allowing for the curvatures of the river, and taking
in, among the annexations of the last ten years, the old
village of Columbia on the one side and the former su-
burb of Sedamsville on the other. The average width of
the city site is three miles, although up the valley of
Mill creek, since the annexation of Cumminsville in
1873, the extreme breadth is five and one-half miles.
The total area enclosed by the corporation lines is fifteen
thousand two hundred and sixty acres, or very nearly
twenty-four square miles — an increase of seventeen square
miles since 1870 (when it comprised but four thousand
four hundred and eighty acres), by the successive and
rapid annexation of suburbs. The older part of the city
is intersected by the valley of Deer creek on the east,
which is now dry except after heavy rains, and is partly
occupied by the great Eggleston avenue sewer; and by
the Mill creek valley on the west,' which is broad and
fertile, and comparatively level for many miles to the
northward. Beyond Mill creek the hills are cut through
by the narrower valley of Lick run. The former con-
tains a good sized stream, which has been greatly service-
able for mills and other purposes, since an early period
in the history of the place.
The main body of the city, including the business portion and the
densest population, borders on the river between the mouth of Deer
creek on the east and that of Mill creek on the west, a distance of two
and one-half miles. North of East Liberty street and the Hamilton
road, the hillsides from Deer creek to Mill creek are terraced with
streets, and [in places] covered with dwellings to their summits. Mount
Adams, overlooking the southeast corner of the plateau, has streets
thickly lined with dwellings on its summit and west and south sides.
The remainder of the city, including the narrow valleys along the
f.
river, above and below the city proper, the village of Cumminsville,
next the northern corporation line in Mill creek valley, and the several
table-iand villages from Woodburn on the east to Fairmount on the
west, is irregularly built. In the northwest part are native forests and
cultivated farms. On the western hills are vineyards and gardens. Be-
tween Harrison avenue and the Twenty-fifth ward (Cumminsville) are
many vegetable gardens. *
THE SUBURBS.
A number of villages, formerly suburbs, are now in-
cluded in the city. The principal of these, beginning on
the east, are Columbia, Walnut Hills, Mount Auburn, and
Cumminsville. Fairmount is a residence quarter west of
Mill Creek valley, and Sedamsville is mainly a manufact-
uring district, lying south of the western range of hills,
between it and the river, about three and a half miles
from Fountain Square. Fulton is a part of the city at
the base of the hills on the other side of the plain, be-
ginning beyond the Little Miami railway depot and run-
ning in a narrow tract northeast to Pendleton village,
which lies between it and Columbia. Northeast of
Columbia the city includes a part of Tusculum. Due
north of it, at the extreme northeast corner of the city, is
Mount Lookout, a small but attractive suburb, in part
outside the corporation limits, and the seat of the Cincin-
nati observatory; about north of the dividing line between
Fulton and Pendleton, and on the hills, is the little plat
known as O'Bryonville, between which and Walnut Hills
is Woodburn, an extensive and well-built area; and west
of Walnut Hills, between Mount Auburn and the north
corporation line, is Corryville, a residence and business
quarter, on the \«est of which is the spacious and beauti-
ful Burnet Woods Park, and on the north, just outside
the eity, in the southwest part of Avondale, the famous
zoological gardens. Camp Washington occupies a lim-
ited space between the Miami canal and Mill creek, in
the vicinity of the workhouse and the house of refuge.
Brighton is not marked as a district quarter upon the
latest maps, but is that part of the city reaching from the
junction of Freeman street and Central avenue west to
Mill Creek, and takes its name from the former existence
of the city stockyards there. Barrsville, Forbusville,
Peterstown, and Lick Run are hamlets adjoining or not
far from Fairmount, on the heights west of Mill Creek;
and Weaversburgh is a station on the Westwood Narrow
Gauge railroad west of Fairmount, and close to the cor-
poration line. These highlands, between Fairmount and
the Ohio, are as yet occupied to but a limited extent,
from the difficulty with which most parts of them are
still reached from the city. "The outer highland belt of
the city commands distant views of hills in Kentucky
and Ohio, and of the valleys of Mill Creek, the Licking,
and the Ohio. It is beautified by elegant residences in
the midst of extensive and highly cultivated landscape
lawns, whose shrubbery is often the native forest, and is
traversed by winding avenues. From the eastern corpo-
ration line, through East Walnut Hills and Woodburn to
West Walnut Hills, mansions occupy grounds of from
three to seventy-five acres. The blue limestone of the
hills is used in the construction of the finest buildings;
[and .some of them have been erected from material
* American Cyclopaedia, article Cincinnati.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
quarried upon the very grounds they occupy.] West
Walnut. Hills and Mount Auburn, though in parts quite
compactly built, abound in -elegant and costly residences,
each having from one to four acres of grounds."*
Outside the city, but in immediate proximity to it, are
several lovely suburbs. Prominent among these is Clif-
ton, between Cumminsville and Avondale, with the Bur-
net Woods park cornering upon it at the southeast. It
is described as "a most beautiful suburb, and an almost
continuous landscape garden."f It has many fine groves
and costly residences. The grounds about them occupy
areas of ten to eighty acres. Avondale, next east of
Clifton, and north of Corryville and Walnut Hills, com-
prises about eight hundred acres of territory, and is also
superbly built. Its views include the neighboring hills,
which, however, shut out the river scenery from the den-
izens of this suburb. East and northeast of this are
Norwood, Oakley, Madisonville, and other places of
suburban residence; and between the last named and
Columbia is Linwood, a small place near the Little Mi-
ami railroad, six and a half miles from the court house
in Cincinnati. College Hill, away to the northwestward,
about eight miles from Fountain Square, occupies the
highest ground in the county,' on the heights west of Mill
Creek. Glendale is another famous suburb in this direc-
tion; also Carthage, eight miles out, near which are the
Longview and the Colored insane asylums, and the city
and county infirmaries. North and northeast of the city
are also Bond Hill and Hartwell; Mount Washington and
California are eastward, beyond the left bank of the Little
Miami; Riverside, a suburb of two and one-half miles
length along the river, adjoins Sedamsville on the extreme
southwest of the city, and beyond it are Delhi and other
suburban villages scattered along the shore. In all direc-
tions from the city, but particularly to the north, north-
westward, and northeastward, a score of miles, are many
other places which may properly be reckoned suburbs
of Cincinnati. On the Kentucky side are Covington,
west of the Licking river, now a considerable city, the
largest in Kentucky except Louisville, with West Cov-
ington, Ludlow, and Bromley as suburban places for
itself and Cincinnati, along the river to the west, and
Latonia Springs, five miles out, on the Lexington pike,
as a favorite place of resort and residence. On the
other side of the Licking, opposite Cincinnati, is New-
port, with the United States barracks and a considerable
population; and northeast of it, also on the Ohio river,
are the villages of East Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton.
Newport is connected with Covington by a suspension
bridge across the Licking, and with Cincinnati by the
Louisville Short Line railroad bridge, which is also used
for street-cars and other vehicles, and for foot passengers.
The Cincinnati Southern railway bridge connects Cincin-
nati and Ludlow ; but it is used only for the purpose of
the railroad. Between these two bridges is the main
artery of communication between the two sides of the
Ohio in this region — the renowned suspension bridge, a
* American Cyclopaedia.
•(•King's Pocket-book of Cincinnati.
mile from the former and a mile and a half from the
latter, and connecting Cincinnati from near the foot of
Walnut and Vine streets with Covington. It is not used
for any steam railroad, but all the Covington lines of
street-cars, with one line of the Newport horse-cars, cross
it, with other vehicles and foot passengers in vast num-
bers. Three ferries also connect Cincinnati with Cov-
ington, Newport, and Ludlow, respectively; and the
abundant facilities of access, with other inducements,
have led to the residence of large numbers of Cincinnat-
ians in the Kentucky suburbs. In the vicinity of the
city and suburbs, on both sides of the Ohio, are many
beautiful drives.
THE OLD CITY.
This part of Cincinnati — that on the plain — is laid out
quite regularly, somewhat on the Philadelphia plan, and
with a number of the Philadelphia street names. The
streets are generally from one and a half to two and a half
miles long, and fifty to one hundred feet wide. The lat-
ter is the common width. "West of Central avenue they
run north from the river and east from Mill creek, while
east of that avenue their direction from the river is
slightly west of north. The streets and avenues are
generally paved or macadamized, many of them being
adorned with shade trees. The buildings are substantial,
and chiefly of brick. A grayish buff freestone, for fronts,
is universally used for large business houses and the
finest residences in the city proper, though many of the
residences on the hills are of wood. The prevailing
height of business buildings is five stories, though many
are six. Dwellings are generally high and narrow, and
seldom have front yards. The chief mercantile quarter
covers about three hundred acres, and lies between Fifth
street and the river, and Broadway and Smith street.
Business is not concentrated as in other cities. Manu-
factories are scattered through all parts of the city and its
suburbs. Pearl street, which contains nearly all the
wholesale boot and shoe and dry goods houses, is noted
for its splendid row of lofty, uniform stone fronts, between
Vine and Race streets. Fourth street, the fashionable
promenade, and the most select retail business street
between Broadway and Central avenue, a mile in extent,
is noted for its splendid stone-front buildings. Third
street, between Main and Vine, contains the banking,
brokerage and insurance establishments, and the at-
torney's offices; and west of Vine the large clothing
houses. Within a quarter of a mile of the custom house
and post office are most of the chief theatres, newspaper
offices and libraries. In Pike street, in Fourth street
from Pike to Broadway, and in Broadway between Third
and Fifth streets, are the mansions of the 'East End';
in Fourth street, west of Smith street, in Dayton street,
and in Court street, between Freeman and Baymiller
streets, those of the 'West End.' The large district
north of the Miami canal, which enters the city from the
northwest, and extends south to the Ohio river, is known
as 'Over the Rhine.' It is densely populated, almost
exclusively by Germans; has numerous beer gardens,
saloons and concert halls, and is thoroughly German in
its characteristics. In this vicinity are all the great brew-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
eries of Cincinnati. " * About twenty-five thousand per-
sons occupy this populous district. Some of the beer
and wine cellars of the quarter will hold half a million
gallons of liquor. It furnishes many famous places of
resort, especially for Germans and on Sunday. The
superb Music hall and Exposition buildings are situated
here, on the block bounded by Elm, Plum, Fourteenth
and Grant streets ; also Washington park, opposite Music
hall, occupying four and one-third acres, and containing
a bronze bust, heroic size, of Colonel Robert L. McCook,
one of Cincinnati's dead in the late war. West of
Music hall, on the other side of the canal, is the im-
mense Cincinnati hospital — eight buildings in one, oc-
cupying nearly two squares. #n the old city are, of
course, all the leading hotels, among which the Burnet,
the Gibson, the Grand and the Emery are conspicuous;
also the more costly and elegant church edifices, as St.
Peter's (Catholic) cathedral, with its peculiarly graceful
spire, its colonnade of Corinthian columns, and its musical
chimes, several of the Presbyterian churches, St. Paul's
Methodist, St. John's Episcopal church, the Hebrew
temples, and many others; the buildings of St. Xavier's,
the Wesleyan Female, the Cincinnati, and the several
medical colleges; the Mechanics' institute, the Public
library and others ; the great Government building going
up on Fifth street, near Fountain square; the City build-
ing and the County Courthouse; the singular Trollopean
Bazaar, on Third, near Broadway;! several fine club
houses ; Pike's, Robinson's, and the Grand Opera houses,
and the Mclodeon and Mozart halls; and a number of
small parks, as the Washington, the Lincoln, the Eighth-
street, the City building, and the Water-works parks, all
small; Fountain square, with the magnificent Tyler-
Davidson fountain, the most notable work of art in the
city, forty-five feet high, costing, with .the spacious es-
planade on which on which it stands, over two hundred
thousand dollars; the Masonic temple, an imposing free-
stone-front building in the Byzantine style; the Hughes
and Woodward high schools, and most of the other pub-
lic school buildings; and many more interesting and ele-
gant structures. Most sites of historic interest are in
this part of the city, as the site of Fort Washington, on
and near the junction of Third street and Broadway,
and others.
IN THE ANNEXATIONS.
Outside the older city, however, is Camp Washington,
a place of rendezvous and equipment for troops in the
Mexican war; beyond it is Cumminsville, where "Lud-
low's Station" was situated during the early years of white
settlement here; and at the extreme eastern part of the
city is Columbia, where the first settlement in the Miami
country was made. Upon the Camp Washington tract
are the enormous buildings occupied by the Cincinnati
Workhouse and House of Refuge ; upon the hillside at
Fairmount, to the southwest, is the former Baptist Theo-
logical Seminary, now the "Schutzenplatz,'' a German
club-house, commanding a superb view of the Mill Creek,
* American Cyclopaedia,
f Torn down in February, 1881.
Lick Run and Ohio valleys; and adjoining Cumminsville
are the Wesleyan and Spring Grove cemeteries, the lat-
ter of six hundred acres, the largest and otherwise one
of the finest cemeteries of the country, considered by
some the most picturesque large cemetery in the world.
Cumminsville has also the Catholic orphan asylum. On
the hills are the various large buildings and gardens, con-
stituting the famous hill-top resorts, one at the head of
each inclined plane. Many schools of note are on or
near these heights — as the Cincinnati University, the
Mount Auburn young ladies' seminary, Mount St. Mary
seminary, Mount St. Vincent young ladies' seminary, and
Lane theological seminary; charitable institutions — the
Cincinnati orphan asylum, German protestant orphan
asylum, the Widows' and Old Men's home, and others ;
some fine churches; the Zoological gardens, just beyond
the city limits; one small park — Hopkins — on Mount
Auburn, and the two great parks of the city — Burnet
woods, containing one hundred and sixty-seven acres,
nearly, with a lake of about three acres, and famous for
its grand concerts of summer afternoons — also Eden
park, east of the old town, largest of all the city's parks,
comprising two hundred and six acres, on which are lo-
cated the large reservoirs of the city water works, and a
neat stone building called the Casino or Shelter House,
from which, as well as from other spots in the park,
many charming views may be had. At the further end
of Pendleton, on the bank of the river, is a pleasant,
finely-improved tract of twelve acres — private property,
but used much by picnics and pleasure parties — which was
formerly known as East End garden, but is now called
Woodland park.
THE RIVER
makes a great bend and two small ones in front of the
city, and thus affords a very extensive river front. Most
of this is private property, and is considerably occupied,
not only for steamboats, but for coal-boats, barges, log-
rafts, and other water-craft. The city owns the landing
from near the water-works, east of the Little Miami de-
pot, to Mill creek, and leases the larger part to steamboat
lines, ferry companies, and other parties. The Public
Landing, so-called, which has been such from the earliest
period of the city's history, extends from the foot of
Broadway to the foot of Main street; and it is here most
of the river steamers, some of them very large and ele-
gantly appointed, are to be found moored. A wharf
master and wharf register collect dues from vessels for
the privileges of this landing, and otherwise look after
the city's interests on the river. 'The Ohio is liable to
great and sudden freshets, particularly in the spring, when
it has sometimes risen fifty to fifty-five feet above low-
water mark, and formerly did immense mischief. The
flood of 1832 marked sixty-two and a half feet, and that
of 1848 fifty-seven feet above low-water. These were
very destructive, and are memorable in the annals of the
city. About twelve hundred acres in the Mill creek val-
ley were formerly subject to inundation ; but that tract
has been considerably narrowed by "making land" above
high-water mark for manufactories, dwellings, and other
improvements demanded by the growth of the city. The
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
13
bottom-lands are rendered highly fertile by the annual
overflows, and are in great request, so far as they are still
available, for market gardening; also, in the lowest spots,
for brickmaking. The deposit of fine clay in these
places from a single inundation is sometimes four inches
deep, is very smoothly laid, and when removed is almost
ready, without further preparation, for the mold. The
river has been, as will be shown further in this volume,
an extremely important factor in the growth of the city.
CANALS.
The Miami & Erie cana-l was one of the first projects
of the kind to be executed in the State. Its history has
been detailed in the first division of this book. It enters
the city at Cumminsville, on the east side of Mill creek
and some distance from it, and proceeds in a winding
but generally southeasterly course, with a right angle at
the intersection of Canal street, to the basin at the cor-
ner of Canal and Sycamore streets. From this point to
the river, just east of the Little Miami depot, it has been
abandoned, or rather converted into a huge closed sewer
called Eggleston avenue sewer, which occupies in part
the bed of the former Deer creek, and discharges through
a spacious tunnel into the river at the point named.
The remainder of the canal, extending to Toledo, is still
in use.
The excavation and abandonment of the Whitewater
canal, the only other canal which Cincinnati has had,
have been related in the history of Hamilton county.
STEAM RAILROADS.
The railway connections of Cincinnati are exceedingly
numerous, far-reaching, and important, as has been seen
in the chapter on this subject in the previous part of this
work. The railways entering this city upon their own
or others' tracks, are the New York, Pennsylvania &
Ohio (formerly the Atlantic & Great Western), the Balti-
more & Ohio, the Cincinnati Southern, the Cleveland,
Columbus, Cincinnati, & Indianapolis (popularly known
as the "Bee Line"), the Cincinnati, Hamilton, & Day-
ton, the Marietta & Cincinnati, the Cincinnati & Muskin-
gum Valley, the Cincinnati, Hamilton, & Indianapolis,
the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon, & Columbus, the Dayton
Short Line, the Louisville Short Line, the Little Miami,
or Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, & St. Louis ("Pan Handle"),
the Ohio & Mississippi, the Whitewater Valley, the Fort
Wayne, Muncie, & Cincinnati, the Cincinnati, Wabash,
& Michigan, the Cincinnati, Richmond, & Chicago, the
Grand Rapids & Indiana, and the Indianapolis, Cincin-
nati, & Lafayette; besides the narrow-gauge roads — the
Cincinnati & Eastern, the Cincinnati & Portsmouth, the
Cincinnati & Westwood, and the College Hill railways.
All of these, except the railways from the south, come
in by the narrow strips of land left in the Ohio valley on
each side of the old city, or by the Mill Creek valley;
and most of them enter three depots— the Plum street,
the "C, H., & D.," at the corner of Fifth and Hoadly
streets, and the Little Miami, at the corner of Front and
Kilgour. The Cincinnati Southern has its own depot,
at the corner of McLean avenue and Gest street. All
the depots are near "the river, and those in the eastern
and western parts of the city proper are connected by a
track for limited use in transferring freight. The Ken-
tucky Central, which has its northern terminus in Cov-
ington, may also be considered as in the Cincinnati
system.
HORSE RAILROADS.
These include four lines to Covington, one of them
through Newport; another Newport line; the Elm street
and the Vine street lines, connecting with the Clifton
line by the inclined plane near the head of Elm street;
the Main street line, using another incline at the head of
Main street to reach its track to the Zoological gardens;
the Baymiller street line, connecting at the foot of Mt.
Adams with an incline to the summit, up which cars,
horses and passengers are taken as they drive upon its
carriage from the street, and at the top connecting with
the Eden Park, Walnut Hills and Avondale line; the
Eighth street line, connecting with the inclined railway
at Price's Hill; the Cumminsville and Spring Grove line,
which has recently been extended to Fountain Square,
furnishing the longest ride in the city, between five and
six miles, for a single fare; the Walnut Hills line up Gil-
bert avenue; the Third street line; the Seventh street
line; the John street line, and the Riverside and Sedams-
ville line. A recent extension on Liberty street gives a
new line to Brighton by Fourth and Main streets. The
Elm street line, at' its eastern terminus in Pendleton,
connects with steam dummy lines for Columbia and
Mount Lookout. The direct Newport line makes con-
nection with a dummy line for Bellevue and Dayton.
All the down-town horse railways start from or near
Fountain Square. Most of the lines are consolidated,
so that tickets sold by one line are usable upon others.
OTHER FACILITIES
of transportation are abundant. A number of omni-
buses and stage lines run to points in the country from
five to thirty miles distant, not reached by the steam or
horse railways, and several lines of river steamers ply
between Cincinnati and other points on the Ohio, Cum-
berland, Mississippi, Arkansas, White and Red rivers.
The bridges and ferries also supply great public needs
nearer home. The Miami stockyards, on Eggleston
avenue, covering three acres, and furnishing accommo-
dations for ten thousand animals, facilitate the delivery
of cattle, hogs, and sheep to several of the railroads.
The United Railroads Stockyard company occupies a
larger tract, fifty acres on Spring Grove avenue and Mill
creek, near Cumminsville, where the land and improve-
ments, affording accommodations for five thousand cat-
tle, ten thousand sheep, and twenty-five thousand hogs,
have cost over three-quarters of a million of dollars.
The completion of the canal at Louisville around the
falls of the Ohio, some years ago, now allows the largest
Mississippi river steamers to come up to this city.
TELEGRAPHS AND TELEPHONES.
These are sufficiently numerous for all public and pri-
vate needs. The Western Union and the Atlantic &
Pacific undertake the far-away communications; the city
and suburban telegraph association, the board of trade
14
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
telegraph, the police and fire telegraphs, have important
local uses; as also the Bell telephonic exchange, with
which the former Edison telephone exchange has been
consolidated.
MISCELLANEOUS.
We have aimed in this opening chapter of the history
of Cincinnati to present mainly the things which appear
outwardly, to give a bird's-eye view of the city. Other
and less apparent matters, as the city government, the
police and fire departments, the water and gas works, the
manufactures, trade and commerce of the city, its re-
ligious, educational, literary and charitable institutions,
its newspapers and periodicals, the public libraries, and
many other subjects, will be set forth under their appro-
priate heads hereafter.
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT WORKS UPON THE CITY'S SITE.
Lonely and sad it stands;
The trace of ruthless hands
Is on its sides and summit, and around
The dwellings of the white man pile the ground;
And, curling in the air,
The smoke of twice a thousand hearths is there;
Without, all speaks of life, within,
Deaf to the city's echoing din,
Sleep well the tenants of that silent mound,
Their names forgot, their memories uncrowned.
Upon its top I tread,
And see around me spread
Temples and mansions, and the hoary hills,
Bleak with the labor that the coffer fills,
But mars their bloom the while,
And steals from Nature's face its joyous smile;
And here and there, below,
The stream's meandering flow
Breaks on the view; and westward in the sky
The gorgeous clouds in crimson masses lie.
The hammer's clang rings out
Where late the Indian's shout
Startled the wild fowl from its sedgy nest,
And broke the wild deer's and the panther's rest.
The lordly oaks went down
Before the ax — the canebiake is a town;
The bark canoe no more
Glides noiseless from the shore;
And sole memorial of a nation's doom,
Amid the works of art rises this lonely tomb.
It, too, must pass away;
Barbaric hands will lay
Its holy ruins level with the plain,
And rear upon its site some goodly fane.
It seemeth to upbraid
The white man for the ruin he hath made.
And soon the spade and mattock must
Invade the sleepers' buried dust,
And bare their bones to sacrilegious eyes,
And send them forth some joke-collector's prize.
— "To the Old Mound," by Charles A. Jones, son of an old Cincin-
nati family, who died at Cumminsville in 1851.
THE ANCIENT PEOPLE.
The settlers of Losantiville, and afterwards the immi-
grants to Cincinnati for more than a generation and a
half, found the plainest indications that a numerous and
intelligent people had been here before them. The red
man had left few tokens of his occupancy, and those of
but the most insignificant character; but beneath the
deep shades of the luxuriant forest, overgrown by trees
of centuries' growth, upon both the upper and lower ter-
races, it is said, were the unmistakable remains of struct-
ures erected there by a strange, mysterious race, whose
very name, to say nothing of their history and tribal
relations, had long been covered by the dust of oblivion.
As Professor Short remarks, in his North Americans of
Antiquity :
The same sagacity which chose the neighborhood of St. Louis for
these works, covered the site of Cincinnati with an extensive system of
circumvallations and mounds. Almost the entire space now occupied
by the city was utilized by the mysterious Builders, in the construction
of embankments and tumuli built upon the most accurate geometrical
principles, and evincing keen military foresight.
ENCLOSURES AND EMBANKMENTS.
Almost every one of the leading classes of Mound
Builders' remains was represented in the Cincinnati
works. The chief work was probably a sacred enclosure,
since it had no ditch, and occupied a position offering
no special advantages for defence. It was an earth wall
or embankment, encircling the entire blocks now bound-
ed by Fourth and Fifth, Race arid Walnut streets, and
including some fractions of adjoining blocks. Its figure
was not mathematically exact, and was probably not
intended to be so. It was a very broad ellipsis, eight
hundred feet in diameter from east to west, and about
six hundred and sixty from north to south. An opening
or gateway ninety feet wide appeared on the east side of
the wall, upon or near the line of Fourth street. The
height of the work, as found by the pioneers, was scarcely
a yard, but the base of the embankment averaged ten-
yards in thickness. It was heaped up with loam similar
to that found in its immediate vicinity, and was of quite
uniform composition throughout, as discovered by subse-
quent excavation and removal. Nothing found inside
the main work indicated that manual labor had been
expended therein, the ground being somewhat irregular
and uneven, and evidently left by the Builders pretty
nearly in a state of nature. There was no ditch within
or without the walls. From each side of the gateway,
and exterior but contiguous to the wall, stretched away a
broad elevation or parapet, of somewhat indeterminate
figure. From that on the line of Fourth street could be
traced a bank of only twelve inches height, but with a
nine-foot base. It extended southward fifty to seventy-
five yards, until within a few yards of the edge of the
upper plain, or the "hill," as it was then called, when it
turned to the east, and ended in a mound at the present
junction of Main and Third streets, about five hundred
feet distant from the point of departure. No similar
wall from the other side of the gateway was observable •
but at a short remove north of it were two other eleva-
tions, isolated though near each other, over six feet high,
and probably artificial, though of shapeless form.
More than four hundred yards east of the work just
described, between Broadway and Sycamore streets, was
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i5
a bank of about the same dimensions as to height and
thickness, which reached in a slight curve from Sixth
nearly to Third. The circle of which it was a segment,
whether ideal or embodied in earthwork, was an im-
mense one. "It was evidently," says Judge Burnet, in
his Notes, from which many of these facts are derived,
"a segment of a very large circle, with its centre just
south of the other work described." The remainder had
been left unfinished, or was leveled after construction.
From a point_near the south end of the segment formed
a low wall could be traced to the river, and was found to
correspond in a remarkable way, in height, extent, and
direction, with another embankment, about half a mile
distant, in the western part of the village site. Both of
these had disappeared by the year 1815.
Mr. Robert Clarke, in his pamphlet on the Pre-historic
Remains at Cincinnati, printed in 1876, is not inclined
to give credence to the story of this extension to the
river, "as it would extend the works to the bottom-land,
on which Mound Builder's works are seldom anywhere
found. It is more probable that this embankment
turned westward and joined the other embankment at
the mound."
Upon the present track of Fifth street, still east of all
the works mentioned, and about four hundred feet from
the segment, was a circular enclosure of sixty feet diam-
eter, bearing evidence of construction by heaping up
earth from the ground within. It was, when found, but
one foot high, on a twelve to fifteen-foot base.
In the north part of the old town, between Elm and
Vine streets, and six hundred yards from the great ellip-
sis (now between the canal and Fourth streets), were two
extensive earth walls, also of convex shape, but not con-
stituting an enclosure. They were each seven hundred
and sixty feet long, about two feet high, and ran in exact
parallels in a general east and west direction, forty-six
feet apart, measuring from the middle of the embank-
ment, for two-thirds of the way, when they converged
slightly to forty feet width, and so continued to the end.
At about the point where the convergence began, there
was an opening of thirty feet in the southern bank.
Many other inequalities of surface, upon sites more or
less irregular, were observable in the early day ; but by
the time the attention of antiquaries had been much di-
rected to them, twenty-five to thirty years after settlement,
they had become too obscure and ill-defined to warrant
detailed description. Strange to say, the plains on the
other side of the river, in Kentucky, did not present, ac-
cording to Judge Burnet, the slightest vestige of. ancient
earthworks.
TUMULI.
Upon the upper plain on which the principal part of
Cincinnati is located, were found several large mounds or
pyramids. The largest of these was due west of the great
ellipsis, and five hundred yards distant from it. It was
situated just where the alley between Fifth and Long-
worth streets intersects the west side of Mound street,
to which it gave the name ; and was formed, it is believed
from its composition, simply by scooping earth from the
surrounding surface and heaping it up smoothly. The
composition and structure of the mound were thus de-
scribed by Mr. John S. Williams, editor of the American
Pioneer, in volume II of that magazine:
The earth of the mound is composed of light and dark colored lay-
ers, as if it had been raised, at successive periods, by piling earth of
different colors on the top. This appearance might have been pro-
duced by successive layers of vegetation and freezings, which were
allowed to act on each layer before the mound received a second addi-
tion to its height. In some parts the layers are completely separated
by what appears to have been decayed vegetable matter, such as leaves
and grass, as the earth is in complete contact, except a very thin divis-
ion by some such substance. In some places through the mound there
are vacancies, evidently occasioned by the decay of sticks of wood,
leaving a most beautiful, impalpable powder. Throughout the mound
there are spots of charcoal, and in some places it is in beds. In one or
two places which we observed, the action of fire upon the clay had left
marks of considerable intensity.
The shape of its base was that of a regular ellipsis,
with diameters about in the ratio of two to one, and the
longer diameter in a line about seventeen degrees east of
north. It is described by one of the early local writers
as "a considerable mound of great beauty, about fifty [?]
feet high, constructed with great exactness, and standing
upon a base unusually small compared with its height."
The long diameter of the base was about seventy feet;
the shorter thirty-five. Its circumference was four hun-
dred and forty feet, and its height was twenty-seven
feet so lately as 1815, though about eight feet had
been cut from the top of it in 1794 by General Wayne,
who posted a sentinel, with a sentry-box, upon it, while
his army was encamped in the Mill Creek valley.
From its summit, it is said, a view of the entire plain
could be commanded; and it is a very interesting fact —
wholly u«ique, so far as we know, in the history of the
mounds — that this order of General Wayne restored the
structure for a time to what was doubtless its ancient
character and use in part, as a mound of observation.
Some superficial excavations were early made in this
mound, resulting in the finding of a few scattered human
bones, probably from intrusive burials, a branch of deer's
horn, and a piece of earthenware containing muscle shell.
Long afterwards (1841) the removal of the mound in the
grading of the street and alley, brought to light one of
the most interesting memorials of antiquity ever discov-
ered, which willl be noticed at some length below. The
lines "To the Old Mound," quoted at length at
the beginning of this chapter, were addressed to this
ancient remain. Three smaller mounds stood in the
close neighborhood of this, also containing human
remains. Five hundred feet north and somewhat
eastward of this work, near the northeast corner of
Mound and Seventh streets, was another, a platform
mound, probably about nine feet high, circular, and
nearly flat on top. In this were found a few fragments
of human skeletons and a handful of copper beads that
had formerly been strung on a cord of lint.
Northeast of this eminence, and several hundred yards
distant, on the east of Central avenue, opposite Rich-
mond street, near Court, was another circular mound but
three feet high, from which were taken unfinished spear-
and arrow-heads of chert or flint.
But the most remarkable of this class of the Cincin-
nati works which did not long survive the advent of the
i6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
white man, was the mound at the intersection of Third
and Main streets, near the site of the older as well as the
later First Presbyterian churches. It was the mound
formerly mentioned as terminating the wall from the
great ellipsis, and was one hundred and twenty feet long,
sixty feet broad and eight feet high, of an oval figure,
with its diameters nearly on lines connecting the oppo-
site cardinal points of the compass. It was gradually
destroyed at an early day by the necessity of grading
Main street to reduce the difficulty of ascent from the
lower plain to the higher. The strata of which it was
composed, proceeding from without, were: First, a layer
of loam or soil like that upon the adjacent natural sur-
face. The articles found in the tumulus were a little be-
low this stratum. Second, a layer of large pebbles, con-
vex, like the outer one, and of uniform thickness. Lastly,
gravel, considerably heaped up in the centre, and contain-
ing no remains. Many interesting articles were found in
the process of excavation and removal — pieces of jasper,
rock crystal, granite, porphyry, and other rocks, mostly
cylindrical at the extremes and increasing in diameter
toward the middle, with an annular groove near one end,
and all evincing much skill of the Builders in cutting
and polishing the hardest rocks. Numerous other arti-
cles, made of cannel coal, argillaceous earth, and bone,
including the sculptured head of a bird, supposed to be
intended to represent that of an eagle; bits of isinglass
or mica, lead ore, and sheet copper, all supposed to be
used partly for ornament and partly in religious observ-
ances; with beads of bone or shell, the teeth of some
carniverous animal, probably the bear, and several large
marine shells; also a quantity of human bones, appar-
ently belonging to twenty or thirty skeletons, were found
in this work. The last mentioned remains were generally
surrounded by ashes and charcoal, and sometimes were
found enclosed in rude stone cists or coffins. The stra-
tum above these seemed to be undisturbed, and had evi-
dently been laid after the precious deposits were made.
One of the old writers also mentions among the discov-
eries in this mound certain other articles, "most proba-
bly deposited in it after Europeans began to visit here" —
as pieces of hard brown earthenware; the small image of
a female holding an infant in her arms and supposed to
represent the Virgin Mary, finely wrought in ivory but
somewhat mutilated; and a small, complex instrument
of iron, greatly corroded, and supposed to be used for
weighing light articles." The last two statements are de-
cidedly apocryphal, though Judge Burnet apparently
gives credence to them and repeats them in his Notes.
This ancient work was noticed very early by Colonel
Sargent, secretary of the Northwest Territory, in a letter
from Cincinnati, dated September 8, 1794, and enclos-
ing drawings of relics exhumed from a grove near the
mound. His correspondent, Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, of
Philadelphia, made them the theme of an elaborate let-
ter to Rev. Joseph Priestly, the famous Indian theo-
logian, philosopher and scientist; and the correspondence
was published, with illustrations, in volumes four and
five, of the transactions of one of the learned societies
of the Quaker city.
A DENUDED MOUND.
In 1874 Dr. H. H. Hill discovered a cluster of an-
cient graves on the extreme point of Brighton Hill, at
the west end of the range of hills north of the old city,
which Mr. Clarke thinks were once covered by a mound
that has been in the course of the ages washed away by
the rainfalls to or near the level of the original surface.
Many loose stones, in groups or piles, had been long ob-
served at this spot, and had been conjectured to be the
remains of an ancient stone work. The human remains
were included within a circular spot about forty feet in
diameter, and the bones were so greatly decomposed
that they soon fell to dust. From some indications in
the position of the bones there is reason to believe that
Indians were buried here, as well as Mound Builders.
Many teeth and tusks of animals, fragments of stag-horn,
with various implements made from bone, pieces of mica,
stone hammers, gorgets and pipes, spear and arrow-heads,
copper and bone awls, and fragments of shells with
traces of carving thereon, were aiso found in the burial-
place. It was a very interesting find. The mound sup-
posed to have stood over the remains and relics is that
designated by Mr. Clarke, in a quotation we shall make
hereafter, as the "Brighton Hill mound." It was also,
probably, one of the series of signal-mounds in the Mill
creek valley.
"dug-hole."
Over half a mile north of the ellipsis, which serves as
a convenient point of departure for distances to the
other works, was an excavation or "dug-hole," believed
to be artificial, but not apparently connected with any
other work. It was nearly fifty feet in diamete"r at the top,
as measured from the top of the circular bank formed
by throwing out the earth, and almost twelve feet in
depth; and was by some of the early settlers supposed
to be an old, half-filled well. It probably belonged,
however, to the age of the Mound Builders, and to the
class of ancient remains known as "dug-holes," origin-
ally intended as reservoirs for water or store houses of
provision.
a scholar's view.
General W. H. Harrison, in his instructive address be-
fore the Historical and Philosophical society of Ohio, in
1837, published in their transactions, and also in pamph-
let form, gave the following view of the works, as they
appeared in the white man's early day here:
When I first saw the upper plain on which that city stands, it was
literally covered with low lines of embankments. I had the honor to
attend General Wayne two years afterwards, in an excursion to examine
them. We were employed the greater part of a day, in August, 1793,
in doing so. The number and variety of figures in which these lines
were drawn, was almost endless, and, as I have said, almost covered the
plain— many so faint, indeed, as scarcely to be followed, and often for
a considerable distance entirely obliterated; but, by careful examination,
and following the direction, they could again be found. Now, if these
lines were ever of the height of the others made by the same people
(and they must have been to have answered any valuable purpose), or
unless their erection was many years anterior to the others, there must
have been some other cause than the attrition of rain (for it is a dead
level) to bring them down to their then state. That cause I take to
have been continued cultivation; and, as the people who erected them
would not themselves destroy works which had cost them so much labor,
the solution of the question can only be found in the long occupancy
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
17
and the cultivation of another people, and the probability is that that
people were the conquerors of the original possessors. To the ques-
tion of the fate of the former, and the cause of no recent vestige of set-
tlements being found on the Ohio, I can offer only a conjecture, but
one that appears to me to be far from improbable.
The general thought the occurrence of tremendous
floods, like those of 1793 and 1832, might be sufficient
to drive off the Builders, "not only from actual suffering,
but from the suggestions of superstition ; an occurrence
so unusual being construed into a warning from Heaven
to seek a residence upon the smaller streams."
THE WORKS IN 1817.
Many were still remaining. Judge Burnet, writing at
this time, notes them as " numerous here, and consisting
of two circular banks, mounds, tumuli, etc." A house
then stood at the corner of Mound and Third streets,
upon the site of the tumulus there. Several streets were
intersecting the remains, and they did not long thereafter
maintain their ground against the march of improvement,
which in time obliterated the last vestige of the monu-
ments of ancient civilization, so far as the surface of the
site of Cincinnati exhibited them.
THE WORKS IN 1819 AND 1 825.
The maps prefixed to the first and second directories
of the city, published in 1819 and 1825, however, take
notice of the existence and position of the enclosures
and mounds upon the site of Cincinnati, though not
precisely as they have been described above. One work,
the large ellipsis, is delineated as surrounding completely
the block between Fourth and Fifth, Race and Vine
streets, except a very small part of the northwest corner,
about half the next block east, and some parts of the
adjacent blocks north and south. Adjoining the north-
east part of it, on the north half of the block bounded
by Third, Fourth, Vine and Race streets, appears a large
mound, with a single embankment running almost due
south to the lower part of the block, and thence across
the next block eastward to the mound at the northeast
corner of Main and Third. The enclosure is represented
as an irregular circle, of about six hundred feet diameter.
The convex parallel walls between Canal and Twelfth
are shown as a long enclosure, extending almost diagon-
ally from a point a trifle east of Vine street across the
block bounded by that place and the streets before
named, and about half-way across the block next on the
west
Wayne's sentry-post is plainly marked as a large tumu-
lus at the southeast corner of Fifth and Mound, and the
others mentioned as being in the west and northwest-part
of the town are here — the mound upon the upper side
of Seventh street, below Smith, near fhe rope-walk then
standing; that on Western Row, nearly at the head of
Richmond ; one large mound west of Plum, near the old
corporation line on Liberty street; and also one in the
eastern part of the city, directly on Fifth street, half a
block beyond Broadway. The mound on Fourth street
stood nearly where Pike's Opera house now is.
Thus it appears that the ancient works upon the site of
Cincinnati were still so well defined, so late as 1825, as to
deserve, if not demand, a place upon the map of the city.
THE CINCINNATI TABLET.
In November, 1841, the large tumulus near the corner
of Fifth and Mound streets was removed, in order to
extend Mound street across Fifth and grade an alley.
A little above the level of the surrounding surface, near
the centre of the mound, were found a large part of a
human skull and two bones of about seven inches length,
pointed at one end. It was undoubtedly the grave of a
Mound Builder, probably a great dignitary of his tribe.
Under the fragmentary skull of the buried Builder was a
bed of charcoal, ashes and earth, and therein a very re-
markable inscribed stone which, after much discussion,
including the publication of Mr. Clarke's interesting
pamphlet in vindication of its authenticity, has been pro-
nounced a genuine relic of the period of the Mound
Builders. It is not lettered or inscribed with hieroglyph-
ics, but is marked with curious, broad lines, curves and
scrolls. Some have thought they could trace in these the
outline of a figure, perhaps an idol; but the better con-
jecture seems to be that it served for a record of calcula-
tions and a scale of measurement. The following de-
scription and remarks upon it are extracted from Messrs.'
Squier and Davis's "Ancient Monuments of the Missis-
sippi Valley":
The material is 'fine grained, compact sandstone of a light brown
color. It measures five inches in length, three in breadth at the ends,,
and two and six-tenths at the middle, and is about half an inch in thick-
ness. The sculptured face -varies very slightly from a perfect plane.
The figures are cut in low relief (the lines being not more than one-
twentieth of an inch in depth), and occupy a rectangular space of four
inches and two-tenths long by two and one-tenth wide. The sides of
the stone, it will be observed, are slightly concave. Right lines are
drawn across the face near the ends, at right angles, and exterior to
these are notches, twenty-five at one end and twenty-four at the other.
The back of the stone has three deep longitudinal grooves and several
depressions, evidently caused by rubbing — probably produced by sharp-
ening the instrument used in the sculpture. [Mr. Gest, however, the
present owner of the stone, does not regard these as tool marks, but
thinks they have some special significance. J
Without discussing the singular resemblance which the relic bears to
the Egyptian cartouch, it will be sufficient to direct attention to the re-
duplication of the figures, those upon one side corresponding with those
upon the other, and the two central ones being also alike. It will be ob-
served that there are but three scrolls or figures — four of one description
and two of the others. Probably no serious discussion of the question
whether or not these figures are hieroglyphical, is needed. They more
resemble the stalk and flowers of a plant than anything else in nature.
What significance, if any, may attach to the peculiar markings or grad-
uations at the end it is not undertaken to say. The sum of the products
of the longer and shorter lines (twenty-four by seven and twenty-five by
eight) is three hundred and sixty-eight, three more than the number of
days in the year; from which circumstance the suggestion has been ad-
vanced that the tablet had an astronomical origin and constituted some
sort of a calendar.
We may perhaps find the key to its purposes in a very humble, but
not therefore less interesting class of southern remains. Both in Mexico
and in the mounds of Mississippi have been found stamps of burnt clay,
the faces of which are covered with figures, fanciful or imitative, all in
low relief, like the face of a stereotype plate. These were used in im-
pressing ornaments upon the clothes or prepared skins of the people
possessing them. They exhibit the concavity of the sides to be ob-
served in the relic in question — intended, doubtless, for greater conveni-
ence in holding and using it — as also a similar reduplication of the
ornamental figures, all betraying a common purpose. This explanation
is offered hypothetically as being entirely consistent with the gen-
eral character of the mound remains, which, taken together, do not
warrant us in looking for anything that might not well pertain to a very
simple, not to say rude„people.
i8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
AN INTERESTING THEORY.
The following discussion from Mr. Clarke's pamphlet
may appropriately end this little treatise on the Cincinnati
works :
It may be of interest here to examine these pre-historic works in the
light of Lewis H. Morgan's "pueblo" theory, as set forth in his article
in the North American Review for July of this year. The great cen-
tral work, an ellipse eight hundred by six hundred and sixty feet, cor-
responds with his pueblo or village. Its position gave it a measure of
security, being on the upper plain, three hundred and fifty feet from its
edge, and could be completely screened from view from the river by a
belt or grove of trees. The embankment, three feet high (possibly
originally higher), with a base of thirty feet, afforded sufficient founda-
tion for their buildings, occupying the circumference of the ellipse,
facing inward, presenting a solid timber wall on the outside, with no
entrance but by the gateway on the east, which may have been pro-
tected by a palisade of round timbers, with proper openings for ingress
and egress, and by some structures of the nature of block-houses on the
higher embankments attached externally at each side of the entrance.
From the lower of these block-houses, it will be remembered, ran the
low embankment, one foot high, with nine feet base, southward nearly
to the edge of the declivity, and then east to the mound on the corner
of Third and Main streets. This may have been occupied by a high
timber palisade, or a covered way leading to the mound, which was so
situated as to command a full view of the Licking river, which enters
the Ohio on the opposite shore, and was doubtless an important ap-
proach, which it was necessary should be watched. If I am right in
supposing that the embankment, of the same dimensions as the last,
noticed east of Sycamore, running from Sixth street to near Third
street, turned there and joined the other embankment at the mound,
and was built upon in the same manner, we would thus have the whole
front so defended that it would have to be forced or flanked by an
enemy coming from the.direction of the Licking river.
East of this high hill, Mount Adams, overlooking the Ohio, and giv-
ing a clear view up the river for miles, would be a natural outpost on ■
which it would not be necessary to erect a mound structure. I have
never heard of any remains having been found on this hill.
To the west, the hill next the river was so distant, and from its posi-
tion did not command an extensive enough view of the river to serve as
an outlook; so a position was selected near the edge of the plain, about
five hundred yards west of the closed end of the village, and a large
mound thirty-five feet high was erected, from which could be had an
extensive view of the Kentucky shore and of the Ohio, river to the bend
below the mouth of Mill creek. The Brighton Hill mound would give
an extensive view of the whole of Mill creek valley, the whole, as be-
fore mentioned, being part of an extensive series of signal stations.
The minor mounds and other works on the upper plain may have
been connected with the supervision and care of their agricultural oper-
ations on the rich land between the village and the northern hills.
Thus we have a village judiciously located on a fine, fertile plain, and
well guarded by the nature of the location and the artificial works
erected on a carefully arranged plan.
Mr. Morgan's theory will apply to a large number of the Ohio works.
The two larger mounds were so situated that we can hardly
avoid the conclusion, though it is only a supposition, that one object of
their erection was to serve as outlooks for watching the approaches to
their village from the Kentucky side of the river by the Licking, and
from the west by the Ohio. From the description of the structure of
the mounds and the remains found in them, it is quite certain that they
were also grave mounds. They may have been originally placed on
these commanding points so as to be seen from a distance (just as we
place rhonuments in prominent positions), and afterward used as out-
looks. Dr. Drake, as quoted above, gives sufficient details of the
structure and contents of that at the corner of Third and Main streets
to warrant this conclusion as to that mound.
ANCIENT VEGETABLE REMAINS.
Although not strictly belonging to the general topic of
this chapter, mention may here be fitly made of some
interesting "finds" that have been made upon the site
of Cincinnati, belonging to a period of ancient vegetation
of which many evidences are apparent in Hamilton
county, as will be seen upon reference to the second chap-
ter of this book, upon its geology and topography. In
1802 a well was dug by an ancient settler in the centre of
one of the artificial enclosures above described, and two
stumps, of twelve and eighteen inches' diameter, respec-
tively, were met with at a depth of ninety-three feet,
standing as they grew, with roots sound and in place.
From the soil that was thrown out in excavating the well
mulberry trees grew in large numbers, although none were
known to exist on the plain before. About the same
time Mr. Daniel Symmes, while digging another well in
the eastern part of the town, came upon a large unde-
cayed log twenty-four feet below the surface. It is said
that similar discoveries have frequently been made in
making deep excavations in different parts of the city,
showing that the ancient level of the plain was once far
below its present elevation.
CHAPTER III.
THE SITE OF LOSANTIVILLE.
The original site of Cincinnati, platted and surveyed
under the name of Losantiville, was contracted for before
the surveys of the Symmes Purchase were made, and the
conveyance to Mathias Denman simply specified that
his tract should be located as nearly as possible opposite
the mouth of the Licking river. When the surveys were
completed, it was found that he owned the entire section
eighteen, and the fractional section in seventeen lying be-
tween that and the river, in township four and the first
fractional range, as surveyed under the orders of the pros-
pective patentee, Judge Symmes. The tract covered
eight hundred acres, and including the outlots as well as
in-lots laid out upon it, comprised the original site of Cin-
cinnati. It extended, on a north and south line, from
the present Liberty street to the river. The eastern
boundary line ran from the intersection of the old Leb-
anon road with Liberty street to the Ohio, at a point one
hundred feet below Broadway; and the western line ran
from the intersection of Liberty street with the Western
row (Central avenue) to the river, which is reached just
below Smith street landing. This tract, a little less than
one and one-fourth square miles, was not quite one twen-
ty-second part of the present vast area of Cincinnati.
The founders of Losantiville found this site nearly or
quite in a state of nature, save the earthworks which in-
dicated its occupancy by a people long before departed.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield says it was the site of an old Indian
town, and other authorities say that two block-houses had
been erected hereby the soldiers of an expedition against
the Indians, only eight years previous ; but the records
of Losantiville are silent concerning the vestiges of the
Indian village and the white men's fortifications, if any
existed at this time. A dense wood covered the appar-
ently virgin tract. The lower belt of ground was occu-
pied mainly by beech, buckeye, and sugar trees, loaded
with grapevines, and interspersed with a heavy under-
growth of spicewood and pawpaws. The same timber
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i9
prevailed upon the second terrace, with poplars and
other trees, some of which were very large. Many of
the beeches were also large, and a cluster of these, near
"Stonemetz's ford," on Mill creek, was still standing
sixty years after the settlement, and bore the name of
"Loring's woods" — the only relics of the primeval forest
here, except some scattered trees. A group of these trees
was also called the "Beechen grove" in an early day.
At the foot of Sycamore street was an inlet of consid-
erable size, which took the name of "Yeatman's cove,"
from its neighborhood to the tavern and store of Griffin
Yeatman, but also called the "Stone landing," because
used for the disembarking of the boatloads of stone
brought for the building of Fort Washington, at a spot
near what is now the corner of Sycamore and Front streets.
At the corner of Ludlow street was another inlet, called
"Dorsey's cove," and another still higher up, just below
the mouth of Deer creek. These little harbors were ex-
ceedingly convenient as landing-places for immigrants,
and were doubtless used also by the crews of boats con-
veying the earlier expeditions against the Indians. In
the shore end of Yeatman's cove the first, little, rude mar-
ket-house of the village was constructed, to the pillars of
which boats were usually tied in seasons of high water.
The north shore of the Ohio, and the ground for some
way back, as first observed by the whites at this point,
are described as somewhat resembling in appearance the
site of Philadelphia. Dr. Daniel Drake, writing twenty
years after the beginnings, when the physical features of
the place had not greatly changed, except by the partial
clearing of the woods, in his "Notices concerning Cincin-
nati," says:
Its site is not equally elevated. A strip of land called the Bottom
(most of which is inundated by extraordinary freshes, though the
whole is elevated several feet above the ordinary high-water mark),
commences at Deer creek, the eastern boundary of the town, and
stretches down to the river, gradually becoming wider and lower. It
slopes northwardly to the average distance of eight hundred feet, where
it is terminated by a bank or glacis, denominated the hill, which is
generally of steep ascent, and from thirty to fifty feet in height. In
addition to this there is a gentle acclivity for six or seven hundred feet
further back, which is succeeded by a slight inclination of surface
northwardly, for something more than half a mile, when the hills or
real uplands commence.
These benches of land extend northwestwardly (the upper one con-
stantly widening) nearly two miles, and are lost in the intervale ground
of Mill creek. The whole form an area of between two and three
square miles — which, however, comprehends but little more than a
moiety of the expansion which the valley of the Ohio has at this point.
For on the southern side, both above and below the mouth of the Lick-
ing river, are extended, elevated bottoms.
The hills surrounding this alluvial tract form an imperfectly rhom-
boidal figure. They are between three and four hundred feet high; but
the angle under which they are seen, from a central situation, is only a
few degrees. Those to the southwest and northwest, at such a station,
make the greatest and nearly an equal angle ; those to the southeast
and southwest also make angles nearly equal. .The Ohio enters at the
eastern angle of this figure, and, after bending considerably to the south,
passes out at the western. The Licking river entets through the south-
ern, and Mill creek through the northern angle. Deer creek, an incon-
siderable stream, enters through the northern side. The Ohio, both
up and down, affords a limited view, and its valley forms no consider-
able inlet to the east and west winds. The valley of the Licking af-
fords an entrance to the south wind, that of Mill creek to the north
wind, and that of Deer creek (a partial one) to the northeast. The
other winds blow over the hills that lie in their respective courses.
The Ohio is five hundred and thirty-five yards wide from bank to bank,
but at low-water is much narrower. No extensive bars exist, however,
near the town. Licking river, which joins the Ohio opposite the town,
is about eighty yards wide at its mouth. Mill creek is large enough for
mills, and has wide alluvions, which, near its junction with the Ohio, are
annually overflown [sic\. Its general course is from northeast to north-
west, and it joins the Ohio at a right angle. Ascending from these
valleys the aspects and characteristics of the surrounding country are
various. . . . No barrens, prairies, or pine lands are to be
found near the town.
Some notices of the site of Cincinnati in the early
day have been inserted in the first chapter of this divi-
sion of our work, and need not be repeated here. A
glowing paragraph by Mr. J. P. Foote, concerning the
hills in their pristine freshness, will be particularly re-
membered. The ground on the "bottom" was quite
broken and uneven; that on the "hill," or second ter-
race, was somewhat smoother. The bank which sepa-
rated them was sharp and abrupt;* and it was a serious
question with the fathers whether it should be cut
through by the streets with a steep or gentle gradient.
Happily for the horses and men employed in the im-
mense transfer business since that day, the problem was
solved in the sensible way that might have been expected
of the founders of the Queen City, although the cost-
lier. The grade of Main street, for example, was thus
in process of time extended along three squares, from
Second to Fifth streets (Third street being about one
hundred feet north of the original line of the bank),
with an angle of ascent of but five to ten degrees. The
constant change of level in the streets, in the progress
of improvement from year to year, made sad work with
the relations of sidewalks and pavements (or the spaces
where pavements ought to have been), and left many
buildings of the early day far above the streets on which
they once immediately fronted. Interesting anecdotes
are related of the foresight of some of the early business
men, who, at once upon the planning and laying founda-
tion of their buildings, went low enough with the latter
to meet the future exigencies of improvement. A writer
in the first number of Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, prob-
ably Mr. Cist himself, making some notes of "city
changes," says:
In the early part of the present century, Broadway, opposite John's
cabinet warehouse, was the center of a pond, three or four acres in ex-
tent, to which the early settlers resorted to shoot plovers.
The general level of upper Main street extended as far south as nearly
the line of Third street, part of the original surface of the ground being
preserved in some of the yards north of Third street to this date (Oc-
tober, 1844). It will readily be imagined what an impediment the
bluff bank overhanging the lower ground to the south, and repeatedly
caving in on it, must have created to the intercourse between the two
great divisions of the city — Hill and Bottom. But this statement, if it
were to end here, would not give an adequate idea how far the brow of
the hill overhung the bottom region ; for it must be observed that, while
the hill projected nearly forty feet above the present level where its edge
stood, the ground on Main street, opposite Pearl and Lower Market
streets, corresponded with the general level of these streets, which must
have been between thirteen and fourteen feet below the present grade.
The whole ground from the foot of the hill was a swamp, fed partly
from a cove which put in from the Ohio near what is now Harkness'
foundry, and in high water filled the whole region from the hill to with-
in about one hundred and fifty yards of the Ohio in that part of the
city from Walnut to Broadway — in early days the dwelling ground,
* An interesting remnant of the old bank at the brow of the hill — the
only one left, we believe — is still to be seen at the northwest corner of
Third and Plum streets. It is now a back yard, heaped up with old
iron.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
principally, of the settlers, as it still is the most densely built-on and
valuable part of Cincinnati.
The writer then relates some interesting facts of Casper
Hopple's old tobacco warehouse, on Lower Market street,
which was built upon boat-gunnels many years before —
material obtained by the breaking up of the primitive
river vessels. In his plan of building, Mr. Hopple had
the foresight to place the joists of the second story just
fourteen feet above the sills of the door to the first, say-
ing that that would be the proper range of the floor,
when Lower Market should be filled to its proper height;
which proved, quite remarkably, to be the case, so that
his second story became a first, and the first a cellar of
the right depth, as originally planned.
This entertaining antiquary also makes mention of
Captain Hugh Moore's building, nearly opposite this, on
the subsequent site of Bates & Company's hat warehouse,
which likewise had boat-gunnels for foundation, with
boat-plank for the inside walls, lined with poplar boards,
and a clapboard roof. It was, he thinks, perhaps thirty-
six feet deep and twenty feet front. Captain Moore se-
cured this building for the sale of his merchandise, it
being the only one he could secure for the purpose.
And now comes in the remarkable part of the narrative,
which makes it germane to this chapter:
"When he had bargained for the house, which he rent-
ed at one hundred dollars per annum, and which, with
the lot one hundred feet on Main by two hundred on
Pearl street, he was offered in fee simple at three hun-
dred and fifty dollars, he brought the flat-boat which was
loaded with his store-goods from the Ohio, via Hobson's
Choice, not far from Mill creek, up Second or Columbia
street, and fastened the boat to a stake near the door, as
nearly as can be judged the exact spot where the Museum
lamp-post now [1844] stands, at the corner of Main and
Pearl streets."
Upon the lower slope was a broad swamp, occupying
the larger part of the space between Second and Lower
Market streets, though a part stretched still further to the
south.
CHAPTER IV.
BEFORE LOSANT1VILLE.
AN INDIAN VILLAGE.
It is said, upon the authority of the late Hon. E. D.
Mansfield, who makes the remark in his Personal Me-
mories, that the Indians had anciently a town upon the
site of Cincinnati. Its natural advantages for the. pur-
poses of savage as well as civilized man, would of them-
selves argue that fact, though no other evidence should
exist in corroboration of the statement. Whatever that
evidence may be, the history of Indian occupancy at this
point has faded out as completely as that of the older
and more civilized Mound Builder in this garden spot of
the Ohio valley. Neither left a record in literature — not
even in that of the sculptured monument, if we except
the remarkable little object known as the "Cincinnati
stone," discovered in 1841 in the large mound near the
interse6tion of Fifth and Mound streets; and tradition is
equally silent, so far as the details of human life in a re-
moter Losantiville or Cincinnati are concerned. There
were the earthworks — most of them low and insignificant
in appearance, as they rose in slight eminence or wound
their way amid the monarchs of the forest — some so di-
minutive as to be scarcely distinguishable above the sur-
face ; and they were all that told of the presence of man
in congregated communities upon this area until Colonel
Patterson led his little band to their new homes in the
wilderness. Except for those, this was the forest prime-
val. Anything more would certainly have been noted and
recorded by the shrewd, intelligent men who were the
founders of the city.
TWO BLOCK-HOUSES.
The statement is made, however, by Mr. Isaac Smucker,
of Newark, in one of his interesting historical papers
published by the secretary of State in the official vohlmes
of Ohio Statistics (that for 1877 containing this), that
Colonel George Rogers Clark, with an army of about
one thousand men, all Kentuckians, "in 1780 crossed
the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking, and erected two
block-houses on the first day of August, upon the ground
now occupied by Cincinnati." Clark lTad organized the
expedition during the previous month, to march against
the Indian villages on the Little Miami and the Mad
rivers, to punish the Shawnees for their marauding in-
roads into the Kentucky settlements. After the reputed
erection of the block-houses — which must have been very
rapidly accomplished — he resumed the march, and on
the fifth day thereafter struck the Indian towns at the site
of Old Chillicothe, on the Little Miami. The Indians
had anticipated Clark's arrival, however, and themselves
applied the torch to their village, leaving little mischief
for the Kentuckians to do, except to destroy the ripening
corn. But at Piqua, a larger town and the birthplace of
the renowned Tecumseh, on the Mad river, about five
miles west of the present Springfield, the savages made a
stand, preparing an ambuscade in the high grass of a
prairie adjoining their lodges, and opened an unexpected
and deadly fire upon the invaders. The latter speedily
rallied and charged the Indians, who, after a desperate
fight, fled the field, losing about twenty dead, and the
Kentucky volunteers as many. The village and several
hundred acres of standing corn were laid waste. Colonel
Clark then returned to the mouth of the Licking, and
disbanded his force.
One member, and but one, we believe, of that band of
Indian fighters has left express testimony to the building
of the block-houses. Mr. Thomas Vickroy, who was
afterwards an assistant in the survey of the site of Pitts-
burgh, was out in this expedition. He says:
In April, 1780, I went to Kentucky, in company with eleven flat-
boats with movers. We landed, on the fourth of May, at the mouth of
Beargrass creek, above the falls of Ohio. I took my compass and
chain along to make a fortune by surveying, but when we got there the
Indians would not let us survey. In the same summer Colonel Byrd
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
came from Detroit with a few British soldiers and some light artillery,
with Simon Girty and a great many Indians, and took the forts on the
Licking. Immediately afterward General Clark raised an army of
about a thousand men, and marched with one party of them against
the Indian towns. When we came to the mouth of the Licking we
fell in with Colonel Todd and his party. On the first day of August,
1780, we crossed the Ohio river and built the two block-houses wheus
Cincinnati now stands. I was at the building of the block-houses.
Then, as General Clark had appointed me commissary of the cam-
paign, he gave the military stores into my hands and gave me orders to
maintain that post for fourteen days. Heleft with me Captain Johnson
and about twenty or thirty men, who were sick and lame.
Nothing more is said in history, so far as the writer of
these pages is aware, of these block-houses. The use of
the structures, during Clark's brief campaign to the
northward, is sufficiently indicated in Mr. Vickroy's
statement. As his force was not regularly recruited and
paid by the United States or any other constituted au-
# thority, there is not the least probability that a garrison
was left in it when his march was done and he recrossed
the Ohio. In that case the red men would make short
work of the obnoxious buildings as soon as they obtained
access to them. Such works were not commonly suf-
fered to remain upon lands unoccupied and undefended,
as defiant monuments of the hated "Long Knife." Fire
would speedily cause them to vanish in air, and the lapse
of more than eight years, with floods probably inunda-
ting their sites repeatedly, would so cover them with soil
and nature's tangled wildwood that the very clearings
made for them could not be recognized. We do not
learn that there is the faintest clue to the exact locality
of these block-houses. But the brief story of them is
exceedingly interesting, as that of the first occupancy in
houses of the site of Cincinnati by the white man,
August 1, 1780.
ONE BLOCK-HOUSE.
The fact that another block-house stood upon the site
of Cincinnati, more than six years before the Ludlow
and Patterson party came, seems to be clearly established
by similar testimony; not only that of a single person —
Mr. John McCaddon, for many years a respected citizen
of Newark, in this State, who was present at its building
— but also by that of two persons of far greater renown,
no less personages than General Simon Kenton and Major
James Galloway. General Clark was then making a sec-
ond expedition against the Miami towns, to avenge the
defeat of the Kentuckians at the battle of the Blue Licks
August 15, 1782. That disaster had aroused a fierce de-
sire for reprisals upon the Ohio Indians; and, as soon as a
force could be collected from the widely scattered settle-
ments, it marched in two divisions, under Colonels Lo-
gan and Floyd, for the., mouth of the Licking. Clark
crossed here with one thousand and fifty men, threw up a
block-house rapidly, and marched with such speed one
hundred and thirty miles up the Miami country, that the
Indians were thoroughly surprised. The principal Shaw-
nee town was destroyed November 10th; also the British
trading post at Loramie's store, in the present Shelby
county — the same locality visited by^hristopher Gist in
1752 — and he destroyed a large quantity of property and
some lives, with little loss. It was a very effective expe-
dition, especially as relieving Kentucky against formida-
able invasion.
Fifty years afterwards an address issued by the vener-
able pioneers and Indian fighters, Kenton and Galloway,
to call their comrades together for the semi-centennial
celebration of theis occupation opposite the Licking, con-
tained these words :
We will no doubt all recollect Captain McCracken. He commanded
the company of light horse, and Green Clay was his lieutenant. The
captain was slightly wounded in the arm at Piqua town, when within a
few feet of one of the subscribers, from which place he was carried on a
horse litter for several days ; his wound produced mortification, and he
died in going down the hill where the city of Cincinnati now stands.
He was buried near the block-ho^se we had erected opposite the mouth
of Licking, and the breastworks were thrown over his grave to prevent
the savages from scalping him.
We have also the separate confirmatory testimony of
Major Galloway, who was of the party of 1782, and re-
sided long afterwards in Greene county. Ht was well
known to many old citizens of Cincinnati. In a letter
written to acknowledge the receipt of an invitation to at-
tend the fifty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Cin-
cinnati, in 1833, he says:
In October, 1782, I accompanied General Clark on an expedition
against Pickaway and Loramie's town, and was within a few feet of the
lamented William McCracken when he received the wound of which he
died on his return, while descending the hill near which Cincinnati now
stands, and was buried near a block-house opposite the mouth of
Licking.
These cumulative testimonies would seem to place the
question of a pre-Losantiville block-house here in 1782 be-
yond doubt or cavil. But if further testimony was needed,
it is supplied by Mr. McCaddon, the old resident of New-
ark before mentioned, who was vouched for by the editor
of the American Pioneer as "a man of sterling integrity."
He wrote a letter to thai: magazine May 16, 1842, in
which he gives some account of the second expedition
of General Clark against the Miami Indian towns, and
says:
At the place where Cincinnati now is, it was necessary to build a
block-house, for the purpose of leaving some stores and some wounded
men we got of McGary's company. I may therefore say that, although
I did not cut a tree or lift a log, I helped to build the first house ever
built on that ground, for I was at my post in guarding the artificers
who did the labor of building. When this was done we penetrated
into the interior in search of Indians.
Mr. McCaddon's letter has especial value, as showing
the immediate purpose of the block-house. It is to be
regretted that neither he nor either of the other eye-wit-
nesses of its construction gives any hints of its location
upon the terraces of Cincinnati, nor any intimation that
he saw vestiges of the block-houses of 1780, or even the
spots where they stood, which must, within little more
than two years after their erection, have been easily rec-
ognizable. It is not a pleasant thought, also, that the
grave of Captain William McCracken, the brave soldier
who died of his wounds while being borne in a rude lit-
ter over the height afterward known as Key's Hill, and
later Mount Auburn, has remained wholly unmarked and
unrecognizable for near a hundred years. Somewhere
along the river front of Cincinnati rest his bones ; unless,
indeed, they have been disturbed by the excavating and
unsparing hand of city improvement, .and thrown out
undistinguished from the Indian and Mound Builder re-
mains, which command simply the curiosity and specu-
lation of the antiquary. The concealment of his re-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
mains, to prevent their desecration by the ruthless toma-
hawk or scalping knife, no doubt aided in the consign-
ment to oblivion of the place of his sepulture. But it
is singular that the "breastworks" noted by General
Kenton as having been thrown over his grave were not
remarked by the first colonists here nor by the subse-
quent inquirers; since they must have been of a charac-
ter quite distinct from the remains of the Mound Build-
ers. They were probably but slight, and may soon have
become obliterated by the action of rain and flood.
Captain McCracken, wheff at this point bn his way
northward with the command, believed he had a clear
presentiment of approaching death in a remarkable
dream the night before he left the spot, and desired all
his associates who might be living fifty years from that
date, in case he should be killed on that expedition, to
meet at the same place, and celebrate their brief occupa-
tion as a mark of respect to his memory, and mark the
wonderful changes which would probably then have oc-
curred. It was agreed to by nearly all present; and an
attempt was made in 1832, as we have seen, to get -the
surviving comrades together for the celebration; but it
was the cholera year in Cincinnati and elsewhere in the
west, and only a few old men gathered, under circum-
stances of depression and sorrow, to honor the memory
of the departed soldier. They, however, banqueted at
one of the hotels, at the expense of the corporation, and
spent a few hours with interest in the interchange of
reminiscences and notes of more recent personal expe-
rience.
ANOTHER BRIEF MILITARY OCCUPATION
probably occurred somewhere upon or near the site of
Losantiville three years later — a very brief and unim-
portant one just here, but more prolonged and of con-
siderable consequence elsewhere within the bounds of
Hamilton county. As the story forms a very interesting
episode in pre-Losantiville annals, it may well be told
here, although most of it has little immediate relation to
the famous site opposite the mouth of the Licking.
In the early fall of 1785, General Richard Butler, of
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, one of the commissioners of the
United States Government (Generals Samuel H. Parsons
and George Rogers Clark being the others) appointed
to make treaties with the western and northern Indians,
left his home, under instructions to proceed to the Mi-
amis and negotiate a treaty there. He kept a full diary
of his journey, which has been preserved, and is thor-
oughly entertaining and valuable in all parts. He left
Carlisle in company with "the Hon. Colonel James
Monroe, a member of Congress from the State of Vir-
ginia, a gentleman very young for a place in that honor-
able body, but a man well-read, very sensible, highly im-
pressed with the consequence and dignity of the Federal
Union, and a determined supporter of it in its fullest lat-
itude." The world heard something more of this young
"Hon. Colonel" afterwards. He continued with the
general's party in the voyage down the Ohio until Lime-
stone was reached, where he obtained horses and went
to Lexington. They got on prosperously in the pleasant
autumn weather, and in due time neared the Miami
country. The following extracts are from General But-
ler's entries of Friday, October 21st:
Sailed at half-past two o'clock; passed the mouth of the little Mi-
amis at three o'clock. It is so low there was no water running [!];
above the sand-bank, which is off its mouth, the land is quick, and the
little water which issues from it passes through the sand. The bottoms,
both above and below, is very flat and low, and I think inundated with
small floods. About two miles below is a piece of high ground, which
I think will be the site of a town, as will be the case at the mouths of
all the principal rivers and creeks of this great country.
Below the mouth of this little river about two miles is a very large bank
of sand, at which Mr. Zane came in for people to bring in two deers.
Pushed on to the mouth of Licking creek, which is a pretty stream;
at the mouth, both above and below, is very fine bottoms. The bottom
below' the mouth [the site of Covington] seems highest and most fit to
build a town on; it is extensive, and whoever owns the bottoms should
own the hill also. Passed this at five o'clock; and encamped two miles
below on the north side [of course far within the present limits of Cin-
cinnati. This was the most distinguished company this locality had so
far had the honor to entertain.]
There is great plenty of limestone and coal appears on every strand
[what could the general have mistaken for coal here?]. Here is a very-
fine body of bottom land to a small creek four miles below Licking
creek. [This may have been Mill creek; but, if so, the general was far
out in his reckoning of distance. . If his measure is to be taken with
approximate exactness, the stream was of course Bold Face creek,
which enters the river at Sedamsville.]
A noteworthy bit of local tradition, relating to the
Kentucky side, comes here in Butler's journal:
I am informed that a Captain Bird [Colonel Byrd], of the British,
came in the year 1780 from Detroit, down the big Miamis, thence up
the Ohio to the mouth of Licking creek, thence up= it about fifty miles
with their boats. At this place they took their artillery, and cut a road
fifty miles into the country, where they attacked several places, and
took them; they then carried off the poor, distressed people with their
little ones to Detroit in triumph.
This was the expedition spoken of by Vickroy, of six
hundred Canadians and Indians, with six cannon, in the
summer of r78o, against RiiddelFs Station, below the.
mouth of Hinkston fork, on the south fork of the Lick-
ing. It was mainly remarkable for its approach to the
station, cutting its way through the dense woods for twelve
days, without the advance being noticed by the garrison.
The post was surrendered, on condition that the British
should protect the prisoners from the Indians, which
they were unable to do, as the savages, at once after
possession was given, rushed upon the hapless people,
and divided them as captives among themselves. So dis-
gusted was Colonel Byrd by their conduct that he refused
to move against Martin's Station, unless they would leave
all prisoners taken there to him. They agreed to this,
and for once kept their word, upon the surrender of the
station without resistance. It was intended also to at-
tack Bryant's Station and Lexington; but Byrd, who
seems to ha\ce been a humane and brave man, decided
to end the expedition without their capture. It was the
seizure of Riiddel's and Martin's Stations, however, with
the carrying of a large number of men, women and chil-
dren into Indian captivity, that prompted Clark's first
expedition against the Miami towns.
To return to General Butler's party. The banks of
the Licking were afterwards a favorite resort for the hunt-
ers of the party, to hunt buffalo. Further up the Ohio
an enormous beast of this kind had been killed. Gen-
eral Butler writes that its head weighed one hundred and
thirty-five pounds, that in life it must have stood over
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OIHO.
23
six feet high, and that its total weight was at least fifteen
hundred pounds.
The country between a point six miles below the Lick-
ing and the mouth of the Great Miami is thus described;
"On»mile from this is a bar of sand in the middle of
the river; the channel is on the north shore. Here are
the dreadful effects of a tornado on the hill ; on the north
side, from the top down, every tree and the surface of
the earth has been washed or blown off. On the south
shore there is about four acres of land, the timber of
which is totally blown down, which I think will be suffi-
cient for mills part of the season, as it comes out of a
hilly country; it has thrown out a great body of gravel,
etc., which forms a kind of Presque Isle, on the south
side of the river. . . Two miles below this
comes in a small creek, just above which is most excel-
lent land on the face of a beautiful hill. The river is
beyond description, deer and turkey sporting before and
on each side in great abundance — saw above twenty
deers before twelve o'clock. Put in to dine about eleven
o'clock about twelve miles below Licking creek.
"Sailed at half past one o'clock, the wind ahead.
Here is some very fine lands covered with pine, ash, and
other rich timber. Pushed on to the Great Miami, above
the mouth of which I ordered the whole to encamp
about five o'clock in the evening. I went out with Ma-
jor Finney to examine the ground for a post."
The general was instructed by a resolution of Congress
to plant a military station at any eligible point between
the Miami and Muskingum rivers; and although recom-
mended by General Clark, who was at a little fort a few
miles below, to select a site beyond the Great Miami, he
preferred to remain on the east side, in accordance with
his instructions, and chose a spot on the higher ground,
afterwards on the farm of the Hon. John Scott Harrison,
which was cleared, and the erection of four blockhouses
and a quadrangular work begun October 25, 1785.
Within three days two block-houses were "in a tolerable
state of defense, and a third well forward." The party,
and the troops with it, commanded by Major Finney and
Lieutenant Doyle, were subsisted mainly on bear's meat,
buffalo and other game October 30 one Captain John-
ston, a settler from below, proposed to have a road marked
from Lexington to the fort, which Generals Clark and
Butler warmly seconded. A store-house was presently
built for the goods brought to facilitate negotiations with
the Indians. Chimneys were built of stones picked up
in the neighborhood. November 13th General Parsons,
another of the commissioners for Indian affairs, arrived
from above, with a boat-load of salt provisions; and
there were several other arrivals the same day, of people
bound to the falls of the Ohio and other points.
The fort here erected was called "Fort Finney," in
honor of the gallant major who commanded the garrison.
The following description of it, by Judge Hall, though
probably colored somewhat, for his Romance of Western
History, is no doubt sufficiently near the facts to warrant
its quotation here:
In the eye of a military engineer the fort would hardly have deserved
that name, as it was a temporary structure, intended only to protect its
small garrison against a sudden attack by an Indian force. It was
composed of a series of log houses opening upon an interior area or
quadrangle, with a block house or citadel in the centre, while the outer
sides, closely connected, permit a square inclosure or rampart, without
apertures, except a single entrance and a few loop-holes from which to
discharge fire-arms. The whole presented the appearance of a single
edifice, receiving light from the centre and forming barracks for the gar-
rison, as well as breastworks against a foe. The forest was cleared
away for some hundreds of yards around, leaving an open vista ex-
tending to the water's edge, while a few acres enclosed in a rude fence
and planted with corn and garden vegetables, for the use of the soldiers,
exhibited the first rude attempt at agriculture in that wild and beautiful
region.
A council-house was put up to accommodate the
Indians, who gradually gathered in and about it; and,
while awaiting the arrival of others to hold a pow-wow
over the proposed treaty, and being supplied with rum
and whiskey by the commissioners, they soon became
drunken and troublesome, and importunate in their
demands. Finally, by the last of January, after a great
deal of difficulty, the representatives of various tribes
were got together at the fort, in numbers reported by
General Butler as forty-seven Delawares, eighty-three
Wyandots, and three hundred and eighteen Shawnees, .
four hundred and forty-eight in all, counting all ages and
sexes. It was a large number to be dependent mainly
on the supplies of the Government. No Wabash Indians
were present, on account of hostility inspired by the
British. The American traders and the Kentucky peo-
ple, strange to say, seemed also opposed to a treaty, and
did what they could to prevent it. Those Indians who
came were in bad temper, and at times haughty and dis-
respectful. Out of an incident arising from this spirit
Judge Hall, the voluminous and entertaining writer,
formerly of Hamilton county, has woven a romantic
story, which is thus prettily told in a chapter of his
Romance of Western History, entitled, The War Belt:
A Legend of North Bend:
An apartment in the fort was prepared as a council-room, and at
the appointed hour the doors were thrown open. At the head of the
table sat Clark, a soldier-like and majestic man, whose complexion,
eyes, and hair all indicated a sanguine and mercurial temperament.
The brow was high and capacious, the features were prominent and
manly, and the expression, which was keen, reflective, and ordinarily
cheerful and agreeable, was bow grave almost to sternness.
The Indians, being a military people, have a deep respect for martial
virtue. To other estimable or shining qualities they turn a careless eye
or pay at best but a passing tribute, while they bow in profound venera-
tion before a successful warrior. The name of Clark was familiar to
them : several brilliant expeditions into their country had spread the
terror of his arms throughout their villages and carried the fame of his
exploits to every council-fire in the west. Their high appreciation of
his character was exemplified in a striking as well as an amusing manner
on another occasion, when a council was held with several tribes. The
celebrated Delaware chief, Buckinghelas, on entering the council-room,
without noticing any other person, walked up to Clark, and as he shook
hands cordially with him exclaimed, " It is a happy day when two such
men as Colonel Clark and Buckinghelas meet together."
Such was the remarkable man who now presided at the council-table.
On his right hand sat Colonel Richard Butler, a brave officer of the
Revolution, who soon after fell, with the rank of brigadier general, in
the disastrous campaign of St. Clair. On the other side was Samuel
H. Parsons, a lawyer from New England, who afterwards became a
judge in the Northwestei n Territory. At the same table sat the secre-
taries, while the interpreters, several officers, and a few soldiers, sat
around.
An Indian council is one of the most imposing spectacles in savage
life. It is one of the few occasions in which the warrior exercises his
right of suffrage, his influence and his talents, in a civil capacity ; and
24
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
the meeting is conducted with all the gravity and all the ceremonious
ostentation with which it is possible to invest it. The matter to he con-
sidered, as well as all the details, are well digested beforehand, so that
the utmost decorum shall prevail and the decision be unanimous. The
chiefs and sages, the leaders and orators, occupy the most conspicuous
seats ; behind them are arranged the younger braves, and still further
in the rear appear the women and youth, as spectators. All are equally
attentive. A dead silence reigns throughout the assemblage. The
great pipe, gaudily adorned with paint and feathers, is lighted and
passed from mouth to mouth, commencing with the chief highest in
rank, and proceeding, by regular gradations, to the inferior order of
braves. If two or three nations be represented, the pipe is passed from
one party to the other, and salutations are courteously exchanged, be-
fore the business of the council is opened by the respective speakers.
Whatever jealousy or party spirit may exist in the tribe, it is carefully
excluded from this dignified assemblage, whose orderly conduct and
close attention to the proper subject before them might be imitated with
profit by some of the most enlightened bodies in Christendom.
It was an alarming evidence of the temper now prevailing among
them and of the brooding storm that filled their minds, that no pro-
priety of demeanor marked the entrance of the savages into the coun-
cil-room. The usual formalities were forgotten or purposely dispensed
with, and an insulting levity substituted in their place. The chiefs and
braves stalked in with an appearance of light regard, and seated them-
selves promiscuously on the floor, in front of the commissioners. An
air of insolence marked all their movements, and showed an intention
to dictate terms or to fix a quarrel upon the Americans.
A dead silence rested over the group; it was the silence of dread, dis-
trust, and watchfulness, not of respect. The eyes of the savage band
gloated upon the banquet of blood that seemed already spread out be-
fore them ; the pillage of the fort and the bleeding scalps of the Ameri-
cans were almost within their grasp; while that gallant little band saw
the portentous nature of the crisis and stood ready to sell their lives
as dearly as possible. *
The commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the
other party or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery,
opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace-pipe, and,
after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it.
Colonel Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty
was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accus-
tomed to command, and the easy assurance of perfect security and
self-possession, he stated that the commissioners had been sent to offer
peace to the Shawanoes; that the President had no wish to continue
the war; he had no resentment to gratify ; and that, if the red men de-
sired peace, they could have it on liberal terms. "If such be the will
of the Shawanoes," he concluded, "let some of their wise men speak."
A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and assum-
ing a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the com-
missioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insignificance,
in comparison with his own numerous train, and then, stalking up to
the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum of different colors — the
war and the peace belt.
The chiefs drew themselves up, in the consciousness of having
hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They had offered an
insult to the renowned leader of the Long Knives, to which they knew
it would be hard for him to submit, while'they did not suppose he would
dare to resent it. The council-pipe was laid aside, and those fierce,
wild men gazed intently on Clark. The Americans saw that the crisis
had arrived; they could no longer doubt that the Indians understood
the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it; and a com-
mon sense of danger caused each eye to be turned on the leading com-
missioner. He sat undisturbed, and apparently careless, until the chief
who had thrown the belts on the table had taken his seat; then, with a
small cane which he heldin his hand, he reached as if playfully towards
the war-belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it towards him,
and then, with a twitch of the cane, threw the belt into the midst of the
chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in council, of each party,
sprang to his feet; the savages with a loud exclamation of astonishment,
"Hugh!" the Americans in expectation of a hopeless conflict against
overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon.
Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance
changed to a ferocious sternness, and his eye flashed; but otherwise he
was unmoved. A bitter smile was slightly perceptible upon his com-
pressed lips, as he gazed upon that savage band, whose hundred eyes
were bent fiercely and in horrid exultation upon him, as they stood like
a pack of wolves at bay, thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon
him whenever one bolder than the rest should commence the attack,
It was one of those moments of indecision when the slightest weight
thrown into either scale will make it preponderate; a moment in which
a bold man, conversant with the secret springs of human action, may
seize upon the minds of all around him and sway them at his will.
Such a man .was the intrepid Virginian. He spoke, and there was no
man bold enough to gainsay him — none that could return 4he fierce
glance of his eye. Raising his arm, and waving his hand towards the
door, he exclaimed; ' Dogs/ you may go I' The Indians hesitated for
a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room.
The decision of Clark on that occasion saved himself and his com-
panions from' massacre. The plan of the savages had been artfully
laid; he had read it in their features and conduct, as plainly as if it had
been written upon a scroll before him. He met it in a manner which
was unexpected; the crisis was brought on sooner than was intended;
and upon a principle similar to that by which, when a line of battle is
broken, the dismayed troops fly before order can be restored, the new
and sudden turn given to these proceedings by the energy of Clark con-
founded the Indians, and before the broken thread of their scheme of
tieachery could be reunited, they were panic-struck. They had come
prepared to browbeat, to humble, and then to destroy; they looked for
remonstrance and altercation ; for the luxury of drawing the toils gradu-
ally around their victims; of beholding their agony and degradation,
and of bringing on the final catastrophe by an appointed signal, when
the scheme should be ripe. They expected to see, on our part, great
caution, a skillful playing-off, and an unwillingness to take offence,
which were to be gradually goaded into alarm, irritation and submis-
sion. The cool contempt with which their first insult was thrown back
in their teeth, surprised them, and they were foiled by the self-posses-
sion of one man. They had no Tecumthe among them, no master-
spirit to change the plan, so as to adapt it to a new exigency; and
those braves who, in many a battle, had shown themselves to be men of
true valor, quailed before the moral superiority which assumed the
vantage-ground of a position they could not comprehend, and there-
fore feared to assail.
This is a very neat romance, but unhappily it is not
historic truth. Judge Hall doubtless based his account
upon the narrative of the event in the old Encyclopaedia
Americana, which in turn rests upon the notes of an old
officer, who is said to have been present. These, how-
ever, simply say that the Indian spokesman, "a tall, raw-
boned fellow, with an impudent and villainous look,'7
presented "a black and white wampum, to signify they
were prepared for either event, peace or war. Clark ex-
hibited the same unaltered and careless countenance he
had shown during the whole scene, his head leaning on
his left hand and his elbow resting upon the table. He
raised his little cane and pushed the sacred wampum off
the table, with very little ceremony.''
Another officer who was in the garrison of Fort Finney
at this time, but who may not have been in the council-
room on this occasion, gives in his diary a slightly differ-
ent narrative. This was Ensign (afterwards Major) Ebe-
nezer Denny, whose military journal was published by
the Historical society of Pennsylvania in i860. He re-
cords, under date of January 27, 1786:
Shawnees met in council house. . . The Ohio river they
would agree to, nothing short ; and offered a mixed belt, indicating
peace or war. None touched the belt— it was laid on the table ; Gen-
eral Clark, with his cane, pushed it off and set his foot on it. Indians
very sullen. . . Council broke up hastily. Some commotion
among the Shawnees. Returned same afternoon and begged another
meeting, when their old king, Molunthy, rose and made a short speech,
presented a white string, doing away all that their chief warrior had
said, prayed that we would have pity on women and children.
This account is repeated- in most particulars by the re-
port made by Ensign Denny to Colonel Harmar ten days
afterwards; though in this he says nothing of Clark's con-
nection with the incident. He writes in a long letter
under date of February 8th :
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
25
The commissioners did not attempt to touch the string which was
given, and without rising determined on an answer. . . Coun-
cil was not broke up more than fifteen minutes when a message came
for the commissioners. After they had assembled, the chief took a
white string and destroyed the whole of his former speech.
The exact truth is undoubtedly told in the journal of
General Butler, who was really the chief personage in
these transactions. It is a simple, straightforward, sol-
dierly account, bearing every aspect of truth. According
to this, after a rather defiant speech by Kekewepelletry,
refusing hostages and other demands of the commission:
ers, he closed by throwing upon the table a black string
of wampum. The commissioners then held a confer-
ence, and Butler stepped forward to reply, which he did
at some length, concluding as follows :
We plainly tell you that this country belongs to the United States —
their blood hath defended it, and will forever protect it. Their propo-
sals are liberal and just ; and you, instead of acting as you have done,
and instead of persisting in your folly, should be thankful for the for-
giveness and the offers of kindness of the United States, instead of the
sentiments which this string imparts and the manner in which you
have delivered it. (I then took it up and dashed it on the table. ) We
therefore leave you to consider of what hath been said, and to determine
as you please.
No such dramatic scene as the eulogists of General
Clark have depicted appears to have occurred. The In-
dians were, however, brought to terms only with difficulty,
and after much negotiation and many presents; but at
length, on the second of February, 1786, a treaty was
signed which compelled the Shawnee Indians to acknowl-
edge the supremacy of the United States over all the ter-
ritory ceded by England at the close of the Revolution,
allotted and defined the reservation of the Shawnees,
and provided for hostages and the return of white cap-
tives. Two whites named Pipe and Fox, and a little boy,
were given up, and six young men of the Indians were
left as hostages for the punctual fulfillment of the treaty.
croghan's visit.
The whites, however, as is well known to students of
local history, were on the river and casually at this point
many years before the military and diplomatic expedi-
tions whose story is told.
In 1765 Colonel George Croghan came down the Ohio
on an errand to Vincennes and Detroit, as commissioner
for Sir William Johnson, to visit the French inhabitants
at those points, and enlist their sympathies in behalf of
the English, in the hope of obviating further Indian
wars. He left an interesting journal of his voyage. Set-
ting off from Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) on the fifteenth of
May, in that year, with two batteaux and a considerable
party of white men and Indians, he in a few days reached
the region and made the following entries in his record.
29th. We came to the Little Miame river, having proceeded sixty
miles last night.
30th. We passed the great Miame river about thirty miles from the
little river of that name, and in the evening arrived at the place where
the Elephant's bones are found [Big Bone lick], where we encamped,
intending to take a view of the place next morning. This day we
came about seventy miles. The country on both sides level, and rich
bottoms well watered.
In penning the last remark Croghan had doubtless in
mind a lively recollection of the broad, beautiful Cincin-
nati basin which he had that day passed. He was taken
by the Indians nine days after the last entry cited, and
carried by them to Vincennes.
SETTLEMENTS AND INCIDENTS.
Some years after this, it is related that three brothers,
James, George and John Medfee, of Botetourt county,
Virginia, set their longing eyes upon the Miami country,
intending, if they found it as desirable in all important
respects as was described to them, to settle the wild but
very hopeful tract of which they had heard, opposite the
mouth of the Licking — otherwise they would go on to
the settlements on the Salt river, in Kentucky, where
they had acquaintances from the Old Dominion. About
the beginning of June, 1773, they set out for the wilder-
ness west. Procuring canoes at the Kanawha, they
floated down that stream with considerable velocity by
reason of an enormous freshet — twelve feet, as the tradi-
tions relate, above the great inundations of 1832 and
1847. It is supposed that it was this flood the height of
which was marked, by these visitors or the Indians, upon
a tree standing below Fort Washington, and which was
pointed out by the latter as indicating the reach of the
greatest height of the river they had known, either by
personal experience or by tradition. Rushing out from
the Kenawha upon the broad bosom of the Ohio, they
were borne rapidly down that also. The mighty valley
of the Beautiful River was full, almost from bluff to bluff;
and when they arrived at the site of the future Losanti-
ville and Cincinnati scarcely any tracts were in sight,
below the heights, except water lots. Dismayed with
the appearance of things, and not having the patience
to wait for a more favorable season, they pushed on
to their Kentucky friends, and, after a brief visit to their
homes in Virginia, settled in the former State and became
the heads of prominent Kentucky families. Such was
the first abortive attempt at colonizing the Miami coun-
try that is on record.
In 1780, the father of General William Lytle — who
(the general) became afterwards a citizen of Williams-
burgh and then of Cincinnati, lived here in very honor-
able prominence for many years, and died in this city
March 8, 1 831— came down the river with the largest
fleet of boats and company of immigrants that had been
known to that time. It comprised sixty-three of the
primitive craft then navigating the Ohio, conveying a
number of men capable of bearing arms said to have
been equal to one thousand, besides their women and
children. About ten o'clock in the forenoon of the
twelfth of April, the occupants of the boats which were
leading espied an encampment of Indians on the north
side of the stream, opposite the debouchure of the Lick-
ing. Intelligence of danger was at once conveyed back
to the fleet, and three large boats were directed to land
above the camp, in a concerted order. Half the fighting
men were to leap ashore the moment the boats should
touch; and, stopping only to form in .column, they
charged the Indian village. The latter, however, in
number variously estimated at one hundred and fifty to
five hundred, did not wait for actual contact with their
enemies, but incontinently fled, in their haste and disor-
26
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
der abandoning many of their poor valuables. They
were pursued to Mill creek and up the valley to a point
beyond the present locality of Cumminsville. Several
Indians were mounted, and got away easily; the others
were suffered to escape. The whites returned to their
boats, and moved on to the mouth of Beargrass creek,
now Louisville, where their projected settlement was
effected.
The relation of Mr. John McCaddon, afterwards a res-
ident of Newark, in this State, avers that he sailed down
the Ohio in May of the same year, and afterwards, at
Louisville, joined the expedition of George Rogers
Clark against the Shawnees. Below the site of Cincin-
nati a detachment of their force, which had chosen to
march on the north side of the river, on account, they
said, of more abundant game, while the main body kept
to the Kentucky shore, became alarmed at the fresh
signs of Indians, and took to their boats, intending to
cross the river and rejoin their fellows, who had kept
abreast of them. They had, however, got but a few
yards from the bank when they were -fired upon and
thrown into confusion by a party of Indians ; but before
they reached the shore they heard the "scalp halloo''
from the top of the hill, and knew that the Indians
were in full retreat. It is probable that the wounded
men of McGary's company, mentioned by Mr. McCad-
don in his letter concerning the block-house, were hurt
in this affair, since it was his command that was thus
attacked.
In 1785, a party which included William West, John
Simons, John Seft, a Mr. Carlin, and their families, also
John Hurdman, all of Washington county, Pennsylvania,
visited this region with a view to settlement. Passing
the site of the Queen City to be, they landed at the
mouth of the Great Miami, it is thought in April, and
explored its valley as far as the subsequent site of Ham-
ilton. They made improvements at sundry points where
they found bottom lands finer than the rest; but do not
appear to have remained permanently in the country.
In the fall Hurdman came down the river, and found at
its mouth Generals Clark, Butler, and Parsons, with Ma-
jor Finney and his soldiers, about to construct the fort
and make a treaty with the Indians. Almost the only
matter which connects him or this incident closely with
the history of Cincinnati is the, fact that he was with the
party of Symmes, three years afterwards, when there
wandered away to his death John Filson, one of the pro-
prietors of Losantiville.
In September of 1788 five gentlemen, from a station
near Georgetown, Kentucky, came in two canoes to the
mouth of Deer creek, up the bank of which they pro-
ceeded on foot about one hundred and fifty yards, when
they were fired upon by a concealed savage, and one of
them, named Baxter, was killed. He was buried at a
spot just below the mouth of the creek, where, many
years afterwards, a skeleton was found by a party of boys,
the skull of which had a bullet rattling inside of it. It
is some satisfaction to record that the Indian who shot
poor Baxter was pursued by the rest of the party and
brought down.
"MIAMI."
The last mention of the Cincinnati region by a geo-
graphical designation, before the incoming of Denman's
colony, was doubtless by Judge Symmes, in his letter to
Dayton, from Limestone (Maysville), October 12, 1788,
referring to the unlucky expedition in which Filson was
lost. The judge says: "On the twenty-second ult. I
landed at Miami, and explored the country as high as
the upper side of the fifth range of townships." The
point at which he stepped ashore, and to which he casually
and temporarily gave the general name of the region, was
undoubtedly the Losantiville site, since here he met the
party of Kentuckians, led by Patterson and Filson, who,
in accordance with the public notice about to be set out in
full in the next chapter, had "blazed" a road through the
deep woods between Lexington and this place. They
made up the major part of the escort which accompanied
Symmes in the exploration that immediately followed into
the interior.
CHAPTER V.
LOSANTIVILLE.
By this time the reader who has followed patiently the
pages of this volume will have no difficulty in under-
standing the considerations that probably determined the
settlement of Losantiville. Probably no intelligent trav-
eller had ever passed down the Ohio without noting the
eligibility of this beautiful and otherwise singularly fa-
vored spot as the site of a settlement which might be-
come a great city. The Mound Builder and the Indian ,
had, each in his own time, realized its advantages of
residence in clusters of homes; and very early the adven-
turous and speculative white man, as we have seen,
turned with longing, eager eyes to the fertile tract oppo-
site the mouth of the Licking, as the most hopeful spot
spot in all the Miami country whereon to plant a colony.
Mr. James Parton, in his article on Cincinnati in the
Atlantic Monthly for June, i867,8suggests that the loca-
tion of the place was determined^ by considerations of
safety, as this point was the best in this region for the
posting of a garrison. He also calls attention to the
facts that this is the only site on the Ohio river where
one hundred thousand people could live together with-
out being compelled to climb very high and steep hills,
and that it is also about midway between the source and
the mouth of the river^-that is, near the centre of the
great valley of the OhioA
Be these things as t\wy may — whether such thoughts
entered the minds of the founders of Losantiville or not
— it is certain that almost as soon as the proposal for the
Miami Purchase had been mooted, long before Judge
Symmes or the ostensible proprietors of the village were
able to give valid title deeds, the conditional purchase of
the tract " upon which the town was laid out had been
made, and the site had been surveyed and settled. The
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
27
men whose names, in the first instance, must forever be
identified with the initial steps of this enterprise, which
has eventuated in such wonderful results as are to be
seen in the present city on the shore, were Matthias
Denman, Colonel Robert Patterson, John Filson and
Israel Ludlow.
DENMAN.
Of him, the original hero of the Losantiville venture,
least of all is known. He was, like Symmes, Dayton
and others of the company making the famous purchase
between the Miamis, a Jerseyman, residing at Spring-
field, Essex county, in that State, to which he returned,
and where he remained so late as 1830, at least, after his
colony had been firmly planted upon the tract he bought
from Symmes. He was in that year visited in his home
at Springfield by the father of Mr. Francis W. Miller,
author of Cincinnati's Beginnings. That he was a man
of some intelligence, enterprise and energy, may be in-
ferred from the incidents of his connection with this en-
terprise in the then wilderness west; but we do not learn
that he attained to any special distinction in his own
State, or even where he was born or when he died.
PATTERSON.
Colonel Robert Patterson, a leading spirit in the pro-
jecting and founding of Losantiville, was a native of
Pennsylvania, born near Cove mountain, March 15,
1753, of Irish stock, at least on his father's side. At
twenty-one years of age he served six months on the
frontiers of that State defending it against Indian incur-
sions. The same year (1774) he and six other young
adventurers, with John McLelland and family, made their
way to the Royal spring, near Georgetown, Kentucky,
where they lived until April, 1776, when they removed
to the subsequent site of Lexington. Patterson, how-
ever, a few months afterwards assisted in the defence of
McLelland's station, at Royal spring, when attacked by
Indians; and was severely wounded by the savages in a
night attack upon his party, while on their way to Pitts-
burgh shortly after, to procure necessaries, and was under
a surgeon's care for a year. In April, 1778, at Pittsburgh,
he joined the expedition of Colonel George Rogers Clark
against the Illinois country, returning to Kentucky in
September, and settling at Harrodsburgh. Early the
next year, being then an ensign in the Kentucky militia,
he proceeded under orders, with twenty-five men, to his
former residence north of the Kentucky river, built and
garrisoned a fort, and in April laid off the town of Lex-
ington. In May he participated in the movement of
Colonel Bowman against the Shawnee towns on the Little
Miami, and then, probably, for the first time, passed over
the wilderness tract that marked the future seat of the
Queen City. In August, 1780, he was again here, with
the expedition under Colonel Clark against the Indian
towns on the Little Miami and Mad rivers; and once
more, in the latter part of September, 1782, when Clark
marched on his campaign of destruction between the
Miamis, to avenge the defeat of the whites at the Lower
Blue Licks in August — in which Patterson, now colonel
and second in command to Boone, had a very narrow
escape from capture. He must thus have come to know
well the advantages of the site opposite the mouth of the
Licking, years before the arrangement with Denman arid
Filson was made. In T786, Colonel Patterson seems to
have made his last visit here, in another expedition against
the Shawnees, under General Logan (in which he was
badly wounded), before he came with the party in Sep-
tember, 1788, to "blaze" a road from Lexington to the
mouth of the Licking, in preparation for the settlement
of Losantiville. As is well known, he never resided per-
manently with his colony here; but returned to Lexing-
ton after a month's stay. In 1804 he removed from that
place to a farm near Dayton, in this State, where he sur-
vived until August 5, 1827, dying there and then at the
advanced age of seventy-four years. Says the author of
Ranck's History of Lexington:
In person Colonel Patterson was tall and handsome. He was gifted
with a fine mind, but, like Boone, Kenton, and many others of his
simple hunter and pioneer companions, was indulgent and negligent in
business matters, and, like them, lost most of his extensive landed prop-
erty by shrewder rascals.
FILSON.
John Filson was a Kentucky schoolmaster and sur-
veyor (although he says in the preface to his book, "I
am not an inhabitant of Kentucky"), of some literary
ability, as is evinced by the articles appended to A Topo-
graphical Description of the Western Territory of North
America, by George Imlay, a captain in the continental
army during the Revolution, and afterwards several years
in Kentucky as a self-styled "commissioner for laying out
lands in the back settlements." His work was published
in London in three editions, 1792-7; and the appendix
contains the following entitled articles, "by John Filson,"
one of our Losantiville projectors:
1. The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucky, and
an Essay towards the Topography and Natural History of that Impor-
tant Country.
2. The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone, one of the First Set-
tlers, comprehending every Important Occurrence in the Political His-
tory of that Province.
3. The Minutes of the Piankashaw Council, held at Port St. Vin-
cents, April 15, 1784.
4. An Account of the Indian Nations inhabiting within the limits of
the Thirteen United States, their Manners and Customs, and Reflec-
tions on their Origin.
Filson had already published, in 1784, at Wilmington,
Delaware, in an octavo volume of one hundred and
eighteen pages, the papers named in the first two titles;
and they, with three others, were republished in New
York in 1793, as a supplement to an American edition of
Imlay's book, and all attributed to Filson. They include
a report of the Secretary of State (Jefferson) to the Pres-
ident of the United States (Washington), on the quantity
and situation of unsold public lands; also Thoughts on
Emigration, to which are added Miscellaneous Observa-
tions relating to the United States, and a short account
of the State of Kentucky — the whole making up a unique
and in some respects valuable book. Filson was thus the
first to publish a History of Kentucky.
His Adventures of Boone appears to have been written
at the dictation of Boone himself, Filson supplying merely
the phraseology, with perhaps an occasional reflection.
The following document, signed by Boone and others,
28
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
is printed as an endorsement and advertisement in Fil-
son's work on Kentucky:
Advertisement.— We, the subscribers, inhabitants of Kentucky,
and well acquainted with the country from its first settlement, at the
request of the author of this book have carefully revised it, and recom-
mend it to the public as an exceeding good performance, containing as
accurate a description of our country as we think can possibly be given,
much preferable to any in our knowledge extant; and think it will be
of great utility to the public. Witness our hands this twelfth of May,
Anno Domini 1784.
Daniel Boone,
Levi Todd,
James Harrod.
Part of Filson's preface is as follows :
When I visited Kentucky, I found it so far to exceed my expecta-
tions, though great, that I concluded it was a pity that the world has not
adequate information of it. I conceived that a proper description of it
was an object highly interesting to the United States; and, therefore,
incredible as it may appear to some, I must declare that this perform-
ance is not published from lucrative motives, but solely to inform the
world of the happy climate and plentiful soil of this favored region.
And I imagine the reader will believe me the more easily when I inform
him that I am not an inhabitant of Kentucky, but having been there
some time, by my acquaintance in it am sufficiently able to publish the
truth, and from principle have cautiously endeavored to avoid every
species of falsehood. The consciousness of this encourages me to hope
for the public candour, where errors may possibly be found.
Filson receives the following notice in Collins' History
of Kentucky:
The second teacher [in Fayette county] was John Filson, in or before
1784; adventurer, surveyor, fanciful writer of the autobiography of
Daniel Boone, and author of the first printed book about Kentucky —
first published in 1784 in Wilmington, Delaware; in 1785 translated
into French and published in Paris, France; in 1792, 1793, and 1797,
thrice republished in London, with additions by Gilbert Imlay, a sur-
veyor of Jefferson county, Kentucky, to satisfy the cravings of restless
minds in England for information about the newest part of the Old
World. [Mr. Collins had apparently not heard of the New York edition.]
He was one of the original proprietors, drafted the first plan, and
coined the pedagogical name of the projected town of Losantiville, etc.
In a subsequent part of this history, Judge Collins
says:
His fanciful name for the intended town was adopted — Losantiville,
which he designed to mean "the village opposite the mouth," Le-os-
ante-ville, but which more really signifies, ' ' the mouth opposite the
village," — who, or what induced the change from such a pedagogical
and nonsensical a name to the euphonious one of Cincinnati is un-
known [ ! ] ; but in the name of the millions of people who live in or
within reach of it, or visit it or do business with it, we now thank the
man and the opportunity. The invention of such a- name was posi-
tively cruel in Mr. Filson; we hope it had no connection with his early
death. Perhaps that is reason enough why no street in Cincinnati is
named after him.
Judge Collins seems also not to have heard that Plum
street, in this city, is designated as "Filson street" upon
Joel Williams' plat of the original town site, to be seen
in the books of the recorder's office. Certainly, to the
honor of the real founders and pioneers of Losantiville,
the people of Cincinnati have not been neglectful in the
matter of street names. There is a Ludlow street, a
Ludlow avenue, and a Ludlow alley; Patterson has two
streets, and Denman two; McMillan has an avenue; Bur-
net both street and avenue; while St. Clair, Gano, and
many other early names, have not been forgotten in the
street nomenclature. It is true, however, that the mem-
ory of Filson has not yet thus been permanently honored.
According to Collins, when Denman visited Lexing-
ton in the summer of 1788, he saw "the double power"
of Filson as a surveyor and writer, and enlisted him in
the venture with himself and Patterson, on the north side
of the Ohio.
Mr. George W. Ranck's history of Lexington notes of
Filson that he "was an early adventurer with Daniel
Boone, and after the discoverer of Kentucky returned to
Lexington in October [1784], from the Chillicothe towns,
Filson wrote, at his dictation, the only narrative of his
life extant from the pioneer's own lips. This narrative
was endorsed at the time by James Harrod, Levi Todd,
and Boone himself. Filson taught in Lexington for sev-
eral years, and did no little to secure the early organiza-
tion of Transylvania seminary."
Filson, it will be remembered, was killed by the In-
dians in the Miami country, before the location was made
at Losantiville. The circumstances of his death are nar-
rated in chapter V, Part I, of this work.
Professor W. H. Venable, one of the latest and best of
Cincinnati's songsters, thus, in his June on the Miami
and other Poems, sings of our hero :
John Filson was a pedagogue —
A pioneer was he;
I know not what his nation was
Nor what his pedigree.
Tradition's scanty records tell
But little of the man,
Save that he to the frontier came
In immigration's van.
Perhaps with phantoms of reform
His busy fancy teemed,
Perhaps of new Utopias
Hesperian he dreamed.
John Filson and companions bold
A frontier village planned
In forest wild, on sloping hills,
By fair Ohio's strand.
John Filson from three languages
With pedant skill did frame
The novel word Losantiville,
To be the new town's name.
Said Filson: "Comrades, hear my words;
Ere three-score years have flown
Our town will be a city vast."
Loud laughed Bob Patterson.
Still John exclaimed, with prophet-tongue,
" A city fair and proud,
The Queen of Cities in the West."
Mat Denman laughed aloud.
Deep in the wild and solemn woods,
Unknown to white man's track,
John Filson went one autumn day,
But nevermore came back.
He struggled through the solitude
The inland to explore,
. And with romantic pleasure traced
Miami's winding shore.
Across his path the startled deer
Bounds to its shelter green;
He enters every lonely vale
And cavernous ravine.
Too soon the murky twilight comes,
The night-wind 'gins to moan ;
Bewildered wanders Filson, lost,
Exhausted and alone.
By lurking foes his steps are dogged,
A yell his ear appalls 1
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
29
A ghastly corpse upon the ground,
A murdered man he falls.
The Indian, with instinctive hate,
In him a herald saw
Of coming hosts of pioneers,
The friends of light and law ;
In him beheld the champion
Of industries and arts.
The founder of encroaching roads
And great commercial marts;
The spoiler of the hunting-ground,
The plower of the sod,
The builder of the Christian school
And of the house of God.
And so the vengeful tomahawk
John Filson's blood did spill, —
The spirit of the pedagogue
No tomahawk could kill.
John Filson had no sepulchre,
Except the wildwood dim ;
The mournful voices of the air
Made requiem for him.
The druid trees their waving arms
Uplifted o'er his head;
The moon a pallid veil of light
Upon his visage spread.
The rain and sun of many years
Have worn his bones away,
And what he vaguely prophesied
We realize to-day.
Losantiville the prophet's word,
The poet's hope fulfils—
She sits a stately Queen to-day
Amid her royal hills!
Then come, ye pedagogues, and join
To sing a grateful lay
For him, the martyr pioneer,
Who led for you the way.
And may my simple ballad be
A monument to save
His name from blank oblivion
Who never had a grave.
LUDLOW.
Colonel Israel Ludlow, the successor of John Filson
as the holder of a third interest in the site of Cincinnati,
was born upon the Little Head farm, near Morristown,
New Jersey, in 1765. In his early twenties he came to
the valley of the Ohio", to exercise his talents as a practi-
cal surveyor, and was here appointed by the geographer
of the United States, to survey the Miami Purchase and
that of the Ohio company, which he mainly accom-
plished by the spring of 1792, in the face of many diffi-
. culties and dangers, being generally without any escort
of troops, in a country swarming with Indians. Taking
the interest of Filson in the Losantiville venture after
the death of the latter, he became the surveyor of the
town site and the principal agent in disposing of the
lots. After the treaty of Greenville he was employed by
the Government to run the boundary lines for the Indian
country established by treaty, and successfully completed
the work, though amid many perils, and sometimes in
imminent danger of starvation. He was the only one
of the original proprietors who fixed his home at or near
Cincinnati, establishing in 1790 Ludlow Station as a cit-
adel of defence against the savages upon a spot within
the present limits of Cumminsville, the block-house
standing at the intersection of Knowlton street with the
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. It is claimed
by his biographers (see Biographical Encyclopedia of
Ohio, etc.,) that he gave the name to Cincinnati, in
honor of the society of which his father, Commodore
Ludlow, was a member. December 12, 1794, he laid
out the town of Hamilton as a proprietor; and in No-
vember of the next year, in union with Governor St.
Clair, Hon. Jonathan Dayton, and William McMillan,
he planted the town of Dayton. November n, 1796,
he was married to Charlotte Chambers, of Chambers-
burgh, Pennsylvania, a quite extraordinary woman, who is
made the subject of a beautiful biography by one of her
grandsons. He died at home in January, 1804, after but
four days' illness, and was buried in the graveyard adjoin-
ing the First Presbyterian church, Cincinnati, in . the
front wall of which was afterward fixed a tablet in honor
to his memory. He was buried with Masonic honors,
and an oration was pronounced upon the occasion by
Judge Symmes.
THE PRELIMINARIES.
Denman, as a Jerseyman and perhaps a member of
the East Jersey company, was early cognizant of the proj-
ect of Symmes and his associates to secure the Miami
Purchase; and in January, 1788, he located, among
other tracts, the entire section eighteen and the frac-'
tional section seventeen, lying between the former sec-
tion and the river, upon which Losantiville was founded in
the closing days of the same year. The present boun-
daries of the tract are Liberty street on the north, the
Ohio river on the south, an east line from the Mount
Auburn water works to the river a few feet below Broad-
way, and a west line from a point a very little east of the
intersection of Central avenue and Liberty street to the
river just below the gas works.
The agreed price was the same as the company was to
pay the Government — five shillings per acre, or sixty-six
and two-thirds cents; which for the seven hundred and
forty acres of the tract paid for would have amounted to
four hundred and ninety-three dollars and thirty-three
cents. (This does not include sixty acres which were in
dispute — the entire tract, as finally surveyed, containing
eight hundred acres — and which Symmes claimed were
not paid for.) But the purchase money, it is said, was
paid in Continental certificates, then worth only five shil-
lings on the pound, but turned into the treasury of the
company at par; so that the actual cost of the entry to
Denman, under this arrangement, was a little less than
one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Some conjectures
have been made that the entire eight hundred acres, now
comprising by far the most valuable property in the city,
did not cost Denman more than fifty dollars. Jonathan
Dayton, one of the company, seems to have been fearful
of the negotiation with Denman; for, after Symmes had
gone out to the Purchase, he urged him by letter not to
allow the "Losantiville section" to be covered by any
warrant, except one bought from Symmes or from Day-
ton as his agent, for six shillings threepence, or seven
30
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
shillings sixpence, to aid in making the second payment
on the purchase. As a matter of fact, the section eigh-
teen was not covered by one of Symmes' warrants until
May, 1790, and the fractional section not until April of
the next year; and the old belief was that Denman se-
cured both at a very low rate — for a mere song, as we
should say now.
denman's movements.
In the summer of 1788 Mr. Denman found his way
westward, and made a personal visit to his purchase op-
posite the mouth of the Licking, being thereby confirmed
in his previous intentions of founding a station and ferry
there, and leading a colony to the spot. On his way
back he stopped at Limestone, and is said there to have
fallen in with Colonel Patterson, and soon afterwards, at
Lexington, with the schoolmaster Filson. Broaching his
project to them, he found them eager listeners, and pres-
ently agreed to take them into joint partnership with him.
In this arrangement Denman appears to have undertaken
the chief conduct of the business, while Filson was to do
the surveying and staking off of the tract and superintend
the sales of lots, and Patterson was to be the main agent
in obtaining purchasers and settlers. Denman was un-
derstood to be responsible for all matters relating directly
to the purchase from the East Jersey company; Filson
was already pretty well acquainted with the Miami coun-
try; and Patterson was the most influential man in stir-
ring up people to the point of removal to the new land
of promise. It was thus a very judicious and hopeful ar-
rangement.
Soon afterwards, probably at Lexington, the following
contract was executed between the parties :
A covenant and agreement, made and concluded this twenty-fifth day
of August, 1788, between Matthias Denman, of Essex county, State of
New Jersey, of the one part, and Robert Patterson and John Filson, of
Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky, of the other part, witnesseth :
That the aforesaid Matthias Denman, having made entry of a tract of
land on the northwest side of the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of the
Licking river, in that district in which Judge Symmes has purchased
from Congress, and being seized thereof by right of entry, to contain
six hundred and forty acres, and the fractional parts that may pertain,
does grant, bargain, and sell the full two-thirds thereof by an equal,
undivided right, in partnership, unto the said Robert Patterson and
John Filson, their heirs and assigns ; and upon producing indisputable
testimony of his, the said Denman's, right and title to the said prem-
ises, they, the said Patterson and Filson, shall pay the sum of twenty
pounds Virginia money, to the said Denman, or his heirs or assigns, as
a full remittance for moneys by him advanced in payment of said
lands, every other institution, determination, and regulation respecting
the laying-off of a town, and establishing a ferry at and upon the prem-
ises, to the result of the united advice and consent of the parties in cov-
enant, as aforesaid ; and by these presents the parties bind themselves,
for the true performance of these covenants, to each other, in the penal
sum of one thousand pounds, specie, hereunto affixing their hands and
seals, the day and year above mentioned.
Matthias Denman,
Signed, sealed, and delivered R. Patterson,
in the presence of— John Filson.
Henry Owen, ,
Abr. McConnell.
The Virginia pound of those days was equivalent to
three dollars and thirty-three cents in Federal specie, so
that, since Denman sold two-thirds of his tract for sixty-
six dollars and sixty-seven cents, the cash value he ap-
parently put upon the whole was but one hundred dollars.
"LOSANTIVILLE.
The general plan of the town was agreed upon, and
Filson was to proceed as quickly as possible to get a. plat
made, and all things in readiness for early settlement and
sale. It was also agreed to call the new place Losanti-
ville. This extraordinary designation was undoubtedly
the product of the Kentucky schoolmaster's pedantic
genius. An analysis of the word soon discovers its
meaning. "L" is sometimes supposed to be simply the
contraction of the French le, making the entire name to
read "the town opposite the mouth." It is more gener-
ally believed, however, to have been intended by Filson
as an abbreviation for Licking, leaving the article before.
ville in construction to be understood. Os is the Greek
word for mouth, anti Latin for opposite, and ville French
for town or city. The whole term would thus signify
the town opposite the mouth of the Licking. It fur-
nishes a remarkable instance, not only of an eccentric,
polyglot neologism, but of the power of synthetic lan-
guages to express in one word what an analytic language
like ours must express in a much longer circumlocution
and with somewhat numerous words. It has been doubted
whether the village was ever really so called, except in
the original plans of Filson, Denman, and Patterson; but
there can be no doubt in the mind of one who looks well
into the question, that the plan and village had that title
continuously from the day they were agreed to, in August,
1788, to the day, January 2 or 4, 1790, when Governor
St. Clair changed it to Cincinnati, "so that," as Judge
Symmes wrote, " Losantiville will become extinct."
There was never a post office or municipality here of that
name; but letters were written from here under it; the
town seems to have been familiarly so designated in
correspondence and conversation ; it has come down in
almost unquestioned tradition associated with that title;
and, to crown the evidence, it so appears upon some of
the earliest maps of Ohio, and one of the plats recorded
fifteen years after the settlement, while bearing the name
Cincinnati, is also remarked in the explanations as
"formerly called Losanterville." The orthographic
blunder nqted suggests the spelling adopted by Mr.
Julius Dexter in his prefatory historic note to King's
Pocket-book of Cincinnati, and which may occasion-
ally be seen in print elsewhere — " Losanteville, " for which
there are some good arguments to adduce. The name
appears originally to have been written with considerable
carelessness, since among the papers of Patterson, after
his death, was found a copy of the "conditions" present-
ly to be recited, though not in his handwriting, in the
heading of which the name appears as " Losantiburg. "
It was probably the heedless work of some clerk of Pat-
terson's. The right name appears in the nomenclature of
Cincinnati only in "Losantiville Hall," a place of as-
sembly on Front street, many years ago, north of Deer
Creek bridge, mentioned in the Cincinnati Almanac for
1 85 o. Nothing else like it appears in all the geographical
nomenclature of the world, except in a single instance—
the name of the postoffice at Losantville, Randolph
county, Indiana, probably named from a pioneer settler
or proprietor.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OIHO.
3i
THE ROAD TO THE LICKING.
After the execution of the agreement, Denman re-
turned to Limestone to meet Judge Symmes, leaving an
understanding with his partners that they were soon to
"blaze'' a road through the wilderness in the direction of
their purchase and establish a ferry across the Ohio there,
if practicable. The former part of this arrangement ap-
pears conspicuously in the following advertisement, in-
serted by Patterson and Filson in the Kentucky Gazette,
published at Lexington, for the sixth of September, 1788
Notice. — The subscribers, being proprietors of a tract of land op-
posite the mouth of the Licking river, on the northwest side of the
Ohio, have determined to lay off a town on that excellent situation.
The local and natural advantages speak its future prosperity, being
equal, if not superior, to any on the bank of the Ohio, between the
Miamis. The in-lots to be, each, half an acre, the out-lots four acres,
thirty of each to be given to settlers upon payment of one dollar and
fifty cents for the survey and deed of each lot. The fifteenth of Sep-
tember is appointed for a large company to meet in Lexington and
mark a road from there to the mouth of the Licking, provided Judge
Symmes arrives, being daily expected. When the town is laid off lots
will be given to such as may become residents before the first day of
April next. Matthias Denman.
Robert Patterson.
John Filson.
A company was gathered without much difficulty in
those restless and adventurous days. It was, probably,
not large, but sufficient for the purpose, and did not in-
clude Judge Symmes, who was proceeding to "Miami"
by way of the river. Without waiting for him, the party
found its way to the Ohio — doubtless aided much of the
way by old Indian trails and military traces — and must
have arrived there in a few days, since it there met Den-
man and Judge Symmes, who records that he "landed
at Miami" on the twenty-second of September. Fil-
son is rather doubtfully said to have spent a day or
two here, marking out streets through the dense forest.
He, with the rest of the Kentuckians, accompanied
Symmes on the exploring expedition up the Miami
country, which they penetrated "as high as the upper
side of the fifth range of townships,'' as the judge after-
wards wrote. The adventures of this party, and the un-
happy death of Filson, have been related in our chapter
on the Miami Purchase. While Symmes and Patter-
son were absent on this excursion," Denman, Ludlow —
who happened to be with the party, though not yet.a
proprietor — and others, followed the meanderings of the
Ohio between the Miamis, and pushed their way about
ten miles up one of the Miami rivers.
THE VOYAGE FROM LIMESTONE.
After the death of Filson and the return of the explor-
ing party to the Ohio, Denman and Patterson went with
Symmes back to Limestone, where they decided upon
just the individual needed to take the place of Filson in
the partnership, in the person of the young surveyor,
Israel Ludlow; and an arrangement was made in Octo-
ber by which he should take Filson's interest in the Lo-
santiville enterprise. The latter's plan of the town had
perished with him. His brother, who was with the party
of Kentuckians when John • Filson was killed, consider-
ing that he had yet paid nothing and had established lit-
tle valid claim upon the property, informed the surviving
partners that the legal representatives of the deceased
would demand nothing under the contract of August 2 2d.
Ludlow prepared a new plan of the village, differing, it is
supposed, in some important respects from Filson's, par-
ticularly as to the public square to be donated for church
and school purposes, the common or public landing, and
the names of streets. It is quite possible that some of
these differences appear in the discrepancies observable
between the recorded plats of Ludlow and of Joel Wil-
liams, which will be presently noted. The drafting of
plans, the gathering of a colony, and other preparations
for the settlement, employed the time of the proprietors
at Limestone and elsewhere for many weeks, and they
were further hindered for a time by the same obstacles
which delayed Symmes, as recited in our chapter on the
Purchase. At length, on the day before Christmas, in
the year of grace 1788, the courageous founders of Lo-
santiville and Cincinnati packed themselves in the rude
flat or keel-boats and barges of the time, took leave of
the party still at Limestone that was shortly to settle
North Bend (the Columbia adventurers had been gone
more than a month), and swept out on the broad bosom
of the Ohio, now swelled beyond its usual limits, and
covered thickly with floating ice.
They were all men, twenty-six in number. The fol-
lowing, by the best authorities, is the
ROLL OF HONOR.
Noah Badgeley, Samuel Blackburn, Thaddeus Bruen,
Robert Caldwell, Matthew Campbell, James Carpenter,
William Connell, Matthew Fowler, Thomas Gizzel (or
Gissel), Francis Hardesty, Captain Henry, Luther Kitch-
ell, Henry Lindsey, Israel Ludlow, Elijah Martin, Wil-
liam McMillan, Samuel Mooney, Robert Patterson, John
Porter, Evan Shelby, Joseph Thornton, Scott Traverse,
Isaac Tuttle, John Vance, Sylvester White, Joel Williams.
The list given in the Cincinnati Directory of 1819,
which is usually repeated as the roll of founders, does not
include the names of Ludlow and Patterson, which is ob-
viously incorrect; nor of Henry, Matthew Campbell, or
Elijah Martin. It includes the name of Ephraim Kibby,
who was subsequently of the Columbia colony, and was
very likely of this party, as also Daniel Shoemaker, who
is not on the list of 1819, but appears, like Kibby among
the original proprietors of donation lots. Martin and
Campbell were also such proprietors; but not Henry.
The names of all the others appear in the list of those
who drew donation lots, except those of the proprietors
of the town and of Bruen, Caldwell, Connell, Fowler,
Hardesty, Shelby, and Tuttle. The fact is, not all who
came with the party staid as colonists, while others arrived
subsequently to share in the distribution of the donation
lots. Tuttle, Henry, and probably others, joined Symmes'
voyagers to North Bend in February; Kibby and Shoe-
maker, though drawing lots at Losantiville, were with
Stites' party at Columbia, and at least Kibby subsequently
removed there; one other at least, Mr. Hardesty, went
elsewhere, probably on the Kentucky shore, since there
were Hardestys in Newport; and others drifted away
without making permanent settlement here.
32
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Judge Symmes' account of the voyage of the Losanti-
ville argonauts from Limestone was communicated to his
fellows of the East Jersey company, in a letter from North
Bend, about five months afterwards. It is as follows:
On the twenty-fourth of December last, Colonel Patterson of Lexing-
ton, who is concerned with Mr. Denman in the section at the mouth of
the Licking river, sailed from Limestone in company with Mr. Tuttle,
Captain Henry, Mr. Ludlow, and about twelve others, in order to form
a station and lay out a town opposite Licking. They suffered much
from the inclemency of the weather and floating ice, which filled the
Ohio from shore to shore. Perseverance, however, triumphing over
difficulty, they landed safe on a most delightful high bank of the Ohio,
where they founded the town of Losantiville, which populates consid-
erably, but would be much more improved by this time, if Colonel Pat-
terson or Mr. Denman had resided in the town. Colonel Patterson
tarried about one month at Losantiville, and returned to Lexington.
The time of the departure from Limestone is indispu-
table; the date of arrival at "Miami" has been much
disputed. For many years the twenty-sixth of Decem-
ber was celebrated as the anniversary of the landing;
and to this day the city directory notes that as the day
observed by the Cincinnati Pioneer association, though
we are informed that their practice in this particular has
changed. It does not seem at all probable that, in the
face of difficulties experienced, the voyage from Lime-
stone to Yeatman's cove, sixty-five or more miles, was
accomplished in two days. An English traveller, noting
his arrival here in 1806, records that "travelling is so
very good between Limestone and the town, a distance
of sixty-eight miles, that I descended in two short days'
run, without meeting with any obstacles.'' Bad weather
and other hindrances, as floating ice, which Symmes says
"filled the Ohio from shore to shore," would undoubtedly
delay the trip beyond two days, and very probably until
the day now generally accepted as the true date — De-
cember 28, 1788. William McMillan, a man of native
talents and classical education, of strong memory and
clear, judicial brain, testified years afterwards, in a chan-
cery case involving the right of property, as between the
city and Joel Williams, in the Public Landing, that he
landed here with the party on that day. Denman also,
in another case, testified that they came "late in Decem-
ber," though he could not remember the precise day;
while Patterson and Ludlow thought the landing was
early in January, which is quite certainly too late. Mr.
McMillan's testimony, we think, now commands general
acceptance. The tradition is probably correct that the
party, occupied in completing the preparations, did not
get away from Limestone until somewhat late in the day,
and made but nine miles before tying up for the night •
that the third day they sighted Columbia, but were una-
ble to reach it or stop on account of the ice; that the
same cause prevented their landing here upon arrival
opposite the spot on the evening of the same day, but
that, after remaining in or near the mouth of the Licking
through the night of the twenty-seventh, they effected a
crossing with their boats the next morning, and trium-
phantly entered the little inlet at the foot of Sycamore
street, afterwards known as Yeatman's cove. Fastening
their frail barks to the roots and shrubs along the bank,
they step ashore, collect driftwood and other dry frag-
ments, strike the steel and flint, and provide themselves
with their first necessity to comfort and cookery — ample
fires. Very likely, the fatigues of the voyage over, they
soon realize, even long before night, the graphic picture
drawn by Dr. Daniel Drake more than sixty-three years
afterwards: "Setting their watchmen around, they lay
down with their feet to the blazing fires, and fell asleep
under the music of the north wind whistling among the
frozen limbs of the great sycamores and water maples
which overhung them."
It was no time for prolonged rest or sleep, however.
The depth of winter is not the season for open-air bivou-
acs, when shelters are at hand. The readiest expedient
for the supply of material for dwellings — one already sug-
gested' by the practice of the boatmen of the age in
breaking up their vessels and selling their constituent
parts when the destination was reached— naturally occur-
red to the newly arrived, and their first cabin was con-
structed of boat-planks and other breakage from the craft
in which they came. This is the statement of Judge
Burnet, in the historical preface he wrote in Mr. George
Henry Shaffer's Business Directory of 1840, and which
Mr. Shaffer, who is still living, assures us is trustworthy
in every particular. If so, the picture of the first cabin
(represented as a log one, standing below the cove), used
in a mayor's message some years ago as an advertisement
'■ for a forthcoming History of Cincinnati, must be revised
1 and reconstructed in the light of this fact. The first
was built on the present Front street, a little'east of Main,
and of course northwest of the cove or place of landing;
and others soon put up, two or three in number, were in
the immediate vicinity, where the dense, wild forest bor-
dered upon the surging waters.
THE ORIGINAL TOWN PLAT.
While his companions occupied themselves in build-
ing, hunting, scouting, and other employments, Ludlow,
doubtless assisted by Badgeley, who was one of Symmes'
surveyors, and other trusty aids, engaged in the survey of
the town, which was substantially completed by the
seventh of January, 1789, when the drawing took place
for the donation lots. The survey extended from the
river to Northern row, now Seventh street, and from
Eastern (now Broadway) to Western row (Central ave-
nue), with out-lots of tour acres each, or a present square,
beyond Northern row to the north limits of the Losanti-
ville purchase, at Liberty street. The out-lots numbered
eighty-one. The street corners were marked upon the trees.
There was and is, as everybody remarks, an interesting
association between the two. The Jerseymen and Penn-
sylvanians of the party had clearly in mind, in the regu-
larity with which the town was laid off and the names
they gave its avenues, their favorite Quaker City—
Where the streets still re-echo the names of the trees of the forest,
As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts they invaded.
The survey was not recorded until April 29, 1802, when
the law of the Territory required it, under heavy penalties.
The entry may be found in Book E — 2, pages 62-63.
The following documents, on page 60, introduce and ex-
plain it:
References to the plan of the Town of Cincinnati, in page No 62
exhibited by Colonel Israel Ludlow (as one of the proprietors), on the
/,
< <: , /,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
33
fore-noon of the twenty-ninth day of April, 1802, and recorded agree-
ably thereto.
N. B. — The following certificate is attached to the original:
This may certify that I consider myself as having been one of the
original proprietors of the Town of Cincinnati, and hereby authorize
Israel Ludlow to make or copy a plan according to the original plan or
intention of the firm, and cause to be recorded as such, agreeably to
the Laws of the Territory in that case made and provided.
November 20, 1801.
Matthias Denman.
Test:
P. P. Stewart,
D. C. Cooper.
The following notes from another Nota Bene may be
of interest :
The lots in the regular squares of the town contain seventy-two
square perches, are twelve poles in length and six poles wide. The
out-lots, which are entire, contain each four*acres, are in length from
east to west six chains and fifty links.
The six long squares between Front and Water streets contain lots
ten poles long and six poles wide.
All the streets in the town are four poles wide, excepting Seventh
street * and the Eastern and Western row, which are but two poles
wide.
The corners of the streets are north sixteen degrees west, and others
crossing at right angles south seventy-four degrees west. — Streets
through the out-lots four poles wide.
Then, on pages 62-3 of the record, follows the Ludlow
plat. The streets thereon are named as now, except East-
ern row (Broadway) and Western row (Central avenue).
The name of Plum street is spelt " Plumb." None of the
alleys or narrower streets now existing within the tract
platted were in this survey. The space now occupied by
the Public Landing is left blank, except for the well known
cove of that day, which is figured as extending to the
south line of Front street, a little east of the foot of Syca-
more, and a little wider at its junction with the river than
it was long. Colonel Patterson, in a deposition made in
1803, in the suit between Williams and the town of Cin-
cinnati, said that this ground "in front of Front street
was declared at that time a public common for the use of
the citizens of the said town, excepting and reserving
only, for the benefit of the proprietors, the privilege of
establishing a ferry on the bank of the Ohio on said com-
mon."
All lots in the south half of the squares between Sec-
ond and Third streets, and all below them, are laid out
lengthwise north and south; all others in an east and west
direction. Lots one hundred and fourteen to seventeen,
and one hundred and thirty-nine to forty-two, are indi-
cated in Ludlow's appended notes, and by a boundary of
red ink in the plat, as "given to public uses." They con-
stitute the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth, Walnut
and Main streets, which' was afterwards divided between
the First Presbyterian church, the Cincinnati college, and
the county of Hamilton.
East of Eastern row, between extensions of Third and
Fifth streets, were sixteen in-lots, and immediately north
of these was the first range of out-lots, numbered from one
to eight. The ranges of out-lots on the northwest, two
in number, began also north of Fifth street. Some in-
truding hand has marked "canal" upon the north line of
the third range of out-lots, above Seventh street, then the
♦This was undoubtedly originally designated as Northern row,
narrow, two-rod street forming the north boundary of the
town.
Another and rival plat, surveyed by whom we know
not, was exhibited to the recorder by Joel Williams, on
the same day, "at six o'clock p. m.," of "the town of Cin-
cinnati (formerly called Losanterville)," by Samuel Free-
man and Joel Williams, assignees of Matthias Denman
and Robert Patterson. It was also recorded by the ac-
commodating register of that official term, immediately
after the Ludlow and Denman plat. The general changes
in the names of streets, as indicated by letters upon this
map, referring to notes prefixed, possess special interest,
and exhibit the most pointed difference between the two.
The present Water to Seventh streets are thus designated,
in order : Water, Front, Columbia [Second], Hill [Third],
High [Fourth], Byrd [Fifth], Gano [Sixth], and Northern
row. At least one of these names, Columbia, prevailed
in the local usage for many years. The intersecting
streets, from Eastern row (which retained its name, west-
ward, were Sycamore, Main, Cider [Walnut], Jefferson
[Vine], Beech [Race], Elm, Filson [Plum], Western row.
The space devoted by the original proprietors to a pub-
lic landing is shown as filled with in-lots, numbered four
hundred and sixty-one to four hundred and sixty-eight.
The numbers of other lots and the general features of the
survey are the same as in the other plat. The same
square, bounded by Main, Cider, High, and Byrd streets,
is marked and noted as "reserved for a court house, a
jail, a church, and school." There is also some differ-
ence observable in the boundary lines of sections.
This was made, as the appended affidavit of Williams
shows, in the absence from the territory of Denman and
Patterson, "the two other original proprietors of said
town" — other than Filson, Colonel Ludlow not being
recognized in the affidavit — and Williams' consequent be-
lief, as he swore, "that they had no intention of recording
in person the plat of said town, agreeable to a late act
of the said territory, entitled 'an act to provide for the
recording of town-plats.'" The affidavit goes on to aver
that " this deponent further saith that he possesses,
as he believes, sufficient information in the premises to
enable him to make a plat of said town of Cincinnati,
agreeable to the original plat, design, and intentions of
the aforesaid original proprietors of said town, in man-
ner and form as the same was originally laid out and de-
clared by the proprietors aforesaid; and this deponent
further saith that the within is a true and accurate map or
plat of the said town of Cincinnati, agreeable to the or-
iginal plat, planj" etc. The divergences from Ludlow's
survey are thus partly accounted for. Williams' claims,
under this plat, made without any reference to Colonel
Ludlow, the original surveyor, who was still living and
readily accessible within five miles of the Cincinnati of
that day, were subsequently made the subject of litigation
between himself and the public authorities, in which his
plat was invalidated and his case lost. The property in-
volved in the determination of this case was that which
Williams' plat covers with town lots, but which has been
continuously occupied, save a small part on the west side
once covered with a building or buildings, as a public
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
landing. This tract Williams had bought in 1800 from
Judge Symmes, who made the usual guarantee of his
right to sell it, and gave Williams some color for his
claim. As to the comparative correctness of the two plats,
it is worth notice that Colonel Patterson, in his deposi-
tion of 1803, declared that he had examined both plats,
and believed "the one recorded by Israel Ludlow to be
agreeable to the original plan."
Some years before this, in 1794 or 1795, Williams had
come into possession by assignment of Denman's remain-
ing interest, and claimed as an original proprietor. The
remainder of Patterson's third, about the • same time,
passed by assignment to Samuel Freeman. The colonel
remained here but a short time, and then returned; while
Denman, who did not even come with the colony in De-
cember, did not remove from New Jersey. Of the four
worthies originally associated with the founding of Cin-
cinnati, only Colonel Ludlow became identified with the
place as a resident; and he lived at his station some miles
out. To all.intents, however, he was a Cincinnatian.
THE DONATION LOTS.
Losantiville was now ready for regular settlement. It
remained for the proprietors to fulfil their generous
pledges of free in-lots and out-lots to the expectant
colonists. The survey having been completed, or suf-
ficiently advanced for the purpose, by the seventh of
January, the proprietors, represented by Colonel Ludlow,
promulgated the following:
CONDITIONS
on which the donation lots in the town Losantiville are held and settled.
The first Thirty town and out lots to so many of the most early ad-
venturers shall be given by the proprietors, Messrs. Denman, Patterson,
& Ludlow, who for their part do agree to make a deed free and clear of
all charges and incumbrances excepting that of surveying and deeding
the same, so soon as a deed is procured from Congress by Judge
Symmes.
The lot-holders for their part do agree to become actual settlers on
the premises; plant & attend two crops successively & not less than One
Acre shall be cultivated for each crop & that within the term of two
years— each person receiving a donation lot or lots shall build an house
equal to Twenty feet square, One Storey & half high, with a brick,
stone, or clay Chimney, which shall stand in front of their respective
in lots and shall be put in tenantable repair within the term of two
years from the date hereof.
The above requisitions shall be minutely complyed with under pen-
alty of forfeiture, unless Indian depredations render it impracticable.
Done this seventh day of January Qne thousand seven hundred &
Eighty Nine. Israel Ludlow.
The lottery for the distribution of the lots was held
the same day, under the personal direction of Patterson
and Ludlow, with the result indicated below. The
original proprietors of some of the most valuable lots in
the city are thus shown. The orthography of the
original record, now in the possession of the Ohio His-
torical and Philosophical society, has been followed, there
being no difficulty in recognizing the names:
Out- In- Out- In-
lots. lots. lots. lots.
Joel Williams 3 79 Ephraim Kibby 4 59
John Porter 2 77 John Vance 24 4
David McClure 6 26 Jesse Fulton 23 6
Samuel Mooney 14 33 Henry Bechtel 16 56
Sylvester White 15 2 Isaac , Freeman 20 51
Joseph Thornton 28 3 Samuel Blackburn 29 1
James Carpenter 1 32 Scott Traverse 9 52
Matthew Cammel 8 28 Elijah Martin 26 7
Noah Badgeley 22 31 Archibald Stewart 12 57
Luthar Kitchel 13 58 James McConnel 5 30
James Cammel 21 34 " Davison 19 27
Jesse Stewart 30 54 James Dument n 5
Benjamin Dument 25 53 Jonas Menser 10 29
Isaac Van Meter .. : 18 8 Thomas Gizzel 17 9
Daniel Shoemaker 27 79 Harry Lindsay 7 76
William McMillan 31 James Campbell 154
By this record thirty-one out-lots and thirty in-lots
were given away. There are thirty-two names of donees,
but Mr. McMilllan drew no in-lot, and in-lot number
seventy-nine seems to have been drawn by both Joel Wil-
liams and Daniel Shoemaker. The latter, however, ob-
tained lot seventy-eight, as appears by the diagram
below, so that the record, as originally made, is probably
erroneous, and thirty-one lots each, of in-lots and out-lots,
were donated, which would just comprise the four dona-
tion blocks of in-lots, save only the one lot presently to be
noted. The in-lots given embraced the entire blocks be-
tween Front and Second, Main and Broadway, Second
and Third, Broadway and Sycamore, and the east half
of the block bounded by Second and Third, Main and
Sycamore, except lot fifty-five, on the northwest corner of
Second and Sycamore, which was then reckoned of little
value, on account of the position of part of it in the
swamp which was for years about the intersection of
Sycamore and Second streets. The lots which faced or
adjoined the Public Landing were accounted the most
valuable. Some of the settlers preferred not to be limited
to these blocks in their selections, and declined to receive
as donees, preferring to have a free range for purchase,
which could then be effected at an exceedingly low rate.
The original price of either class of lots is not certainly
known, but is supposed to have been two dollars for an
in-lot on the "Bottom," and four dollars for one on the
"Hill." All evidence goes to show that prices were
very cheap. Colonel Ludlow, for example, having one
hundred dollars due him on his bill of surveying, chose
to take a tract of one hundred and twenty acres seven
miles from the village, rather than accept the offer made
him instead, of four out-lots and a square through which
now .runs Pearl street, and which is worth millions of
dollars. Several years afterwards, though prices had
much advanced, lots in the principal streets could yet be
had for less than one' hundred dollars. About 1805
town property rose rapidly, from the large influx of popu-
lation, but advanced more slowly till 1811, when another
rapid appreciation set in, continuing until 1815, when
some lots on Main street, between Front and Third, com-
manded as much as two hundred dollars per front foot,
and one hundred dollars from Third to Sixth. Property
on lower Broadway, Front, and Market streets, could
then be had for eighty dollars to one hundred and twenty
dollars per foot; elsewhere in the business quarter, ten
dollars to fifty dollars, according to situation and local
advantages for trade. Out-lots still adjoining the town,
and neighboring tracts of country property, commanded
five hundred dollars to one thousand dollars an acre in
1815.
Settlement in Losantiville still needed stimulating;
and a large number of additional lots were given away by
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
35
the proprietors, mostly in May, 1789, to other newcom-
ers. The following list has been preserved of lots given
away by the proprietors on the same conditions as the
first thirty donation lots:
No. of Lot. No. of Lot.
Robert Caldwell 83, 84 Robert Benham 17, 62
John Cutter 92 Joshua Findlar 37
Seth Cutter 89 Henry Bechtle, jr 57
James Millan 94 Robert Benham 63
Levi Woodward 33, 34 Joseph Kelly 113
Thaddeus Bruen 32 Isaac Bates 60
Nathaniel Rolstein 30 James Campbell 154
William Rolstein 65 Dr. John Hole 227
Jonathan Fitts 61 Jabith Philips 91
William Cammel 85 John Cummings 106
Abraham Garrison 86 Captain Furguson 13
Francis Kennedy 151
Lutner Kitchel 80
David Logan 263
Mr. Wick Malign Baker 138 John Covert 85
Cobus Lindsicourt 114 Enoch McHendry 67
Richard Benham 90 James Dument 108
William McMillan, esq 27 John Terry, sr., 116
Same (out-lot) 53 Joel Williams 126
Henry Reed 88 J oseph McHendry 79
John Ellis 129 James Cunningham 128
Captain [before Lieut.] Ford. .9, n Samuel Kitchel 209 or 205
Levi Woodard 34 Colonel Robert Patterson 127
We have corrected the orthography of this list in many
places, to correspond with known spelling. These lots
seem all to have been in-lots, save one of those noted as
a grant to Mr. McMillan.
The following is a diagram of one of the blocks in the
first donation parcel, with memoranda of actual settlers
who drew the several lots, January 7, 1789:
Lieutenant Mahlon Ford . . .
Elijah Martin 82
Samuel Kennedy 112
Joel Williams.
Jesse Stewart.
79
54
D. Shoemaker.
Benjamin -Dumont.
78
53
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LANDING.
PURCHASERS.
Many other names appear on Ludlow's record as the
original purchasers of lots in Losantiville, mostly dur-
ing 1789. They have been collected by the industry
of Mr. Robert Clarke, in his privately printed pamphlet
on Losantiville, and we subjoin the list, striking there-
from only the names already given as those of proprie-
tors of donation lots:
Dr. Adams, George Adams, John Adams, Henry Atchison, Stephen
Barns, Daniel Bates, William Beazley, William Bedell, Thomas Black
James Blackburn, John Blanchard, Truman Bostwick, Thomas Brown,
Brunton & Dougherty, Moses Burd, James Burns, Garret Cavender,
John Cheek, Thomas Cochran, Ephraim Coleman, James Colwell,
Peyton Cook, Daniel C. Cooper, John Coulson, Joseph Cutter, Mat-
thew Danalds, Edward Darling, Jonathan Davis, Elijah Davis, William
Devin, William Dillan, William Dorrough, Russel Farnum, Elijah
Finley, Benjamin Flinn, Jacob Fowler, Samuel Freeman, Adam Funk,
John Gaston, Uriah Gates, James Goald, William Gowen, Archibald
Gray, George Greves, John Griffin, Joel Hamblin, Hezekiah Hardesty,
Uriah Hardesty, William Harris, James Harway, William Hedger,
Heooleson, Robert Hinds, Daniel Hole, Darius Hole, William
Hole, Zachariah Hole, Edward Holland, Jerum Holt, Israel Hunt,
Nehemiah Hunt, Nicholas Johnson, David Joice, Nicholas Jones, John
Kearsey (or Kearney), William Kelley, Rev. James Kemper, Lieuten-
ant Kingsbury, Bethuel Kitchell, Daniel Kitchell, John Love, James
Lowrey, John Ludlow, James Lyon, Daniel McClure, George McClure,
John McClure, Mary McClure, William McClure, William McCoy,
James McKnight, Henry McLaughlin, John McLaughlin, James Mar-
shall, Isaac Martin, Margaret Martin, Samuel Martin, Luke Mellon,
Jonathan Mercer, James Miller, Moses Miller, Jacob Mills, Alexander
Moore, Robert Moore, Dr. Morrel, Jesse Mott, Captain John Munn,
George Murfey, John Murfey, Mr. Neelson, George Niece, Christopher
Noon, Darius C. Orcutt, Andrew Parks, Culbertson Parks, Presley Peck,
Thomas Persons, Matthew Pierson, Samuel Pierson, Enos Potter, Cap-
tain Pratt, James Pursley, Jacob Reeder, Stephen Reeder, Thomas Rich-
ards, John Riddle, Abraham Ritchison, Reuben Rood, Asa Root, Jona-
than Ross, John Ross, John Ross, jr., Moses Ross, William Ross, Wil-
liam Rusk, Colonel Winthrop Sargent, Levi Sayre, David Scott, James
Scott, Obediah Scott, John Seaman, Jonas Seaman, Niles Shaw, Casper
Sheets, Ziba Stibbins, Captain Strong, Dennis Sullivan, Jacob Tapping,
Henry Taylor, Enos Terry, Robert Terry, John Tharp, Judge George
Turner, Benjamin Valentine, Benjamin Van Cleve, John Van Cleve,
Jacob Van Doran, -John Van Eton, Cornelius Van Nuys, James Wal-
lace, Jacob Warwick, David Welch, Samuel Whiteside, John Wiant,
Winters, Amos Wood.
All deeds had still to be given by Symmes, as the pro-
prietors of the town had yet no valid title from him ; and
he himself, for that matter, had not been able to obtain
his patent from the Government.
annals of losantiville.
January was spent mainly in surveying and in laying
off in-lots. Improvements were begun on the outlots,
and continued as the weather permitted, in order to get
them ready for crops in spring, and some were pretty well
cleared in the course of the year, especially on the "Bot-
tom," between Walnut street and Broadway. A great
many trees were cut down this year, but they mostly re-
mained on the ground, where some of them were to be
seen for years afterwards. Still, the main reliance for
food the next fall and winter was upon the settlers at Co-
lumbia, who had much of the fertile Turkey bottom under
cultivation, without whose aid there would have been pos-
itive suffering at Losantiville, and perhaps abandonment
of the fort by the garrison. The Indians did not come
in and manifest friendship; but did no great amount of
harm the first year. About twenty log cabins and one
frame dwelling were built during the year, principally on
lots adjacent to the Public Landing.* There were but
one or two stone chimneys among them all. They were,
in general, surrounded by standing timber, stumps, and
great butts of timber too difficult to split, and so left to
decay or be burned.
It is not certainly known when the first family came.
As early as the eighth of February Francis Kennedy was
on the ground with his wife Rebecca and children to the
perfect number of seven; but his may or may not have
been the first entire family. It is known that he found
* Major Fowler, however, thought there were forty or fifty cabins by
the close of 1789.
36
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
three women already here — Miss Dement, daughter of
James Dement; Mrs. Constance Zenes, afterwards Mrs.
William McMillan; and Mrs. Pesthal, a German woman,
with some small children. He said he found but three
little cabins when he came, all without floors. On the
tenth of April Mr. McHenry came, with two grandsons
and as many granddaughters; also Mrs. Ross with a
small family. Kennedy's family lived in the boat in
which it came, until the ice in the river began to run,
when he built a cabin right in the middle of Water street,
which was not yet opened. He established the first ferry
to the Kentucky shore at this point, Thomas Kennedy
attending it upon the other side, and had a great deal to
do, especially during the campaigns against the Indians.
He was drowned near the close of the Indian wars, while
ferrying over cattle for the army, and Joel Williams next
obtained the ferry license.
Thomas Kennedy, the ferryman beyond the flood, was
a Scotchman who came first to Losantiville in the spring,
and then removed to the other shore, where Covington
now stands, which from him and his vocation long bore
the name of "Kennedy's Ferry."
In April of this year arrived Thomas Irwin and James
Burns, two young men from Pennsylvania, who had come
to push their fortunes in the Miami country. They
stopped first at Columbia. Mr. McBride, in his Pioneer
Biography, sketch of Mr. Irwin's life, thus narrates their
further movements and observations :
Messrs. Irwin and Burns remained at Columbia during the day, ex-
amining the place. Mr. Irwin said there were quite a number of fami-
lies residing there at the time, scattered over the bottom lands, and,
as he thought, very much exposed. They offered great inducements
to the young adventurers to locate themselves at Columbia; and,
though they informed them of another sm.ill settlement eight miles
further down the river, opposite the mouth of the Licking river, they
gave them no encouragement to go there.
They remained in their boat during the night, and the next morning
left it in the care of the man opposite whose house they had landed,
and taking their guns, started down the river-bank in quest of the set-
tlement below. The bank was narrow, and there was no road or
traces ; the woods were thick, and the way much obstructed by under-
brush and vines; — so that the travelling was very tedious. Opposite the
mouth of the Licking river, they came to a double shanty occupied by
seven men. These men, all but two of them, had been employed with
the surveyors in surveying Symmes' Purchase during the preceding
winter. Their names were David Logan, Caleb Reeves, Robert
[James?] McConnell, Francis Hardesty, Mr. Van Eaton, William Mc-
Millan and John Vance. Joel Williams was also there, and had been
with the surveyors a part of the time, and was with Israel Ludlow
when he surveyed and laid out the town in February [January] previ-
ous [1789], marking the lines of the streets and corners of lots on the
trees. This shanty had been built by these persons for their accom-
modation, immediately after they laid out the town. It was the first
improvement made in the place, and these persons were the first set-
tlers of Cincinnati. Joel Williams assisted them to build the shanty,
and remained with them some time, until, with their assistance, he built
a cabin on his own lot near the foot of Main street. He had the plat
of the town, was an agent for the proprietors, and encouraged Irwin
and Burns to settle themselves at that place.
In the evening of the same day they returned to Columbia, remain-
ing on board their boat all right. The next day they floated down the
river, and landed at the shanty opposite to the mouth of Licking river.
This was about the tenth day of April. The next day was spent in
examining the place, and, being pleased with the situation, they con-
cluded to remain. Mr. Burns located one town-lot and one out-lot.
The out-lot contained four acres. Irwin also obtained a town-lot.
They cleared one acre of ground, which they planted with corn. . .
The double shanty, before mentioned, occupied by Logan, McMillan,
and others, was situated about the head of Front street. Irwin and
Burns located themselves near to it, and put up a temporary shanty,
which they occupied during their stay that summer. The other settlers
were scattered principally between Sycamore and Main streets.
According to Irwin's recollections, the first hewed log
house in the place was put up by Robert Benham about
the first of June on a lot below Main, and between Front
street and the river. All the settlers of the village helped
him at the raising.
Mr. Irwin did not settle permanently in Cincinnati.
He was an ensign in Harrnar's unfortunate campaign, re-
mained at the village the next winter and summer, went
out as a wagoner in St. Clair's expedition, and remained
in Cincinnati a few years longer, in January, 1793, mar-
rying Miss Ann Larimore, and settling finally about four
miles east of Middletown, Butler county. He was a
major in the War of 181 2, and afterwards represented
his county repeatedly in both branches of the State legis-
lature, and was a colonel in the militia He lived to the
age of eighty-one, dying on his farm October 3, 1847.
Another notable arrival of that spring was James Cun-
ningham, from Beargrass creek, now Louisville. The latter
part of May, however, he pushed out beyond the present
site of Reading, where he established Cunningham's Sta-
tion or settlement, and was the first white man to settle
in Sycamore township. The names of some others, re-
corded in the list of purchasers of lots, are undoubtedly
those of actual settlers this year.
In December came Colonel John Bartle, one of the
earliest and best known merchants in the place, who
spent the remainder of his days here, dying December 9,
1839, aged ninety-five.
By the close of 1789 eleven families and twenty-four\
unmarried men were residents of the village. Among]
the men of family were Drs. Morrell and Hoel, Stephen I
and Jacob Reeder, Daniel Kitchell, Samuel Dick, Messrs.
Garrison, Blackburn, and others. There were also the
troops of the garrison, which were numerous after the
arrival of General Harmar with his reinforcement. An
account of the building of the fort, which occurred this
year, and of the fort itself, with its subsequent history,
will be given in the next chapter.
A TRAGEDY.
The tragedy of the year was the drowning of Noah
Badgeley, an immigrant from Westfield, New Jersey, who
was one of the surveyors employed by Judge Symmes.
He had been up the Licking river, in a time of high water,
for a supply of bread-corn, had been successful in his
mission, and was returning when his canoe was overturned,
he drowned, and three other men of Losantiville placed
in imminent danger of drowning. They fortunately se-
cured a refuge in a tree-top, but in the midst of the rag-
ing waters, where they remained for many hours before
relief came.
o
t— t
E-
pej
o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
37
CHAPTER VI.
FORT WASHINGTON.
A LITTLE ROMANCE.
Judge Burnet, in his Notes on the Northwestern Ter-
ritory, has put on record an entertaining but probably
apocryphal tradition concerning the establishment of
Fort Washington at Losantiville, rather than North
Bend; upon which, in some small measure, it is rea-
sonable to believe, turned the subsequent and widely dif-
ferent fortunes of the two villages. Ensign Luce (Gen-
eral Harmar spelled this Luse), the officer dispatched,
after most urgent and repeated solicitations by Judge
Symmes, from the garrison at Louisville to North Bend,
for the protection of the settlers, had no definite instruc-
tions as to the spot he should fortify. It was expected
by the judge that he would build a permanent work at
the place he had come to occupy; instead of which he
erected but a single, and not very strong, blockhouse,
and presently moved on with his force of twelve soldiers
to Losantiville, where he joined Major Doughty in the
construction of the more elaborate works that were after-
wards named Fort Washington. Now, says Judge Bur-
net:
About that time there was a rumor prevailing in the settlement, said
to have been endorsed by the Judge [Symmes] himself, which goes far
to unravel the mystery in which the removal of the troops from the
Bend was involved. It was said, and believed, that while the officer in
command was looking out very leisurely for a suitable site on which to
build the block-house, he formed an acquaintance with a beautiful
black-eyed female, who called forth his most assiduous and tender
attentions. She was the wife of one of the settlers at the Bend. Her
husband saw the danger to which he would be exposed if he remained
where he was. He therefore resolved at once to remove to Cincinnati,
and very promptly executed his resolution. As soon as the gallant
commandant discovered that the object of his admiration had changed
her residence, he began to think that the Bend was not an advanta-
geous situation for a military work, and communicated that opinion to
Judge Symmes, who strenuously opposed it. His reasoning, however,
was not as persuasive as the sparkling eyes of the fair Dulcinea now at
Cincinnati. The result was a determination to visit that place and
examine its advantages for a military post; which he communicated to
the Judge, with an assurance that if, on examination, it did not prove
to be the most eligible, he would return and erect the fort at the Bend.
The visit was quickly made, and resulted in a conviction that the Bend
could not be compared with Cincinnati as a military position. The
troops were accordingly removed, to that place, and the building of a
block-house commenced. Whether this structure was on the ground on
which Fort Washington was erected by Major Doughty, can not now
be decided. That movement, produced by a cause whimsical and
apparently trivial in itself, was attended with results of incalculable im-
portance. It settled the question whether North Bend or Cincinnati
was to be the great commercial town of the Miami country.
Thus we see what unexpected results are sometimes produced by
circumstances apparently trivial. The incomparable beauty of a Spar-
tan dame produced a ten years' war, which terminated in the destruc-
tion of Troy; and the irresistible charms of another female transferred
the commercial emporium of Ohio from the place where it had been
commenced to the place where it now is. If this captivating American
Helen had continued at the Bend, the garrison would have been erected
there; population, capital, and business would have centred there; and
there would have been the Queen City of the West.
This is a very pretty story, and its narration gives a
beautiful tinge of romance to the local coloring of these
annals. But the well-ascertained and authenticated facts
are against it. There is no other evidence than this gos-
sipy tradition that Ensign Luce built anything at Losanti-
ville, prior to the beginnings of Fort Washington, or that
he had any voice in the selection of a site for the fort.
On the other side, it is perfectly well known that he did
build a work of some permanence and strength (though
Symmes, in a letter of July 17, 1789, calls it a "little
block-house, badly constructed ") at North Bend, and re-
mained there for several months, perhaps until after
Major Doughty had begun the work at Losantiville ; and
that his transfer to that station was determined, not by
an affaire de cceur, but by military considerations solely.
The check which the progress of North Bend received in
1789 was the result of previous Indian murders and
scares, and not merely of the transfer of a handful of
troops. The pretty story, as veritable history, must be
given up. The genesis of Fort Washington, as we shall
presently show, is now perfectly well known ; and Ensign
Luce (or Luse) had nothing whatever to do with it.
Luce, it may be added, resigned in March of the follow-
ing year, and Harmar, in forwarding his resignation to
the Secretary of War, seemed particularly anxious that it
should be accepted.
THE REAL BEGINNINGS.
The determination to plant a fort opposite the mouth
of the Licking, and the commencement of work upon it,
are usually set down for June or July of 1789. We first
hear of the project, however, in Major Denny's Military
Journal, under a date later than either of these. Writing
in his quarters at Fort Harmar, he records :
Aug. 9th [1789J. — Captain Strong, with his two subalterns, Lieuten-
ant Kingsbury and Ensign Hartshorn/ and a complete company of
seventy men, embark for the Miamis.
nth. — Captain Ferguson joined us with his recruits. Major Doughty
follows Captain Strong for the purpose of choosing ground and laying
out a new route intended for the protection of persons who have settled
within the limits of Symmes' Purchase.
Sept. 4th. — Ferguson with his company ordered to join Strong in
erecting a fort near the Miami. Lieutenant Pratt, the quartermaster,
ordered to the same place.
Major Doughty, the senior officer of the troops thus
dispatched to the Miami country, had evidently dis-
cretionary powers as to the location of the fort; for a
letter from' General Harmar, written from Fort Harmar
September 12, 1789, to General Knox, Secretary of War,
contains the following:
Major Doughty informs me, in his letter dated the twenty-first ulti-
mo, that he" arrived at the Little Miami on the sixteenth, and after
reconnoitring for three days from thence to the Big Miami, for an eligi-
ble situation whereon to erect the works for headquarters, he had at
length determined to fix upon a spot opposite Licking river, which he
represents as high and healthy, abounding with never-failing springs,
etc. , and the most proper position he could find for the purpose.
Work, then, was pretty certainly begun upon Fort
Washington about the twentieth of September, 1789.
The site selected was a little east of Western row, or
Broadway, between that and the present Ludlow street,
just outside the village limits, as then surveyed. It was
upon the hill, but not far removed from the brow of it as
the second terrace then existed — right upon the line of
Third street, pretty nearly around the location of the
Trollopean Bazaar for more than fifty years, and extend-
'ng near sixty feet on each side of the present extension
of Third street. The entire reservation, as subsequently
made by the Government for the purpose in the patent to
38
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Symmes, was fifteen acres, upon which the fort stood
near the west and north sides. The position which it
occupied, with reference to present blocks and streets,
may be readily seen by reference to the old maps of Cin-
cinnati, in the books descriptive of the city in the early
day.
In February, 1841, Mr. Samuel Abbey, then a resi-
dent of New England, but a sergeant in Doughty's com-
mand at the time of the erection, revisited the site while
on a visit to Cincinnati, and emphatically identified the
spot between Broadway and Ludlow streets, where Third
street begins to change direction northwardly, as the sta-
tion of the flagstaff of the fort. Mr. Abbey had reached
the advanced age of seventy-five years, but his faculties
were still in vigorous action, and his recollections of
persons and places in the early day of Cincinnati seemed
undimmed.
THE MAIN STRUCTURE
of the fort was square in shape, a simple fortification of
hewed and squared timbers, about one hundred and
eighty feet long on each side, with barracks two stories
high, connected at the corners by means of high and
strong pickets with bastions, or more properly block-
houses. These were doubtless the "four block-houses"
spoken of in one of Timothy Flint's books as observable
here in the early day; though it is singular that he does
not speak of the fort as an entirety. They were also of
hewed timbers, and each projected about ten feet in
front of the sides of the fort, so as to command com-
pletely, by the direct and raking fire of cannon and mus-
ketry, every wall and front of the fortification. In the
centre of the south side, upon the main front of the fort,
was its principal gateway, about twelve feet wide and ten
feet high, secured by heavy wooden doors of correspond-
ing dimensions. This passage into the fort was through
the line of barracks. Upon the north side of the work
and somewhat without it, but connected with it by high
palisades extending to the block-houses at the northeast
and northwest corners, was a small triangular space filled
with workshops of artificers attached to the garrison.
Harmar's own description of the fort, as it existed
when he occupied it as his headquarters, though in an
unfinished state [January 14, 1790], is as follows:
This will be one of the most solid, substantial wooden fortresses, when
finished, of any in the Western Territory. It is built of hewn timber, a
perfect square, two stories high, with four block-houses at the angles.
The plan is Major Doughty's. On account of its su-
perior excellence, I have thought proper to honor it with the name of
Fort Washington. The public ought to be benefited by the sale of
these buildings whenever we evacuate them, although they will cost
them but little.
The general was led to make this remark by the fact
that much of the material of the fort was made up, con-
trary to the usual impression and statement, not of green
logs from the woods, but of the already seasoned and
sawed or hewed timbers and boat-boards from the fiat or
"Kentucky boats" then navigating the Ohio. He says in
the same letter:
About forty or fifty Kentucky boats have begun and will complete it.
Limestone is the grand mart of Kentucky ; whenever boats arrive there
they are scarcely of any value to the owners ; they are frequently set
adrift in order to make room for the arrival of others. I have con-
tracted for the above number for the moderate price of one to two dol-
lars each ; thus much for the plank work. All other expenses (wagon-
hire, nails, and some glass excepted) are to be charged to the labor of
the troops. The lime we have burned ourselves, and the stone is at
hand.
ARIFICERS' YARD, ETC.
An enclosure of some size, separate from the fort and
at no great distance from it, toward the river and a little
east of Broadway, just in front of the site of the great
nine-story steam-mill so well known here in the early
day, was called the Artificers' Yard, in which were
materials for their work, sheds for working and the pro-
tection of articles from the weather, and a pretty good
dwelling, the residence of Captain Thorp, head of the
quartermaster's department at the fort. Between the
fort and the yard, on the Government reservation, near
the southeast corner of Second street and Broadway,
were several log houses, occupied as barracks by a part
of the soldiers.
A spacious and smooth esplanade, about eighty feet
wide, stretched along the entire front of the fort, and was
bordered by a handsome paling on the river side, at the
brow of the hill, which then sloped about thirty feet to
the lower bottom adjoining the stream. The exterior of
the buildings and stockade was whitewashed, and pre-
sented from a distance an imposing and really beautiful
appearance, notwithstanding the rudeness of the material
that mainly entered into it. The officers of the garrison
had their gardens upon the fertile grounds east of the
enclosure, ornamented with elegant summer-houses and
finely cultivated, yielding in the season an abundance of
vegetables.*
ARMY HEADQUARTERS.
One object of the new post between the Miamis was
to furnish an eligible headquarters for the army, nearer
that part of the Indian country likely to cause the settlers
fear and annoyance. As early as September 28, 1789 —
probably at once upon receiving Major Doughty's letter
of the twenty-first — Harmar wrote to General Butler at
Pittsburgh :
Your humble servant is a bird of passage. Some time the latter part
of next month or beginning of November, I shall move down the river,
bag and baggage (leaving Ziegler's and Heart's companies at the post
for the protection of our New England brothers), and shall fix my head-
quarters opposite Licking river.
He was delayed, however, probably by the unfinished
condition of the fort; for, November 10th of the same
year, we find Major Denny making the following entry in
his journal :
The general intends removing to headquarters very shortly, to the
new fort building by Major Doughty, opposite the mouth of Licking
creek.
He did not then get away from the Muskingum until
the twenty-fourth of December, when he left Fort Har-
mar with a small fleet of boats and three hundred men
with whom he landed safely at Losantiville on the twenty-
eighth, and settled his officers and men as best he could
in and about the fort. It is a coincidence of some inter-
est that the first colonists here in like manner left their
point of embarkation December 24th, just two years pre-
* Substantially from Cist's Cincinnati in 1841.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
39
viously, were also four days upon the voyage — though
they had only about one-fifth the distance to traverse,
being delayed by ice in the river — and similarly landed
on the twenty-eighth. Upon the general's arrival, be took
command at the fort, relieving Major Doughty, who be-
came commandant of the small force left at Fort Har-
mar. Fort Washington was now the headquarters of the
United States army.
MILITARY OCCUPATION.
This was the most important and extensive military
work in existence at that period in any of the territories
of the United States. It made a conspicuous figure in
the Indian wars of the closing decade of the last century.
Here, in the summer and fall of 1790, the first year after
its construction, rendezvoused the three hundred and
twenty regular troops and eight hundred and thirty-three
Kentucky and Pennsylvania militia of General Harmar's
ill-starred command, from which they marched Septem-
ber 30th of the same year, to their disastrous defeat near
St. Mary's. Upon the retreat, the exultant savages fol-
lowed their broken columns until they were almost under
the guns of the fort. Hither, too, in the middle of the next
May, came the confident St. Clair with his legions, burn-
ing for revenge upon the red-skinned and red-handed en-
emy, and remained here and at Ludlow's station, recruit-
ing and equipping his forces, until the seventeenth of the
succeeding September, when it likewise marched away to
defeat. Lively times, also, the frontier garrison saw in
1 793 — the "bloody '93" of the French Revolution —
while the forces of Mad Anthony Wayne lay at " Hob-
son's Choice," in the Mill creek valley, preparing most
effectually to reverse the fortunes of war by its trium-
phantly successful campaign against the Indians of the
Miami and Maumee valleys. Soon after its departure a
terrible visitation of small-pox swept off nearly one-third
of the garrison remaining, as well as of the citizens of
the village.
To Fort Washington, also, April 3, 1792, came Major
Trueman, of the United States army, as a commissioner
from President Washington to negotiate a treaty with the
western Indians. He brought instructions from the Sec-
retary of War, and reported formally to Colonel Wilkin-
son, then commanding at the fort. The colonel detailed
Colonel Hardin to proceed with him into the Indian
country, for which they left some time in June. During
the summer information was received by the comman-
dant at Vincennes from a Wea chief that four white men,
who were approaching the Indians under a flag of truce,
had been fired upon, three of them killed, and the fourth,
who was bearing the flag and had on his person the cre-
dentials and other papers of the expedition, had been
taken a prisoner and barbarously murdered the next day.
On the third of July Colonel Vjgo brought the intelli-
gence from Vincennes to Cincinnati. The sad news was
soon confirmed, and the party identified as that of True-
man and Hardin, by prisoners escaping from the Indians
and coming in to Fort Washington. Colonel Hardin,
before his departure, had told a friend in Cincinnati,
Captain James Ferguson, that his presence in the party
would prompt the savages to violate the flag and assas-
sinate him, whom they had long feared and hated. One
of the attendants of the officers was a son of Mr. A.
Freeman, one of the pioneers of Cincinnati. His story
has further notice in the first division of this history.
This incident has been made the groundwork of one of
the most interesting sketches in Benjamin Drake's Tales
of the Queen City.
A STARVATION PERIOD.
In the fall of 1789, even before the entire completion
of the fort, there was danger that the troops would be
forced to abandon it, on account of the scarcity of food.
In this exigency Colonel John S. Wallace, a noted hunter
and Indian fighter, came forward and made a contract
with the military authorities to supply the garrison with
wild meat. He was assisted by two hunters named
Drennan and Dement, and, about ten miles below Cin-
cinnati, on the Kentucky side, they found game in great
quantity — buffalo, deer, and bear — which enabled them
without special difficulty to fulfil their engagements. At
one hunt they secured enough to keep the seventy men
then in the garrison supplied with this kind of food for
six weeks. The troops were also kept in good heart by
a sufficient supply of corn from Columbia, where the
crop of the year was abundant, and contributed largely,
as is elsewhere noted, to the safety of Losantiville and
the fort.
Major Jacob Fowler and his brother Matthew ar.e also
said to have had a contract to furnish the garrison, as
well as the village, with the spoils of the chase, from the
establishment of the fort till some time after St. Clair's
arrival there. They received twopence per pound for
buffalo and bear meat, and two and half for venison — in
Pennsylvania currency, seven shillings and sixpence to
the dollar. They hunted some in Mill Creek valley,
where the game was reputed good, but extended their
hunting grounds ten to fifteen miles into Kentucky. The
skins of animals killed were sold to a man named Archer,
who kept a tannery in or near the town. After a time
the authorities got behindhand in their payments, and
the hunters would sell only to the citizens and the offi-
cers of the garrison.
Writing of the currency of the times, it is worth noting
that the soldiers at Fort Washington were paid in bills of
the old Bank of the United States — a currency locally
called "oblongs," especially at the gambling tables, which
were much frequented by the officers, as well as the
enlisted men and hangers-on of the garrison. A three-
dollar bill was at that day sufficient for the monthly pay
of a private soldier.
CITIZEN AND SOLDIER.
The troops at Fort Washington naturally ' were some-
what at feud with the citizens of the village, notwithstand-
ing their mutual dependence, to some extent, upon each
other. Record will elsewhere be made of a serious af-
fray in the early years of the settlement, in which a party
of soldiers participated. It is very likely that there were
some cases of insolence and tyranny in the conduct
of the officers and their subordinates toward the civilians,
40
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and that in various ways there were reprisals from the
villagers. In 1790, at all events, Governor St. Clair
thought fit to issue a proclamation declaring the existence
of martial law for some distance about the fort; which,
with other alleged high-handed acts, is thus sharply dealt
with in one of the letters of Judge Symmes to his friend
and associate Dayton :
The governor's proclamations have convulsed these settlements be-
yond your conception, sir, not only with regard to the limits of the
Purchase, but also with respect to his putting part of the town of Cin-
cinnata [sic\ under military government. Nor do the people find their
subordination to martial law a very pleasant situation. A few days ago
a very decent citizen, by the name of [Knoles] Shaw, from New Eng-
land (and one, too, who lived with his family a considerable distance
beyond the limits assigned by proclamation round Fort Washington,
for the exercise of the law martial), was put in irons, as I was yesterday
credibiy informed, his house burned by the military, and he banished
the Territory. I hear his charges are that of purchasing some of the
soldiers' clothing and advising in some desertions ; but of this he was
no otherwise convicted (for he asserts his innocence), than by the sol-
dier's accusation after he had deserted and been retaken, which he
might do in order to shift the blame in some degree from himself in
hopes of more favor. There are, indeed, many other acts of a despotic
complexion, such as some of the officers, Captain Armstrong, Captain
Kirkwood, Lieutenant Pastures, and Ensign Schuyler, very recently,
and Captain Strong, Captain Ford, Captain Ashton, and Ensign Harts-
horn, while General Harmar commanded, beating and imprisoning cit-
izens at their pleasure. But here, injustice to the officers generally of
the levies, I ought to observe that, as yet, I have heard no complaint
of any severity or wantonness in them. The violences of which I
speak are found among the officers of the regular troops, who, in too
many instances, are imperiously haughty, and evidently affect to look
down on the officers of the levies. I hear there are several officers with
their corps arrived at headquarters, but I have not seen any of them, as
I had left Cincinnata a day or two before their arrival, and have not
been there since. It really becomes a very unpleasant place to me, for
I have always had something in my nature which was shocked at acts
of tyranny, and when at that place my eyes and ears are every day sa-
luted with more or less of those acts which border hard on it.
POST COMMANDERS.
The first commandant of Fort Washington was its
founder and builder, Major Doughty, who was super-
seded, of course, by his superior officer, General Har-
mar, upon the arrival of the latter late in December.
Harmar named the fort, which had theretofore been with-
out special designation, upon the arrival of Governor St.
Clair in January, at the same time Hamilton county and
Cincinnati were named — Judge Symmes and St. Clair
having, respectively, the privilege of naming these. Gen-
eral Wilkinson assumed command after Harmar's de-
feat, continuing the fort as headquarters of the army.
Captain William Henry Harrison, whose earliest military
life was identified with the fort, was in command from
1795 until his resignation, three years thereafter. Cap-
tain Edward Miller was commandant in May and June,
1799; but how long before and after we have been unable
to ascertain. The next year Lieutenant Peter Shiras
"held the fort," and he is the last of the post comman-
ders of whom we have certain information, though Major
Zeigler doubtless came near him as post commandant,
either before or after that date.
OTHER OFFICERS.
One of General Harmar's letters, dated June 9, 1790,
furnishes a full roster of the commissioned officers then
at the fort. They were: General Harmar, Captain
Ferguson, Captain Strong, Captain M'Curdy, Captain
Beatty, Lieutenant Armstong, Lieutenant Kerney (Kear-
sey?), Lieutenant Ford, Lieutenant Pratt, Lieutenant
Denny, Ensign Sedam, Ensign Hartshorn, Ensign Thomp.
son, Doctor Allison. Some of these, as Sedam, Allison,
and one or two others, will be recognized as well known
names in the annals of Cincinnati.
ABANDONMENT.
In 1803 the United States acquired, by gift and pur-
chase, from General James Taylor, a part of the ground
upon which Newport barracks were built and now stand.
General Charles Scott acted for the Government, took
the deed and paid the purchase money. The barracks
were ready for the reception of the troops the next year,
when Fort Washington was evacuated and its garrison
transferred to the opposite shore. The history of Fort
Washington is thenceforth quite uneventful, though some
noted citizens of Cincinnati, as Dr. William Goforth and
his promising young student, Daniel Drake, from time to
time occupied rooms or dwellings in it.
THE BREAK-UP.
In 1808, in pursuance of an order of Congress, the
military reservation at Cincinnati was condemned and
ordered to be sold with the structures thereon. General
Jared Mansfield, then surveyor-general of the Northwest,
was directed to supervise the sale. He had the tract of
fifteen acres subdivided into lots and sold in early March
through the land office at Cincinnati. The old site of
the fort, near the Trollopean Bazaar, is now among the
most thickly built districts of the city. The demolition
and sale of the buildings took place on St. Patrick's
Day, March 17, was at public vendue and attended by
the entire population of the city and vicinity, who made
a gala-day of the event. Little of the material was
valuable except for firewood, and much of it was sold for
this purpose. Colonel Stephen McFarland, father of
the venerable Isaac B. McFarland, who is still residing
on Park street and well remembers this day, lived
adjacent to the fort, and bought the logs of the cabins
between it and Artificers' Yard, which fed his fires for
some years. Mr. Joseph Coppin, of Pleasant Ridge, late
president of the Cincinnati Pioneer association, was also
present at the sale and thus describes a ludicrous inci-
dent of it:
During the taking down of the fort, two men got into a fight, and
upset a barrel of soft soap. Here they were down in soap, and then in
the dirt; and when the people thought they had fought enough and
were fit for the river, they marched them down to the tune of the
"Rogue's March," and in the river they had to go and wash off in
presence of the crowd that followed.
NOTES AND INCIDENTS.
The first well in Cincinnati was dug at the fort in
1 79 1, by an eccentric wanderer calling himself John
Robert Shaw, who afterwards published a little book in
Kentucky, giving an account of his adventures,, with rude
illustrations, probably designed and executed by himself.
He was called by the early settlers "the water-witch,"
from his skill in divining water by the forked rod, and
was sent for from long distances to find it.
So late as 1802, a book published in Paris, entitled
Voyage a la Louisiane, par B D , gives Fort
O/J c
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
4i
ashington a place by name upon the map prefixed, but
no Cincinnati appears, nor either of the Miami rivers.
Upon other old maps Fort Washington is sometimes
given as a locality in the neighborhood of Cincinnati,
which is also set down, but generally in its proper place.
In 1789 two soldiers, named John Ayers and Matthew
Ratmore, were shot at the southeast corner of the fort,
for desertion. These were the first executions in the
place.
In a description of Cincinnati, as he first saw the vil-
lage in February, 1791, the Rev. Oliver M. Spencer in-
cludes the following notice of the fort:
On the top and about eighty feet distant from the brow of the second
bank, facing the river, stood Fort Washington, occupying nearly all
the ground between Third and Fourth streets, and between Ludlow
street and Broadway. This fort, of nearly a square form, was simply
a wooden fortification, whose four sides or walls, each about one hun-
dred and eighty feet long, were constructed of hewed logs, erected into
barracks two stories high, connected at the corners by high pickets,
with bastions or block-houses, also of hewed logs and projecting about
ten feet in front of each side of the fort, so that the cannon piaced
• within them could be brought to rake its walls. Through the centre of
the south side or front of this fort was the principal gateway, a passage
through this line of barracks about twelve feet wide and ten feet high,
secured by strong wooden doors of the same dimensions. Appended
to the fort on its north side, and enclosed with high palisades extend-
ing from its northeast and northwest corners to a block-house, was a
small triangular space; in which were constructed shops for the accom-
modation of the artificers. Extending along the whole front of the fort
was a fine esplanade, about eighty feet wide and enclosed with a hand-
some paling on the brow of the bank, the descent from which to the
lower bottom was sloping, sbout thirty feet. The front and sides of
the fort were whitewashed, andat a small distance presented a handsome
and imposing appearance. On the eastern side were the officers' gar-
dens, finely cultivated, ornnmented with beautiful summer houses, and
yielding in their season abundance of vegetables. *
Judge Burnet gives the following account of the fort,
as he remembered seeing it first in 1795 :
In Cincinnati, Fort Washington was the most remarkable object.
That rude but highly interesting structure stood between Third and
Fourth streets produced, east of Eastern row, now Broadway, which
was then a two-pole alley, and was the eastern boundary of the town,
as originally laid out. It was composed of a number of strongly
built, hewed log cabins, a story and a half high, calculated for soldiers'
barracks. Some of them, more conveniently arranged and belter fin-
ished, were intended for officers' quarters. They were so placed as to
form a hollow square of about an acre of ground, with a strong block-
house at each angle. It was built of large logs, cut from the ground
on which it stood, which was a tract of fifteen acres, reserved by Con-
gress in the law of 1792, for the accommodation of the garrison.
The Artificers' Yard was appended to the fort, and stood on the bank
of the river, immediately in front. It contained about two acres of
ground, enclosed by small contiguous buildings, occupied as work-
shops and quarters for laborers. Within the enclosure there was a
large, two-story frame house, familiarly called the 'yellow house,' which
was the most commodious and best-finished edifice in Cincinnati. On
the north side of Fourth street, immediately behind the fort, Colonel
Sargent, secretary of the Territory, had a convenient frame house and
a spacious garden, cultivated with care and taste. On the east side
of the fort Dr. Allison, the surgeon-general of the army, had a plain
frame dwelling in the centre of a large lot, cultivated as a garden and
fruitery, and which was called "Peach Grove.".
The anniversary of Washington's birthday, February
22, 1791, was celebrated by a ball at the fort, preceded
by an exhibition of fireworks, the booming of cannon,
discharge of rockets, and other demonstrations of joy
and honor.
The rule at the fort must have been at times pretty
*This is undoubtedly the source from which Mr, Cist drew his de-
scription.
6
severe, if one may judge from the closing part of a letter
written by General Wilkinson, May 11, 1792, while he was
commandant of the fort, to' Captain John Armstrong,
commanding at Fort Hamilton. He thus instructs
Armstrong :
Should any men desert you, the scouts are to take the track, pursue,
overtake, and make prisoners of them ; and for every one so appre-
hended and brought back, you may engage them twe nty dollars, If
the deserter is discovered making for the enemy, it will be well for the
scout to shoot him and bring his head to you ; for which allow forty
dollars. One head lopped off in this way and set upon a pole on the
pajade might do lasting good in the way of deterring others.
ViSociety in the infant Cincinnati largely took its tone
from the official society in Fort Washington. Here, it
must be remembered, were quartered, at various
times, four eminent commanders of the American
army, under the President — Generals Harmar, St. Clair,
Wayne and Wilkinson. In the staffs of these men, and
in more immediate command of the troops, were officers
of culture and polished manners, some of European
education, many of luxurious habits. The living at the
officers' mess tables was generous. It is shrewdly sus-
pected that St. Clair's defeat was due quite as much to
his gastronomic indulgences as to any misconduct of
his men or officers; for he was so afflicted with the gout
during his campaign that he had to be carried in a litter
to the fatal fiekl, and was quite incapable of the most
efficient action.]* General Wilkinson, who succeeded him,
was a gentlemlm and scholar who delighted in surround-
ings of beauty and refinement; and in the schemes for
adornment and social pleasure he was ably and cordially
seconded by his wife. Here, in the wilds of the west,
besides frequent balls and other festivities at the fort,
Wilkinson had a superb barge built and decorated as a
pleasure-boat, upon which he gave banquets and other
entertainments to his officers and friends. Mr. H. M.
Brackenridge, author of Recollections of Persons and
Places in the West, saw this barge in its heyday, and
thus writes of it:
The general's lady and several ladies and gentlemen were on board
of the boat, which was fitted up in a style of convenience, and even
magnificence, scarcely surpassed by-the present steamboats. It was
propelled against the stream by twenty-five or thirty men, sometimes
with the pole, by the cotdelle, and often by the oar. There was also a
band of musicians on board, and the whole had the appearance of a
mere party of pleasure. My senses were overpowered — it seemed an
Elysium! The splendor of the furniture, the elegance of the dresses,
and then the luxuries of the table, to a half-starved creature produced
an effect which cannot easily be described. Every repast was a royal
banquet, and such delicacies were placed before me as I had never seen,
and in sufficient abundance to satiate my insatiable appetite.
The general's countenance was continually lighted up with smiles,
and he seemed the /acre le bouheur of all around him. It seemed to
be his business to make every one happy.
And Herr Klauprecht writes, in his German Chronicle
of the History of the Ohio Valley:
His lady, a charming being, assisted her husband in a truly estim-
able manner, by enlivening the entertainments with the sprightliness
and grace of her amiable soul.
Judge Burnet also writes, in his Notes on the Settle-
ment of the Northwestern Territory :
During a large portion of the year!" they had to endure the fatigues
and privations of the wilderness; and as often as they returned from
those laborious excursions, they indulged most freely in the delicacies
of high living. Scarcely a day passed without a dinner-party, at which
42
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
the best of wine and of other liquors, and the richest viands furnished
by the country and by commerce, were served up in great profusion
and in fine taste. Genteel strangers who visited the place, were
generally invited to their houses and their sumptuous tables.
Atone of those sumptuous dinners, given by Angus Mcintosh, the bot-
tom of every wine-glass on the table had been broken off, to prevent
what was called heel-taps; and during the evening many toasts were
given, which the company were required to drink in bumpers.
CHAPTER VII.
CINCINNATI'S FIRST DECADE.
(Tl
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY.
(The great local events which opened this year were
the visit of -Governor St. Clair, the consequent erection
of Hamilton as the second county in the Northwest
Territory, and the re-christening of the chief town of the
Miamis as its county-seat and the prospective capital of
the Territory.! Let it be borne in mind, however, that
Hamilton county was not in being, and that Cincinnati
was LosantivTTle, so far as public knowledge, at least, was
concerned, during the first three days of this year.
The testimony is express to the effect that the Gov-
ernor arrived at Fort Washington January 2d, sent for
Judge Symmes to North Bend the next day, and on the
fourth issued his proclamation erecting " this Purchase
into a county," as Symmes said, at the same time that he,
as the judge put it in another letter, "made Losantiville
the county-town by the name of Cincinnata, so that Lo-
santiville will become extinct." It is altogether probable
that while St. Clair left to Symmes the designation of the
county (and the judge, in a letter cited below, seems also
to claim the re-christening of Losantiville), he assumed
himself the entitling of its seat of justice, the Queen City
to-be, . and named it from the famous society of which
both himself and Colonel- Hamilton were members —
that society which, in the old words, was " instituted by
the Officers of the American Army at the Period of
its Dissolution, as well to commemorate .the great event
which gave Independence to North America, as for the
Laudable Purpose of inculcating the Duty of laying
down in Peace Arms assumed for public Defence, and of
uniting in Acts of brotherly affection and Bonds of Per-
petual Friendship the members constituting the same.''
This society received its name, as is well known, from
Cincinnatus, the noble Roman agriculturist who, 458
b. c, was called from his plow to become the Dictator of
Rome, in a great public emergency. Its honors are still
shared by a few citizens of the metropolis whose greatness
has helped to give its name renown — gentlemen who
have the blood of Revolutionary heroes. Only seven
other places in the United States or in the world bear the
same title — in Washington county, Arkansas; Pike coun-
ty, Illinois; Greene county, Indiana; Appanoose county,
Iowa; Ralls county, Missouri; Pawnee county, Nebraska;
and Walker county, Texas; — all wholly unimportant
places, except for their great name. There is also a Cin-
cinnatus in Cortland couny, New York.
A paragraph may well enough be given here to Judge
Symmes' spelling of the word as Cincinnata. He retained
this in the date-line of such of his letters as wsre written
from this place, and in other of his writings, for some
years, when he adopted the orthography which has always
been standard. His letters of 1795 bear the heading
"Cincinnati." Long before this he was troubled with
doubts as to the word, whose spelling seems to have been
the result of his own reasonings and inventions, prompted
by his classical knowledge, rather than to rest upon any
recognized authority. In a letter of his, dated June 19,
179T, having written the word once in his epistle, he
diverges from his topics of business into the following
excursus:
Having mentioned Cincinnata, I beg, sir, you will inquire of the liter-
ati in Jersey whether Cincinnata or Cincinnati be most proper. The
design I had in giving that name to the place was in honor of the Order
of Cincinnati, and to denote the chief place of their residence; and, so
far as my little acquaintance with cases and genders extends, I think
the name of a town should terminate in the feminine gender where it is
not perfectly neuter. Cincinnati is the title of the order of knighthood
and cannot, I think, be the place where the knights of the order dwell!
I have frequent combats in this country on this subject, because most
men spell the place with ti, when I always do with ta. Please to set me
right, if I am wrong. You have your Witherspoons and Smiths, and
indeed abound in characters in whose decision I shall acquiesce.
Well reasoned, no doubt, from the. standpoint of the
linguist and the expert in geographical nomenclature;
but the voice of the vast majority, he confesses, was
against him, and the usage in favor of Cincinnati soon
became too strong for him to resist.
( January 4, 1790, Losantiville was no more, and Cin-
cinnati, as a "name to live," began. The wheels of civil
government were soon in motion ; the courts of justice
began to sit; the little community came readily under
the forms of law and order; and the great career of the
Queen City, in a humble way, was opened.] The gov-
ernor remained at the fort during three days, received
the compliments and respects of such of the citizens as
chose to call and pay them, completed his schedule of
civil and military appointments, and then re-entered his
barge and went on his tedious way to Marietta.
One day before St. Clair issued his proclamation estab-
lishing the county of Hamilton, Benjamin VanCleve be-
came a resident of Cincinnati, remaining here until his re-
moval to Dayton early in 1796. He was a prominent and
valued citizen, and has left important contributions to the
memoirs of his times, in the clear and well-written mem-
oranda he then made, some of which have been published
in the second volume of the American Pioneer. He thus
notes the arrival here, wfth other items of interest:
We landed at Losantiville, opposite the mouth of Licking river, on
the third day of January, 1790. Two small, hewed-log houses had been
erected, and several cabins. General Harmar was employed in building
Fort Washington, and commanded Strong's, Pratt's, Kearsey's, and
Kingsbury's companies of infantry, and Ford's artillery. A few days
after this Governor St. Clair appointed officers, civil and military, for
the Miami country. His proclamation, erecting the county of Hamil-
ton, bears date January 2,* 1790, on the day of his arrival. Mr. Tap-
pan [Tapping], who came down with us, and who remained only a
short time, and William McMillan, esq., were appointed justices of the
peace for this town, of which the governor altered the name from Lo-
santiville to Cincinnati.
Mr. Van Cleve served in the quartermaster's depart-
* It was not issued, however, until the fourth.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
43
ment in St. Clair's unfortunate campaign; but, contrary
to the custom of quartermasters' employes, fought bravely
in the action, and got away with much difficulty, though
unharmed. The next spring he was sent by Colonel
Wilkinson, on horseback, as an express to the seat of
government at Philadelphia by way of Lexington and
"the Crab Orchard," reckoned in his instructions as "the
most direct route to Philadelphia," whence he brought
dispatches from General Knox, Secretary of War, to
General Wayne, then at Pittsburgh. He was at Dayton
in November, 1795, when the place was laid off by Colo-
nel Ludlow, and drew town lots for himself and several
others in a lottery held by the proprietors, engaging to
move thither the next spring, which he did, reaching there
with several other persons, including two families, in a
large pirogue from Cincinnati. He says in his diary: "I
raised a good crop of corn this year. In the meantime
flour cost me nine dollars a barrel, and corn meal a dol-
lar a bushel in Cincinnati, and the transportation to Day-
ton was two dollars and a half per hundred weight." In
April, 1797, he removed to Little Beaver creek, seven
miles from Dayton. In 1801 he was appointed to take
returns of all taxable property in Dayton township, which
then included a large tract, as elsewhere noted. In the
War of 1812-15, he commanded a company of riflemen,
and received orders direct from Governor Meigs, May 26,
1812, to march to the frontiers west of the Miamis, and
assist the frontier inhabitants in erecting block-houses
and otherwise preparing for their defense. He never re-
turned to reside in Cincinnati.
I On St. Patrick's day of this year, March 17th, by a tra-
oitien generally received, the first white child was born here
— William Moody, son of a baker from Marietta — in a
cabin on the southwest corner of Fourth and Main streets. J
He is so considered by Mr. Julius Dexter, secretary of the
Historical society, in his introductory note to King's
Pocket-book of Cincinnati; and when he was sergeant-
at-arms to the city council, he was always mentioned in
the city reports and the Directory as "the first white
child born in Cincinnati." He died in the early spring of
1879, shortly after passing his eighty-ninth year, and was
made the subject of the following remarks in the mayor's
message of that year:
Within a few days has died, on Barr street, William Moody, who, as
extraordinary as it may appear, was generally accredited with being the
first white child born in this city. Mr. Moody was born in a log cabin
which stood not far from the corner of Fourth and Main streets. Cin-
cinnati, or Los-anti-ville, as it was* then called, consisted of a few log
cabins mostly located south of Third street, and had a population of
less than two hundred people, the soldiers stationed in Fort Washington
included; yet this child grew to manhood and lived long enough to see
Cincinnati become the Queen City of the West, teeming with an active,
energetic, thrifty population of over three hundred thousand people.
How hard it is to realize the fact that such wonderful, marvelous
changes could take place within the lifetime of a single citizen.
Mr. Moody did not wear the honor unchallenged,
however. Claims have been put forward in behalf of
another, of whom, in a public address, after remarking
that the infant village, in its first year, began to be a vil-
lage of infants, Dr. Drake said: "The eldest-born, of a
broad and brilliant succession, was David Cummins,
whose name is appropriately perpetuated in our little
neighbor Cumminsville, the site of which was then a
sugar-tree wood, with groves of papaw and spice-wood
bushes." He was born in a log cabin, in front of the
present site of the Burnet house; but at what date we
know not. He is probably the same one who is men-
tioned in Timothy Flint's Indian Wars of the West as
John Cummins, and as the first white born here. It is
also claimed in Nelson's Suburban Homes, published in
1873, that the first child born of white parents here was
she who became Mrs. Kennedy, aunt of Mrs. Dunn of
Madisonville, and daughter of Samuel Kitchell. Judge
Carter, too, in his late book on the Old Court House, in
a paragraph devoted to Major Daniel Gano, so long clerk
of the courts here, avers that "he was, I believe, among
the first white children, if not the very first white child,
born in the city of Cincinnati." It is not probable the
person lives who can definitely decide this knotty ques-
tion of precedence.
The first marriage ceremonies in Cincinnati were per-
formed this year by 'Squire William McMillan. He
united two couples in 1790, and several more in 1791.
His first marriages were Daniel Shoemaker and Miss Elsy
Ross (called Alice Ross in Flint's book), Darius C. Or-
cutt and Miss Sally McHenry. The next wedded couple
were Peter Cox and Miss Francis McHenry. Mr. Cox
was killed soon after by the Indians. The records of
the general court of quarter sessions of the peace, to
which transactions of such grave importance to the State
were then required to be reported, do not exhibit these
unions, but do set out the weddings of Benjamin Orcutt
and Ruth Reynolds, of Columbia, by Judge McMillan,
March. 17, 1790; and of Joseph Kelly, of Cincinnati,
and Keziah Blackford, of Columbia, April 22d, by
'Squire John S. Gano; besides two Columbia couples
wedded through the agency of the latter. It was a very
hopeful beginning for Hymen in the little hamlet.
On the Fourth of July, a national salute of thirteen
guns was fired from the fort, and there was a special mili-
tary parade in honor of the day.
In September came Samuel Dick, his wife and two
small children, from Washington county, Pennsylvania.
He was one of the party that marched to relieve Dun-
lap's station the next January, when beleaguered by the
Indians. He purchased the lot at the northeast corner
of Front and Walnut, and built himself a residence upon
it. He also bought other lots and various property,
opened a grocery, engaged afterwards in forwarding sup-
plies to Fort Hamilton and other forts in the interior,
and also kept a tavern in his house. He did not, how-
ever, become a permanent resident, but in 1801 removed
to Indian Creek, Butler county, where he died August
4, 1846.
In October, from Stony Hill, New Jersey, came Eze-
kiel Sayre and family — four sons and two daughters —
one of whom, Huldah, afterwards became the wife of the
esteemed Colonel John S. Wallace, and survived until
November 29, 1850, being at the time of her death the
oldest continuous resident of Cincinnati. Mr. Sayre ul-
timately removed to Reading, in this county. He was
the father of Major Pierson Sayre, a soldier of the Revo-
44
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
lution, who removed from Pennsylvania to Butler county
in 1809, and presently to Cincinnati, where he suc-
ceeded Isaac Anderson in keeping the "Green Tree''
inn. He did not remain long, however, but returned to
Butler county, where he became sheriff and filled other
offices, living to a great age. He died about April 4,
1852. Benjamin, another son of Ezekiel Sayre, became
sheriff of Warren county.
The same month Colonel John Riddle came also from
New Jersey. He worked at his trade of blacksmith for
a few years, and earned enough, mainly by shoeing
horses for the garrison at Fort Washington, to buy from
Judge Symmes, at sixty-seven cents an acre, a section of
land then two miles northwest o*' the village, but now
embraced in the city. 0ne corner of his tract was near
the site of the Brighton House. Here he settled in 1793,
and lived the remainder of his years in the same house,
surviving until June 17, 1847.
C About forty families in all were added to the popula-
tion this year, and about the same number of dwellings,
among which were two frame housesTj There were now
in the village two blacksmiths, two carpenters, one shoe-
maker, one tailor, and one mason. The progress of the
place alarmed the great Miami Purchaser at his un-
promising home down the river, and he wrote in a let-
ter of November 4, 1790:
The advantage is prodigious which this town is gaining over North
Bend. Upwards of forty framed and hewed log two-story houses have
been and are building since last spring. One builder sets an example
for another, and the place already assumes the appearance of a town of
some respectability. The inhabitants have doubled within nine months
past.
This progress, however, was not unalloyed with sor-
row and loss. The Indian depredations were fearful, and
cost the infant Cincinnati fifteen to twenty lives.
Judge Symmes this year laid out an addition of town
lots on the fractional section twelve, next east of the en-
tire section eighteen, upon which Cincinnati, in part, was
originally laid out.^JThe streets through them on this,
the east side of Broadway, were but sixty feet wide, some
diverging from a north and south line forty-four degrees,
and the streets intersecting these running east and west
on lines parallel with the general course of the river.
The directory of 1819 follows its summary of the simple
statistics of this year in the little settlement in the woods,
opposite the Licking, with this interesting paragraph :
About twenty acres in different parts of the town were planted with
corn. The corn, when ripe, was ground in hand-mills. Flour, bacon,
and other provisions, were chiefly imported. Some of the inhabitants
brought with them a few light articles of household furniture, but many
were mostly destitute. Tables were made of planks, and the want
of chairs was supplied with blocks; the dishes were wooden bowls and
trenchers. The men wore hunting-shirts of linen and linsey-woolsey,
and round them a belt, in which were inserted a tomahawk and scalping-
knife. Their moccasins, leggings, and pantaloons were made of deer
skins. The women wore linsey-woolsey, manufactured by themselves.
The greatest friendship and cordiality existed among the inhabitants,
and a strong zeal for each other's safety and welfare.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE.
The Rev. Oliver M. Spencer, in the little book on his
Indian captivity, thus describes the village as he saw it
on his first visit, soon after the advent of his father and
family at Columbia :
About the twenty-second of February, 1791, when I first saw it, it
contained not more than forty dwellings, all log cabins, and not exceed-
ing two hundred and fifty inhabitants. In the southeastern part of the
town, near the site of his present dwelling, stood the cabin of Mr. D.
E. Wade, in the midst of the forest trees, and just below, on the first
bank, between the mouth of Deer creek and Lawrence street, were
scattered among the trees four or five more cabins. Between Eastern
row (a narrow street now enlarged into Broadway) and Main street, on
Front and Columbia streets, there were about twenty log houses; and
on Sycamore and Main, principally on the second bank or hill, as it was
called, there were scattered about fifteen cabins more. At the foot of
this bank, extending across Broadway and Main streets, were large
ponds, on which, as lately as the winter of 1798, I have seen boys skat-
ing. All the ground from the foot of the second bank to the river be-
tween Lawrence street and Broadway, and appropriated to the fort,
was an open space on which, although no trees were left standing, most
of their large trunks were still lying.
His description of Fort Washington, omitted here,
will be found in our chapter on that work.
At this time, says another writer, there was but one
frame dwelling in Cincinnati, which belonged to Israel
Ludlow, and stood at the lower end of Main street.
The room in front was occupied as a store. Matthew
Winton kept tavern on Front street, nearly opposite to
David E. Wade, rather to the west. Ezekiel Sayre was
exactly opposite Wade. John Barth kept the first store
in Cincinnati. This was on the site of the present Cin-
cinnati hotel, and was a hipped-roof frame house. A
German named Becket had a dram-shop opposite Plum
street, between Front street and the river bank. John S.
Wallace resided on Front street, below Race. Joel Wil-
liams kept tavern at Latham's corner.
The twenty-second of February is celebrated in grand
style this year by officers at the fort, in salutes from the
cannon, the discharge of rockets and other firearms, and
a ball in the evening, which was attended by at least a
dozen ladies from the village and Columbia.
In November the fort had a noteworthy arrival in the
person of one William Henry Harrison, a young medical
student from Virginia, who had been studying in Phila-
delphia, but had decided to enter the army, and secured
a humble appointment as ensign in the Sixteenth United
States infantry. He was but a mere stripling, not yet
nineteen years of age; and was at first coldly received
by his fellow-officers, to whom he was a total stranger,
and who had recommended another to the place he had
obtained. He won his way in all good time, however.
The next year he was promoted to lieutenant, in the
spring of 1793 became an aid on the staff of General
Wayne, and was made a captain in 1794, after the bat-
tle of the Fallen Timbers. He will appear in this history
hereafter.
f Legal temperance gets its first record in Cincinnati
this year. On the fourth of July Joseph Saffin receipted
to Squire McMillan, justice of the peace, for sixteen dol-
lars, received by his honor, in full of a fine imposed by
him upon Reuben Read, of Cincinnati, on the informa-
tion of Saffin, who thereby became entitled to it, upon
the charge of "selling spirituous liquors contrary to an
act of the Terrkory of the United States, Northwest of
the river Ohio."\
(jThis was thtfyear of St Clair's disastrous defeat ; and
the savages, before and after that affair, committed many
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OIHO.
45
depredations in and about the village. ) Mr. Benjamin
Van Cleve, who was a young man here that year, has
left the following notes in his memoranda:
The Indians had now become so daring as to skulk through the
streets at night and through the gardens around Fort Washington,
Besides many hairbreadth escapes, we had news daily of persons killed
on the Little Miami or on the Great Miami, or between the settlements.
One morning a few persons started in a pirogue to go to Columbia, and
the Indians killed most of them a little above the mouth of Deer creek,
within hearing of the town. David Clayton, one of the killed, was one
of our family.*
On the twenty-first of May, 1791, the Indians fired on my father,
when he was at work on his out-lot in Cincinnati, and took prisoner Jo-
seph Cutter, within a few yards of him. The alarm was given by hal-
looing from lot to lot until it reached town. I had just arrived from
Leach's [Leitch's] station. The men in town were running to the pub-
lic ground, and I there met with one who saw the Indians firing on my
father. I asked if any would proceed with me, and pushed on with a
few young men without halting. We, however, met my father after
running a short distance, and got to the ground soon after the Indians
had secured Cutter. While we were finding the trail of the Indians on
their retreat, perhaps fifty persons had arrived, most of whom joined in
the pursuit. But by the time we had gained the top of the river hills
we had only eight. Cutter had lost one of his shoes, so that we could
frequently distinguish his track in crossing water courses, and we found
there was an equal number of Indians. We were stripped, and a
young dog belonging to me led us on the trace, and generally kept
about a hundred yards ahead. We kept them on the full run until
dark, thinking we sometimes discovered the shaking of the bushes. We
came back to Cincinnati that night, and they only went two miles fur-
ther from where our pursuit ceased. The next day they were pursued
again, but not overtaken.
On the first day of June my father was killed by them. He was
stabbed in five places, and scalped. Two men that were at the out-lot
with him when the Indians showed themselves, ran before him towards
the town. He passed them at about three hundred yards, the Indians
being in pursuit behind ; but another, as it was supposed, had con-
cealed himself in the brush of a fallen tree-top between them and the
town. As my father was passing it, a naked Indian sprang upon him.
My father was seen to throw him ; but at this time the Indian was
plunging his knife into his heart. He took a small scalp off and ran.
The men behind came up immediately ; but my father was already dead.
f There was not much increase in the population of
Cincinnati this year — about half of the male adult pop-
ulation was out in the army; and many were killed in
conflicts with the Indians, while the successive defeats of
Harmar and St. Clair had discouraged immigration, and
frightened some of the settlers away from "the Miami
slaughter-house," a number going over into Kentucky.
No new manufactures were started in the place, except a
horse-mill for grinding corn/\ It stood below Fourth
street, near Main, and the Presbyterians sometimes held
their meetings in it, when they could not/neet in the
open air, their house not yet being built. (/Prices were
high — flour ten dollars per barrel, salt eight, and town
property was still very low. Lot thirteen, on the original
town-plat, was sold this year to Major Ferguson for eleven
dollars. It comprised one hundred feet on Broadway by
two hundred on Fourth, at the southwest corner of these
streets^
Theapparently slight tenures by which property now
of enormous value was held by some of its early posses-
sors— tenures becoming strong enough, however, when
confirmed by twenty-one years' undisputed possession —
are illustrated hy the following exceedingly brief warranty-
deed and assignment. It will be observed that the as-
signment made by Mr. Cook does not even name the as-
*This did not occur until the next year.
signee, and that the year of date is not given in the lead-
ing instrument. The property thus simply conveyed
comprises one hundred feet by two hundred on Sycamore
street between Third and Fourth, and is now, of course,
exceedingly valuable:
Know all men by these presents that I, Jonathan Fitts, do hereby
bind myself, my heirs, etc. , to hold and defend to Peyton Cook my right,
title, and claim to a town lot in Cincinnati, viz: No. 61. The right of
said lot to said Fitts have by these presents vested in said Cook, for
value received, this 28th August.
Test. John Vance. Jonathan Fitts.
(Endorsed)
I do hereby assign my right and title to the within said lot for value
received, as witness my hand and seal this 25th Jan., 1791.
Testas, B. Brown. Peyton Cook.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO.
On the twelfth of February occurred the first serious
affray which disgraced the town. Lieutenant Thomas
Pastern, of the garrison, had a quarrel with Bartle, the
storekeeper, whose place was where the old Spencer
house now stands, and beat him severely. Bartle
prosecuted his assailant; and his attorney, one Blan-
chard, was so severe upon the officer and showed
him up in such a contemptible character that his ire
was excited anew, and he brought a sergeant and thirty
soldiers from the fort to whip the lawyer and his defend-
ers. An affray of some magnitude was the result. It
occurred on Main street, in and about the office of the
justice, William McMillan. The soldiers were met by
about eighteen citizens and a number of the militia, the
squire and Colonel John Riddle being prominent in the
melee, and were driven away after a sharp contest. The
affair caused great excitement in the village and at the
fort. General Wilkinson, then commandant, reduced
the sergeant to the ranks, and issued a general order
deprecating the unhappy occurrence. The lieutenant
was tried at the next quarter-sessions, and fined three
dollars. But for his orders to the soldiers to make the
attack, they would have been included in the punishment
inflicted by Williamson.
/This year is rather celebrated for "first things." The
First Presbyterian church, or church of any kind here
was put up, as will be more fully related hereafter. The
first execution under sentence of the courts occurred
that of James Mays, for murder, executed by Sheriff
John Ludlow. The first school was opened, with thirty
pupils. The first ferry between Cincinnati and Newport
was opened, by Captain Robert Benham, whose-lk#nse
fii2mj]ie-terut©riaijwthe«ties-Ji^^
XTXTPart-t- The first great flood since the settlement
began occurred, flooding the entire Bottom to the average
depth of five feet, and drowning out many of the inhabi-
tants. \ The Fourth of July was celebrated by thirteen
rounds from the cannon of the fort in the morning and
again at noon; the troops were paraded and had a special
drill; there wereadinner and toasts, witrfmore cannon-
firing; and at night a brilliant exhibition of fireworks and
aJsall.
(^Between forty and fifty immigrants arrived in Cincin-
nati this year, and several-ignore cabins, with three or four
frame houses, were put up.) In this year Mr. James Fer-
guson, who had been out in Harmar's campaign as a vol-
46
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
unteer/lopened a store on the corner of Third and Syca-
more streets, for general merchandizing. Nearly all
kinds of goods were then procured from Philadelphia.
They were sent for or gone for by the merchant in per-
son over the only road to that city which then existed
to Cincinnati, by way of Lexington, Danville, and Crab
Orchard to Cumberland Gap, thence northwest through
Abingdon, Stanton, Winchester, and Baltimore, and
were received by wagons to Brownsville and thence by
the river to Cincinnati; taking a month or little less for
each way, going and returning. Four to five months
were usually required for the procurement of stocks from
Philadelphia^
James Smith, or "Sheriff Smith," as he was commonly
known, came this year from Cumberland county, Penn-
sylvania, with James Findlay, and continued the associa-
tion with him by forming the well-known pioneer mer-
cantile firm of Smith & Findlay, which was maintained
until about 1802. Their store was in the old quarter,
on Front street, near the foot of Broadway. Mr. Smith
was appointed sheriff some years after his arrival, and
held the office until the State was formed, when he was
elected to it by the people, and held this important post
in all about eight years. He was also, for a part of this
time, collector of taxes in the county, and of the Fed-
eral revenues for the Northwest Territory. He further
acted as Governor St. Clair's private secretary, was cap-
tain of the first company of light infantry formed in Cin-
cinnati, and a paymaster in the War of 1812-15, and was
in Fort Meigs during the siege by the British and In-
dians. McBride's Pioneer Biography says : "Indeed, he
was among the foremost of the early settlers as respects
character, influence, and capacity for business, and pos-
sessed in a large degree that public confidence most
highly prized by gentlemen, the trust reposed in an hon-
est man." He removed from Cincinnati in 1805, to a
farm near Hamilton, and died there in 1834. He was
the father of the Hon. Charles Killgore Smith, who was
born here February 15, 1799, and lived a highly distin-
guished career in Butler county and Minnesota Territory,
of which he was secretary, and for some months acting
governor.
Mr. Findlay was a native of Pennsylvania, and a man
of unusual strength of mind and character. After the
land office was established here in i8or, he was ap-
pointed receiver, and served for many years, until his
resignation. He was made, a few years after the date
given, major general commanding the first division of
Ohio militia, but served as colonel of one of the Buck-
eye regiments in the War of 181 2, and was at Hull's
surrender. In 1825 he was elected to Congress and re-
mained in the House until 1833. He also held accept-
ably a number of minor offices under the State and gen-
eral Governments.
Mr. Asa Holcomb, a well-known citizen of the early day,
was among the arrivals of this year; also, Captain Spencer.
.--- SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-THREE.
In March came another freshet, inundating the whole
plain below the hill. Another disaster fell by and by, in
a terrible visitation of the small-pox, after the encamp-
ment of Wayne's army at Hobson's Choice and its de-
parture for the north. Nearly one-third of the citizens 1
and the soldiers left in the garrison died of the scourge^/
One of the early traders in Cincinnati — who had, how-
ever, but a transient residence here — was Matthew Hues-
ton, who landed on the seventeenth of April, in this year.
He was a Virginia tanner, and had accumulated a small
property, which he invested in wares, principally leather
goods, for a trading voyage down the Ohio. He left part
of them to be sold in Cincinnati, and pushed on to the
falls with the rest. Returning here shortly, he sold out
what stock he had left, about three hundred dollars,
worth, to a ]Mr. McCrea, who cleared out a few days
after, carrying all the goods with him, and leaving Mr.
Hueston without either goods or the money for them.
Hueston took work for a few weeks in the tannery after-
ward Jesse Hunt's, and then engaged with Robert and
William McClellan, pack-horse masters for Wayne's army,
to assist in conducting a brigade of pack-horses to Fort
Jefferson. He subsequently served as commissary in
the army, resigning in 1795 and for a year pursuing the
business of a sutler and general trader. He had stores
at Greenville and Cincinnati, the one here being in
charge of Mr. John Sayre, with whom he had formed a
partnership. The business was very lucrative, one to two
hundred per cent, profit being realized on many articles.
Mr. Hueston's property soon amounted to twelve or fif-
teen thousand dollars, which was swept away, as he
alleged, by the misconduct of Sayre, who squandered
the means of the firm by intemperance and gambling ,
and finally sold the remaining stock and ran away, leav-
ing Hueston to pay the partnership debts. This he did,
so far as he was able, and began the world anew by driv-
ing a large herd of cattle through the wilderness to
Detroit, at two dollars and fifty cents a head. He got all
through safely, and returned to Cincinnati within forty
days. Other gains here enabled him to pay the remain-
ing debts of Hueston & Sayre, and to buy a two hundred
acre tract of land, near Hamilton, upon which he settled
and kept a tavern for several years. He died at his later
residence on Four Mile creek, Butler county, April 16,
1847.
In the same month arrived David McCash, a Scotch-
man from Mason county, Kentucky. He bought a
settler's right to a log-cabin on Walnut, near Third street,
and also an out-lot, paying four dollars for the latter. It
was of the usual size, four acres, and covered the ground
where Greenwood's foundry and the Bavarian brewery
afterwards stood. His oldest sonlWilliam, contrived a
rude water-cart of two poles, with a cross-piece in the
middle, the upper ends for shafts^, and pegs upon the
lower parts to keep the barrel on. \With this apparatus he
furnished the first water-supply of the city of Cincinnati.
Mr. McCash also made a wheeled cart, which was a
curiosity, even in those days, the wheels being of wood,
about two and a half feet in diameter and six inches
thick. They were fastened to an axle, which revolved in
large staples. This was the first of Cincinnati drays. :|
On the ninth of November appeared the first news'pa-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
47
per in the city — the Centinel of the Northwest Territory,
edited and published by William Maxwell. The next
month Mr. Maxwell was made postmaster for the office])
established here December 12th, and opened the office
on the west side of Sycamore, near the river bank.
February 7th, came the well-known Colonel John
Johnston, who was forty years in the service of the Gov-
ernment as Indian agent, etc. He survived until the
winter of 1 860-1, dying then at the age of eighty-six.
Griffin Yeatman came June 20th. He was the father of
Thomas H. Yeatman, who was born here July 8, 1805.
The first jail was built early this year, on Water street,
just west of Main. y<7
Lot seventy-sevenl bne hundred feet on Front by two
hundred on Main street, bought in 1789 for two dollars,
was tVus year offered by Colonel Gibson for one hundred
dollars:^ It was accounted worth two hundred thousand
dollars in 1840, and is of course worth much more now.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED
AND Sl*F¥-FOUR.
So late as this year, the daring and successful Cincin-
nati hunter, John S. Wallace, killed bears and an elk on
the Kentucky side. In those days the breasts of wild
turkeys were salted, smoked and chipped up for the table
like dried beef.
On the twenty-second of February the only celebration
of the day seems to have been the starting of the first
through mail for Pittsburgh, in a canoe. /On the first of
August the first line of keel-boats was established between
Marietta and Cincinnati. On the twenty-seventh of
December the first Masonic lodge here — Nova Caesarea
Harmony, No. 2 — was organized. J On the twenty-seventh
of May dangerous fires in the woqds were threatening the
town, and the citizens had hard work to save their dwell-
ings and clearings.
In the spring of this year a detachment of Kentucky
volunteers, accompanied by about a hundred friendly
Indians, encamped on Deer creek, on their route to join
Wayne's army. The savages had with them a young
woman who had been captured in Western Pennsylvania,
and was supposed to have relatives in this place. It
proved not to be so; but a man from near Pittsburgh, who
happened to be here, knew her, and gave the Indians a
barrel of whiskey as a ransom for her. The exchange
was effected at a tavern on Broadway, near Bartle's store,
and the redskins were soon engaged in a grand drunken
frolic. The next day they declared themselves dissatis-
fied with the trade, and threatened to take the girl again
by force and arms. They were resisted peaceably, but
firmly and successfully, by the -friends among whom she
had taken refuge, principally Irishmen. A short time
afterwards, about fifty Indians came surging down Broad-
way, and met the crowd of whites opposite Bartle's store.
They were assailed by a shower of loose rocks, followed
by an attack with shillelahs, which drove them up the hill.
In the thick of this fight was Isaac Anderson, a leading
citizen, who had been taken by the Indians in Lowry's de-
feat, and had a mortal grudge against the race. Captain
Prince sent out a force from the garrison to quell the
disturbance; but it was over before the soldiers arrived.
Thenceforth the cabins on the east side of Broadway,
along the front of which the tide of conflict poured, were
known as Battle row, until 1810, when they were pulled
down. The girl was restored to her family as soon as
possible.
At this time a large tract of out-lots, with some in-lots,
extending from about Sixth street to the present Court,
and from Main street west to the section line, about one
hundred acres in all, were enclosed in a Virginia rail
fence, with no building whatever upon the entire piece
except a small office for Thomas Gowdy, the first lawyer
in the place, which was not occupied by him, as being
too far out of town. In May one of the lot owners,
while burning brush, set fire to the whole clearing, burn-
ing the deadened timber and also nearly all the rails of
the fence, and threatening closely Gowdy's office. This
is reckoned the first fire in Cincinnati.
A distinguished addition to local business and society
was made this year, in the advent of Francis Menessier,
formerly a prominent Parisian jurist and member of the
French parliament. He had been banished from France
in 1789, in the troubles that preceded the revolution,
and joined the Gallipolis colony, whence he came to
Cincinnati, where he became a pastry baker and inn-
keeper on the southeast corner of Main and Third streets,
where the Life and Trust company's building afterwards
stood.
Hezekiah Flint, one of the original forty-nine who set-
tled Marietta, came to Cincinnati April 7, 1794, arifl
spent the rest of his life here. He bought a lot one
hundred by two hundred feet on Walnut, below Fourth,
of James Lyon, for one hundred and fifty dollars. Three
years thereafter he sold the same sized lot on the south-
east corner of Fourth and Walnut for a stallion worth
four hundred dollars. From 1795 to 1800 he cultivated
the square between Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Vine, op-
posite the college building, as a cornfield.
Daniel Gano and Jonathan Lyon were also among the
prominent arrivals of the year.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE.
The town this year contained about five hundred in-
habitants, and increased but two hundred and fifty from
this time until 1800. It is described at the close of the
year as a small village of log cabins, with about fifteen
rough, unfinished frame buildings, some of them with
stone chimneys. More statistical statements say there
were then here ninety-five log cabins and ten frames.
A new log jail had been put up at the corner of Walnut
and Sixth streets. Not a brick house was yet to be seen
here, and it is said that none was put up until 1806,
when the St. Clair dwelling, still standing on St. Clair
alley, between Seventh and Eighth, was erected with
brick brought from Pittsburgh. A frame school-house
had been put up, which, with the new Presbyterian
church and the new log jail, constituted the public build-
ings. The inhabitants were subjected, every summer
and fall, to agues and intermittent fevers from the malaria
of the swamp still existing at the foot of the upper level,
about Main and Sycamore streets. The intersection of
48
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Main and Fifth streets was still a shallow frog-pond,
full of alder bushes, and crossed by a rude causeway of
logs. It remained for a number of years longer.
The officers at the fort, according to Judge Burnet,
who came early the next year, were much given to
heavy drinking; and he was afterwards able to recall, of
all the officers here under Wayne and St. Clair, only
Harrison, Ford, Clark, Strong, Shomberg, and a very
few others, who were not habitual tipplers. They of
course greatly affected the tone of society; and Judge
Burnet left on record the statement that, of the lawyers
in first practice with him here, nine in number, all ex-
cepting his brother died of intemperance.
Benjamin Perlee, a Jerseyman, and Jonah Martin
were among the immigrants of this year whose names
and dates of arrival have been, preserved. In the winter
Isaac Anderson came, with his family. He had been here
long before, having passed this point with Colonel Laugh-
ery's force, in which he was a lieutenant, in T781, on the
way to their terrible defeat ten miles below the mouth
of the Great Miami, in which every man of the expedi-
tion was killed or taken prisoner by the Indians. Ander-
son was carried to Canada, but escaped in a remarkable,
manner, and reached his home after many wanderings.
He is the one who described Cincinnati, as he saw it up-
on arrival, as a small village of log cabins, including
about fifty rough, unfinished frame houses, with stone
chimneys. There was not a brick, he said, in the place.
He bought a lot near the northeast corner of Front and
Walnut streets, on which there was already a cabin. He
afterwards built a large house on the lot, in which he
kept a store and tavern, the latter familiarly known to the
old settlers as " the Green Tree." He also engaged in
brick-making, and in the business of transporting emi-
grants and freight into the interior. In i8or, when the
public lands west of the Great Miami came into market,
he bought a section above the mouth of Indian creek in
Butler county, to which he removed about ten years
later, and there spent the rest of his life. He lived to
an advanced age, dying December 18, 1839, in his eighty-
second year.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX.
Jacob Burnet came with his brother, George W. Burnet.
Another brother, Isaac G. Bui net, came later, and was
for many years editor of Liberty Hall — was also mayor
of the city. David G. Burnet was still another brother
who came early. It is a famous family in the annals of
Cincinnati. All were fine scholars, well read in literature,
and otherwise liberally educated. George died here after
a few years' residence. David emigrated to Texas and
rose to distinction, becoming the first president of
the Texan Republic. Jacob was then a young man
fresh from his professional studies; but soon achieved
success at the bar, and early rose to important official
stations, becoming finally a senator of the United States
and judge of the State supreme court. Soon after his
lamented death Mrs. Sigourney, the poetess, wrote of him,
in Past Meridian:
The sunbeams of usefulness have sometimes lingered to a late period on
the heads of those who had taken part in the pioneer hardships of our
new settlements. I think of one recently deceased at the age of eighty-
five— Judge Burnet — who was numbered among the founders of Ohio,
the State which sprang from its cradle with the vigor of a giant.
His health had been originally feeble; but the endurance of hardship,
and, what is still more remarkable, the access of years, confirmed it.
At more than fourscore he moved through the streets with as erect a
form, an eye as intensely bright, and colloquial powers as free and fas-
cinating as at thirty. When, full of knowledge and benevolence, and
with an unimpaired intellect, he passed away, it was felt that not only
one of the fathers of a young land had fallen, but that one of the
bright and beautiful lights of society had been extinguished.
Judge Burnet remarked of the town, when he arrived,
that it had made but little progress, either in population
or importance, though it contained a larger number of
inhabitants than any other American village in the ter-
ritory, excepting Marietta; and if the soldiers and others
attached to the army were included in the population, it
would much exceed that of the older town. He notes
his share in the severe sickness of August, 1796, when he
lay in a room in Yeatman's tavern, which was at the
same time occupied by fifteen or sixteen other persons,
all sick.
Samuel Stitt, an Irishman from County Down, came in
May and settled on the river bank, on the spot afterwards
.occupied by Thirkield & Company's and Shoenberger
& Company's works. He became purchaser of this lot,
sixty by one hundred, with a double frame house there-
on, in 1800, for one thousand two hundred dollars.
Thirty-three years subsequently he rented the premises
on a perpetual lease, for the same sum per year. Before
Stitt's purchase it had been bought of Scott Traverse by
Colonel Riddle, 1790, for s^xty-six dollars and sixty-
seven cents. Mr. Stitt saidfthere was not even a horse-
path then on Main street, but a very steep wagon road
went up Sycamore, and a cow-path up Broadway. The
timber on the town plat had been all cut down. There
were no houses between Front and Second streets, except
a few one-story frames, as Gibson's store, at the corner
of Main and Front, and Ludlow's house on the opposite
corner, ■wfaieh — was — rerrted— te — Q~. — &— Bales; — Above
Resw'6 plan' Ciurge Guuier kept' a' lavem. William
Ramsey had a store on the corner of the alley below
Main, wfaaFe-ferrgtraT & Taylui wttfe-roTJg after. Isaac
Anderson arid Samuel Dick owned and occupied lots
west of Front as far as Walnut. William McCann kept
a tavern at "Liverpool's corner," and Freeman, the
printer, resided between Walnut and Vine. On a pas-
ture lot on Deer creek, a little north of Fox's saw-mill,
was a large hollow sycamore, which was used as a shel-
ter or dwelling by a woman who did washing for the gar-
rison. A broken limb, also hollow, served for a chim--
ney. General Wilkinson, commandant at the fort, had
a handsome carriage and pair, the only turnout of the
kind in the place^
Colonel Taylor, the venerable Newport citizen, still
living, says that James Ferguson, who had "been a ser-
geant in Wayne's army, was also a merchant here this
year.
J. W. Browne had a store where Manser's iron estab-
lishment was afterwards, and William and Michael Jones
had a store across the alley; Duffy had the store next
east, and Martin Baum was said to be already here, and
"-^:.
■ ■■ ■
/Z&TP^z**-
■^-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
49
in business at Shoenberger & Company's subsequent
stand. Major Zeigler had a store adjoining Yeatman's
tavern, on the corner of Front and Sycamore.
Governor St. Clair this year bought sixty acres in and
adjoining the town for fifty dollars an acre, later measured
from the canal to Mrs. Mener's line, and from Main to
Plum streets. The half of lot seventy-six, on Front,
near Main, sold on the thirtieth of September for four
dollars. The corner of Main and Fifth, the old drug
store corner, was offered for two hundred and fifty dollars.
Menessier bought the Trust company lot on Main and
Third, one hundred by three hundred, for an old saddle,
hardly worth ten dollars. Another lot at the corner of
Main and Lower Market, one hundred by two hundred,
was offered at two hundred dollars, payable in carpen-
ters' work. Salt was six to seven dollars per barrel ;
powder one to one dollar and a half per pound ; wheat
seventy-five cents to one dollar a bushel; corn thirty-
seven and one-half cents; pork fifty to seventy-five cents
per hundred, and wild turkeys twelve and one-half to fif-
teen cents a pound.
Rev. William Burke and Mr. William Saunders were
also arrivals of this year. In the fall no less a personage
dropped down upon the young Cincinnati than the cele-
brated French infidel philosopher, Volney, then on a tour
of travel and research in this country, the results of which
were embodied in his famous "View." He had made his
way through Kentucky on foot, with his wardrobe in an
oil-cloth under his arm, crossed the river here, and took
lodgings at Yeatman's. He awakened much curiosity, as
his fame had preceded him hither, and Governor St.
Clair, Judge Burnet, and others, tried to ascertain the
object of his visit, but in vain; he was impenetrable.
He seems to have made no published record of his visit
here, except, perhaps, such undistiriguishable remarks
as may have found their way into his "View" in conse-
quence.
On the twenty-fifth of November, however, arrived a
man of different stamp — the Hon. Andrew Ellicott, com-
missioner on behalf of the United States for determining
the boundary between the Federal domains and those of
"his most Catholic Majesty in America," with a large
party. One of their boats had been ruined, in the low
water then prevailing, by dragging over rocks and shoals;
and another was procured here. They staid in Cincin-
nati four days. Mr. Ellicott recorded in his journal:
Cincinnati was at that time the capital of the Northwestern Territory ;
it is situated on a fine high bank, and for the time it has been building
it is a very respectable place. The latitude, by a mean of three good
observations, is 39° s' 54" north. During our stay we were politely
treated by Mr. Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Government, and
Canlain Harrison, who commanded at Fort Washington.
/Another newspaper was started this y tax— Freeman's
(journal, by Edmund Freeman ; which was maintained
Uintil 1800. J
In the early part of March Cincinnati was visited by
a young Englishman who afterwards attained much dis-
tinction, writing himself at last "F. R. S., President of
the Royal Astronomical society." He was Francis Baily,
whose life was written by Sir John Herschel, and pub-
lished in 1856, with Baily's Jonrnal of a Tour in the Un-
settled Parts of North America in 1796 and 1797. We
extract the following paragraph :
Cincinnati may contain about three or four hundred houses, mostly
frame-built. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in some way of bus-
iness, of which there is a great deal here transacted, the town being (if
you may so call it) the metropolis of the Northwestern Territory. This
is the grand depot for the stores which come down for the forts estab-
lished on the frontiers, and here is also the seat of government for the
Territory, being the residence of the Attorney-General, Judges, etc. ,
appointed by the President of the United States, for the administration
of justice. On the second bank there is a block put up with two rave-
lins; and between the fort and the river, and immediately upon the borders
of the latter, is the Artificers' Yard, where a number of men are kept con-
tinually employed in furnishing the army with mechanical necessaries,
such as tubs, kegs, firearms, etc. , etc. On the second bank, not far from
the fort, there are the remains of an old fortification, with some mounds
not far from it. It is of a circular form, and by walking over it I found
the mean diameter to be three hundred and twelve paces, or seven hun-
dred and eighty feet, which makes the circumference very near half a
mile. There are on the ramparts of it the stumps of some oak trees
lately cut down, which measured two feet eight inches diameter, at
three feet from the ground. The mounds, which were at but a short
distance from it, were of the same construction as those I have de-
scribed at Grave creek.
The Fourth of July was observed by a dinner at Yeat-
man's tavern, and a Federal salute from the guns of the
fort. The observance of Independence day was marked
by the first of a long series of local casualties occurring
in this connection. Mrs. Israel Ludlow, in one of her
graceful letters to her father, thus mentions it :
Our brilliant Fourth of July celebration was terminated by a sad acci-
dent. The party opposed to the governor, glowing with all the heroism of
' ' Seventy-six," mounted a blunderbuss on the bank of the river, and with
a few hearts of steel made its shores resound, rivalling in their imagina-
tion the ordnance of the garrison ! Delighted with their success, the
load was increased in proportion to their enthusiasm ; and when the
"Western Territory" was toasted, the gun summoned every power
within it, carried its thunder through the Kentucky hills, and burst in
pieces ! Major Zeigler, on taking a view of the field reports as follows:
Wounded, four men — killed, one gun !
About the same time the Rev. William Kemper offered
to sell his place on the Walnut hills, one hundred and
fifty-four acres, upon which Lane seminary and many
other valuable buildings now stand, for seven dollars per
acre.
John Mahard came this year. A boy named John
McLean, of only twelve years, also landed here, but
.pushed his way through the woods on foot, with blanket
and provisions on his back, to Warren county, where he
made his home the rest of his life, coming finally and
for many years to sign himself a justice of the supreme
court of the United States.
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT.
The territorial legislature met in Cincinnati this year
for its first session. Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the
territory, who had become a well known citizen here, was
appointed governor of Mississippi Territory, and Captain
William H. Harrison became secretary in his stead.
July 4th there was a muster of Captain Smith's and
other militia, with Daniel Symmes out as lieutenant col-
onel commanding the battalion.
John M. Wright, an Irishman from the District of
Columbia, arrived and became a trader here. He was a
soldier in the War of 181 2-15. Other arrivals of the
year were Hugh Moore, Samuel Newell, Ebenezer Pru-
5°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
den, David Kantz, William Legg, and the young lawyer,
Nicholas Longworth.
The simplicity of trade, and perhaps the occasional
scarcity of provisions in the town at this time, are illus-
trated by an incident related in McBride's Pioneer Biog-
raphy, of a young man from Massachusetts, named Jere-
miah Butterfield, who took a voyage in the spring and in
a flat-boat down the Ohio, and visited Cincinnati, "which
was then but an inconsiderable village, composed mostly
of log cabins, with few good brick or frame buildings,
containing not more than one thousand inhabitants. It
contained one bakery, at which Mr. Butterfield applied
for bread to supply the boat's crew; but without success,
the baker having but three loaves on hand, and these
engaged by other persons." It seems to have been
necessary then to engage bread in advance, in order to
make sure of it.
s SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE.
. On the twenty-ninth of May a third newspaper, the
j Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette, was startedpy James
\Carpenter. In it Griffin Yeatman inserted the following
unique advertisement:
Observe this Notice. I have expended too many expenses attending
my pump, and any FAMILY wishing to receive the benefits thereof for
the. future may get the same by sending me 25 cents each Monday
morning.
It is said that this was paralleled June 2, 1801, when
two advertisements appeared in the local papers, offering
well-water at four dollars per annum to subscribers, pay-
able quarterly in advance.
Advertisements also appeared in the Spy of hair pow-
der and fair-top boots. July 23d, Robert McGennis
advertises a runaway apprentice, and offers for his recov-
ery a sixpence worth of cucumbers the next December.
The times were hard, and dunning advertisements appear
in many forms, some of them very comical in their terms,
and some regretting that the English language is not
strong enough to express the demands of their authors.
On the eighteenth of June there are rumors of Indian
hostilities, and considerable alarm is excited for some
days. On the twenty-fifth of August the governor ad-
dresses the legislature of the territory, assembled for its
first session.
/ Business was now done mainly on Main street below
f Second, on Front street near the Landrr\g, and on Syca-
Imore within a short distance of Front. \ Robert Park,
the first hatter in the place, was at theX:orner of Main
and Second. In May he advertises hats to exchange for
country produce; also that he buys furs, and wants an
apprentice on good terms, preferring one from the coun-
try.
In June the Spy notes the heat on the twentieth as
103° above, which was higher than had been known here
since thermometers came in. On the twenty-first the
figure was ioo°, an the twenty-second 95", twenty-third
100°, again, twenty-fourth, 101°. It was a genuine
"heated term."
On the Fourth of July there was a fine celebration. Fort
Washington thundered forth the customary salute. The
First battalion of the Hamilton county militia paraded at
their usual mustering place, and went through their evolu-
tions, loading and firing, etc., in a style to elicit the com-
pliments of the governor in his subsequent general orders.
St. Clair, the garrison and militia officers, and many "re-
spectable citizens" dined under a bower prepared for the
purpose. Captain Miller's artillery and the martial music
of the militia furnished ringing responses to the toasts,
which are said to have been in good spirit and taste.
Then, says the primitive account, "the gentlemen joined
a brilliant assembly of ladies at Yeatman's in town."
The Spy for July 23d contained the following note con-
cerning a_ well-known citizen of the county:
Captain E. Kibby, who sometime since, undertook to cut a road from
Fort Vincennes to this place, returned on Monday reduced to a perfect
skeleton. He had cut the road seventy miles, when by some means he
was separated from his men. After hunting them several days without
success, he steered his course this way. He has undergone great hard-
ships, and was obliged to subsist on roots, etc. , which he picked up in
the woods. Thus far report.
The next number contains the obituary of the Rev.
Peter Wilson, the first minister who settled in the com-
munity.
Levi McLean appears before the public from time to
time this year in the multiform capacity of jailer, consta-
ble, hotel-keeper, butcher, and teacher of vocal music.
The only name we are able to record, as that of an
arrival for the year, is that of Aaron Lane, from New Jer-
sey. He ultimately removed to Springfield township,
where he died in 1845.
CHAPTER VIII.
CINCINNATI TOWNSHIP.
Within the decade whose annals have just been passed
in review, fell the birth of Cincinnati township, to which
was entrusted, for almost twelve years, the government
of Cincinnati village, which it of course contained. The
township was created, after Columbia, by the court of
general quarter sessions of the peace, which then had
jurisdiction in these matters, in 1791. To the time of
the erection of these townships, the whole county, which
contained but a few hundred white inhabitants, was most
conveniently governed as one municipality.
The boundaries of the new township were as follows:
Beginning at a point where the second meridian east of
the town (Cincinnati) intersects the Ohio; thence down
that stream about eleven miles to the first meridian east
of Rapid Run; thence north to the Big Miami; thence
up that stream to the south line of the military range;
thence south to the place of beginning. It comprised
nearly the whole of the present city of Cincinnati, the
townships of Mill Creek and Springfield, almost the en-
tire tract of Colerain, Green and Delhi, stopping on the
north beyond the present dividing line of Hamilton and
Butler counties. It was a vast township.
In 1803 the boundaries were changed as follows:
Commencing at the southeast corner of Miami township,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
5i
on the Ohio river; thence north to the northwest corner
of section seventeen, in fractional range two, township
two; thence east nine miles; thence south to the Ohio;
thence westward along the Ohio to the place of begin-
ning. These lines enclosed more than half of Delhi
township; the eastern half of Green, except the three
northernmost sections; the whole of Mill creek, except
the northern sections ; and the site of Cincinnati to the
range line on the east.
The voters were now instructed to meet at the court
house and vote for five justices of the peace. The cat-
tle brand for the township, which the court was required
to fix by order, was directed, at the time of the original
formation of the township to be the letter B, A having
already been assigned to Columbia, and C was assigned
to the use of Miami township.
The boundaries of the original great township were of
course rapidly cut down as the county filled up. Dayton
and other townships in the present Butler county, then
in Hamilton, were early set off north of it, beyond the
northernmost possessions of the Cincinnati municipality.
Colerain, Springfield, and South Bend townships were
erected by or during 1795; and when Mill Creek was set
off, the township, being already bounded, at the period of
its formation, by Columbia township on the east, was
shut in to the narrow limits of the fractional surveyed
township, now bounded by Liberty street on the north;
the Ohio river, which Liberty intersects a little above
Washington street, near the southeast corner of Eden
park, on the east and south ; and on the west by a merid-
ian not very clearly defined, but probably the range line
two miles west of Mill Creek, and now the western
boundary of the city. Most of the time since, it may
be said, in general terms, that the limits of the township
have been nearly coterminous with those of the city in
its several extensions.
THE GOVERNMENT
of Cincinnati and Cincinnati township, from 1790 to
1792, was, as the oldest records show, under the immedi-
ate eye of the court of quarter-sessions and the supreme
or territorial court, in one or the other of which sat the
Honorables John Cleves Symmes, George Turner, Sam-
uel Parsons, James Varnum, Winthrop Sargent, Govern-
or St. Clair, and the associate judges and justices of the
quarter-sessions, with special appointees from among the
local prothonotaries, sheriffs, clerks, and constables. At
the sitting of the supreme court in Cincinnati in 1792,
the Honorable John Cleves Symmes presided, assisted
by Judges William Goforth, William Wells, and William
McMillan, and Justices John S. Gano, George Cullum,
and Aaron Cadwell. Joseph LeSure acted as clerk pro
tempore, Israel Ludlow and Samuel Swan being otherwise
engaged. John Ludlow, high sheriff, was assisted by
Isaac Martin, deputy; while in the call of court appeared
Robert Bunten, coroner, and constables Benjamin Orcutt
(the crier), Robert Wheelan, Samuel Martin and Sylvanus
Revnolds. This court exercised both original and ap-
pellate jurisdiction in all things of law, equity, and fact,
and that, too, with more force than formality. When
convicted, a prisoner was turned over to Sheriff Brown
or Ludlow, who, having no sufficient jail, could seldom
keep a prisoner more than twenty-four hours. Witnesses
were necessarily excused when "taken by the Indians,"
or "scalped." Plaintiffs and defendants frequently had
their cases laid over "until they got back from the cam-
paign;" and the honorable court often vibrated between
Isaac Martin's and "the Meeting house," in order to
give themselves a chance to lay aside for awhile their
official dignity and get ready to appear in their turn in the
role of defendants, as very few of the officials escaped from
actions of every sort, from top to bottom of the calendar.
During the year 1792, and for some years thereafter,
Cincinnati was governed by these judicial dignitaries.
In . the quarter sessions court Judge William Goforth
generally presided, assisted by McMillan and Wells, asso-
ciate justices, and by 'Squires Gano, Cullum and Cadwell,
justices of the peace for the county. This year Samuel
Swan succeeded Israel Ludlow as clerk of the court;
John Ludlow became sheriff; Samuel Martin, constable;
John Ludlow and David E. Wade, overseers of the poor;
Isaac Martin, Jacob Reeder, and Ezekiel Sayre, over-
seers of highways; James Miller, Jacob Miller, and John
Vance, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of damages.
If to these we add the military authorities, who some-
times ordered everybody into line, it will be seen that
Cincinnati was sufficiently governed, containing, as the
city and township then did, less than five hundred peo-
ple. The county commissioners had charge of the pub-
lic improvements, attended to the taxes and their collec-
tion, watched the tax duplicates, managed collectors, and
paid out the funds for wolf scalps, for building jails and
court rooms, and their own bills for services. The cog-
nomens of those who left their names and deeds on the
pages of "the last and only" old worn record are here
given as follows : William McMillan, Robert Wheelan,
and Robert Benham, 1795-6; Joseph Prince, .,1797-8;
David E. Wade, 1799; Ichabod B. Miller, 1800; William
Ruffin, 1801-2; John Bailey, 1802-3; William Ludlow,
1803-4, and John R. Gaston, 1804-5. These men
served,. three at a time, for a year; some were in office but
a year, while others served two or three terms. The
commissioners' clerks, under the territorial government,
from 1790 to 1803, were Tabor Washburne, 1790 to
1798; John Kean, 1798 to 1799; Reuben Reynolds,
1799 to 1800, and Aaron Goforth, 1800 to 1803.
TOWNSHIP CIVIL LIST.
The following-named gentlemen were the earliest offi-
cers in Cincinnati township:
1 79 1. — Levi Woodward, township clerk; Samuel Mar-
tin, constable; John Thompson and James Wallace,
overseers of the poor; James Gowdy, overseer of roads;
Isaac Martin, Jacob Reeder, and James Cunningham,
street commissioners.
1792. — Samuel Martin, constable; John Ludlow and
David E. Wade, overseers of the poor; James Miller,
Jacob Miller, and John Vance, viewers of enclosures
and appraisers of damages; Isaac Martin, Jacob Reeder,
and Ezekiel Sayre, overseers of highways.
52
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
1793. — Nathaniel Barnes and Robert Gowdy, consta-
bles; Jacob Reeder and Moses Miller, overseers of the
poor; Joseph McHenry, Samuel Freeman, and Stephen
Reeder, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of dam-
ages; Isaac Martin, Usual Bates, and John Schooley,
overseers of highways.
1794. — Nathan Barnes, Darius C. Orcutt, and Robert
Gowdy, constables; James Brady and David E. Wade,
overseers of the poor; James Wallace, Levi Woodward,
and James Lyon, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of
damages; Isaac Martin, Jacob White, and William Pow-
ell, overseers of highways.
1795- — Nathan Barnes, Ephraim Carpenter, and Ben-
jamin Van Hook, constables; James Brady and Samuel
Freeman, overseers of the poor ; Samuel Dick and Rich-
ard Benham, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of
damages; James Brady, Levi Woodward, and Samuel
Freeman, overseers of highways.
CONSTABLES AT COURT.
It may also be of interest to see here the names of all
the constables who attended the courts of Hamilton
county during the first thirteen years, so far as the rec-
ords exhibit their names. Many of them were consta-
bles of Cincinnati township, but others were from the
county at large, though the court records present no fa-
cilities for locating them in their respective townships :
1790 — William Paul, Joseph Gerard, Daniel Griffin,
Robert Wheelan; Levi Woodward, crier; 1791 — Isaac
Martin, Joseph Jeuet, Gerard; Woodward and John Mor-
ris, criers; 1792 — Wheelan, Martin, Morris, Gerard, Syl-
vanus Reynolds; Benjamin Orcutt, crier; 1793 — Wheelan,
Reynolds, Martin, Nathan Barnes; 1794 — Same, with
Samuel Edwards, Robert Gowdy, B. and D. Orcutt, and
Samuel Campbell; Barnes, crier: 1795 — Wheelan, B. Or-
cutt, Edwards, Campbell, Gowdy, Ephraim Carpenter, B.
Vanhook; 1797 — Woodward, Josiah Crossly, Parvin
Dunn; Abraham Cary, crier; 1798 — Darius C. Orcutt;
Cary, crier; 1799— Crossly; Cary, crier; 1800— Robert
Terry, John Wilkinson, Samuel Armstrong, William
Sayres, Isaac Mills, Thomas Morris, Enos Potter, David
Kelly; John Daily, crier; 1801 — Thomas Larrison, John
Robinson, Joseph Case, Terry, Kelly, Orcutt; Cary,
crier; 1802 — Armstrong, Kelly, Isaac Dunn, Jacob
Allen, Josiah Decker; Cary, crier; 1803 — Samuel and
James Armstrong, David J. Poor, Jerome Holt, Jacob
R Compton.
The following names and dates of public officers in
Cincinnati township, belonging to the later times, have
also been picked up in the course of our investigations :
Justices of the peace, 18 19 — -Ethan Stone, John
Mahard; 1824 — Trustees: Benjamin Mason, Benjamin
Hopkins, William Mills; clerk, Thomas Tucker; con-
stables: David Jackson, jr., Richard Mulford, Zebulon
Byington; justices: Elisha Hotchkiss, Beza E. Bliss,
James Foster; 1829 — Trustees: Benjamin Hopkins,
William Mills, George Lee; clerk, John Gibson; con-
stables: James McLean, jr., James Glenn, William B.
Sheldon; trustees and visitors of common schools: A
M. Spencer, N. G. Guilford, J. Buckley, D. Root, Calvin
Fletcher; magistrates: James Foster, Elisha Hotchkiss,
Richard Mulford; 1831— Trustees: John Rice, William
Mills, Richard Ayres; clerk, John T. Jones; magistrates:
James Foster, Richard Mulford, Isaiah Wing, James
Glenn, James McLean; constables: Ebenezer Harrison,
Josiah Fobes, William B. Sheldon, Ephraim D. Williams,
James Saffin, Livius Hazen, J. A. Wiseman; 1834 —
Trustees: Richard Ayres, Isaac Pioneer, William Bor-
land; clerk, John Jones; justices: Isaac Wing, Richard
Mulford, Josiah Fobes, James Glenn, A W. Sweeney;
constables: Ebenezer Harrison, Ephraim D. Williams,
James Saffin, J. A. Wiseman, Livius Hazen, Thomas
Wright, Benjamin Smith; 1836 — Trustees: William
Crossman, D. A. King, Josiah Fobes; clerk, Samuel
Steer; justices: Richard Mulford, John A. Wiseman,
Ebenezer Harrison, William Doty, Livius Hazen, Rancil
A. Madison; 1839-40 — Trustees: William Crossman,
Josiah Fobes, Thatcher Lewis; clerk, David Churchill;
1841 — Justices: James Glenn, Richard Mulford, William
Doty, John A. Wiseman, R. A. Madison, Ebenezer. Har-
rison; 1844 — Justices: R. A. Madison, Richard Mulford,
Ebenezer Harrison, John A. Wiseman, E. V. Brooks,
Samuel Perry, E. Singer; constables: Robert P. Black,
P. Davidson, A. Delzell, Even Ewan, Thomas Frazer,
Thomas Hurst, Jesse O'Neill, James L. Ruffin, Rode-
camp; trustees: John Wood, William Crossman, John
Hudson; clerk, David Churchill; 1846 — Trustees: Wil-
liam Crossman, John Wood, J. B. Bowlin; clerk, David
Churchill; justices: Mark P. Taylor, Samuel Perry, Eri
V. Brooks, Ebenezer Harrison, David T. Snellbaker,
Erwin Singer, John Young; 1850 — Trustees: William
Crossman, James Hudson, Jesse B. Bowman; 185 1 —
Trustees: Messrs. Crossman and Hudson, and John
Hauck; clerk, John Minshall; justices: John W. Reilly,
David T. Snellbaker, F. H. Rowekamp, Jacob Getzen-
danner, Elias H. Pugh, Joseph Burgoyne, Wick Roll;
1852 — Same trustees.
CHAPTER IX.
CINCINNATI'S SECOND DECADE.
/" EIGHTEEN HUNDRED.
^ The first census of the town and county was taken this
year, and exhibited for Cincinnati (township probably)
but seven hundred and fifty inhabitants, an increase of
but two hundred and fifty in about five years. This,
however, was fifty per cent, of growth, and, relatively con-
sidered, was by no means to be despised. )
Many valuable citizens were added teethe community
during this opening year of the decade. Dr. William Go-
forth, of whom more will be related in our chapter on
medicine in Cincinnati, came in the spring, and his pu-
pil, to become yet more distinguished, Dr. Daniel Drake,
came in December. Stephen Wheeler; Mr. Pierson, from
New Jersey, the father of William Pierson, long a resident
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
S3
of Springfield township; Charles Cone, probably; John B.
Enness, Edward Dodson, Charles Faran, A. Valentine,
John Wood, Caleb Williams, Rev. Dr. Joshua L. Wilson,
pastor of the Presbyterian church, and others who added
character and possibly capital to the young city, were
among the new comers of 1800.
Probably this year, but perhaps earlier, according to a
note in chapter VIII, came one of the most enterprising,
able, and successful of the pioneer Germans — Martin
Baum. He engaged in merchandizing, and was for
about thirty years in active business here, being connected
also with the Miami Exporting company's operations, the
old sugar refinery, and many other large enterprises of
this day, carrying throughout, notwithstanding reverses
as well as successes, the highest reputation for financial
ability and personal integrity. He was one of the pro-
prietors of the site of Toledo when it was laid out for a
town. Late in life he built the elegant mansion on Pike
street afterwards occupied by Nicholas Longworth, and
now by the millionaire philanthropist, David Sinton.
Like many other early business men in the city, he be-
came involved in debt to the United States bank, and hon-
estly surrendered to it in payment his residence and
grounds. He still has a reputation as one of the most
honorable and public spirited Cincinnatians of his day.
Further notice will be given him in our chapter on the
Teutonic element in Cincinnati.
In the spring or summer we hear anew from Jeremiah
Butterfield, of whom mention is made in our notes on
1798. He came again down the river, this time with his
brother and a brother-in-law, young Mr. Campbell, pros-
pecting. They staid a little while at Columbia, and then,
came to Cincinnati, where they engaged in harvesting for
Colonel Riddle, on his section near town. All were
bright, strong, faithful young fellows, and obtained work
without difficulty. Jeremiah was soon engaged by Colonel
Ludlow as chain-carrier, during the survey he was or-
dered to make of the boundary line established by the
treaty of Greenville, during which the party went three
months without seeing a white man's dwelling, and at
one time came near starving; going without provisions
for five days. When the public lands west of the Great
Miami were opened to entry, in April, 1801, he formed
a partnership with several Cincinnatians— Knoles Shaw
and Albin Shaw, Squire Shaw, their father, Asa Harvey,
and Noah Willey— and with them bought a large tract of
land in the north part of the present Crosby township,
extending " into Butler county. He made his own home
on the other side of the line, and died there, full of years
and honors, June 27, 1863. Several of his sons con-
tinue to reside in this county.
On the other hand, Cincinnati was called upon this
year to part with one of her favorite sons, who remained
away from the town and county for a series of years, en-
gaged elsewhere in important public duties. William
Henry Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana Ter-
ritory, and went to take up his residence at Vincennes,
while Mr Charles Wylling Byrd was appointed to the sec-
retaryship of the Northwest Territory. William McMil-
lan esq was chosen by the territorial legislature delegate
to Congress, to fill the unexpired term of General Harri-
son, and Paul Fearing, of Marietta, for the succeeding
two years.
March nth there was a meeting of citizens at Yeat-
man's tavern, to consider the merits of an invention said
to be " capable of propelling a boat against the stream
by the power of steam or elastic vapor." This was, in
one sense, a herald of the "New Orleans," which came
proudly puffing down the Ohio eleven and a half years
later.
No mails came for four consecutive weeks in January
and February. There is now but one newspaper in the
place, and that weekly; so that the failure of mail matter
is seriously felt.
In March the Rev. James Kemper offers for sale his
farm of one hundred and fifty-four acres upon the Wal-
nut Hills, on which Lane seminary and many other valu-
able buildings are now situated, for seven dollars per
acre. He did not sell, however, and lived upon it over
thirty-five years thereafter, when it had risen in value to
fivp thousand dollars.
/On the twenty-seventh of May a tremendous hail-storm
visits this region, breaking out all the glass windows in
town. )
Independence day was observed this year by the mem-
bers of a political" party, the Republicans, who had a din-
uer at Major Ziegler's, next door to Yeatman's tavern.
The memory of Washington had been duly honored in
February by a procession, in which were Captain Miller
and his troops from the fort, the Hamilton county mili-
tia, Captain James Findlay commanding the dragoon
company, the civil authorities, the Masonic order, and
citizens at large. An address was pronounced by Gov-
ernor St. Clair.
About the middle of December a good deal of incen-
diarism occurred, and the people were considerably
alarmed. Fires broke out in various places about town,
but nobody was caught and punished as the author of
the mischief.
The business notes of the year are uncommonly inter-
esting. Imperial or gunpowder tea was three dollars a
pound; hyson, two dollars and twenty-five cents; hyson
skin, one dollar and fifty cents; bohea, one dollar, and
very poor stuff at that; loaf sugar, forty-four cents per
pound; . pepper, seventy-five cents;, allspice, fifty cents.
Andrew Dunseth begins business in November as the
first gunsmith in Cincinnati. August 27th, Messrs. Wil-
liam and M. Jones advertise that "they still carry on
the bakery business, and as flower is getting cheap, they
have enlarged their loaf to four pounds, which is sold at
one-eighth of a dollar per loaf, or flour pound per pound,
payable every three months." In September, Francis
Menessier advertises a coffee-house at the foot of the hill,
on Main street, open from two to nine p. m., also, differ-
ent kinds of liquors, all kinds of pastry, etc. His sign is
"Pegasus, the bad poet, fallen to the ground." He also
teaches the French language. The same month John
Kidd opened a bakery on the corner of Front and Main.
In October William McFarland begins the manufacture
of earthenware, the first of the kind in the place. James
54
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
White, the same month, advertises a day and night
school, and R. Haughton puts himself in print as a pro-
fessor of dancing. There was great demand for money
from creditois afflicted with delinquents, and one pathetic
appeal for his dues is sent out from the Hamilton county
jail by an unlucky physician who is himself immured for
debt. ( Real property remained cheap, and Hezekiah
Flint bought the lot upon which he lived, on Walnut
street below Fourth, for one hundred and fifty dollars.
Some of the Main street property below the upper level
was injured in value by the overhanging of the brow of
the hill, which depreciated the values of the threatened
lots until it was removed. People now began to prefer
to go to the hill, although it was further from the Land-
ing; and settlement up there progressed more rapidly.]
Some curious illustrations appear in the newspaper riles
of this year of the morals of Cincinnati, or the want of
them. A sergeant at the fort advertises that his wife
has not only left his bed and board, but has taken up
with another fellow. A citizen, with a charming frank-
ness, quite uncommon nowadays, boldly announces that
he has caught his wife Rachel and a male offender in
flagrante delicto. Another cautions the public against a
certain woman who calls herself Mary, "and has for a
long time passed as my wife, but who is not, as we were
never lawfully married," thus plainly Indicating the rela-
tions in which they had lived. Still another advertises
his wife as having abandoned him for the second time,
"without any provocation, in any possible shape what-
ever."
A clear, graphic, and detailed picture of Cincinnati, as
it appeared at the close of this year, is presented in a
published address of Dr. Daniel Drake, who entered it
on the eighteenth of December, 1800, as a boy of fifteen,
coming from Kentucky hither to begin his medical
studies. The address was delivered before the Cincin-
nati Medical Library association January 9, 1852, in the
hall of the Mechanics' institute :
(in the first year of this century the cleared "lands at this place did not
equal the surface which is now completely built over. North of the
canal and west of the Western row there was forest, with here and
there a cabin and small clearing, connected with the village by a narrow,
winding road. J Curved lines, you know, symbolize the country,
straight lines the city. South of where the Commercial [later the Cin-
cinnati] Hospital now administers relief annually to three times as
many people as then composed the population of the town, there were
half-cleared fields, with broad margins of blackberry vines; and I, with
other young persons, frequently gathered that delicious fruit, at the
risk of being snake-bitten, where the Roman Catholic church now
sends tys spire into the lower clouds. Further south the ancient mound
near Fifth street, on which Wayne planted his sentinels seven years be-
fore, was overshadowed with trees which, together with itself, should
have been preserved; but its dust, like that of those who then delighted
to play on its beautiful slopes, has mingled with the remains of the
unknown race by whom it was erected. The very spot on which we
are now assembled, but a few years before the time of which I speak,
was part of a wheat-field of sixteen acres owned by Mr. James Fergu-
son and fenced in without reference to the paved streets which now cut
through it. The stubble of that field is fast decaying in the soil around
the foundations of the noble edifice in which we are now assembled.
/Seventh street, then called Northern row, was almost the northern
limit of population. Sixth street had a few scattering houses; Fifth not
many more. Between that and Fourth there was a public square, now
built over. In one corner, the northeast, stood the court house, with a
small marketplace in front, which nobody attended. In the north-
west corner was the jail, in the southwest the village school-house; in
the southeast, where a glittering spire tells the stranger that he is
approaching our city, stood the humble church of the pioneers, whose
bones lie mouldering in the centre of the square, then the village ceme-
tery. Walnut; called Cider street, which bounds that square on the
west, presented a few cabins or small frames; but Vine street was not
yet opened to the river. Fourth street, after passing Vine, branched
into roads and paths. Third street, running near the brow of the upper
plain, was on as high a level as Fifth street is now. The gravelly slope
of that plain stretched from east to west almost to Pearl street. On
this slope, between Main and Walnut, a French political exile, whom I
shall name hereafter, planted, in the latter part of the last century, a
small vineyard. This was the beginning of that cultivation for which
the environs of our city have at length become distinguished. I suppose
this was the first cultivation of the foreign grape in the valley of the
Ohio. Where Congress, Market, and Pearl streets, since opened, send
up the smoke of their great iron foundries, or display in magnificent
warehouses the products of different and distant lands, there was a belt
of low, wet ground which, upon the settlement of the town twelve years
before, had been a series of beaver-ponds, filled by the annual over-
flows of the river and the rains from the upper plains. Second, then
known as Columbia street, presented some scattered cabins, dirty with-
in and rude without; but Front street exhibited an aspect of consider-
able pretension. It was nearly built up with log and .frame houses,
from Walnut street to Eastern row, now called Broadway .J The people
of wealth and the men of business, with the Hotel de Ville, kept by
Griffin Yeatman, were chiefly on this street, which even had a few
patches of sidewalk pavement. In front of the mouth of Sycamore
street, near the hotel, there was a small wooden market-house built over
a cove, into which pirogues and other craft, when the river was high,
y»re poled or paddled, to be tied to the rude columns.
V The common then stretched out to where the land and water now
meet, when the river is at its mean height. It terminated in a high,
steep, crumbling bank, beneath which lay the flat-boats of immigrants
or of traders in fiomi whiskey, and apples, from Wheeling, Fort Pitt,
or Redstone Old FortJ Their winter fires, burning in iron kettles, sent
up lazy columns of smoke, where steamers now darken the air with
hurried clouds of steam and soot. One of these vessels has cost more
than the village would then have brought at auction. ([From this com-
mon the future Covington, in Kentucky, appeared as a cornfield, culti-
vated by the Kennedy family, which also kept the ferry. Newport,
chiefly owned by two Virginia gentlemen, James Taylor and Richard
Southgate, but embracing the Mayos, Fowlers, Berrys, ' Stubbses, and
several other respectable families, was a drowsy village set in the side
of a deep wood, and the mouth of Licking rivej was overarched with
traes, giving it the appearance of a great tunnel^
Lifter Front street, Sycamore and Main were the most important of
the town. A number of houses were built upon the former up to Fourth,
beyond which it was opened three or four squares. The buildings and
business of Main street extended up to Fifth, where, on the northwest
corner, there was a brick house, owned by Elmore Williams, the only
one in town. Beyond Seventh Main street was a mere road, nearly im-
passable in muddy weather, which at the foot of the hills divided into
two, called the Hamilton road and the Mad-river road. The former,
now a crooked and closely built street, took the course of the Brighton
house; the latter made a steep ascent over Mount Auburn, where there
was not a single habitation. Broadway, or Eastern row, was then but
thirty-three feet wide. The few buildings which it had were on the west
side, where it joins Front streejl on the site of the Cincinnati hotel there
was a low frame house, with whiskey and a billiard table. It was said
that the owner paid seven hundred dollars for the house and lot in nine-
fences; that is, in small pieces of "cut money" received for drams.
(North of this, towards Second street, there were several small houses
inhabited by disorderly persons who had been in the army. The side-
walk in front was called Battle row. Between Second and Third streets,
near where we now have the eastern end of the market-house, there was
a single frame tenement, in which I lived with my preceptor'in 1805.
In a pond, directly in front, the frogs gave us regular serenades) Much
of the square to which this house belonged was fenced in, and served
as a pasture ground for a pony which I kept for country practice.
(Between Third and Fourth streets, on the west side of Broadway,
there was, in 1800, a cornfield with a rude fencejsince replaced by man-
sions of such splendor that a Russian traveller, several years ago, took
away drawings of one as a model for the people of St. Petersburgh.
Above Fourth street Broadway had but three or four houses, and ter-
minated at the edge of a thick wood, before reaching the foot of Mount
Auburn.
feast of Broadway and north of Fourth street, the entire square had
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
55
been enclosed and a respectable frame house erected by the Hon. Win-
throp Sargent, secretary of the Northwest Territory} He had removed
to Mississippi Territory, of which he was afterwards Governor; and
his house and grounds, the best improved in the village, were occupied
by the Hon. Charles Wyling Byrd, his successor in office. Governor
Sargent merits a notice amon? the physicians of the town, as he was
thefirst who made scientific observations on our climate.
{Immediately south of his residence, from Fourth street to the river,
east df Broadway, there was a military reserve. That portion of it which
laid on the upper plain was covered by Fort Washington, with its
bastions, port-holes, stockades, tall flag-staff, evening tattoo, and morn-
ing reveille. Here were the quarters of the military members of our
profession, and for a time for one of its civil members also; for, after
its evacuation in 1803, my preceptor moved into the rooms which had
been occupied by the commander of the post. *In front of the fort,
where Congress street now runs, there was a duck pond, in which ducks
and snipes were often shot: and from this pond to the river, the
tract through which East and Front streets now run was overspread
with the long, low sheds of the commissaries, quartermasters, and
artificers of the armyjj
The post office was then and long after kept on the east side of this
military common, where Lawrence street leads down to the Newport
ferry. Our quiet and gentlemanly postmaster, William Ruffin, per-
formed all the duties of the office with his own hands. The great
Eastern mail was then brought once a week from Maysville, Kentucky,
in a pair of saddle-bags.
/East of the fort, on the upper plain, the trunks of large trees were
still lying on the ground. A single house had been built by Dr. Alli-
son where the Lytle house now stands, and a. field of several acres
stretched off to the east and north. On my arrival this was the resi-
dence of my preceptor. The dry cornstalks of early winter were still
standing near the door. But Dr. Allison had planted jjeach trees, and
it was known throughout the village as Peach Grove.JjThe field ex-
tended to the bank of Deer creek; thence all was deep wood. Where
the munificent expenditures of Nicholas Longworth, esq., have col-
lected the beautiful exotics of all climates— on the very spot where the
people now go to watch the unfolding of the night-blooming cereus —
grew the red-bud, crab-apple, and gigantic tulip tree, or the yellow
poplar, with wild birds above and native flowers below. Where the
Catawba and Herbemont now swing down their heavy and luscious
clusters, the climbing winter vine hung its small, sour branches from
the limbs of high trees. fThe adjoining valley of Deer creek, down
which, by a series of locks, the canal from Lake Erie mingles its waters
with the Ohio, was then a receptacle for drift- wood from the back water
of that river, when high. The boys ascended the little estuary in
canoes during June floods, and pulled flowers from the lower limbs of
the trees or threw clubs at the turtles, as they sunned themselves on the
floating logs. In the whole valley there was but a single house, and
that was a distillery.' The narrow road which led to it from the
garrison— and, I am sorry to add, from the village also— was well
traddenj
{Mount Adams was then clothed in the grandeur and beauty which
belongs to our own primitive forests. The spot occupied by the reser-
voir which supplies our city with water, and all the rocky precipices that
stretch from it up the river, where buried up in sugar-trees^ On the
western slope we collected the sanguinaria Canadensis, geranium,
maculatum, gillenia trifoliata, and otter natural medicines, when sup-
plies failed to reach us from abroad, rrhe summit on which the ob-
servatory now stands was crowned withMofty poplars, oaks, and beech;
and the sun in summer could scarcely be seen from the spot where we
now look into the valleys of the moon or see distant nebulse resolved
into their starry elements.
Over the mouth of Deer creek there was a crazy wooden bridge, and
where the depot of the railroad which now connects us with the sea
has been erected, there was but a small log cabin. From this cabin a
narrow rocky, and stumpy road made its way, as best it could, up the
river where the railway now stretches. At the distance of two miles
there was another cabin-that from which we expelled the witch. Be-
yond this all was forest for miles furtherj>when we reached the residence
of Tohn Smith. . . The new village of Pendleton now covers
that spot. Then came the early, but now extinct, village of Columbia,
of which our first physicians were the only medical attendants.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ONE.
On the twentieth of February, Dr. William Goforth,
first of the physicians of Cincinnati to do 'so, introduced
vaccination as a preventive of small-pox.
March 20th, the Republicans met and had a jollifica-
tion at Menessier's coffee-house, to celebrate the election
of Jefferson to the Presidency. There is a touch of Red
Republicanism in the published report of the proceed-
ings, that "Citizen John C. Symines" was in the chair.
When, however, the Fourth of July observances came to
be noticed, it was again Citizen J. C. Symmes as presi-
dent, Citizen Dr. William Goforth vice-president of the
day; and so on. There were two celebrations of the
Fourth this year — one at Yeatman's,* and one at the big
spring on the river-bank, just above Deer Creek bridge,
where a broad rock served as a table.
April 27th, the brig St. Clair, Whipple commander,
came down from Marietta, where it had been built, and
anchored off the village. It was the first vessel of the
kind to appear at this port.
In May, upon the expiration of the term for which
Mr. McMillan was elected to Congress, and his return,
a public dinner was given him by his friends, as a testi-
monial of appreciation of his valuable services.
On the nineteenth of August, the first public recog-
nition, probably, of the omnipotent and lucrative Cincin-
nati hog is made in the shape of the following advertise-
ment:
For Sale. — A quantity of GOOD BACON. Inquire at the office.
For a week, beginning the twenty-third of September,
the remarkable migration of squirrels from Kentucky
across the river at this point was going on. Large num-
bers were killed by the settlers — as many as five hundred
in one day — between Cincinnati and Columbia. The
invasion of these little animals was thought to portend
an/uncommonly mild winter.
(On the thirtieth of this month there was a meeting of
citizens at Yeatman's, to secure an act of incorporation
for the village. The same day an announcement ap-
peared of horse races and the Cincinnati theatre — both
the first amusements of their species here. The Thes-
pians gave their performance in Artificers' Yard, below
the fort.^)
On the nineteenth of December the Territorial legisla-
ture gave Cincinnati a sad stroke, by passing a bill on a
vote of twelve to eight, for the removal of the seat of
government from this place to Chillicothe. The resi-
dence of the governor and other officers of the terri-
tory had been here since 1790, and had contributed not
' a little to the prosperity and fame of the place. Novem-
ber 24th, however, some consolation was afforded by the
passage of the act desired for the incorporation of Cin-
cinnati. At the same time Chillicothe and Detroit were
incorporated by this legislature.
During the same month several fires occurred, and
measures began to be considered for the procurement of
a fire engine^)
Some time this year General Findlay was appointed
United States Marshal for the district of Ohio, and Wil-
liam McMillan district attorney. They were the first
incumbents of these offices.
* This famous old tavern, which makes so conspicuous a figure in the
early annals of Cincinnati, was situated on lot twenty-seven, east side
of Sycampre street, corner of Front.
56
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Business this year was not specially noticeable, save the
formation of a company of Cincinnati gentlemen for the
purchase of a silver mine in some locality not stated, but
"situated at a convenient distance from the Ohio."
Mining engineering, we fear, then or since, has failed to
discover or develop that bonanza of the precious metal.
Salt was bringing two dollars a barrel, powder seventy-five
cents a pound, lard twelve and one-half cents, tar fifty
cents per gallon — "for ready money only." Joseph Mc-
Henry, the first flour inspector, was appointed near the
close of 1 8c i.
Among the immigrants of the year were Robert Wal-
lace and John Whetstone. Among the others known to
have arrived by this time, and not heretofore noticed, di-
rectly or incidentally in these annals, were Robert Park-
halter, Ephraim Morrison, William Austin, C. Avery,
Thomas Frazer, Levi McLean, Dr. Homes, Thomas
Thompson, Michael Brokaw, James and Robert Cald-
well, Aaron Cherry, Daniel Globe, Andrew Westfall,
Nehemiah Hunt, Thomas Williams, Benjamin Walker,
Edmund Freeman (a plasterer), John C. Winans, James
Conn, Uriah Gates, Richard Downes, Lawrence Hilde-
brand, D. Conner and company, Larkin Payne, Henry
Furry, George Fithian, Lewis Kerr, Joseph Blew, Isaac
Anderson, Willia'm McCoy, James Wilson, and Andrew
Brannon.
CINCINNATI IN 1802.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWO.
iThe great event of this year was the erection of Cincin-
nati as a village under the act of incorporation of the ter-
ritorial legislature. The limits were Mill creek on the
west; the township line (now Liberty street) about a mile
from the river at the furthest point of the river bank, on
the north; the east boundary line of fractional section
twelve, on the east; and the river on the south J Tem-
porary officers were provided by the act of incorporation ;
but the first municipal election was held the first Monday
in the month. April 3, Major David Zeigler, formerly
commandant of Fort Washington, who had settled as a
citizen in Cincinnati, was elected president of the village;
Charles Avery, William Ramsey, David E. Wade, John
Reily, William Stanley, Samuel Dick, and William Ruffin,
trustees; and Jacob Burnet, recorder. Other officers,
elected or appointed, were: Joseph Prince, assessor;
Abram Cary, collector; James ("Sheriff") Smith, marshal.
Ten of these twelve "city fathers" had previously held
local offices, under the dozen years of territorial or town-
ship rule that had prevailed. Among the candidates for
constable was the versatile Levi McLean, who issued an
electioneering address "to the free and candid electors
of the town of Cincinnati." This was the first and only
election of officers in the village under territorial govern-
ment, Ohio becoming a State November 19th of this
year, upon the adjournment of the Constitutional Con
vention at Chillicothe, after its members had signed the
Constitution.
The first court house for the county -was built this year,
near the northwest corner of the public square; and one
of the first uses of it was for a meeting of citizens, to
gravely determine as to the proposed expenditure of forty-
six dollars by the city council, of which twelve were to go
for fire-ladders and as much more for fire-hooks. Things
changed seventy years later, when millions at a dash were
being voted away for a railroad project.
The first picture of Cincinnati, so far as known, was
made this year, and has since been repeatedly printed.*
It marks the dwellings or places of business of Major
Ruffin; Charles Vattier, corner of Broadway and Front;
James Smith, first door west of Vattier; Major Zeigler,
Second street, east of Sycamore; Griffin Yeatman's, north-
east corner of Front and Sycamore; Martin Bautn's, just
opposite; Colonel Gibson, northeast corner Front and
Main; Colonel Ludlow, opposite corner; Joel Williams,
north side of Water, near Main; Samuel Burt, a log house,
northwest corner Walnut and Front, and two little cabins
west of him; and Dr. Allison ("Peach Grove"), on the
*A large painting of Cincinnati in 1800 has recently been made by
Mr. A. B. Swing, a local artist, from careful studies of the subject, and
exhibited in one of the picture stores on Main street.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
57
hill near Fort Washington. The Fort and Artificers'
Yard, the Presbyterian church, the Green Tree hotel, on
Front street, about midway between Main and Wal-
nut, and another hotel on a street corner, are all the pub-
lic buildings that are shown in the picture, which obvi-
ously does not represent buildings enough for the nine
hundred inhabitants, more or less, there must have been
he^e at that time.
(About the middle of 1802, the first school for young
ladies was opened in the place bv a Mrs. Williams, in the
house of Mr. Newman, a saddler. \
Some time this year Ethan Stoiie paid Joel Williams
two hundred and twenty dollars for lots eighty-nine,
ninety and ninety-one, being one hundred and fifty feet
on Vine by two hundred on Fourth street. Thirty-seven
years thereafter, in 1839, tne larger part of the same
property was sold for one hundred and fifty dollars the
front foot.
A well-known citizen publicly advertises that "the part-
nership between the subscriber and his wife, Alice, has
been dissolved by mutual consent. Another remark in
the notice provokes the retort next week, from his wife,
that she "has never yet stood in need of his credit."
The commerce of the village begins to look up. From
the sixteenth of February to the sixteenth of May, ex-
ports of flour amounted to four thousand four hundred
and fifty-seven barrels.
The known arrivals of 1802 are Ethan Stone, Samuel
Perry and William Pierson.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THREE.
The annals of this twelve-month are brief, but not
wholly devoid of interest. Early in the year incendiary
fires occurred, as many as three in rapid succession.
The citizens were thoroughly alarmed, and a night-watch
was organized and maintained for some time. One man
was arrested and imprisoned on suspicion; but nothing
was proved against him, and the real incendiary remained
undisclosed. {The garrison was removed this year from
Fort Washington to Newport Barracks; and to this
change, possibly, may be attributed the infrequency of
incendiary fires in Cincinnati thereafter. The occasional
feuds between soldier and citizeiL may have had some-
thing to do with them before that.)
(On the sixteenth of June the Miami Exporting Com-
pkny'stoank was opened— the first banking institution in
town. J
Some notable arrivals occurred; as of Christopher and
Robert Cary, grandfather and father of the celebrated
Cary sisters. They came from New Hampshire, remained
in Cincinnati several years and then removed to a farm
near Mount Pleasant, now Mount Healthy, on the Ham-
ilton road, where their descendants and other relatives
are now to be found in some number. On New Year's
day came Thomas and Thankful Carter, grandparents of
Judge A. G. W. Carter, with their promising family of
five boys and three girls. The judge's maternal grand-
father, the Rev. Adam Hurdus, founder of the New
Church or Swedenborgianism in the west came from
England with his family to Cincinnati April 4, 1806.
Judge A. H. Dunlevy, in an address to the Cincinnati
Pioneer association, April 7, 1875, gives the following
picture of the Queen City of this year :
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FOUR.
Cincinnati was then a very small place. The hotel where I put up
as near the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, and was kept
by one James Conn, or rather by his wife, who was the most efficient
of the family. . From the customers of this hotel, I think it was
considered the best then in Cincinnati. But at this time the forest trees
stood on the south, east, and north of this hotel property. Directly
south, across Fifth street, Tom Dugan, an old bachelor who left a
large property in Cincinnati, had a rough-iron store; and there were
very few buildings of any size south along Main street, until the corner
of Main and Fourth, where, on the north side, James Ferguson had
the best store, I think, then in Cincinnati. The only access to the
Ohio, where wagons could descend, was at the foot of Main street; and
this consisted simply of a wide road cut diagonally down the steep
bank of the river. In high water there was no other levee than this
road. In low water, however, there was a wide beach ; but this could
only be reached by this road. It may be there was a similar approach
to the river at the foot of Broadway; but if so, I did not see lit. All
north of Fifth street, with the exception of one or two houses, was in
woods or inclosed lots, without other improvements. In coming to
Cincinnati from Lebanon, miles of the route were in the woods, out of
sight of any improvements^ and from Cumminsville, then only a tav-
ern, kept by one Cummins ([ohn, I think), there were but two resi-
dences on the road until you came near to Conn's hotel. One of these
was the residence of Mr. Cary — I think father of General Samuel Cary,
of Hamilton county, as well known.
In May a very useful and honored resident, William
McMillan, one of the first colonists of Losantiville, died,
greatly lamented by his fellow-citizens. His life and
public services will be further noticed in our chapter on
the Bar. of Cincinnati. Mr. Cist wrote of him in Cincin-
nati in 1 84 1 :
There can be no doubt that Mr. McMillan was the master spirit of
the place at that day, and a man who would have been a distinguished
member of society anywhere. It is impossible to contemplate his char-
acter and career without being deeply impressed with his great superi-
ority over every one around him, even of the influential men of the day;
and there were men of as high character and abilities in Cincinnati in
those days as at present. He was lost to the community at the age of
forty-four, just in the meridian of his course, and left vacant an orbit of
usefulness and influence in the community in which no one since has
been found worthy to move.
A town meeting was held this year, to consider the
adoption of measures for a general vaccination of the in-
habitants of the village.
On the fourth of December was issued the first num-
ber of Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, edited and
published by the Rev. John W. Browne.
A large number of immigrants are registered for this
year. Among them, in the fall, was Colonel Stephen
McFarland, father of the venerable Isaac B. McFarland,
still living in Cincinnati, and Mr. John McFarland and
a sister, of Madisonville. General Findlay, who knew
him in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, had written for
him. His wife and children came the next year. H. M.,
Jacob, and Andrew H. Ernst came this year with their
father, Zachariah Ernst. The family became quite prom-
inent here. Jacob was a printer and author, writing
books on Masonry, etc., while Andrew wrote treatises on
gardening and arboriculture. Ernst station, on the Cincin-
nati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, is named from the
family. Other arrivals were Peaton S. Symmes, Benja-
min Smith, P. A. Sprigman, George P. Torrence (long
presiding judge of the court of common pleas), Jonathan
5»
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Pancoast, Robert Richardson, James Perry, Peter M.
Nicoll, Adam Moore, William Moody, Benjamin Mason,
Casper Hopple, Andrew Johnston, Ephraim Carter, James
Crawford, William Crippen, and Henry Craven.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIVE.
(The village now had twenty-five merchants and grocers,
fifteen joiners and cabinet-makers, twelve bricklayers,
eleven inn-keepers, nine attorneys, eight physicians, eight
blacksmiths, .seven shoemakers, five saddlers, seven tail-
ors, five bakers, three each of tobacconists, silversmiths,
and tanners, four hatters, two each of printers, brewers,
tinners, and coppersmiths, and one book-binder. Its
population was nine hundred and sixty, housed and doin
business in one hundred and seventy-two buildings
Jesse Hunt, on Second street, near Eastern row; Aaron
Goforth, on Walnut, below Fourth; Andrew Lemon, on
Water street; and Joel Williams, also on Water street,
had the only stone buildings in town; while the six brick
buildings were the Miami bank building, on Front, near
Main; Elmore Williams', on Main and Fifth streets; Nim-
mo's, on Main, near Fourth; Judge Burnet's, Vine, near
Fourth, where the Burnet house now is; and two others;
to which was presently added the Rev. John W. Browne's
Liberty Hall office, at the east end of the lower market
house. unfty-three log cabins were still remaining, and
there were a little more than twice as many (one hundred
and nine) frame buildings)
Mr. E. D. Mansfield, long afterwards recalling his Per-
sonal Memories of the coming of his father and family
here, said:
We arrived at Cincinnati, I think, the last part of October, 1805
But what was Cincinnati then? One of the dirtiest little
villages you ever saw. Of course I was not driven around to see its
splendors; but the principal street or settlement was Front street — and
\ that I saw. The chief houses at that time were on Front street, from
I Broadway to Sycamore. They were two-story frame houses, painted
I white. One was that of General Findlay, receiver of the land office,
I . . and subsequently member of Congress for the Cincin-
! nati district.
Mr. Josiah Espy, who made a tour this year through
Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indian Territory, and published
a journal of his travels, came here September 4th, and
stayed two days, making the following note of the place:
Cincinnati is a remarkably sprightly, thriving town, on the northwest
! bank of the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of the river Licking, and
[ containing, from appearance, about two hundred dwelling-houses —
' many of these elegant brick buildings. The site of the town embraces
both the first and second banks of the river, the second bank being, I
\ suppose, about two hundred feet above the level of the water. - —
\Jn March a great freshet occurred in the Ohio, over-
flowing everything on the lower levels, and sweeping
away houses, stock, and other property./
May 8th, General John S. Gano was appointed clerk
of the courts for Hamilton county. This is noteworthy
simply as the beginning of a very long and useful career
for the Ganos in this capacity, lasting far down the century.
In the same month, on the fifteenth instant, came
Aaron Burr to this village, en route for New Orleans,
while his expedition was preparing and he was meditating
his ambitious, if not treasonable, projects. He does not
seem to have done much mischief here, except to involve
in trouble United States Senator John Smith, through
the evident friendship of the two and Smth's hospitality
to Burr while here.
The Republicans of that time (the political ancestors
of the present Democracy) held the Fourth of July cele-
bration by themselves this year, at a bower in front of
the court house. Judge Symmes was president, Matthew
Nimmo vice-president, and Thomas Rawlins orator of
the day. The light dragoons, Lieutenant Elmore Wil-
liams commanding, made a street parade for this section
of the Cincinnati patriots. Others went with Captain
Smith's company of light infantry to the Beechen grove,
in the western part of the town, where there was a din-
ner, succeeded by nineteen toasts. Some of the toasts
were quite unique. Captain McFarland volunteered one
as follows: "A hard-pulling horse, a porcupine saddle,
a cobweb pair of breeches, and a long journey, to the
enemies of America."
The Cincinnati Thespians held their meetings during
a part of this year in the loft of a stable in rear of
General Hndlay's place, on the site of the old Spencer
house.
On the eleventh of December an ordinance was passed
by the town council for the establishment of a sort of
night-watch, without pay.
This year came John M. Wozencraft, a Welshman
from Baltimore, who remained here for a time, and after-
wards died in South Carolina on his way to England.
The arrival from the same city of forty to fifty families,
with about as many unmarried men, chiefly mechanics,
gave to the town, says the directory of 181 9, the first
spring of anything like improvement.
Joseph Coppin, the aged president of the Cincinnati
Pioneer association for this year 1880-1, came to the town
of Cincinnati December 16th. He is, doubtless, the
oldest man living, who was a resident of the city at that
time. Mr. Coppin was born in Norwich, England, April
8, 1791, and was brought, when a boy, to this country by
his father, who settled in New York city. Young Coppin
walked in the funeral procession organized in that city in
December, 1799, to do honor to the memory of Washing-
ton, then just deceased. He afterwards marched in the
processions that followed to tomb the remains of Alex-
ander Hamilton, slain by Burr in 1804, and of Major
David Zeigler, a native of Prussia, and commandant of
Fort Washington, who died and was buried in Cincinnati
in September, 181 1. He was a boy in his fifteenth year
when brought to this place, and remembers distinctly the
Cincinnati of that day. He worked as a boat-joiner
upon the first barges that were built here for the New Or-
leans trade, and as a house-carpenter labored upon the
famous "Bazaar" built by the Trollopesin 1828-9. The
aged pioneer is spending the evening of his days tran-
quilly at Pleasant Ridge, in this county.
By far the most distinguished arrivals of this year, or
of the decade, were those of General Jared Mansfield
and his family, which included a son, then a little boy of
four years, Edward D. Mansfield, who became one of the
most useful men of his time, and died only last year —
October 27, 1880, at his "Yamoyden" farm near Morrow,
thirty miles from Cincinnati. General Mansfield was of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
59
English stock, and immediately from an old New Hamp-
shire family; a graduate of Yale college, and thorough
scientist for his day; a teacher in his native State, and at
the Friends' academy, in Philadelphia; author of a
learned work comprising essays on mathematical topics ;
appointed surveyor-general of the United States by Pres-
ident Jefferson in 1803, particularly to establish correct
meridian lines, which had given previous surveyors much
trouble; resident at Marietta 1803-5, and at or near
Cincinnati (at Ludlow's station, and at Bates' place, near
the present workhouse, afterwards called Mount Comfort),
1805-12; wrote a series of papers signed "Regulus," op-
posing the schemes of Burr; established three principal
meridians in Ohio and Indiana; returned to West Point
as an instructor 1814-28, and remained at the east until
his death.
Edward D. Mansfield was also born in New Hamp-
shire; was educated here, in New Hampshire, and
Cheshire, Connecticut, and at the Military academy, from
which he was graduated the fourth of his class, and the
youngest graduate in the history of West Point. He was
commissioned a second lieutenant in the engineer corps,
but, at the instance of his mother, resigned to become a
lawyer. He first prepared regularly for college, entered
the junior class at Princeton, and was graduated with the
first honor. After a course at the Litchfield Law school
he was admitted to the bar, and returned to Cincinnati
the same year, where, or near which city, he thenceforth
remained. He practiced law but a short time, however,
and gave his time mostly to journalism and other literary
pursuits. He was author of the Political Grammar, still
published as a text-book for schools; of a work on Amer-
can Education; of Personal Memories, a life of Dr.
Drake, and many other books and reports, and pamph-
lets of addresses, lectures, etc. He was the first and only
commissioner of statistics for the State, and filled the
place admirably. While a young lawyer here he had for
a time as a partner Professor O. M. Mitchel, founder of
the Cincinnati observatory. In 1835 he was professor of
constitutional law and history in the Cincinnati college,
and was then also editor of the Cincinnati Chronicle.
He subsequently filled many other stations of usefulness,
and continued his intellectual activity almost to the day
of his lamented death.
The arrival of General Mansfield and family was pleas-
antly chronicled nearly forty years afterwards, by Dr. S.
P. Hildreth, of Marietta, in a history of an early voyage
on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with historical
sketches of the different points along them, etc., etc.,
contributed to the American Pioneer for March, 1842.
Dr. Hildreth says:
General Mansfield possessed a high order of talents, especially as a
mathematician, with every qualification necessary to conduct the de-
partment under his control with honor to himself and advantage to h.s
country To a handsome personal appearance was added the most
bland and pleasant address, rendering him a very desirable companion.
Among the sailing vessels built at Marietta between
the years 1801 and 1805, was a beautiful little seventy-
ton schooner called the Nonpareil, constructed by Cap-
tain Jonathan Devoll, one of the. earliest shipwrights on
the Ohio, for himself and sons, and Mr. Richard Greene.
In the spring of 1805 she was finished and loaded for a
voyage down the Mississippi, and General Mansfield de-
termined to take passage upon her with his family — a
son, a nephew, and a servant girl — for his new station at
Cincinnati, which would be "more central and nearer to
the new tracts of government lands ordered to be sur-
veyed in Ohio and the adjacent western territory."
The vessel left Marietta April 21st. Dr. Hildreth thus
records the arrival at Cincinnati, and gives a rapid but
vivid picture of the town as it then appeared :
The Nonpareil now unmoored and put out into the stream, proposing
to stop at Cincinnati to land General Mansfield and family. The dis-
tance between the two towns was one hundred and sixty miles. New
settlements and improvements were springing up along the bank of the
river every few miles; and the busy hum of civilization was heard where
silence had reigned for ages, except when broken by the scream of the
panther, the howl of the wolf, or the yell of the savage. In this dis-
tance there are now no less than twelve towns, some of which are of
considerable importance. They reached Cincinnati after a voyage of
seventeen days, being protracted to this unusual length by adverse
winds, a low stage of water, and the frequent stops of General Mans-
field on business relating to his department, especially that of deter-
mining the meridian and latitude of certain points on the Ohio river,
fit was now the eighth of May; the peach and the apple had shed
tVeir blossoms, and the trees of the forest were clad in their summer
dress. ^Cincinnati, in 1805, contained a population of nine hundred
and fifty souls. The enlivening notes of the fife and drum at reveille
were no longer heard, and the loud booming of the morning gun, as it
rolled its echoes along the hills and the winding shores of the river, had
ceased to awaken the inhabitants from their slumbers. Cincinnati had
been from its foundation until within a short period the headquarters of
the different armies engaged in the Indian wars; and the continual ar-
rival and departure of the troops, the landing of boats and detach-
ments of pack-horses with provisions, had given to this little village all
the life and activity of a large city. Peace was now restored; and the
enlivening hum of commerce was beginning to be heard on the land-
ings, while the bustle and hurry of hundreds of immigrants thronged
the streets as they took their departure for the rich valleys of the
Miami, the intended home of many a weary pilgrim from the Atlantic
States. The log houses were beginning to disappear— brick and frame
buildings were supplying their places. Large warehouses had arisen
near the water for the storing of groceries and merchandise, brought -.
up in barges and keel-boats from the far distant city of New Orleans. I
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIX.
This was a transition year, or rather the beginning of a
transition-period, for the little place. Says Mr. Mansfield ,
in his biography of Dr. Drake (it will be observed that
he_was writing about 1855):
(Cincinnati was then emerging out of a village existence into that, not
of a city, but of a town, In 1806 it was but a small and dirty county-
town. But about that time commenced a career of growth and success
which is unequalled in history. Such success, notwithstanding all /
natural advances, is always due as much to the mind and energy of its
citizens as to all physical causes. If we look to the young men then
aasociated with Dr. Drake and to the older citizens whom I have all
ready mentioned, it will be found that no young place in America has
gathered to itself a greater amount of personal energy and intellectual
ability.1) I have named among the pioneers the St. Clairs, Symmeses,
Burners, Ganos, Findlays, Goforths and Oliver M. Spencer. In the
class of young men, about 1806-7-8, were John McLean, now supreme
judge; Thomas S. Jessup, now quartermaster-general; Joseph G. Tot-
ten, now general of engineers; Ethan A. Brown, afterwards governor,
judge and canal commissioner; George Cutler, now colonel in the army;
Mr. Sill, since member of congress from Erie, Pennsylvania; Joseph
Crane, afterwards judge; Judge Torrence, Dr. Drake, Nicholas Long-
worth, Peyton S. Symmes, David Wade, Samuel Perry, Joseph Pierce,
a poet of decided talent; Mr. Armstrong and John F. Mansfield.*
The last two died early— the former, a young man of great ability,
and the latter of distinguished scientific attainments and high promise.
*Mr. Mansfield's foot-note: " I do not pretend to give a list of all the prom-
inent young men at that time, but only those of whom I have some knowledge.'
6o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
imparn
Such a circle of young men would grace any rising town, and imr.
to its mind and character a tone of energy and a spirit of ambition. /
During the year this part of the country was visited
and partly explored, after a fashion, by an Englishman
named Thomas Ashe, who chose to palm himself off
during his travels among the western barbarians as a
Frenchman named DArville. He pottered around
somewhat among the antiquities of the Ohio valley, pro-
mulgated the highly probable theory that the earthworks
then still remaining in Cincinnati were the ruins of an
ancient city, and after his return to the Old World, be-
sides publishing a ponderous account of his travels in
America, in three volumes, he issued a smaller volume
entitled, "Memoirs of Mammoth and various extraordi-
nary and stupendous Bones, of Incognita or Nonde-
script Animals found in the vicinity of the Ohio, Wabash,
Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage and Red rivers, etc.
Published for the information of the Ladies and Gentle-
men whose taste and love of science tempt them to visit
the Liverpool Museum.'' He was helped to this latter
publication by the indiscretion of that fine gentleman of
the old school, Dr. William Goforth, of Cincinnati, who
intrusted the fellow with a large collection, in ten boxes,
which the doctor had made, with great trouble and at
some expense, from the Big Bone Lick, in Kentucky.
Ashe was to take them abroad and exhibit them through
Europe and the United Kingdom, and send the owner a
specified share of the profits. Instead he coolly sold
them to the Liverpool museum for a round sum, after
exhibiting them in London, and is said to have made a
fortune out of them and his book. He never accounted
for a penny to Dr. Goforth, who must have felt the loss
seriously, as he was not a man of large means.
Mr. Ashe is regarded as very poor authority in scien-
tific speculation or statement of fact; yet his narrative
is undoubtedly correct in parts, and where he had no
object to accomplish in telling a falsehood, it is probable
he can be believed. The following is his view of Cincin-
nati in 1806:
The town consists of about three hundred houses, frame and log,
built on two plains, the higher and the lower, each of which commands
a fine view of the opposite shore, the mouth of Licking, the town of
Newport, and the Ohio waters for a considerable way both up and
down. The public buildings consist of a court house, prison, and two
places of worship; and two printing-prt'ssei are established, which
issue papers once a week. Cincinnati is also the line of communication
with the chain of forts extended from Fort Washington to the west-
ward, and is the principal town in what is called Symmes' Purchase.
The garrison end of the town is now in a state of ruin. A land office
for the sale of Congress lands at two dollars per acre is held in the
town, and made no less than seventeen thousand contracts the last year
with persons both from Europe and all parts of the United States. So
very great and extensive is the character of the portion of the State of
which this town is the fort and capital, that it absorbs the whole repu-
tation of the country, deprives it of its topographical name, and" is
distinguished by that of the "Miamis." In Holland, Germany, Ire-
land, and the remote parts of America, persons intending to emigrate
declare that they will go to the "Miamis."
The commerce at present is conducted by about the keepers of thirty
stores. . . The merchants make an exorbitant profit. Those
of four years' standing, who came with goods obtained at Philadelphia
and Baltimore on credit, have paid their debts, and now live at their
ease.
In general the people of Cincinnati make a favorable impression;
they are orderly, decent, sociable, liberal, and unassuming; and were
I compelled to live in the western country, I would give their town a
decided preference. There are among the citizens several gentlemen of
integrity, intelligence, and worth.
He names with special commendation Generals Find-
lay and Gano, Dr. Goforth, and Messrs. Dugan and
Moore.
The amusements consist of balls and amateur plays, the former of
which going to literary and humane purposes, disposes me to think
them both entertaining and good.
On the sixth of February, the brig Perseverance, from
Marietta for New York, via New Orleans and the Gulf,
dropped anchor at Cincinnati. Commerce with domes-
tic and foreign ports, from the Ohio Valley over the high
seas, is obviously looking up.
On the nineteenth of the month rumors are heard that
excite considerable alarm concerning the movements of
the Indians at Greenville, where the artful Tecumseh has
his lodge, and is daily stirring up strife between the red
and white men. It is this time, however, a harmless
alarm.
March 31st, the United States gunboats, built by the
order of President Jefferson with some reference, it is
supposed, to the stoppage of Burr's expedition, were
launched from the shipyards at Columbia.
From May 4th to August 22dno rain falls, and a great
cry goes up for showers. The whole Miami country is
athirst; the river threatens to disclose the lowermost
stratum ot its rocky bed. A great eclipse of the sun
occurs, in its gloomiest movements making the objects in
a room almost invisible.
A graphic picture of the effect in Cincinnati of the
Burr conspiracy is furnished in the journal of Mrs. Israel
Ludlow (Charlotte Chambers), under date of September
28, 1806:
A report has been circulating that Aaron Burr, in conjunction with
others, is forming schemes inimical to the peace of his country, and that
an armament and fleet of boats are now in motion on the Ohio, and
that orders have actually arrived from headquarters for our military to
intercept and prevent its progress down the river. In consequence of
these orders, cannon have been planted on the bank and a sentinel
stationed on the watch. The light horse commanded by Captain Fer-
guson have gallantly offered their services, and Captain Carpenter's
company of infantry are on the alert. Cincinnati has quite the appear-
ance of a garrisoned town. A tremendous cannonading was heard
yesterday, and all thought Burr and his armament had arrived ; but it
was only a salute to a fleet oiflatboats containing military stores for the
different stations on the river.
Mr. Joseph Coppin, one of the few survivors of the Cin-
cinnati of the second decade, in his inaugural address,
March 27, 1880, as President of the Pioneer association,
gives the following amusing reminiscence :
We had plenty of snow,' but no pleasure sleighs; so the old pioneers
thought that they must have a ride, and they procured a large canoe or
pirogue, with a skiff attached behind and seated for the ladies. To this
pirogue-sleigh were hitched ten horses, with ten boy-riders to guide
them, the American flag flying, two fiddlers, two flute-players, and Dr.
Stall as captain. They did not forget to pass the "old black Betty,"
filled with good old peach brandy, among the old pioneers, and wine
for the lady pioneers— God bless them! And here they went it, merrily
singing "Gee-o, Dobbin; Dobbin, gee-o!" When the riding ended,
both old and young pioneers wound up the sport with a ball — linsey-
woolsey dresses in place of silk on ladies, many buckskin suits on
pioneer men, and moccasins on their feet in place of shoes.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVEN.
Herr Schultze, a German tourist who found his way to
the Ohio Valley this year and afterwards published his
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
61
ncin-
Travels on an Inland Voyage, thus remarks upon Ci
nati:
It contains about three hundred houses, among which are found sev-
eral very genteel buildings ; it has a bank, market-house, printing-office,
and a number of stores well stocked with every kind of merchandise in
demand in this country. The markets are well furnished, both as to
abundance and variety. Superfine flower [sic] is selling at three and a
half and four dollars by the single barrel, and other articles are pro-
portionally cheap. Ordinary manufactures they have likewise in plenty;
and the country round, being rich and level, produces all the necessaries
of life with but little labour. Fort Washington is situated immediately
at the upper end of the town ; and although, from the increased popu-
lation of the country, it is at present useless, yet, in the early settlement
of this place, it was a post of considerable importance in checking the
inecfrsions and ravages of the Indians.
(February third the Territorial Legislature passes an act
authorizing the imposition of a tax to the amount of six
thousand dollars, for the pecuniary foundation of a Cin-
cinnati University.)
March eleven, me office of General Findlay, the re-
ceiver of public moneys at the land office, is robbed of
fifty thousand dollars, which creates a prodigious sensa-
tion. The perpetrators are found, tried, and sentenced
to be publicly whipped, but are pardoned through the
clerhency of Governor Looker.
f/The third of September brings the first purchase of
fire-engines — hand engines, of course — for the village;
one to be used on the bottom, the other on the hilu)
November third, Judge Burnet, having been peppered
with paper bullets from the Rev. John W. Browne, ed-
itor, in turn castigates him, but with a more material
weapon. Another first-class sensation for the quid-
nuncs of the village.
Mr. Coppin,/he pioneer before referred to, says that
in this year theffirst barres were built in Cincinnati for
the New Orleans tradeAby Richardson & Nolan, for
whom he worked. Thefy were built for Messrs. Martin
Baum, James Riddle, Henry Bechtle, and Captain Sam-
uel Perry, and were rigged like schooners, with two
masts, and the cabins finished like those of a ship.
Another rather notable arrival occurred this year, June
first, in the landing, from a flatboat at the foot of Main
street, of Evans Price, an enterprising Welshman, his
wife and four children, and 'the large amount, for that
period, of ten thousand dollars' worth of store goods.
He had thenceforth a long and active business career in
the city.
In November dies the Hon. William Goforth, sr., the
first judge named for Hamilton county, and a prominent
member of the first State constitutional convention.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHT.
Mr F Cuming, a Philadelphian, came down the Ohio
in May, and in his Sketches of a Tour to the Western
CWenstoyppSeadyat Cincinnati, which is delightfully situated just opposite
the mouth of the Licking rive, This town occupies more ground ^and
eems to contain nearly as many houses as Lexington^ It is on a
douWebank, like Steubenville, and the streets are ,n right lines, inter-
double oan , are of them of bncki and
Te^rea t gent\ well built, well painted, and have that air of
nearness which is so conspicuous in Connecticut and New Jersey, from
whid.at.er State this part of the State of Ohio ,s principally settle*
Some of the new brick houses are of three stones with flat roofs, and
fheTe .s one of four stories now building. Mr. Jacob Burnet, an emi-
nent lawyer, has a handsome brick house, beautifully s.tuated, just out-
side the west end of the town. Cincinnati, then named Fort Washing-
ton, was one of the first military posts occupied by the Americans in
the western country, but I observed no remains of the old fort. It is
now the capital of Hamilton county, and is the largest town in the
State.
By this time, according to Mr. Cuming, the remains of
the fort must have been thoroughly cleared away. The
building and other material had besn sold in March by
order of the Government, and had probably by this time
all been broken up and carted off. The reservation on
which it stood had also been cut up into lots, and sold
through the land office.
On the twentieth of April, in that one day, two brigs
and two "ships" passed Cincinnati, on their way to New
Orleans.
The vote in Cincinnati this year was two hundred and
ninety-eight; in Hamilton county one thousand one
hundred and sixteen.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINE.
There is much excitement and alarm a part of this
year, under the belief, which is general through the Ohio
and Indiana country, that Tecumseh and the Prophet,
still at Greenville, are about to lead the confederated
tribes to another war of devastation and massacre. The
movements in the southwest part of the State are re-
counted in another chapter on the military record of
Hamilton county.
The tax levy for this year is but one-half of one per
cent. ; for the next year but two-fifths of one per cent.,
and for 1811 but thirty -five cents on the hundred dollars.
In the early afternoon of Sunday, May 28th, a terrible
tornado swept through the eastern part of town. Dr.
Drake says, in his Picture of Cincinnati, that "it demol-
ished a few old buildings, threw down the tops of several
chimneys and overturned many fruit and shade trees."
Another gale swept the central part of the village, and a
third the west end. The last was the most destructive
of all, blowing down, wrote Dr. Drake, "a handsome
brick edifice designed for tuition, . . in con-
sequence of having a cupola disproportioned to its area;
and various minor injuries of property were sustained,
but the inhabitants escaped unhurt." The tornado
made a broad track of devastation through the forest on
the hill northeast of town. It was accompanied by copi-
ous showers of rain and hail, with much thunder and
lightning.
The "edifice designed for tuition" was the "Cincinnati
University" building; and its destruction extinguished
the hopes of the enterprise it represented. Some smaller
buildings were razed to the ground, and the roof of Win-
throp Sargent's house was blown off "like a piece of
paper," as Mr. Mansfield records it. This house, he says,
was nearly in the centre of the square north of Fourth
street and east of Broadway, with McAllister street on
the northwest. He thinks it was the only house then in
that part of the city. In the same storm, large oak trees
were torn up by the roots, and some were thrown bodily
across the roads. Mr. Mansfield's account, however,
locates this storm in 181 2 ; but he was probably mistaken
for once.
William D. Bigham came this year, from Lewiston,
62
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Pennsylvania, with his wife and family, four sons and two
daughters. Two other daughters — wives, respectively, of
James Patterson and James Reed — had already removed
to Hamilton county, and were living near the city. He
had made two trips through this country, one in 1795,
and the other in 1801, during the latter of which he
bought three hundred and fifty acres of land a mile and
a half from the town (now, of course, in the city), sev-
eral town lots here, and a tract in Butler county. He re-
mained but about a year, and then moved to his place
near Hamilton, where he died in 1815. Two of his
grandsons, William D. and David L., sons of David Big-
ham, became residents of Cincinnati; the former died
here November 23, 1866. Several of his sons became
public officers and otherwise prominent men in Butler
county.
(t
CHAPTER X.
CINCINNATI'S THIRD DECADE.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TEN.
This was the year of the third United States census —
the second for Cincinnati. It gave the place two thou-
sand three hundred and twenty inhabitants — an increase
of nearly three hundred and ten percent, and the great-
est in the history of the city in one decade, excepting the
marvelous jump in the sixth decade from forty-six thou-
sand three hundred and thirty-eight in 1840 to one hun-
dred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight
in 1850. The white males numbered one thousand two
hundred and twenty-seven, white females one thousand
and thirteen, negroes eighty.j Children under sixteen
years counted one thousand and fifteen; and there were
but one hundred and eighty-four over forty-five years. The
vote of the town was three hundred and eighty-eight; of
the county, two thousand three hundred and twenty.
(The first book relating to the place was published this
year — a unique fact for a village of but twenty-four hun-
dred people and twenty years' growths and one which
seemed to foreshadow the future greatness of the town.
Drake's Notes concerning Cincinnnati is now a very rare
and valuable book^and still reflects honor on the scien-
tific and literary attainments, as well as the enterprise of
the young physician who prepared it. It is /a thoroughly
original work, upon which many Cincinnati books have
since, in part, been builtJ To the fourth and fifth chap-
ters of that little work we owe the notes upon the village
for, this year that follow : ,
(About two-thirds of the houses were in the Bottom,
the rest upon the Hill. No streets were yet paved, and
the alleys were still few. There was no permanent com-
mon, except the Public Landing. The primitive forest
having been thoroughly cleared away, trees had been
planted along some of the sidewalks ; but, says the good
doctor, "they are not sufficiently numerous.) The absurd
clamor against the caterpillar of the Lombardy poplar
(T
caused many trees of that species to be cut down, and at
present the white flowering locust very justly attracts the
most attention.'' (The place contained about three hun-
dred and sixty dwellings, chiefly brick and frame, and
a few of stone. Scarcely any were so constructed as to
afford habitations for families below the ground, and
not many had even porches. There were two cemeteries
— one for the dead of all denominations on the Public
square, between Fourth and Fifth streets, "nearly in the
center of the Hill population,'' and was, says Dr. Drake,
"a convenient receptacle for the town, for strangers, and
for the troops in Fort Washington, previous to the erase-
ment of that garrison." Its area was something less than
half the square. The other cemetery was opened by the
Methodists about 1805, in the northeast quarter of the
town, and also on the Hill. Eight brickyards were in
operation in the western part of the Bottom, on the low-
est part of the town site, near the second bank. That
quarteflabounded in pools, formed by water drained from
almost every part of the village. The butchers' shambles
were on the bank of Deer creek, north and northwest of
town. The tanneries were in the same region!}
([The American emigration to this time had been chiefly
from the States north of Virginia; but representatives were
on the ground from every State then in the Union and
from most of the countries in the west of Europe, espe-
cially from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany.
The inhabitants were generally laborious, most of them
mechanics, and the rest chiefly merchants, professional
men, and teachers. Very few, if any, were so independ
ent in means as not to engage in some business. Most
of the inhabitants were temperate, but some would get
"daily but quietly" drunk, and "no very inconsiderable
number had been known to fall victims to the habit."
Whiskey was most in request by the tipplers, but beer and
cider were the beverages of the more sober. Well water
furnished the plain, summer drink; but for domestic pur-
poses river water was supplied in barrels, and at least
half the inhabitants also drank it during six months of
the year. The use of tobacco by the male inhabitants,
from the age of ten up, was" almost universal. The aver-
age food was similar to that eaten in the middle and
eastern States; fresh meats were consumed in large quan-
tities.^ Beef, fermented wheat bread, and Indian corn
bread were common; but hot bread of any kind was
rarer than in the southern States. Rye flour was almost
unknown as a breadstuff. Fish was not a leading article
of diet, although abundant in the streams.
rThe dress of the people by this time did not vary
greatly from that worn by the corresponding classes in the
middle States^ The ladies, thought the doctor, injured
their health by dressing too thin, and both sexes were
not sufficiently careful to adjust their clothing to the fre-
quent changes of weather. Female health was further
endangered by the balls and dancing parties prevalent
here then, as elsewhere, though not to great excess.
Mineral waters, either natural or artificial, or artificial
baths, were not yet known in the place. Bathing in the
river was practiced by some, but was less regular and
general'than comports with health and cleanliness.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
63
The back part of the bottom, through its entire length,
is described by the doctor as "a hot-bed" of animal and
vegetable putridity. Some spots, but only of small area,
had been artificially raised to make them cultivable. At
the east end of a strip of low ground was a kind of broad,
shallow canal, which conveyed water from all parts of the
town site to. the pits of the brickyards, where "it could
not escape, save as gas or malaria. For its escape in
this manner the heat of our summer sun, increased by
the reflection from the contiguous high bank, is amply
sufficient." The principal febrile diseases, notably ty-
phus affections, which had scourged the people the year
before, especially in December, 1809, were most probably
due to this cause. The "drowned lands" in the valley
of Mill creek were also mentioned as a fertile source of
fever and ague; likewise the tall forest trees that still
overshadowed large spaces between the valley and the
town, the cemetery in the heart of the population, and
the shambles and tanneries when winds blew from the
northwest. Sunstroke was then unknown here, and
death from the inordinate use of well water, which in
those days killed many thirsty ones in Philadelphia, was
very rare in Cincinnati. Few diseases could be traced
directly to the heats of summer.
This year General Lytle, an extensive and enterprising
land operator, removed to Cincinnati from Williams-
burgh, Clermont county. He was, as is well known, the
father of Colonel Robert T. Lytle, who represented the
Cincinnati district in Congress 1833-5, and tne grand-
father of General William H. Lytle, who was killed in the
late war.
On the twenty-sixth of October arrived the families
of L'Hommedieu, Fosdick, and Rogers, after a tedious
journey from Sagg Harbor, on Long Island, having con-
sumed sixty-three days in coming from New York city.
Hon. Stephen S. L'Hommedieu, then a boy in one of
these families, says, in his Pioneer Address of 1874:
Cincinnati was then a village, containing about two thousand inhab-
itants. The houses were mostly frame or log cabins, located generally
on the lower level, below what is now Third street. The principal
street was Main, and was pretty well built upon as high as Sixth and
Seventh streets, the latter being the northern boundary of the village.
It had its Presbyterian meeting-house, a frame building on the square
between Fourth and Fifth, Main and Walnut streets; its graveyard,
court house, jail, and public whipping-post, all on the same square.
Upon the same ground, between the court house and meeting-house, ;
bands of friendly Indians would have war-dances, much to the amuse-
ment of the villagers; after which the hat would be passed around for ,
the benefit, it may be, of the pappooses.
And here I may mention the fact that the pew and pulpit sounding- [
board of that same old pioneer meeting-house, built in the years 1792-3. j
whose pulpit was, in 1810, occupied by that able, fine-looking, hospit- ;
able brave old Kentucky preacher, Dr. Joshua L. Wilson, are still in
use in a small German Lutheran church, on the river road, within the
present corporate limits of the city. :
The village also had its stone Methodist meeting-house, built in 1805-
6, situated on East Fifth street, a little west of Eastern row, then the ;
eastern boundary of the village, now Broadway. It also had its post
office, on the corner of Lawrence and Front streets, and its David Em-
bree brewery, on the river bank, below Race street.
G EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN. j
"his year the residents of this region, and indeed all ,
..ough the western country, were much in alarm through 1
fear of the renewal of Indian depredations and hostili- :
ities ; which fear, happily, was not realized in any part of
the Miami valley^ After the battle of Tippecanoe, in
November, the Fourth regiment of United States infan-
try, commanded by Colonel Boyd, an uncle of Judge
Bellamy Storer, which had marched away from Fort
Washington to the campaign, returned flushed with vic-
tory, and was received with great acclamation by the
people of Cincinnati. The next June, we may mention
here, when it moved northward to join the army under
General Hull, the military companies of the city met it
as it landed after crossing from Newport Barracks, and
acted as an escort of honor on the march up Main street.
From the northeast to the northwest intersection of this
street with Fifth, a triumphal arch had been erected,
bearing in large letters the inscription, "To the Heroes
of Tippecanoe." Three hundred soldiers, all that re-
mained of this gallant regiment from the inroads of dis-
ease and the casualties of service, passed under the arch.
One soldier marching in disgrace as a prisoner, for deser-
tion or cowardice, was compelled to go around the arch,
as a further stamp of .ignominy. Upon reaching its first
camp north of Cincinnati, about five miles out, the regi-
ment was bountifully supplied with provisions from the
city, as gifts of its citizens. Upon arriving at Urbana,
where Hull's army was then encamped, it was honored
with another arch, inscribed: "Tippecanoe — The Eagle
— Glory." Lieutenant Colonel Miller, now command-
ing the regiment, was the hero of the celebrated reply at
the battle of Chippewa, to the question of General Scott;
"Can you take that battery?" "I will try, sir" — words
which, except the last, were worn upon the buttons of
the-regimental uniform.
/In August of this year, the first in the long and costly
listof Cincinnati breweries was established on the river
bank, at the foot of Race street, by Mr. David Embree.
On the twenty-seventh of the same month the hearts of
the people were made glad, and they were finally relieved
from Indian alarms, by the notification of Colonel John-
ston that he had made peace with all the savage tribes
on the frontier./ Mourning came September 24th
when Major Zjegler, the gallant old Prussian sol-
dier, and the first of Cincinnati's executive officers, died.
He was buried with military honors.* The Farmers' &
Mechanics' bank, of Cincinnati, was established this year,
at a public meeting held October 12th. Nicholas Long-
worth was secretary of the commissioners of the bank.
* The descendants of Major Ziegler, and all who revere the memory
of the gallant soldier, will be interested in the following extract from
the military journal of Major Denny, a fellow officer of the First regi-
ment of the army :
"22d. [February, 1789.] Married, this evening, Captain David
Ziegler, of the First legiment, to Miss Sheffield, only single daughter
of Mrs. Sheffield, of Campus Martius, city of Marietta. On this oc-
casion I played the captain's aid, and at his request the memorandums
made. I exhibited a character not more awkward than strange at the
celebration of Captain Ziegler's nuptials, the first of the kind I had
been a witness to."
This was at Fort Harmar, near Marietta. Captain Ziegler was sta-
tioned with his company at Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Great
Miami, more than two years before Losantiville was founded. Major
Denny elsewhere records a high compliment to Ziegler's soldiership
and the bearing of his company— "always first in point of discipline
and appearance. "
><
64
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
t The first steamboat ever seen in Cincinnati, and the
first built on western waters, the New Orleans, arrived on
the twenty-seventh of October, naturally exciting great
curiosity.) She is noted at the time as actually making
thirteen-niiles in two hours, and against the current at
that! Liberty Hall of October 30, 181 1, gives a still
better account of it. After noticing the departure, on
the previous Sabbath, of two large barges rigged as
sloops and owned in Cincinnati, for New Orleans, the
editor includes this in his "ship news" :
Same day. — The STEAMBOAT, lately built at Pittsburgh, passed this
town at five o'clock in the afternoon, in fine stile, going at the rate of
about ten or twelve miles an hour.
Only these three lines — no more — to chronicle the
greatest commercial event that ever occurred at Cincin-
cinnati!
Mr. William Robson, who landed here in June, 1818,
and was long at the head of the coppersmith and brass-
founding business in Cincinnati, was originally a ship
carpenter by trade, and as such worked upon the Cler-
mont, Fulton's first steamboat upon the Hudson. His
service upon this was so satisfactory that when the New
York company determined to build a steamer for the
western waters, in 181 1, he was sent to Pittsburgh to su-
perintend its construction. Thus closely is Cincinnati
related to the introduction of steam navigation in the
great west. -■ •■ '■• _
Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe, of the celebrated family
of engineers, in the first volume of his Rambler in
North America, (1832-33), has left an exceedingly read-
able and intelligent account of this first voyage of the
New Orleans, which is worth extracting in full:
Circumstances gave me the opportunity of becoming acquainted
with the particulars of the very first voyage of a steamer in the west;
and their extraordinary character will be my apology to you for filling
a page of this sheet with the following brief relation :
The complete success attending the experiments in steam naviga-
tion made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to the year
1809, turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of its
application on the western rivers; and in the month of April of that
year, Mr. Roosevelt, of New York, pursuant to an agreement with
Chancellor Livingston and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the
purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of steam navi-
gation or not. At this time two boats, the North River and the Cler-
mont, were running on the Hudson. Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the riv-
ers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and, as his report was favorable, it
was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under
his direction, and in the course of i8n the first boat was launched on
the waters of the Ohio. It was called the "New Orleans," and intended
to ply between Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, and the city whose
name it bore. In October it left Pittsburgh for its experimental voy-
age. On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken, the object
being merely to bring the boat to her station. Mr. Roosevelt, his
young wife and family, a Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack, the
pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed the whole burden.
There were no woodyards at that time, and constant delays were una-
voidable. When, as related, Mr. Roosevelt had gone down the river
to reconnoitre, he had discovered two beds of coal, about one hundred
and twenty miles below the rapids at Louisville, and now took tools to
work them, intending to load the vessel with the coal and to employ it
as fuel, instead of constantly detaining the boat while wood was pro-
cured from the banks.
Late at night, on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburgh, they ar-
rived in safety at Louisville, having been but seventy hours descending
upwards of seven hundred miles. The novel appearance of the vessel,
and the fearful rapidity with which it made its passage over the broad
reaches of the river, excited a mixture of terror and surprise among
many of the settlers on the banks, whom the rumor ]of such an inven-
tion had never reached; and it is related that on the unexpected arrival
of the boat before Louisville, in the course of a fine, still, moonlight
night, the extraordinary sound which filled the air, as the pent-up
steam was suffered to escape from the valve on rounding-to, produced
a general alarm, and the multitudes in the town rose from their beds to
ascertain the cause. I have heard that the general impression among
the good Kentuckians was that the comet had fallen into the Ohio ;
but this does not rest upon the same foundation as the other facts
which I lay before you, and which I may at once say I had directly from
the lips of the parties themselves. The small depth of water in the rap-
ids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and
during the consequent detention of three weeks in the upper part of the
Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cin-
cinnati. In fine, the waters rose, and in the course of the last week in
November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admit-
ting their passage.
When they arrived about five miles above the Yellow Banks they
moored the boat opposite to the first vein of coal, which was on the
Indiana side, and had been purchased in the interim of the State gov-
ernment. They found a large quantity already quarried to their hand
and conveyed to the shore by depredators, who had not found means to
carry it off; and with this they commenced loading the boat. While
thus engaged, our voyagers were accosted in great alarm by the squat-
ters of the neighborhood, who inquired if they had not heard strange
noises on the river and in the woods in the course of the preceding
day, and perceived the shores shake, insisting that they had repeatedly
felt the earth tremble.
Hitherto nothing extraordinary had been perceived. The following
day they pursued their monotonous voyage in those vast solitudes. The
weather was ^observed to be oppressively hot ; the air misty, still, and
dull ; and though the sun was visible, like a glowing ball of copper, his
rays hardly shed more than a mournful twilight on the surface of
.the water. Evening drew nigh, and with it some indications of what
w'as passing, around them became evident. And as they sat on deck,
"they 'ever and anon heard a rushing sound and violent splash, and saw
large. portions of the shore tearing away from the land and falling into
-tlie river. " It was," as my informant said, "an awful day ; so still that
you could have heard a pin drop on the deck." They spoke little, for
every one on board appeared thunderstruck. The comet had disap-
peared about this time, which circumstance was noticed with awe by
the crew.
The second day after their leaving the Yellow Banks, the sun rose
over the forest the same ball of fire, and the air was thick, dull, and
oppressive as before. The portentous signs of this terrible natural Con-
vulsion continued and increased. The pilot, alarmed and confused,
affirmed that he was lost, as he found the channel everywhere altered;
and where he had hitherto known deep water, there lay numberless
trees with their roots upwards. The trees were seen waving and nod-
ding on the bank, without a wind; but the adventurers had no choice
but to continue their route. Towards evening they found themselves
at a loss for a place of shelter. They had usually brought to under the
shore, but everywhere they saw the high banks disappearing, over-
whelming many a flat-boat and raft, from which the owners had landed
and made their escape. A large island in mid-channel, which was
selected by the pilot as the better alternative, was sought for in vain,
having disappeared entirely. Thus, in doubt and terror, they proceeded
hour after hour till dark, when they found a small island, and rounded
to, mooring themselves to the foot of it. Here they lay, keeping watch
on deck during the long autumnal night, listening to the sound of the
waters which roared and gurgled horribly around them, and hearing
from time to time the rushing earth slide from the shore, and the com-
motion as the falling mass of earth and trees was swallowed up by the
river. The mother of the party, a delicate-female, who had just been
confined on board as they lay off Louisville, was frequently awakened
from her restless slumber by the jar given to the furniture and loose
articles in the cabin, as, several times in the course of the night, the
shock of the passing earthquake was communicated from the island to
the bows of the vessel. It was a long night, but morning dawned and
showed them that they were near the mouth of the Ohio. The shores
and the channel were now equally unrecognizable; everything seemed
changed. About noon that day they reached the small town of New
Madrid, on the right bank of the Mississippi. Here they found the in-
habitants in the greatest distress and consternation; part of the popu-
lation had fled in terror to the higher grounds; others prayed to be
taken on board, as the earth was opening in fissures on every side, and
their houses hourly falling around them.
Proceeding thence, they found the Mississippi, at all times a fearful
Znjf-Tjy jLEFrt''-
^y^o&r' nsf/r/.?2s
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
65
stream, now unusually swollen, turbid and full of trees; and, after many
days of great danger, though they felt and perceived no more of the
earthquakes, they reached their destination at Natchez, at the close of
the first week in January, i8iz, to the great astonishment of all, the
escape of the boat having been considered an impossibility.
At that time you floated for three or four hundred miles on the rivers,
without seeing a human habitation.
Such was the voyage of the first steamer.
(f The shocks of earthquake were felt at Cincinnati al-
most as severely as at some points in the Mississippi val-
ley. The first shock occurred at 2:24 A. M., on the
morning of the sixteenth of December. The motion
was a quick oscillation or rocking, continuing six or seven
minutes, and accompanied, as some averred, by a rush-
ing or rumbling noise. Some mischief was done to
brick-walled houses and to chimneys, and many persons
were afflicted by it with vertigo or nausea. A brief but
graphic picture of the earthquake, as it affected this
place, is given by Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his biography
of his brother-in-law, Dr. Drake. Mr. Mansfield, it
should be remarked, had himself personal recollections of
this event:
In the morning of the sixteenth of December, 181.1, the inhabitants
of the Miami country, and especially of Cincinnati and its neighbor-
hood, were awoke from a sound sleep, at about three o'clock, by a
shaking of their houses, and by rumbling noises which sounded like
distant thunder. To each one the phenomenon was alike unknown
and awful. In the country the animals soon began to shriek, and all
Nature seemed to feel the shock of a common evil and the dread of a
common danger. The most intelligent persons soon discovered it to be
an earthquake; but this discovery by no means allayed the alarm. On
the contrary, as earthquakes were never known before in this region,
there was nothing to reason upon, and full scope was left for the im-
agination. Pictures of the earth opening to devour the inhabitants, of
burning lava bursting forth, of yawning gulfs, and to many of a general
destruction and a general doom, rose to the visions of the affrighted
people, filling them with fears and anxieties.
The shock of the sixteenth of December was so violent that it shook
down the chimneys of several houses. In the midst of the general
alarm there was some amusement; and the buoyant spirits of young
and happy people will often extract something pleasant, even from the
most fearful circumstances. Mrs. Willis's Columbian inn was a sort of
fashionable hotel, where many of the gay people of the town boarded.
I remember to have heard a great deal of laughter at the odd and
curious appearance and grouping of maids and madams, bachelors and
husbands, as they rushed into the street, tumultuous, in midnight
drapery. But this cheerfulness did not last long; for the earthquakes
continued during the winter, and although they were better understood,
they were not the less dreaded. This common fear, and indeed the
common necessity 'of being prepared for any event, had a great influ-
ence in destroying the artificiality of society and bringing friends and
neighbors together. Many families had their valuables carefully packed
up, that they might take a rapid flight, in case of the destruction of
their houses or of chasms in the earth, which would render their de-
parture necessary. As the shocks of an earthquake were generally pre-
ceded by signs of their approach, such as rumbling sounds and a pe-
culiar atmosphere, families would often sit up late at night, in dread of
a night shock, and neighbors and friends would assemble together to
make the time pass more pleasantly, especially to the young, by cheer-
ful conversation. In this manner social intercourse and friendly feeling
were promoted, and, as in other afflictions of Providence, good was
still educed from evil.
The scientific observations and explanations upon this (in the valley
of the Ohio) most extraordinary phenomenon are recorded by Dr.
Drake in the Appendix to the Picture of Cincinnati. Most careful
notes of the duration and deviation of the shocks were made by Col-
onel Mansfield, at Bates's place. A carefully prepared pendulum, hung
in the parlor window of his house, never ceased its vibrations from
December to the following May; and several shocks occurred during
the remainder of the year 1812.
The original seat of this shaking of the earth seems to have been near
New Madrid, on the Mississippi, a point four hundred miles, in a direct
line, from Cincinnati. There the convulsion was terrific. Boats on the
S
river were thrown into a boiling whirpool, and seemed for a time to be
engulfed in an endless vortex. The banks of the river were rent, the
earth was opened, and the waters, rushing in, formed lakes for miles,
where the land was dry before. Explosions from beneath took place,
and fossils buried in the alluvium of ages were forced to the surface.
The power of the original cause may be estimated by the fact of such
violent effects at Cincinnati, four hundred miles distant, and that the
movements, as of a lever, of this central force, were felt almost through-
out North America, diminishing in intensity in the inverse ratio of the
distance. \
The hardest shock here occurred on the second of
February following, throwing down chimneys and doing
other mischief. Slight shocks were felt from time to
time for nearly two years, the last being observed Decem-
ber 12, 1 8 13. They are said to have been much severer
in the valley of the Ohio than on the uplands, where, in
many places, the convulsion of the earth was scarcely
felt. Twenty miles from Cincinnati, and on the ridges of
Kentucky, it is recorded there were whole families who
slept through the first shock without being awakened.
A literary curiosity appeared this year — and seems to
have been published for some years before, as this is No.
6 — in the shape of the Cincinnati Almanac, the first
calendar published west of the Alleghanies. It was /
printed by Rev. John W. Browne, and prepared by
"Robert Stubbs, Philom.," an English clergyman, who
came to this region in 1800 and took charge of the New-
port Academyi He was quite noted locally as a scholar,
and used to excite great wonderment in the minds of the
people as he paced to and fro before his front door, recit-
ing scraps of Greek and Latin. Colonel James Taylor,
of Newport, is reputed to be the sole surviving member
of his school.
This year Mr. John Melish, another Englishman
abroad, makes Cincinnati a visit, and records some
shrewd observations in manufactures here, which will be
found hereafter, in our chapter on that subject.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE.
This was the great historic year which opened the last
war with Great Britain. The west was considerably dis-
turbed by the movements of the British and Indians and
the dread of approaching hostilities, for months before the
war formally opened. It was determined by the authori-
ties to form an army of Ohio troops on the northwest
frontier, and Hamilton, Butler, Warren, and Clermont
counties were called upon for one battalion, which was
promptly raised, and marched to the rendezvous at
Camp Meigs, near Dayton. General Gano was promi-
nent in these early movements, as afterwards in the war;
and General Findlay, although a major-general in the
militia, consented to command a regiment as colonel.
The Governor of the State issued the following:
A CALL ON THE PATRIOTISM OF CINCINNATI.
The situation of our country has compelled the Government to resort
to precautionary measures of defence. In obedience to its call, 400
men have abandoned the comforts of domestic life and are here assem-
bled in camp, at the distance of some hundred miles from home, pre-
pared to protect our frontier from the awful effects of savage and of
civilized warfare. But the unprecedented celerity with which they
have moved precluded the possibility of properly equipping them.
Many, very many of them, are destitute of blankets, and without those
indispensable articles it will be impossible for them to move to their
point of destination. Citizens of Cincinnati! this appeal is made to
you. Let each family furnish one or more blankets, and the requisite
66
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
number will be easily completed. It is not requested as a boon: the
moment your blankets are delivered you shall receive the full value in
money— they are not to be had at the stores. The season of the year is
approaching when each family may, without inconvenience, part with
one. Mothers! Sisters! Wives! — Recollect that the men in whose favor
this appeal is made, have connections as near and dear as any which
can bind you to life. These they have voluntarily abandoned, trusting
that the integrity and patriotism of their fellow-citizens will supply every
requisite for themselves and their families, and trusting that the same
spirit which enabled their fathers to achieve their independence will
enable theirsons to defend it. To-morrow arrangements will be made
for their reception, and the price paid.
R. J. MEIGS, Governor of Ohio.
Cincinnati, April 30, 1812.
The appeal was promptly and generously responded
to, and the brave boys in camp slept warm during the
cool nights of spring.
Most of the prominent names or events connected
with the war, so far as tradition or the records have
handed them down, have been recorded in Part L, chap-
ter n, of this book. It is to be regretted that more of
the interior history of the struggle, and especially the
rolls of the regiments recruited, are not now accessible to
the/historian.
(fclncinnati and Newport presented many stirring scenes
duVing the war. A recruiting station was maintained in
each place, and the strains of martial music soon became!
familiar sounds. Business at first fell off, through the
excitement of volunteering and drafting and the equip-
ment of the troops; but recovered as the people became
accustomed to it and the war created new demands^
Mr. L'Hommedieu says, in his Pioneer Address April J,
1874:
Everything wore a military aspect. United States troops from the
Newport barracks were marched under arms, on Sunday, to the pio-
neer Presbyterian meeting-house, to hear the stirring words of our good
and brave Dr. Wilson. Kentucky sent her thousands of volunteers on
their march to join the Army of the North (soon to be commanded by
General Harrison), to give battle to the British and their savage allies.
It was a glorious sight to see these brave men pass up Main street; and
what glory they earned in the second war for independence.
On the twentieth of June Liberty Hall published the
declaration of war, and patriotism was immediately at
fever heat. The citizens assembled, passed resolutions
of approval, fired cannon, and engaged in other demon-
stations. Per contra, intense indignation was manifested
when, on the eighth of September, news was received of
General Hull's outrageous surrender at Detroit.
Lieutenant Hugh Moore conducted the recruiting
station here. Many volunteers were already in the field
from Hamilton county, marching against the British and
Indians at the northward, while a company of home
guards was organized among the older men of Cincin-
nati and commanded by General William Lytle. The
troops and the cause were fitly remembered in the toasts
at the celebration of Independence day this year.
Among them were these: "The Northwestern Army:
Our brethren and fellow-citizens now on the frontier —
'Nor do they sigh ingloriously to return,
But breathe revenge, and for the battle burn.'
May they have pleasant paths and unclouded spirit."
General Harrison was responsible for a toast which
would certainly have been withheld, if he could have
forecast the near future: "General Hull and his Army
— They have passed that scene immortalized by the vic-
tory of Wayne; the spirit of that hero will animate them
to deeds like his, and teach them the lesson of victory
or death."
Cincinnati had at least two little notices" abroad this
year — the one from Alcedo ; or a Geographical and His-
torical Dictionary of America and the West Indies — an
English work by G. A. Thompson, Esq.; and the other
from the Topographical Description of Ohio, Indiana
Territory and Louisiana, "by a late officer of the army,"
which is accompanied by an engraving of the best-known
view of early Cincinnati, that taken by Lieutenant Jervis
Cutler, from Newport, in 1810:
Cincinnati, a flourishing town in the territory of the United States
northwest of the Ohio, and the present seat of government. It stands
on the north bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Licking river,
two miles and a half southwest of Fort Washington [!] and about eight
miles west of Columbia. Both these towns lie between Great and Lit-
tle Miami rivers. Cincinnati contains about two hundred houses, and
is eighty-two miles north by east of Frankfort; ninety northwest of Lex-
ington, and seven hundred and seventy-nine west by south of Philadel-
phia. Latitude thirty-eight degrees forty-two minutes north. Longi-
tude eighty-four degrees eleven minutes west.
Mr. Cutler's Topographical Description is mainly use-
ful as introducing another and better notice, from a well
known authority of the olden time. The writer says:
Returning back to the Ohio, the first town below Columbia is Cin-
cinnati, five miles distant. In the Ohio Navigator a concise and correct
description is given of this town:
'/[Cincinnati is handsomely situated on a first and second bank of
the \)hio, opposite Licking river. It is a flourishing town, has a rich,
level, and well settled country around it. It contains about four hun-
dred dwellings, an elegant court house, jail, three market houses, a
land office for the sale of Congress lands, two printing offices, issuing
weekly gazettes, thirty mercantile stores, and the various branches of
mechanism are carried on with spirit. Industry of every kind being
duly encouraged by the citizens, Cincinnati is likely to become a consid,
erable manufacturing place^ It is eighty-two miles north by east from
Frankfort, and about three hundred and eighty by land south-south-
west from Pittsburgh, north latitude thirty-nine degrees, five minutes,
fifty-four seconds, according to Mr~Ellicot, and west longitude eighty-
five degrees, forty-four minutes. [ It is the principal town in what is
called Symmes' Purchase, and isShe seat of justice for what is called
Hamilton county, Ohio.) It has a bank issuing notes under the author-
ity of the State, called the Miami Exporting company. /The healthi-
ness and salubrity of the climate; the levelness and luxuriance of the
soil; the purity and excellence of the waters, added to the blessings
attendant on the judicious administration of mild and equitable laws;
the great security in the land titles; all seem to centre in a favorable
point of expectation — that Cincinnati and the country around it
must one day become rich and very populous, equal, perhaps, if not
superior to any other place of an interior position in the United States.}
The site of Fort Washington is near the centre of the town. It was a
principal frontier post: it is now laid out in town lots.
(^l considerable trade is carried on between Cincinnati and New
Orleans) in keel-boats, which return laden with foreign goods. The
passage of a boat of forty tons down to New Oileans is computed at.
about twenty-five, and its return to Cincinnati at about sixty-five days.))
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN.
The population of the village this year is estimated to
have reached four thousand.
The death of the Rev. John W. Browne, a prominent
editor in the early days of local journalism, occurred
this year. Arrived, Thomas Pierce, anon>mous author 1/
of the amusing satires entitled Horace in Cincinnati, 1
and also writer of Hesperia, a prize poem. He was a
merchant till 1822, then studied medicine, but resumed
merchandising, and died here in 1850.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
67
February 2d, news of Winchester's defeat on the river
Raisin, in Michigan, is received.
September 9th, four thousand Kentucky volunteers
pass through town, on their way to join the northern
army. On the twenty-first the glad news comes of Perry's
great naval victory at Put-in Bay.
James W. Gazlay came to the village this year, and
opened a law office on Main street, between Sixth and
Seventh — then quite out of the business quarter.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.
This year, February 26, the people of the county and
of the State sustained the loss of the hero of the Miami
Purchase, Judge John Cleves Symmes. He died in
Cincinnati, between which and North Bend he alternated
his residence. The following notice was issued to his
friends and the general community:
The citizens of Cincinnati are invited to attend the funeral of the
Hon. John Cleves Symmes, at the dwelling of Gen. Harrison in Front
street, to-morrow at 10 o'clock A. M., from whence a procession will be
formed to the landing of Mr. Joel Williams, where the body will be
embarked for North Bend, selected by the Judge as the place of his
interment. Such of his friends as can make it convenient to attend
his remains to that place can be accommodated on board the boat
which conveys them.
Cincinnati, February 26, 1814.
Sufficient notice of the life and public services of this
remarkable man has been made in chapter V of the first
division of this book. We are in addition able to present
here a document of great interest, which we are assured
has never before been in print :
WILL OF JOHN CLEVES SYMMES.
The last will and testament of John Cleves Symmes. In the name of
God, amen. I, John Cleves Symmes, of North Bend, in the county of
Hamilton and State of Ohio, being grievously afflicted with a cancer in
my under lip, chin, and throat, which will undoubtedly shortly put an
end to my life, while as yet I remain of sound mind and memory, do
think it my duty to make and publish this my last will and testament,
not so much for the disposition of the small personal property which I
shall possess at my Death, as the constitution and laws of the State of
Ohio anticipates the necessity of my making will in that respect, my
will being the same with the law quo ad goods, chattels, rights, and
credits; but the circumstance which renders it necessary that I should
make and publish this my last will and testament is to authorize my ex-
ecutors hereinafter named, and the survivor of them, to sell and dis-
pose of and make title to the purchasers of those few fragments of
land which I have never sold, and which as yet has not been torn from
me under color of law, as by the laws of the State administrators can-
not dispose of the real estate of their intestate without a rule of court
authorizing them so to do. Therefore I, the said John Cleves Symmes,
do hereby declare and appoint my worthy son-in-law William Henry
Harrison, Esquire, and my beloved grandson John Cleves Short, Es-
quire, and the survivor of them, my true and lawful executors to this
my last will and testament, hereby giving unto them and the survivor
of them full power and lawful authority to sell all or any part of my
lands and real estate, wherever any part or parcel thereof may be found
or discovered within the said State of Ohio, and proceeds or monies
arising from such sales equally to divide between them for their reward,
in compensation for their trouble and services; first, however, paying
thereout for all deficiencies in contents or number of acres that may be
found wanting in the several tracts of land which I have heretofore sold
and been paid for, but which on a re-survey may have been deeded by
me for a greater number of acres than there really is in the tract. On
the other hand, many sections, quarter sections, fractions of sections,
tracts and parcels of land, by me heretofore deeded for a given number
of acres, strict measure, on a re-survey will appear to be larger, and
contains a surplusage of land over and above the quantity of land sold
or ever paid for. It is therefore my will and desire that my executors
and the survivor of them seek after and enquire out these surplus lands
by the assistance of the county surveyor, and that my executors dispose
of such surplus lands at the same price with which they remunerate
those whose deeds from me call for more land than is embraced within
the limits or boundaries of my deeds to them, And my further will
. and request is, and I do hereby enjoin upon my said executors and the
survivor of them, hereby investing in them and the survivors of them
all lawful authority and full power for the purpose, to carry [out] all my
special contracts with individual persons into full effect and final close,
according to the tenor of each respective contract; provided, however,
that the other party named in each several contract faithfully fulfill the
conditions on their part stipulated to be performed, which conditions
will appear on having recourse to their respective contracts. And my
will is that my said executors have and possess, and I hereby give unto
them, and the survivor of them, all further necessary and usual powers
to sue for and collect all or any part of my dues and debts, whether
owing to me on bond, on note, or book debt; and also to pay all such
debts as I justly owe; but there are some unjust claims against me
founded in the deepest conspiracy, fraud and perjuries.
(S hope I need make no apology to my children and grandchildren for
nothaving so much property to leave to them as might have been ex-
pected from the earnings of a long, industrious, frugal, and adventur-
ous life, when they recollect the undue methods taken, as well by the
Government of the United States as by many individual private char-
acters, to make sacrifice of my hardly earned property at the shrine of
their avarice. It has been my particular lot to be treated with the
blackest, blackest ingratitude, by some who now laugh at my calamity,
but who would at this day have been toiling in poverty, had not my en-
terprise to this country, my benevolence, or the property which they
have plundered from me, have made them rich. How dark and mys-
terious are the ways of Heavenj) I shall add nothing further save that it
is my particular desire to be buried m the graveyard at North Bend,
where the last twenty.five years of my life have been chiefly spent.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand to this, my last
will and testament, on the thirty-first day of December, in the year
eighteen hundred and thirteen.
John Cleves Symmes. [Seal]
Subscribed and sealed in presence of
James Findlay,
Geo. P. Toekence,
Joseph Perry.
Thos. Sloo, Junr,
The election for corporation officers was held this year
April 4th, at John Wingate's tavern. Only one hundred
and forty-one votes were cast, though the town is to have
had a vote of four hundred and eleven in 1814. Samuel
W. Davis was chosen president of the select council;
Jacob Brown, William Corry, Samuel Stitt, Davis Em-
bree, John S. Wallace, William Irwin, and Jacob
Wheeler, members of the council; Griffin Yeatman, re-
corder; John Mahard, assessor; Jacob Chambers, mar-
shal and collector.
Brilliant auroras were observed in the sky April 19th
and September nth.
On the fifth of April Jeremiah Neave & Son opened a
commission warehouse on Main street.
October 2 2d the first Bible society in the Miami coun-
try is started here.
In the fall or early winter of 1814, Cincinnati lost the
office of surveyor general of public lands in the north-
west, by its removal to Chillicothe, under the ap-
pointment of ex-Governor Tiffin as surveyor general,
and the late incumbent of that office, Josiah Meigs, to
Dr. Tiffin's place as commissioner of the general land
office. This post had been created by act of Congress
April 25, 1812, and Governor Tiffin appointed by Presi-
dent Madison as the first commissioner. In the autumn
of 1814 he conceived a strong desire to return to the
west, and wrote to Mr. Meigs proposing an exchange of
offices. He readily consenting, the matter was arranged
1 without difficulty with the President, the Senate con-
68
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
firmed the new nominations, and the ex-governor came
home to Chillicothe, removing the surveyor general's of-
fice thither, while Mr. Meigs removed his residence tem-
porarily to Washington, and assumed charge of the gen-
eral land office — a post which he held for some years.
The fine old Lytle house, at No. 66 Lawrence street,
East End, was erected this year by General Lytle, and
has been continuously occupied by the family. It is by
far the oldest building of its grade in the city. Mr. Jo-
seph Jones, who worked upon it in 1814, then a full-
grown man, is still living in Cincinnati.
David K. Este, a young lawyer, afterwards an eminent
judge, settled in the city.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN.
The preparation of another book by Dr. Drake — the
Natural and Statistical View, or Picture of Cincinnati and
the Miami Country — was the local literary event of the
year. It enables the reader to form a lull and no doubt
accurate conception of the now large and rapidly growing
town, in nearly all respects. The preface modestly de-
scribes the work as "an account of a village in the woods;"
but it is a remarkable and valuable account. For the
first time to a book on Cincinnati, a map is prefixed;
which gives us the opportunity to introduce here Mr.
Charles Cist's article, prepared thirty years afterwards and
published in his Miscellany, on
EARLY MAPS OF CINCINNATI.
Streets. — West of the section line separating section twenty-four
from the west of the city, there was not a street laid out at the date of
1815. That line followed a due north course from a point at the river
Ohio, about half-way between Mill and Smith streets, crossing Fifth
street just east of the mound which lately stood there, and Western
row about two hundred yards south of the corporation line. Plum ;
Race, and Walnut streets extended no farther north than Seventh
street, and Sycamore was not opened beyond the present line of the
Miami canal. From Walnut street west as far as Western row, not a.
street was opened north of Seventh street north of the canal already re-
ferred to. It was the same case with respect to Broadway from Fifth
street to the corporation line in the same direction. Court street, west
of Main, was called St. Clair street, and Ninth street, its whole length
at that time, was laid out as Wayne street. Eighth street, east of
Main, was called New Market street.
Public Buildings.. — Of churches there were only — the Presbyterian
church which preceded the present building, on Main street ; the Meth-
odist church on Fifth, where the Wesley chapel has since been built ; a
Baptist church on Sixth street, west of Walnut, on the site of what is
now a German church, corner of Lodge street ; aud the Friends' frame
meeting-house on Fifth, below Western row. Of all these the last only
remains on its original site, the Presbyterian church having been re-
moved to Vine, below Fifth, where it still stands under the name of
Burke's church, and the others having been since removed to make way
for their successors. The site of the present Cincinnati college, on
Walnut street, at that date was occupied by the Lancaster seminary.
Young as was the place, it furnished business for three banks. The
Bank of Cincinnati was on Main, west side, and north of Fifth street ;
the Farmers' and Mechanics' bank on Main, west side, between Front
and Second streets ; and the Miami Exporting company on the spot
now [1844] occupied by W. G. Breese's store, facing the Public Landing.
These, with the court house and jail, which stand now where they then
stood, made up the public buildings for 1815. The brewery, corner of
Symmes and Pike streets ; another, corner of Race and Water streets,
immediately east of Deer creek ; Gulick's sugar refinery on Arch street ;
a glass-house at the foot of Smith street ; a steam saw-mill at the mouth
of Mill street ; and the great steam mill on the river bank, half-way be-
tween Ludlow street and Broadway, constituted in 1815 the entire man-
ufactories of the place.
Markets. — Besides lower market, which occupied the block from
Main to Sycamore, as well as that from Sycamore to Broadway, in the
street of that name, and upper market, which stood on Fifth, between
Main and Walnut streets, there was ground vacated for markets, which,
having been found unsuitable for the purpose, was never occupied for
that use. One of these embraces the front of Sycamore street on both
sides, from a short distance north of Seventh to the corner of Ninth
street. Another is on McFarland street, west of Elm, forming a square
of two hundred feet in the centre of the block. A slight examination of
these places where the dwellings have been built back from the line of
the respective streets, will point out at once the space dedicated for this
purpose.
The blocks marked upon this map as fully occupied or
settled at this time were those between Front, Water, and
the river, Main and Plum ; south of East Front, between
Broadway and Ludlow; between Second and Front, from
Vine to Ludlow, and Lawrence to Pike ; between Second
and Third, from Main to Sycamore, and Broadway to
Ludlow; between Third and Fourth, Main and Sycamore,
one block;' between Fourth and Fifth, from Plum to
Sycamore; between Fifth and Sixth, Walnut to Main
only; between Sixth and Northern row, and between
Northern row and New Market (Eighth street), only
Sycamore to Broadway; also eleven small blocks west of
Western row, on Longworth, London, Kemble, Rich-
mond, and Catherine streets. The blocks adjacent
to those described were mostly one-eighth to three-
fourths occupied; but there were still some magnificent
distances in the heart of the town, the block between
Second and Third, Race and Vine, for example, being
still wjTOilyun^ccupied.
Drake is jiow able to remark:
FAjm Newpojt-6r Covington [then just laid out |, the appearance of
the town is beantiful ; and at a future period, when the streets shall be
graduated from the Hill to the river shore, promises to become magnifi-
cent.
it Preparations were making, he says, for the paving of
Main street, frum the tirer to Fourth, and the next year
it would "no doubt be followed by a general improve-
ment of the town in this respect.") It had become a
question where the drainage from the town should be
made to enter the river, and^the doctor thought that
probably all gutters west of Broadway would be dis-
charged into a common sewer at Second street, "along
which in an open channel the water now runs. '*) t It|fwas
proposed to throw up a levee along the border of the
town plat, six feet high and two hundred yards long) but,
says the doctor, "no measures, have yet been taken to ef-
fect this important object." (Other improvements, pro-
jected] at least, in the fertile and active brain of Dr.
Drake,(were a bridge across the Ohio, a steam ferry, a
new and permanent bridge across the mouth of Deer
creek) the restoration of the wooden bridge across Mill
creek, near its confluence with the Ohio,(a great road via
Dayton toward the sources of the Miamis, an improved
road to Columbia, andjnote it for 1815/a canal, to con-
nect the Great Miami with the Maumee, and a canal
Irom Hamilton to Cincinnati) a route for which is traced
upon his map, and is substantially that, which the Miami
canal afterwards followed. No wonder the enterprising
writer was now able to register his opinion that "Cincin-
nati is to be the future metropolis of the Ohio.
( It is the permanent mart and trading capital
of a-tect whose area equals the cultivated part of New
;!. , . ■•f.-fj aAM~ )
REFERENCES.
Steam Mill.
Brewery,
o Ferries.
4 Brewery.
5 Potash Factory .
6 Presbyterian Choroh.
7 Court House.
8 JsiL
9 Methodist Church.
10 Lanoaster Seminary.
11 Sugar Refinery .
12 Bank of Cincinnati.
13 Bank— Miami Exporting Co.
14 Bank— Fanners & Mechanics.
15 Friends' Meeting House. '
16 Remains of Ancient Works . /
IT Presbyterian Bnrytng Ground
IB Site of Old Fort Washington'.
19 Glass House.
20 Steam Saw Mill.
21 Baptist Church.
22 W. Market.
23 Market.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
69
\U'
V
Hampshire, New Jersey, or Maryland; surpasses the
State of Connecticut, and doubles the States of Rhode
Island and Delaware taken together; with a greater quan-
tity of fertile and productive soil than the whole com-
bined."
The population of the town,) in July of this year,(was
carefully estimated at six thousand — an increase of fifty
per cent, in two years. The average was nearly ten per-
sons to a dwelling. \ And, says the doctor, /no part of
its unexampled progress in population and improvement
can be ascribed to political aids; . . . but
the whole has resulted from such natural and commer-
cial advantages as cannot easily be transformed or de-
stroyed." J
(There were not far from one thousand and seventy
houses in the nlace^) exclusive of kitchens, smoke-houses,
and stables. (Over twenty were of stone, two hundred
and fifty brick, about eight hundred wood. Only six
hundred contained families; the rest were public or busi-
ness houses.) (The great disproportion of frame houses
was due to the demand created by rapid immigration, as
they could be so speedily built. The dwellings were gen-
erally two stories high, of a neat and simple style, with
sloping shingle roofs) and Corinthian or Tuscan cornices.
Several had lately Been put up with a third story, "and
exhibit, for a new town, some magnificence. A handsome
frontispiece or balustrade occasionally affords an evidence
of opening taste, but the higher architectural orna-
ments, elegant summer-houses, porticos, and colonnades,
are entirely wanting." (/Few frame houses were yet even
paintedA Three market-houses were already among the
public buildings of the town. ffThe largest and highest
structure was of course the great steam-mill on the river
bank!) The buildings of the Cincinnati Manufacturing
company, however, on the bank above Deer creek, were
numerous and extensive, the main edifice being one hun-
dred and fifty feet by twenty to thirty-seven feet, and two
to four stories high. . The Columbian garden and the
great mound at the west end are mentioned as favorite
resorts for promenaders.
On the tenth of January the legislature passed another
act of incorporation for the village, essentially modifying
that of thirteen years before. The same corporation
limits were prescribed, however. The town was divided
into four wards, each electing three trustees for a term of
three years. When first met, the trustees were to choose
a mayor from their own number, and also elect a recorder,
clerk and treasurer. The council was empowered to pass
j and enforce all ordinances necessary and proper for the
\ health, safety, cleanliness, convenience, morals, and good
government of the town and its inhabitants. Real estate
was not to be taxed beyond one-half of one per cent, in
any year, without a vote of the people authorizing it. It
was the Mayor's exclusive duty to decide upon all charges
for violations of ordinances, subject to appeal to the
council or court of common pleas, at the option of the
party aggrieved by his decision. He also exercised the
principal functions of a justice of the peace, within the
town limits.
About four weeks after the battle of New Orleans, Jan-
uary 8th, the news reached Cincinnati, and created much
rejoicing. To quote Mr. L'Hommedieu again :
What a glorification our people had ! Some now present will remem-
ber the illumination, the grand procession that moved down Main street,
with a bull manacled and appropriately decorated.
Another month or more brought news of peace, made before the
great battle of the eighth was fought ; and then another grand illumin-
ation of our village. What a joyous time we boys had ! How we
equipped ourselves with paper soldier-caps, with red belts and wooden
swords, and marched under command of our brave captain as far as
Western row, now Central avenue, where we reached the woods, and,
for fear of Indians, returned to our mammas, reporting on the return
march to old Major-General Gano, who, after putting us through a
drill, gave each boy a fip to purchase gingerbread, baked by a venerable
member, formerly president of this association.
On the eleventh of December came out the first num-
ber of the consolidated journals, Liberty Hall and Cin-
cinnati Gazette, published by Looker, Palmer and Rey-
nolds. On the twenty-sixth the three banks mentioned
in Mr. Cist's notes on the early maps together suspended
payment, creating great excitement and no little real dis-
tress in the community.
Timothy Flint, the noted writer, came with his family
during the winter of this year, took a house, and re-
mained until spring. He afterwards settled here. In
his volume of Recollections, published long afterwards, he
records some pleasant reminiscences of the town and its
people :
(in no part of the old Continent that I have visited are strangers treat-
ed with more attention, politeness, and respect than in Cincinnati J and
where, indeed, can an Englishman forget that he is not at home, except
in the United States J In most other regions he must forego many early
habits, prejudices, and propensities, and accommodate himself to others,
perhaps diametrically opposite ; he must disguise or conceal his religious
or political opinions ; must forget his native language and acquire flu-
ency in another before he can make even his wants known or his wishes
understood ; but here the same language and fashion as in his own pre-
vail in every State ; indeed, it is necessary for him to declare himself. a
foreigner, to be known as such, and I have always found this declara-
tion a passport to increased attention and kindness ; for every man in
this land of freedom enjoys his opinions unmolested. Not having the
slightest intention of stopping at any town on my way to New York, I
was without any introductions ; but this deficiency by no means pre-
vented my receiving the usual benefit of the hospitality of the inhabi-
tants, which was such as to induce us at first to remain a few days, and
ultimately, probably, to end our lives with. them.
( Sixteen hundred miles from the sea, in half an age, this flourishing
and beautiful town has emerged from the woods, and when as old as
Petersburgh now is, will probably, in wealth and population, emulate
the imperial city. No troops are stationed, no public money lavished
here. It is not even the State metropolis. The people build and
multiply imperceptibly and in silence. Nothing is forced. This mag-
nificent result is only the development of our free and noble institutions
upon a fertile soil.
The banks of ihe ' Ohio are destined shortly to become almost a
continued village. Eleven years have produced an astonishing change
in this respect; for at that distance of time by far the greater propor-
tion of the course of the Ohio was. through a forest. When you saw
the city apparently lifting its head from surrounding woods, you found
yourself at a loss to imagine whence so many people could be furnished
with supplies.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN.
February 16th William Green establishes the first iron
foundry here. An order is passed by the council granting
the privilege of supplying water to the people to the
Cincinnati Woolen Manufacturing company. On the
nineteenth somebody reports the population at six thou-
sand four hundred and ninety-eight.
70
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
November 25th the first insurance company goes into
operation — the "Cincinnati."
December 2d chronicles the building of the first brig
at the Columbia shipyards. On the sixteenth the ocean-
going barge Mission arrives with a cargo of dry goods
from Liverpool.
The more pious ladies of Cincinnati start this year a
female Bible society, auxiliary to the American Bible
society.
This year comes Mr. David Thomas, writer of Travels
through the Western Country, and favors Cincinnatians
with this notice:
About three o'clock we descended through the hills, along a hollow
way, into the valley of the Ohio, and Cincinnati appeared before us.
It is a great town. Brick buildings are very numerous, and many of
these are elegant ; but compactness constitutes much of the beauty
of our cities, and in this it is deficient. Some of the streets may form
exceptions to this remark; and we ought to remember that few towns
(if any) ever rose from the forest more rapidly; that its date even now
is within the memory of the young; and that its mammoth form at no
distant period will be filled up and completed. By some it is suspected,
however, that its present greatness is premature; but this can only
apply to its mercantile concerns; for its manufactories cannot be mate-
rially affected by any change in the amount of commerce. Neither
need the merchants fear a rival city, unless it rises to the north.
Among the most respectable of the manufacturing establishments we
notice the brewery of D. & J. Embree. The works, though in a pro-
gressive state, are now sufficiently extensive to produce annually five
thousand barrels of beer and porter, and the quality is excellent. A
treadle-mill is attached to these buildings, similar in construction to'
that at Montgomery. It is turned by horses, and grinds one hundred
and twenty bushels of malt a day. In the present recess of business, it
is employed in the manufacture of mustard.
Works for green glass have lately gone into operation ; but some of
. the articles produced are very imperfect. We can sympathise with the
proprietors of new establishments; for we are aware of the many
inconveniences and discouragements that beset them at the commence-
ment; but we cannot too strongly inculcate that to attain excellence will
be the first object of the patriotic manufacturer; and such virtue could
scarcely fail of its reward.
A monthly meeting of the society of Friends, comprising about forty
families, is established in this year.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN.
The growing town had special and distinguished no-
tice from the travellers this year. First, in June, came
that industrious tourist and observer, Mr. Birkbeck,
long of Illinois, from which he wrote a series of enter-
taining letters that were collected in a book. From an-
other volume, his Travels in America, we copy the fol-
lowing extracts:
Cincinnati, like most American towns, stands too low; it is built on
the banks of the Ohio, and the lower part of it is not out of the reach
of spring floods. As if life was not more than meat, and the body
than raiment, every consideration of health and enjoyment yields to
views of mercantile convenience. Short-sighted and narrow economy!
by which the lives of thousands are shortened, and the comfort of all
sacrificed to mistaken notions of private interest.
Cincinnati is, however, a most thriving place, and, backed as it is
already by a great population and a most plentiful country, bids fair
to be one of the first cities of the west. We are told, and we cannot
doubt the fact, that the chief of what we see is the work of four years.
The hundreds of commodious, well-finished brick houses, the spacious
and busy markets, the substantial public buildings, the thousands of
prosperous, well-dressed, industrious inhabitants, the numerous wagons
and drays, the gay carriages and elegant females; the shoals of craft
on the river, the busy stir prevailing everywhere — house-building,
boat-building, paving and leveling streets; the numbers of country peo-
ple constantly coming and going; the spacious taverns, crowded with
travellers from a distance.
All this is so much more than I could comprehend from a descrip-
tion of a new town just risen from the woods, that I despair of con-
veying an adequate idea of it to my English friends.. It is enchant-
ment, and Liberty is the fair enchantress.
June 27, Cincinnati. All is alive here as soon as the day breaks.
The stores are opened, the markets thronged, and business is in full
career by five o'clock in the morning; and nine o'clock is the common
hour for retiring to rest.
As yet I have felt nothing oppressive in the heat of this climate.
Melting, oppressive, sultry nights, succeeding broiling days, and for-
bidding rest, which are said to wear out the frames of the languid in-
habitants of the Eastern cities, are unknown here. A cool breeze al-
ways renders the night refreshing, and generally moderates the heat of
the day.
Then came Mr. Burnet— a New England traveller, we
believe — who makes many and judicious remarks upon
the town :
As Cincinnati is the commercial capital of the State of Ohio, a State
which twenty-five years ago contained but a few thousand inhabitants,
and is now well settled by half a million white inhabitants, I have been
somewhat particular in describing its commerce, manufactures, and
inhabitants.
The general appearance of the city is clean and handsome — indeed,
elegant and astonishing, when we reflect that less than forty years ago
it was the resort of Indians, and the whole surrounding country a wil-
derness, full of wild beasts and savages.
The present number of buildings may be between thirteen and four-
teen hundred, and the number of the inhabitants'eight thousand, all
whites, the laws of Ohio prohibiting free negroes (except in certain
cases) from settling in the State. Near five hundred of the houses are
built of stone or brick, many of them three-story high, and in a very
neat, modern style. The rest of the houses are frame, most of them
neatly painted.
The public buildings are of brick, and would ornament an European
city. The new court-house is a stately edifice, fifty-six by sixty-six feet,
and one hundred feet high; the apartments are fire-proof. Presby-
terians, Baptists, Friends, and Methodists, have each a meeting-house.
Those belonging to the Presbyterians are furnished with taste. The
Friends' meeting-house is a temporary wooden building. The Lancas-
terian seminary is a capacious structure, calculated to contain one
thousand one hundred scholars, male and female. There are three
brick market-houses, the largest is upwards of three hundred feet long.
I have counted near sixty tilted wagons from the
country on a market day, chiefly with produce, which is brought to
market by the farmer and sold from the wagons.
The police of the city is respectable; they have, however, no lamps
or watch, nor do they require any. We boarded in the heart of the
town, and our doors were mostly open night or day. Theft is very
rare; the lowest characters seem above it.
The climate is healthy, if we may judge from the appearance of the
inhabitants. At this season (July) the mornings and evenings are
delightful ; mid-day hot, but not too hot to do out-door work. The
winters are short and pleasant.
The manners of most of the inhabitants are social and refined, with-
out jealousy of foreigners (which is sometimes the case with the ignor-
ant or interested in the eastern and middle states) ; they are pleased to
see a respectable European settle amongst them. Many cultivate the
fine arts, painting, engraving and music. With few exceptions, we
found the English language spoken with purity.- . . . The
inhabitants dress much in the English fashion. In summer many of
both sexes wear domestic or home manufactured ginghams, and straw
hats. Gentlemen, and many tradesmen, wear superfine cloth coats'
blue and black are the prevailing colors. The ladies dress elegantly, in
muslin, short-waisted gowns, vandyked frill or ruffle round the neck,
and an English cottage or French straw hat. When about their house-
hold concerns, they wear a large, long, peaked hat, to defend their
features from the swarthing influence of the sun and air.
The city, in all probability, will soon be the largest in the West; it is
rapidly improving in size; sixty new brick and frame houses have been
occupied since last fall; and at least as many more are now building,
besides several manufacturing shops and factories. There is more
taste displayed in building and laying out grounds and gardens than I
have yet observed west of the Alleghany mountains.
The price of town lots is high, and houses in the principal streets dif-
ficult to obtain on hire. The lots in Main, First and Second streets sell
for two hundred dollars a foot, measuring on the front line; those pos-
sessing less local advantage sell from fifty to ten dollars; out-lots, and
The Bazaar.
Erected by Mbs. Tbolilofe, 1828-9; Demolished in Mabch, 1881.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
7i
land very near the town, sells for five hundred dollars per acre. Taxes
are very moderate. . . The price of labor is one dollar per
day. Mechanics earn two dollars. Boarding is from two to three, and
five dollars per week. Five dollars per week is the price of the best
hotel in the city. . . Living is very cheap here; and it is easily
to be accounted for, in the cheapness and fertility of the surrounding
country, the scarcity of tax-gatherers, and the distance of a market for
the supplies.. You can have very decent board, washing, and lodging,
by the year for one hundred and fifty dollars.
Mr. George Warren, an old-time resident of the city,
also contributes to Cincinnati Past and Present the fol-
lowing interesting reminiscences of this period:
jfl Cincinnati, in the year 1817, was a bright, beautiful, and flourishing
Me city. It extended from the river to Sixth street, and from Broad-
way to Walnut street, and not much beyond those limits.) The court-
house, which stood upon the same ground as the present one, was con-
sidered to be in the country, and its location an outrage on the citizens.
(The houses were beautifully interspersed with vacant lots, not yet sold,
which were covered with grass. The city contained about nine thou-
sand inhabitants.) These were then called girls and boys, and men and
women, frhe fuel was wood, except in factories. The people generally
had clean faces; for the men shaved, and did not allow their counte-
nances to be covered with hair and dirt. There was an air of comfort
pervading everything J In summer the women dressed as they pleased;
but the men usually went to church in summer dresses. .Sometimes
they wore linen roundabouts and vests and woollen pants. I The people
were enterprising and industrious; a pedestrian could hardly walk a
square without encountering a brick wagon or stone wagon, or seeing a
new cellar being dug. Industrious mechanics would be met hurrying
to and fro, and in their working dress. A brick-la yer would not hide
his trowel, nor a carpenter his hatchet, under his coat. Everything
gave promise of the city's continued prosperity, but a desire to become
suddenly rich had led too many into wild speculations, on borrowed
money, from the United States and other banks. They were willing to
lend to almost anyone who could get two indorsers.^ This was no diffi-
cult matter, for it bad got to be a maxim, "You indorse for me, and I
indorse for you." (Some persons not worth a dollar bought lots and
built houses on speculation. Others bought wild lands, built steam-
boats, etc. Some, who had become rich jn imagination, began to live
in,a style ill suited to their real condition.^
(But a day of reckoning was at hand. In 1819 the United States
bank began to call in its accounts; others were obliged to do the same;
and those speculators, to avoid the sheriff, began to scatter like rats
from a submerged flour barrel.) Sheriff Heckewelder complained that
his friends had taken a sudden notion to travel, at the very time he most
wanted them. Some fled east, some west, some to Kentucky, and some
the Lord knows where, (it soon became impossible to get money any-
where. Building was entirely stopped. The spring of 1820 was *
gloomy time. All business was brought to a sudden stand) No more
brick wagons, stone wagons, or new cellars were to be' seen in the
streets. The mechanics lately so blithe and cheerful had gone in dif-
ferent directions in search of work, at any price, to keep themselves
and families from starving. Almost any mechanic could be hired for
fifty cents a day, working, as was then the custom, from sunrise to sun-
set; few could get employment at that. They were willing to work at
anything they could do, and at any price. One of our boss carpenters
bought a wood-saw and buck, and went about sawing wood. Our
leading brick-layer procured a small patch of ground near the Brighton
house, and raised watermelons, which he sold himself, in the market.
The only professed sashmaker in the place, the lats John Baker, esq.,
who died not long ago a millionaire on Walnut Hills, procured u piece
of woodland in the country, and chopped the wood, brought it to mar-
ket, sitting on his load, and sold it for a dollar and a half a cord.
Other good mechanics went chopping wood in the country for thirty-
seven and a half cents a cord. One of these was the late A. H. Ernst,
esq. The writer would have done- the same, but no chance offered.
There was no money, and people even going to market resorted to
barter. A cabinet maker, for instance, would want two pounds of but-
ter, amounting to twenty-five or thirty cents. Without a penny in his
pocket, he would take his basket, go te the market, find a farmer that
had some, take two pounds, and give him a table, bedstead, or even a
bureau, agreeing to take the rest out iii.truck, as he would call it, when
he should want it! This could not be done by carpenters and masons.
They would go into the country and build ovens or spring-houses, and
repair buildings, taking their pay whenahe work was done. Our mer-
chants, being unable or unwilling to bring on fresh supplies of dry
goods and groceries, these ran up to enormous prices; coffee was sev-
enty-five cents, and common coarse brown sugar thirty-seven and one-
half cents a pound. Rye coffee, sweetened with molasses, was found a
poor substitute; and we suffered considerably for want of our custom-
ary breakfast.
Public meetings were held to consider what was to be done. At one
of these Mr. Blake, an attorney, had expressed a fear that our wives
and children would starve. Mr. Gazlay, the next speaker, also an at-
torney, said: " Brother Blake is afraid our families will starve. I have
but one child, and don't fear it will starve; Brother Blake has none, and
I am sure it won't starve." Country produce of all kinds was never so
low before nor since; but the difficulty lay in getting money to pay
even these low prices. Flour was three dollars a barrel, corn twelve
and one-half cents a bushel, beef six and one-fourth cents a pound,
pork in quarters from the wagons three cents a pound, eggs five cents a
dozen, and chickens four cents a piece. A prominent and truthful citi-
zen now living relates that, being then a young man and living in the
country, he brought to the lower market two dozen chickens. After
standing there most of the forenoon a man offered him fifty cents a
dozen if he would carry them to the Mill Creek bridge. He accepted
the offer and actually carried them the whole distance on his back. If
any imagine that the people need not have feared starving when provis-
ions were so cheap, they are like the Queen of France during the Revo-
lution, who said, when the people of Paris were actually starving, that
she did not see why there need be such a clamor about bread when ' ' a
good-sized loaf may be got at the baker's for five sous."
Finally it was found that money of some kind must be had. This
induced some individuals to issue tickets, or little due-bills, on their
own credit. They were sometimes as low as six and one-fourth cents.
Of these bankers John H. Piatt and Mr. Leathers, of Covington, were
the chief. This currency had different values, according to people's es-
timate of the solvency of the individuals. The corporation had issued
tickets before this. In making contracts it had to be agreed what kind
of money was to be received; so much in "corporation," or so much
in "Piatt," or so much in "Leathers." Sometimes contracts would
call for "bankable money." By this was meant the notes of those few
banks that had not already broken. If any specie was seen it was gen-
erally "cut money," or half-dollars cut into five triangular pieces, each
passing for twelve and one-half cents.
f Such was the scarcity of money that many who had purchased prop-
erty and paid large amounts on it were willing to give up the money
already paid to be released from paying the remainder) Real estate
had indeed fallen; a prominent citizen now among us had purchased a
lot of ground, near our present gas works, for sixteen thousand dollars,
paying half down in cash. He offered to give up all the money paid if
the owner would release him ; but he would not. Houses and stores,
with bills on them offering them "for rent," were everywhere seen, and
rents were low.
On the thirty-first of May arrived a young lawyer
named Bellamy Storer, to cast in his fortunes with those
of the rising community. Mr. Joseph Jonas, rather
doubtfully reported as the first Israelite in town, is said
also to have come this year. He opened a watchmaker's
shop on the corner of Third and Main streets, and soon
acquired much political influence. He is sometimes re-
puted to have been the father of Cincinnati Democracy.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN.
The sixth edition of Kilbourne's Ohio Gazetteer, or
Topographical Directory, published this year, gives the
town this notice:
Cincinnati is a large commercial city and the seat of justice for Ham-
ilton county. August 18th the number of inhabitants had
increased to upwards of nine thousand, and public improvements in
proportion. There are about sixty common mercantile stores, several
of which do wholesale business, with about ten book, drug, iron, and
shoe stores. . The Cincinnati Manufacturing Company has
erected for their works an extensive building, one hundred and fifty
feet long by thirty-seven broad, and four stories high. A most stupen-
dously large building of stone is likewise erected on the bank of the
Ohio river for a steam mill. It is nine stories high at the water's edge,
and is- eighty-seven feet ldng and sixty-two broad. The engine is one
of seventy horse-power, and is designed to drive four pair of stones, be-
sides an oil-, fulling-, and several other mills. In another building is
72
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
also a valuable steam saw-mill. Here are, likewise, one woollen and
four cotton factories, two glass-making establishments, >■ white lead
factory, a sugar refinery, and two extensive breweries. A considerable
business is also done, not only in the distilleries, but also in the rectifi-
cation of spirits. Here are also four printing offices, from three of
which weekly papers are published ; four banking companies, besides a
wealthy commercial association for the purpose of importing goods
direct from Europe, by way of New Orleans.
This was a great year for public benefactions. Seven
persons subscribed twenty-seven thousand dollars for the
Lancasterian seminary. A site for a poor-house was pur-
chased by public authorities, and a hospital planned, as
preparatory to the founding of a medical college. A
museum society was formed, and contributions were solic-
ited, Dr. Drake drawing up a constitution for it so as to
make it a school of natural history. The Cincinnati
reading-room was opened by Elam P. Langdon and Rev.
William Burke. The first Roman Catholic church in'
town was founded.
The General Pike, said to be the first steamboat built
on the western waters for the exclusive conveyance of
passengers, was constructed at Cincinnati this year — of
one hundred feet keel, twenty-five feet beam, and three
and three-tenths feet draft. It was owned by the Cin-
cinnati Company, and intended to ply between Louis-
ville, Cincinnati, and Maysville.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETEEN.
This was an important year in the annals of Cincinnati,
marking its transition from a village to a city, an act
passed by the State legislature giving it the deserved pro-
motion. ) The new city was divided into four wards, by
lines aiong Main and Third streets, intersecting at the
corner of these. Isaac G. Burnet was the first mayor
under the new organization.
The population of the city this year, according to the
census taken for the directory in July, was nine thousand
eight hundred and seventy-three4-males, five thousand
four hundred and two; females, four thousand four hun-
dred and seventy-one; males of twenty-one years and
over, two thousand three hundred and sixty-four ; females,
one thousand six hundred and thirty-two; males from
twelve to twenty-one, eight hundred and forty; females,
eight hundred and twenty- three; males under twelve, one
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; females, one
thousand five hundred and forty-five; colored persons,
three hundred and sixty-seven — males, two hundred and
fifteen; females, one hundred and ninety-five. The
directory contains the following remarks upon the charac-
ter of the population :
\ This mixed assemblage is composed of emigrants from almost every
part of Christendom^ The greater part of the population are from the
Middle and Northern States. (We have,) however, /many foreigners
amongst us; and it is not uncommon to hear three or four different
languages spoken in the streets at the same time. A society so com-
pounded can have but few of those provincial traits of character which
are so visible in older settlements. 1 Having been bred and educated
under different habits and modes of thinking.fevery individual is obliged
to sacrifice to the general opinion many of his prejudices and local
peculiarities, and to adopt a more liberal mode of acting and thinking.
Coming also from different countries and various climates, they bring
and collect together a stock of knowledgeand experience which cannot
exist among those who have all grown up together, i Being adventurers
in pursuit of fortune, a spirit of enterprise, and a restless ambition to
acquire property, are prevailing characteristics. The citizens of Cin-
cinnati are generally temperate, peaceable and industrious, Gaming is ■
a vice almost unknown in the city. Under the influence of a strict
police, good order is maintained ; fighting or riot in the streets rare,
and is uniformly punished with rigor. Qreat attention is paid to the
institutions of religion, and the mass of the more respectable citizens
are regular in their attendance on public worship^ In their parties, as-
semblies and social meetings, the greatest ease and familiarity prevail,
and many traits are to be met with of that politeness and uiiianity of
manners which distinguish the polished circles of older cities.
The same work gives the following honorable notice
and further remarks concerning the material improve-
ment of the place:
For many years the vast influx of emigrants has furnished opportu-
nity for a very profitable investment of funds in building houses. The
preference which Mr. John H. Piatt has given to the improvement of
Cincinnati, over foreign speculation, is an honorable evidence of his
public spirit and local attachment. This gentleman, within five years
past, has built twenty-eight brick houses, chiefly three stories irwheight,
besides twenty-five frame houses, which are neatly finished. Bit is the
opinion of several well informed mechanics that not less thah three
hundred buildings were erected in 1818; and, notwithstanding the de-
pression of commercial business, probably not- less than two-thirds of
that number will be built in 1819. The buildings, however, which are
occupied as dwellings, are insufficient to contain the inhabitants with
any tolerable convenience. Four, six or eight families have not un-
frequently been found inhabiting a house of six or eight roomsS The
actual number of dwelling-houses being one thousand and three, the
average number in each family, allowing one family to each house, is
more than nine persons. The houses, generally, are rather neat and
convenient than splendid; most of those that have been built within the
last five or six years, have been constructed of brick, and by far the
greater portion of them are two or three stories in height. /One pre-
vailing trait, displayed in almost all the houses in town, is a want of
architectural taste and skill. All the public buildings, except the Cin-
cinnati banking house, fully exemplify the above remark. One or two
good architects would unquestionably meet here with excellent encour-
agement.. The improvements that have been made here in paving
streets and sidewalks, filling up stagnant ponds, reducing the upper
bank to a proper angle of descent for streets and buildings, etc. , have
for several years been commensurate with the mos(<diberal policy of the
corporation and the best exertions of the citizens.^According to the
best estimate we can make, the length of pavement in the several
streets is between eight and nine thousand feet; that of the sidewalks
vastly greater. The streets in width are between sixty and one hundred
feet. '
In March of the same year an enumeration had been
made of the buildings within the corporation, which
footed one thousand eight hundred and ninety — of brick
and stone, two stories and upwards, three hundred and
eighty-seven; of one story, forty-five; wood, two or more
stories, six hundred and fifteen; one story, eight hundred
and forty-three. Occupied as separate dwellings, one
thousand and three; mercantile stores, ninety-five; gro-
cery stores, one hundred and two; druggists, eleven;
confectioneries, four; auction and commission, five;
printing-offices, five; book and stationery stores, four;
churches, ten; banks, five; shops, factories, and mills,
two hundred and fourteen ; taverns, seventeen; seminary,
court house, and jail, three ; warehouses and other build-
ings, four hundred and twelve. Other buildings were in
progress, and it was expected that by the close of the year
the buildings in the city would number over two thou-
sand. Among the new edifices in progress were the
court house and jail, the seminary, three churches, two
market-houses, and several manufactories. The churches
were the First Presbyterian, on the old site; the brick on
Sixth street, formerly Baptist, then Episcopal; the Meth-
odist, on Fifth, a new brick, belonging to the same de-'
nomination, on the corner of Fourth and Plum; and the
4^tf^o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
73
old frame on Vine street; the Second Presbyterian, on
Walnut; the Friends', near the west end of Fifth; and a
Roman Catholic church lately erected in what were then
called "the Northern Liberties."
Three fine steamers — the Vulcan, the Tennessee, and
the Missouri — were launched here March 30th.
July 4th the address is delivered by Bellamy Storer.
Further celebration was made by getting the first throw of
water from the new tin penstock. It was supplied by log
pipes from a small reservoir on the hillside, at the south-
west corner of Fifth and Sycamore streets.
August 3d, the ordinance passed by the council in re-
lation to fire-buckets is required to be vigorously enforced.
December nth, the city treasurer proves a defaulter.
The Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, pastor of the Presbyterian
church, is temporarily appointed to his place.
This year (Mr. L'Hommedieu thought it might have
been in 1820), a serious riot was threatened through the
failure of the Miami Exporting Company's bank. A pro-
cession comprising many of those who had suffered from
the closure of the bank, with their sympathizers, was
formed in the upper part of the city, and marched down
Main street. A number of drays helped to give length
and imposing character to the column. One of them
bore a black coffin with the words painted thereon, " Mi-
ami Bank No More." The bank building was situated
on Front street, near Sycamore, and a detachment of
military had taken position in front of it, to protect the
building and its contents against the threatened mob vio-
lence. The procession marched without interruption or
disturbance until the intersection of Front street with
Main was reached. Just here, fortunately, on the south-
east corner, was the office of the mayor, Isaac G. Burnet,
who was awake to the perils of the situation, and on full
duty. Although unable to walk or even to stand without
crutches, he moved to the head of the column, and read
the riot act to the multitude. Many who were in the
movement were not lawless or dangerous men, and now,,
seeing the real character of their demonstration, and the
perils to law and order which it involved, they led the
way at once in breaking up the procession and diverting
the thoughts of its members into more peaceful channels.
The military were not called upon to adopt severer meas-
ures, and the bank was saved.
This year appeared the first Directory of the town or
city. It was entitled "The Cincinnati Directory, con-
taining the Names, Profession, and Occupation of the
Inhabitants of the Town, alphabetically arranged; Also,
an account of its officers, population, institutions, and
societies, public buildings, manufactures, etc. With an
interesting sketch of its local situation and improvements.
Illustrated by a copper-plate engraving, exhibiting a view
of the city. By a Citizen. Published by Oliver Farns-
worth. Morgan, Lodge & Co., Printers, October, 1819."
An almanac for 1820 is also included. About two thou-
sand names of individual and firms were included in this
publication.
The most remarkable man who came to Cincinnati
this year was probably Captain John Cleves Symmes, son
of Timothy, brother of Judge Symmes. His father (also
a judge in New Jersey), early followed the elder brother
to the Miami country, and settled at South Bend, where
he died February 20, 1797. His family remained there,
and among them John C. Symmes, who, through the in-
fluence of the judge, obtained a commission in April,
1802, when he was twenty-two years old, as an ensign in
the regular army. By successive promotions he became
captain, and served as such through the war of 1812-15.
In 1807 he fought a duel at Fort Adams, on the Lower
Mississippi, with Lieutenant Marshall, in which both were
wounded seriously enough to feel the effects of their in-
discretion through the rest of their lives. Captain
Symmes left the army in 1816 and settled at St. Louis as
a contractor for the army and trader with the Fox In-
dians. He was not altogether successful, however, and
in 1819 removed to Covington, Kentucky, where he re-
mained a few months, and then came to this city, taking
a residence on Lower Market street, between Broadway
and Sycamore, in a three-story brick row built by John
H. Piatt, who then had a bank at the southeast corner of
Broadway and Columbia streets. Captain Symmes re-
mained in Cincinnati but a year or two. He still had
some property near Hamilton, upon a section presented
to him by his uncle, Judge Symmes; but appears to have
spent the last seven or eight years of his life, when not
absent lecturing, in Newport, Kentucky. While at St.
Louis he began to promulgate his famous theory of con-
centric spheres, polar voids, and open poles. The gist
of this is in his published declaration "to all the world,"
made from St. Louis, Missouri Territory, North America,
April 10, a. d., 1818:
I declare that the earth is hollow and habitable within, containing a
number of solid concentrick spheres, one within the other, and that it is
open at the poles twelve or sixteen degrees. I pledge my life in sup-
port of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will
support and aid me in the undertaking.
Jno. Cleves Symmes,
Of Ohio, late Captain of Infantry.
His future life was devoted mainly to the advocacy of
this theory, and his efforts to demonstrate it and pro-
mote its acceptance. In 1820, after issuing numerous
circulars and newspaper articles, he began lecturing in
Cincinnati, and then in other western towns and cities.
A benefit was given in aid of his proposed polar expedi-
tion, at the Cincinnati theatre, March 29, 1824, when
Young's tragedy of Revenge was performed by an ama-
teur company, in which was the now venerable Colonel
James Taylor, of Newport, who played the part of
Zanga. Mr. Americus Symmes, son of Captain Symmes,
says: "He and I are the only two now living of the
Newport Thespian society of 1824. He was equal to
Forrest in his palmiest day, in the character of Sir
Edward Mortimer, in the Iron Chest. L performed fe-
male parts." Mr. Collins recited an appropriate address
written by Moses Brooks, foreshadowing the great discov-
eries to be made in the polar regions, and closing with
these lines:
Has not Columbia one aspirng son,
By whom the unfading laurel may be won?
Yes ! History's pen may yet inscribe the name
Of Symmes to grace the future scroll of fame.
He had not similar encouragement elsewhere, however.
74
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Congress and legislatures, press and people, with rare ex-
ceptions, treated his arguments and appeals with indiffer-
ence or ridicule; and the end of the ardent theorist soon
came. He fell into ill health, and became much en-
feebled in 1826 by a laborious tour through the eastern
cities, Maine, and Canada. His chief ailment was dys-
pepsia, induced by long continued overwork upon his
theories and plans. Notwithstanding his now serious ill-
ness, in New York city he was thrown into jail by a heart-
less landlord, for inability to pay a bill of thirty to forty dol-
lars, and remained incarcerated three days, when he was
relieved by a friendly Cincinnatian who happened to be
in the city, and who helped him to the residence of a
relative in New Jersey, where he remained until his
health was measurably restored. He managed to reach
Cincinnati in February, 1829, and was there presently
met by his son Americus with a two-horse wagon and a
mattress, upon which he was borne to the farm near
Hamilton — to which the family had removed in March
of the previous year — where he died May 29, 1829, aged
only forty-eight. His monument, erected by Americus
Symmes, formerly crowned with a hollow globe, open at
the poles, and bearing appropriate inscriptions, may be
seen in the old cemetery at Hamilton. This son, who
resides at "Symmzonia," a farm near Louisville, remains
a firm believer in the theory. In a recent letter to the
writer of these annals he communicates a paragraph
which has some local as well as general interest, and well
repays its reading. Its opening sentence relates to the
time of Captain Symmes' last return and illness:
I was then seventeen years old, and he was too ill to talk much ; but
he charged me just to keep an eye to the explorations in the north, and
I would find his theory would be proven true. I have kept an eye on
the northern explorations, and find that the further north they get the
stronger grow the proofs of the truth of his theory, Your Cincinnati
explorer, Captain Hall, who went further north than any other man of
his day (except Parry on his third voyage), did more to prove the truth
of the Symmes theory than all other explorers. I saw the sled-runners
in Captain Hall's hands, made in your city, that bore him up to 82° 2'
north, where he wrote his last dispatch to the secretary of the navy, in
which he says : I find this a much warmer country than I expected,
and it abounds with life, etc. Just to think a Cincinnati man studied
out the theory, and another citizen of your city made the sled-runners
there, and rode on them up to 820 2' north, and thereby proved the
theory true as far as he went.
It may be added that the younger son of Captain
Symmes, a native of Newport, Kentucky, was also named
John Cleves Symmes, was a graduate of the West Point
Military academy, and served his country creditably as a
teacher there and as an officer elsewhere. He lived for
a number of years in Prussia, where, in 1866, he had a
son of a German mother, who took the name of John
Haven Cleves Symmes.
CHAPTER XL
CINCINNATI'S FOURTH DECADE.
^-— EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY.
/ Population this year, by the United States census,
/ nine thousand six hundred and forty-two. \ Vote of the
\city, eight hundred and fifty. :
February 2, meeting of citizens to consider the good-
ness of John H. Piatt's "shinplasters." Resolutions
passed against them. On the eighth, the ice in the Ohio
breaks up, after having been frozen over for three weeks.
The first water-service pipes, wooden, were laid this
year.
Congress, worthily though tardily, voted a gold medal
to Lieutenant R. Anderson, of Cincinnati, for gallant
conduct in Perry's battle on Lake Erie.
In June a museum was opened in Cincinnati College,
which was for many years an interesting feature of
amusements here.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTV-ONE.
The Commercial hospital and Ohio medical college
were incorporated February 1st. On the twenty-eighth
the Hon. Jacob Burnet was appointed a Judge of the
Supreme Court.
July 28th the fire department of the city turns out for
a public parade, and makes a brave display with its two
hand-engines and two hose-reels.
The council building was this year on Fourth street,
near the corner of Walnut, and the independent engine
is removed thither. The vote of the city is said to have
been seven hundred and thirty-two; which could not
have been full, as it is more than a hundred less than
that of the year before, and less than half that of the
next year.
September 26th occurs the first commencement of the
Cincinnati College, which confers the honorary degree
of Master of Arts on William Henry Harrison, the Rev.
Joshua L. Wilson, and the Rev. James A. Kemper.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO.
The first theatrical benefit given here, to Mrs. A.
Drake, a favorite actress of that day, occurred in the
ball-room of the Cincinnati hotel.
March 27 th, directors of the city library were elected
— Lewis Whiteman, Benjamin Drake, Nathan Guilford,
and Peyton S. Symmes.
June 8th a meeting is held to promote the scheme of
a canal from Cincinnati to Piqua.
September 9th there is a considerable freshet in the
Ohio.
October 7th a notable political event occurs, in the de-
feat of General Harrison for Congress, by James W.
Gazlay, though only by the meagre majority of three
hundred and forty-two votes.
This year came George Graham, who became a very
prominent citizen of Cincinnati, and survived until Feb-
ruary, 1 88 1.
The total value of exports this year from Cincinnati
was two hundred and seventy-nine thousand dollars,
chiefly in flour, pork, and whiskey.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
75
Vote at the municipal election in 1822, one thousand,
five hundred and ninety-seven.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE.
January 30th, certain adventurous business men of the
city broach a project for a whaling and sealing voyage to
the Indian ocean.
September 3d, the citizens, dissatisfied with the ar-
rangements of the authorities for the protection of per-
son and property, meet to organize a volunteer city
watch.
November 3d, a great calamity is inflicted upon the
business of the city, by the burning of the famous great
stone steam-mill. Material is at once collected for rebuild-
ing, however. Among prominent business men now are
noted Kilgour & Taylor, Barr, Patterson & Son, Keat-
ing & Bell, grocers; John Sterrett & Company, John Du-
val, G. V. H. Dewitt, dry goods merchants; Griffin &
Company, C. & J. Bates, druggists; Piatt Evans and
James Comly, tailors; Moses & Jonas, auctioneers; J.
& G. R. Gilmore, brokers.
Aggregate vote this year, one thousand, eight hundred
and sixty-one.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR.
f Population this year is twelve thousand and sixteen4-
Eirst ward, three thousand one hundred and fifty-seven;
Second, four thousand five hundred and thirty-one;
Third, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight;
Fourth, two thousand five hundred and forty. The
number of families was two thousand one hundred and
nineteen; of dwelling houses, one thousand six hundred
and sixty-eight.
Until 1824 it is said that the whole city had voted at
one polling-place, generally the Mayor's office on Third
street. At the presidential election of this year the vote
was by wards.
February 24th, Mr. Samuel W. Davies offers the water-
works, which are private property, to the city for thirty
thousand dollars, in convenient payments. His offer is
declined by a meeting or a vote of the citizens, and he
sells to the new Cincinnati Water company at the same
price.
May 19th, the corner-stone of the old St. Peter's
cathedral (Roman Catholic), on Sycamore street, is laid,
Bishop Fenwick conducting the ceremonies.
The statistics of nativity, taken for the directory of this
year — the second Cincinnati directory issued — show a
very large percentage of Pennsylvanians and Jerseymen in
the population, three hundred and ninety-four ' of the
names given for the directory being those of natives of
the Keystone State, and three hundred and thirty-seven
of New Jersey birth; two hundred and thirty-three were
New Yorkers, one hundred and eighty-four native to
Massachusetts, one hundred and seventy to Maryland,
one hundred and forty-three Connecticut, one hundred and
thirteen Virginia, and less than one hundred to any other
State. Ohio as yet contributed but fifty-two native
Buckeyes — adults, of course — to the directory, and any
other State not mentioned less than fifty. A good many
native foreigners were represented — English, one hun-
dred and ninety-two; Irish, one hundred and seventy-
three; Germans, sixty-two; Scotch, thirty-nine; Welsh,
twenty-one; Swiss, seventeen, and one or two each of
Swedes, Dutch, and Poles. Multiplying the numbers,
respectively, by five, the products, in most cases, will
probably show the actual number of population of the
several classes then here. The State or country of
nativity, whenever known, was entered with the person's
name in the directory — a unique feature, truly.
The directory notes the entire compact portion of the
city as being included within the space of one mile
square.
February 2d, General Harrison was elected by the
Legislature to the United States Senate.
The first fancy front in town is put up this year on
Main street, by Piatt Evans, tailor. His sign was still
up in 1856, when it was the oldest sign in the city.
In the month of May, General the Marquis de Lafay-
ette, accompanied by his son, on their tour through this
country, paid Cincinnati the honor of a visit. Mr.
L'Hommedieu says:
The occasion brought here thousands from the country. AH within
a circuit of a hundred miles seemed to be here. Lafayette approached
our city from Lexington, Kentucky, where he had been to visit Henry
Clay. He was met and welcomed at our landing by Governor Mor-
row and General Harrison. The whole public ground between Main
street and Broadway, and Front street and the river, was densely
crowded with men, women, and children, and the windows, balconies,
and roofs of the buildings fronting the river were alive with people
waving their welcome. After tarrying in our city from noon of one
day to midnight of the next, he departed up the river. The day of his
arrival, as well as that which followed, and his departure at midnight,
will be remembered, by those who witnessed the scenes, as long as their
memories last. All was grand; but the closing scene, at twelve o'clock
at night, with the illumination on both sides of the river, the crowd of
many thousands of our people on the landing, the beautiful display
made by all the steamboats in port, the procession of military com-
panies, the firing of cannon from our landing, from the boats, and from
the arsenal at Newport, with the martial music, seems to me, after the
lapse of fifty years, the most brilliant sight of my life.
Major Daniel Gano's splendid turnout of six bay
horses attached to an open phaeton awaited Lafayette at
the steamer landing — the only equipage of the kind in
Cincinnati. In the evening, before the ball, a public
reception was given to Lafayette in the Major's orchard,
whkh was brilliantly illuminated. A new lodge of Free
Masons, called Lafayette No. 81, was constituted in
honor of his coming, of which he became an honorary
member, and which publicly celebrated his obsequies
July 20, 1834, upon the death of the eminent patriot.
Joseph S. Benham, esq., a brilliant young lawyer of this
city, made the reception speech upon Lafayette's arrival,
on behalf of the public authorities and citizens. A grand
ball was given at night in the Cincinnati hotel.
Henry Clay himself had a reception and banquet at
the same hotel in June of this year. The opportunity
was taken by Mr. Clay for a vindication of himself, in an
elaborate and very eloquent speech, from the famous
charge of " bargain and sale," which had been made
against him in connection with the recent presidential
election. There were present, besides Mr. Clay, Gover-
nors Clinton, Morrow, and Brown, and some scores of
prominent Cincinnatians. Governor/Poindexter was also
in town, but was detained away from the dinner. Tickets
76
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to it were three dollars apiece; but were purchasable by
any one who had the wherewithal, and the disposition to
expend it in this way. Mr. L'Hommedieu says :
Although then an apprentice-boy of nineteen years, I managed to
raise three dollars, and attended the dinner. The sight of so many
distinguished characters seated at a table, which crossed the ends of
three or four longer ones, was a novel one to me, and I fancied myself
in the presence of giants, until after the wine was freely drank, the
cloth removed, smoking commenced, and speeches and story-telling be-
came the order. Then 1 thought, to use the language of Governor
Vance, ' ' Most great men look smaller the nearer you get to them. "
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.
This year witnessed the breaking of ground for the
Miami canal, at Middletown, June 21, by Governor Dewitt
Clinton, of New York. The- ceremony has been else-
where described.
Dr. Samuel Thompson, founder of the botanical sys-
tem of medicine and patentee of the celebrated Thomp-
sonian remedies, came to Cincinnati this year, and made
many converts to his school of practice.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX.
The publication of another work of local character,
Cincinnati in 1826, by Benjamin Drake and E. D. Mans-
field, both young men struggling to get a living at the
bar, furnishes the means of giving a pretty full picture of
the Queen City at this time. Their book, which was a
worthy successor of Dr. Drake's two pioneer volumes,
had the honor of publication the same year (1826) in
London, as an appendix to Mr. W. Bullock's Notes of a
Journey, of which more will be presently said. It is note-
worthy that the book was subsidized by the city council,
to the extent of seventy-five dollars voted to the authors
firir taking a census of the population.
1 In December of this year, the population numbered
snrteen thousand two hundred and thirtw— four thousand
and eighty-four in the First ward, six thousand four hun-
dred and ninety-nine in the Second, two thousand five
hundred and five in the Third, and three thousand one
hundred and forty-two in the Fourth — seven thousand
nine hundred and ninety males, and seven thousand five
hundred and fifty females. The average number to a
building was six and a half persons. There were twenty-
eight clergymen, thirty-four lawyers, thirty-five physicians,
about eight hundred in trade and mercantile pursuits,
five hundred in navigation, and three thousand in manu-
facturing. Mr. Mansfield, recounting his experience in
taking census statistics for his book, says: "In all this
visitation into the recesses of society, I never met a sin-
gle pauper family, nor one really impoverished. The
great body of them were mechanics, with plenty to do,
generally owning their own homes, and in fact a well-to-
do people.''
The number of buildings in the city was two thousand
four hundred and ninety-five — eighteen stone, nine hun-
dred and thirty-six brick, seventeen of them four-storied,
one thousand five hundred and forty-one frames, six hun-
dred and fifty of one story, one thousand six hundred
and eighty-two of two stories, and one hundred and sixty-
three of more than two.
The growth of the city, during this and the preced-
ing year, had been greater than in any former period of
equal length. The yearly ratio of increase in population
from 1810 to 1813 was twenty-four per cent ; 1813-19,
twenty-six per cent; 1819-24, three and five-tenths;
1824-26, seventeen. For sixteen years the population
of no town in the United States, of the rank of Cincin-
nati, had increased in corresponding raticu) Manufactur-
ing establishments had also greatly increased within two
years, some details of which will be found in our chapter
on manufactures. The value of manufactures in and
near the city, for the year, was one million eight hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
The United States land office was now at the east end
of the city, the register's office near the corner of Law-
rence^ and Congress, the receiver's north of Congress,
near Broadway. The United States branch bank had
been founded here, and there were two insurance com-
panies and 'several agencies. Mr. N. Holley kept a gen-
eral agency and intelligence office. There were ten li-
censed auctioneers, who sold thirty-three thousand eight
hundred dollars' worth this year, paying a duty of three
per cent, thereon — one-half of it going to the Commer-
cial hospital, the other to the medical college of Ohio.
Real property was advancing at the rate of ten to twelve
per cent, a year, and many pieces twelve to eighteen.
Interest was high, three per cent, a month being some-
times paid on small sums, and ten to twenty per annum
on larger. There were then no penalties on usury.
rThe city was becoming somewhat a summer resort for
the inhabitants of the south, especially Mississippi, Ala-
bama and Louisianal\ Yellow Springs and the Big Bone
Lick had also become prominent as places of temporary
resort for excursionists.
The Miami canal was now under contract, and thirty-
one miles, from Main street to the dam at Middletown,
were nearly finished. Great benefits were expected to the
city from the water-power to be gained in the descent
from the upper level to the river, about fifty feet —
enough, it was estimated, to turn sixty pair of millstones.
The branch bank of the United States was still flourish-
ing in a fine freestone front — "one of the chastest speci-
mens of architecture within the city;" and the medical
college was already in its present location on Sixth, be-
tween Vine and Race, though the building was still un-
finished. The commercial hospital and lunatic asylum
was up and occupied. The college building was also in
place, with accommodations for a thousand pupils. The
Cincinnati theatre stood on the south side of Second
street, between Main and Sycamore. A Masonic grand
hall was projected for the next year, in the hope of loca-
ting the grand lodge of the State permanently in Cincin-
nati. The purchase of the Burnet property between
Third and Fourth, Race and Vine, was urged for use as
a city hall and public square. It could have been had
then for twenty-five thousand dollars, which was the
amount for which the judge presently let it go to the
United States branch bank, to satisfy its demands upon
him. It was already handsomely adorned with shade-
trees, flowering shrubs, and evergreens, and several lib-
eral gifts for its ornamentation were promised if it were
made public property. The Cincinnati water company,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
77
for example, would put in a fountain gratuitously. (The
bridge over the Ohio was still urged, and it was thought
it could be built, with nine stone piers, breakers, and
connecting with both Newport and Covington, for one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Various canals were
also in prospedtu besides the Miami, which was so hope-
fully under waju) The valuation of the city was three
million one hundred and fifty-seven thousand three hun-
dred and ninety-two dollars, and its revenue for 1826
twenty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-two dol-
lars and eighty-one cents — less than half of it from taxa-
tion. A new city charter, promising improvements in
local government, was about to go into operation.
Messrs. Drake and Mansfield seem abundantly justi-
fied in their closing - predictions of "continued pros-
perity in wealth and population. The period is not a
remote one when Cincinnati will hold the same rank
among cities of the Union that the great State of which
she is the ornament now possesses in the American con-
federacy."
In May the city was visited by a noble personage,
Bernhard, Uuke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, who after-
wards wrote a book of his travels. He said in it, how-
ever, nothing of account concerning Cincinnati. His
observations on the village of Montgomery, through
which he passed in coming here, will be found in the
history of Sycamore township.
October 20th, General James Findlay was elected to
Congress from the Cincinnati district.
November 18th, the water company begins to supply
the city through its ground-pipes and hydrants. On the
twenty-seventh Philip Lewis, a colored man, was hanged
for the murder of Thomas Isbell, April 4th. He is said
to have been the only one of his race hanged here for
more than forty years.
At this time, however, says Mr. L'Hommedieu, Cincin-
nati "was undergoing the severe ordeal of paying off 'old
debts.' Through the branch bank established here by
the United States bank, during the years of inflation and
extravagance which preceded this period, most of the
real-estate owners had become almost hopelessly in debt,
and large portions of their property had been taken by
the United States bank, and subsequently sold at an
advance. Some few obtained the right of redemption,
and, by borrowing money in New York and Philadelphia,
succeeded in saving their estates; but many, if not a
majority, of their debtors went under. Interest ranged
from ten to thirty-six per cent, and there was no legal
limit. At this period the valuation of the property listed
for taxation in our city was six million eight hundred and
forty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-three dollars*
not more than some half-dozen or less of our citizens
combined are now worth."
The vote of the city this year was two thousand three
hundred and forty-nine. The new buildings put up num-
bered four hundred and ninety-six— eight one-story brick,
one hundred and thirty-one two-story, seventy-seven
three-story, and one four-story; twenty-nine one-story
•This does not agree, it will be observed, by over three . millions and
a quarter, with Drake and Mansfield's statement.
frames, two hundred and fifty two-story; — two hundred
and seventeen brick structures, two hundred and seventy-
nine frame.
May 21st, the Miami canal is" put under contract from
Middletown to Dayton. November 21st, two canalboats
start for Middletown, from Howell's Basin, six miles
above Cincinnati, in the presence of a large crowd.
The arrivals and departures of steamers at this port,
from the first of November, 1827, to the eighth of June,
1828, number seven hundred and thirty-nine.
It is probable that the temperance meeting held at the
court house in September of this year, was the first of the
kind in Cincinnati. It was only the year before that Dr.
Lyman Beecher had delivered the powerful lectures
against intemperance, from his pulpit at Litchfield, Con-
necticut, which, being widely published, had made a pro-
found impression in favor of reform. The American
Temperance society was organized the same year, and its
branches spread very rapidly. Nowhere in the country,
probably, did the customs of society, in the matter of in-
dulgence in intoxicants, need reformation more than in
Cincinnati; and indue time the movement reached here.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his Life of Dr. Drake, gives the
following amusing account of the initial meeting :
The meeting was held at three o'clock in the afternoon, and for those
days was really large and respectable. Many old citizens were present
who were familiar with old whiskey and upon whose cheeks it blossomed
forth in purple dyes. To these, and indeed to the great body of people
in the west, a temperance speech was a new idea. Dr. Drake was the
speaker, and they listened to him with respectful attention, and were by
no means opposed to the object. The speech, however, was long. The
docior had arrayed a formidable column of facts. The day was hot;
and after he had spoken about an hour without apparently approaching
the end, some one, out of regard for the doctor's strength, or by force
of habit, cried out: " Let's adjourn awhile and take a drink ! " The
meeting did adjourn, and, McFarland's tavern being near by, the old
soakers refreshed themselves with "old rye." The meeting again as-
sembled, the doctor finished his speech, and all went off well. Soon
after the temperance societies began to be formed, and the excitement
then begun has continued to this day.
The visit of an English traveller of some distinction,
Mr. W. Bullock, "F. L. S., etc., etc.," aids to make inter-
esting the annals of this part of the Ohio valley for the
year, as connected with a promising enterprise on the
Kentucky shore, upon the site of what is now little more
than a suburb of Cincinnati — the village of Ludlow.
While approaching the city from New Orleans, by river,
the traveller's eye was caught by an elegant mansion,
upon an , estate of about a thousand acres, a little below
the then jcity, and the property of Hon. Thomas D. Car-
neal, an extensive landholder and member of the Ken-
tucky legislature. During his short stay here he visited
the place, was easily prevailed upon to buy it, and upon it
projected "a proposed rural town to be called Hygeia."
He evidently thought no small things of his city in the
air; for upon an outline map of the United States, pre-
fixed to his "Sketch of a Journey through the Western
States of North America," he notes no other towns than
Cincinnati and "Hygeia." His plan for the place was
drawn by no less a personage than I. P. Papworlh, archi-
tect to the King of Wurtemburg, "etc., etc.," and repre-
sents a magnificent town — on paper. The eastern end
was to be nearly opposite the mouth of Mill creek, about
78
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
<*•▼
atthe further terminus of the present Southern Railroad
bridge, and the western end a mile distant. The extreme
breadth, back from the river, was about half the length.
The place was elegantly platted, with four large squares
in the middle, called, respectively, Washington, Jefferson,
Adams, and Patterson squares. Little parks diversified
the border of this great quadrangle. Two other squares,
named from Franklin and Jackson, were provided for.
The streets were considerably in curves, after the Euro-
pean manner. Agricultural, horticultural, and kitchen
gardens, a cemetery "as Pere la Chaise at Paris,'' a chapel
therein, four churches, three inns, two shops, a theatre,
bath, town hall, museum, library, a school, and another
public building, with a statue and a fountain, have all
their places upon this plat. Mr. Bullock published it in
October, 1826, upon his return to England, with his Sketch
of a Journey, adding as an appendix Drake & Mansfield's
Cincinnati in 1826, then a brand-new book; but all did
not avail to prevent the scheme from joining the grand
army of wrecked "paper towns." The old Bullock or
Carneal house is still, however, prominent among the
most interesting of local antiquities on the Kentucky
shore.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT.
(The opening of the Miami canal gave fresh life to
business. Real estate made rapid advancement in price,
and those who had made investments in it, were fortu-
nate in their sales. The people were no longer depend-
ent on mud roads and the river for their supplies, and
provisions were abundant and comparatively cheap. It
•had before happened occasionally that, during a mild and
open winter, the roads had been frightfully bad, even im-
passable; and the relief given by the canal was such as
is difficult, indeed, to realize under the commercial con-
ditions that now prevail^) A great calamity was experi-
enced, however, December nth, in the destructive fire
that devastated half the square on Main street, between
Third and Fourth — one of the most solid business blocks
in the city. The weather was extremely cold, and but
two engines could play upon the fire. The citizens,
women and children included, formed a line to the river,
and did what they could in passing fire-buckets; but
without much avail.
The valuation of taxable property in the city this year
was three millions six hundred and ninety-seven thousand
seven hundred and thirty-three dollars, and the tax nine
and five-tenths mills, yielding, with other receipts, a rev-
enue of thirty-five thousand nine hundred and ninety-
three dollars and forty-three cents. There were expended
by the corporation forty-six thousand one hundred and
fifty-six dollars — twenty-two thousand and five dollars for
paving streets and alleys, including excavations. A loan
of thirty thousand dollars was necessarily made this year,
the total expenditures being sixty-five thousand four
hundred and twenty-nine dollars and twenty-one cents.
Miller & Company's cotton factory went into operation,
also the Hamilton foundry and steam-engine factory,
Goodloe & Borden's and West & Storm's engine facto-
ries, Fox's steam grist-mill on Deer creek, at the terminus
of Fifth street, and other business enterprises.
The bills of mortality for 1828 show deaths to the
number of six hundred and forty-seven, being one in
every thirty-seven of the population — a pretty high death
rate, compared with the rates of succeeding years — as one
in thirty-four (eight hundred and twenty) in 1831, and
one in twenty-seven (one thousand one hundred and
seventy) in 1833.
This year came to Cincinnati one of the most remark-
able women who ever set foot in the city — one who, un-
like all other foreign travellers through the valley, left
here a most singular monument of her residence, which
endured for more than half a century — -the Trol-
lopean Bazaar. It was built by Mrs. Frances Trollope,
an Englishwoman, who resided here and in the neighbor-
hood for a little more than two years. She is probably
very poor historical authority, especially in Cincinnati,
whose people and institutions she abused so persistently
and unmercifully; but she was a woman of unmistakable
powers of mind and literary talent — as the mother of
Anthony Trollope must have been — and her observations
are always entertaining, if often far from just. We shal 1
give some extracts, here and elsewhere, from her subse-
quent book on The Domestic Manners of the Americans.
She came alone from Memphis, with her son and two
daughters, Mr. Trollope and another son joining them
here the next year. In the first volume of her book she
says:
We reached Cincinnati on the tenth of February. It is finely situ-
ated on the south side of a hill that rises gently from the water's edge,
yet it is by no means a city of stnking appearance ; it wants domes,
towers, and steeples ; but its landing place is noble, extending for more
than a quarter of a mile ; it is well paved and surrounded by neat
though not handsome buildings. I have seen fifteen steamboats lying
there at once, and still half the wharf was unoccupied.
The sight of bricks and mortar was really refreshing, and a house of
three stories looked splendid. Of this splendor we saw repeated speci-
mens, and moreover a brick church which, from its two little peaked
spires, was called the two-horned church. . Certainly it
was not a little town, about the size of Salisbury, without even an at-
tempt at beauty in any of its edifices, and with only just enough of the
air of a city to make it noisy and bustling. The population is greater
than the appearance of the town would lead one to expect. This is
partly owing to the number of free negroes who herd together in an ob-
scure part of the city, called Little Africa, and partly to the density of
the population around the paper mills and other manufactories. I be-
lieve the number of inhabitants exceeds twenty thousand.
At that time I think Main street, which is the principal avenue, and
runs through the whole town, answering to the High street of our old
cities, was the only one entirely paved. The trottoir [sidewalk] is of
brick, tolerably well laid, but it is inundated by every shower, as Cin-
cinnati has no drains whatever. . . Were it furnished with
drains of the simplest arrangement, the heavy showers of the climate
would keep them constantly clean ; as it is, these showers wash the
higher streets, only to deposit their filth in the first level spot ; and this
happens to be in the street second in importance to Main street, run-
ning at right angles to it, and containing most of the large warehouses
of the town. This deposit is a dreadful nuisance, and must be produc-
tive of miasma during the hot weather.
The following passage will be read with considerable
amusement by the myriad dwellers on the hills in this
latter day:
tlills, :
(To the north, Cincinnati is bounded by a range of foresticovered
hills, sufficiently steep and rugged to prevent their being built'upon or
easily cultivated, but not sufficiently high to command from their sum-
mits a view of any considerable extent. Deep and narrow water-courses,
dry in summer, but bringing down heavy streams in winter, divide these
hills into many separate heights, and this furnishes the only variety the
landscape offers for many miles around the town. The lovely Ohio is
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
79
a beautiful feature wherever it is visible, but the only part of the city
that has the advantage of its beauty is the street nearest to its bank.
Though I do not quite sympathize with those who consider Cincin-
nati as one of the wonders of the earth, I certainly think it a city of
extraordinary size and importance, when it is remembered that thirty
years ago the aboriginal forest occupied the ground where it stands,
and every month appears to extend its limits and its wealth/)
During nearly two years that I resided in Cincinnati or its*neighbor-
hood, I neither saw a beggar nor a man of sufficient fortune to permit
his ceasing his efforts to increase it. Thus every bee in the hive is ac-
tively employed in search of that honey of Hybla, vulgarly called'
money; neither art, science, learning, nor pleasure can seduce them
from its pursuit.
Notwithstanding fourteen hundred new dwellings had been erected
the preceding year, the demand for houses greatly exceeded the
supply.
Perhaps the most advantageous feature in Cincinnati is its market,
which, for excellence, abundance, and cheapness, can hardly, I should
think, be surpassed in any part of the world, if I except the luxury of
fruits, which are very inferior to any I have seen in Europe. There are
no butchers, fishmongers, or indeed any shop for eatables, except baker-
ies, as they are called, in the town : everything must be purchased at
market. . . The beef is excellent, and the highest price
when we were there, four cents (about twopence) the pound. The mut-
ton was inferior, and so was the veal to the eye, but it ate well, though
not very fat ; the price was about the same. The poultry was excellent;
fowls or full-sized chickens, ready for the table, twelve cents, but much
less if bought alive, and not quite fat; turkeys about fifty cents, and
geese the same. The Ohio furnishes several sorts of fish, some of them
very good, and always to be found cheap and abundant in the market,
Eggs, butter, nearly all kinds of vegetables, excellent, and at moderate
prices. From June till December tomatoes (the great luxury of the
American table in the opinion of most Europeans) may be found in the
highest perfection in the market for about sixpence the peck. They
have a great variety of beans unknown in England, particularly the
Lima bean, the seed of which is dressed like the French harico; it fur-
nishes a very abundant crop, and is a most delicious vegetable.
The watermelons, which in that warm climate furnish a most
delightful refreshment, were abundant and cheap ; but all other melons
very inferior to those of France, or even of England, when ripened in
a common hotbed. . It is the custom for the gentle-
men to go to market at Cincinnati ; the smartest men in the place, and
those of the ' ' highest standing, " do not scruple to leave their beds with
the sun, six days in the week, and, prepared with a mighty basket, to
sally forth in search of meat, butter, eggs and vegetables. I have con-
tinually seen them returning, with their weighty baskets on one arm
and an enormous ham depending on the other.
Cincinnati has not many lions to boast, but among them are two
museums of natural history; both of these contain many respectable
specimens, particularly that of Mr. Dorfeuille, who has, moreover, some
interesting antiquities. . . The people have a most ex-
travagant passion for wax figures, and the two museums vie with each
other in displaying specimens of this barbarous branch of art.
There is also a picture gallery at Cincinnati, and this was a
circumstance of much interest to us. . It would be in-
vidious to describe the picture gallery; I have no doubt that some years
hence it will present a very different appearance,
f I never saw any people who appeared to live so much without amuse-
nJent as the Cincinnatians. Billiards are forbidden by law; so are
cards. To sell a pack of cards in Ohio subjects the seller to a penalty
of fifty dollars. They have no public balls, excepting, I think, six dur-
ing the Christmas holidays. They have no concerts. They have no
dinner parties. They have a theatre, which is, in fact, the only public
amusement of this little town; but they seem to care very littjeabout it,
and, either from economy or distaste, it is very poorly attended?}) Ladies
are rarely seen there, and by far the larger proportion of females deem
it an offense to religion to witness the representation of a play.
There are no public gardens or lounging shops of fashionable
resort, and were it not for public worship and private tea-drinkings, all
the ladies of Cincinnati would be in danger of becoming perfect re-
cluses.
Mrs. Trollope took for a time a country-house at Mo-
hawk, then a straggling village along the Hamilton road
at the base of Mount Auburn, where Mohawk street per-
petuates its name and memory. She, by and by, deter-
mined to set up her son in business here, and projected
the scheme which eventuated in the building of the Ba-
zaar. The City Directory for 1829 gives the following
entertaining account of this remarkable enterprise. It
is hardly probable the writer would have been so glowing
and enthusiastic in his descriptions, had he foreseen the
criticisms which Mrs. Trollope would pass upon Cincin-
nati and Cincinnatians in her forthcoming book, to say
nothing of the criticisms which the local public and fu-
ture travellers, notably Mrs. Trollope's countrymen and
countrywomen, would give her remarkable creation on
East Third street. The article serves, however, as an
excellent means of information concerning the design of
the builders of the Bazaar, and the feelings of the citi-
zens toward it when the enterprise was new ;
The Bazaar. — This exotic title carries the imagination directly to
Constantinople, so celebrated for mosques, minarets, caravansaries, and
bazaars. In sober English, bazaar signifies a fair or market place.
The building which is the subject of the present notice, and which is
now in rapid progress toward completion, is called the Bazaar, although
but a small portion of its ample area is to be appropriated to its legiti-
mate uses as a constant mart. The name, albeit, is in- good keeping
with the style of the edifice, the freestone front of which exhibits a rich
and beautiful specimen of arabesque architecture, combining the airy
lightness of the Grecian with the sombrous gravity of 'the Gothic taste.
The basement story, which is entered by three several flights of stone
steps, contains divers neat and commodious apartments. Those
fronting the street are designed for an exchange coffee house, one of
them to be fitted up and furnished as a bar-room, the other to be ap-
propriated, as the name imports, to the transaction of general com-
mercial business. Over the basement is a splendid compartment, sixty
feet by twenty-eight, and ornamented by two rows of columns passing
through it. This room gives title, if not character, to the building.
Here is to be held the bazaar, where, it is presumable, every useful and
useless article in dress, in stationery, in light and ornamental house-
hold furniture, chinas and . more pellucid porcelains, with every gewgaw
that can contribute to the splendor and attractiveness of the exhibition,
from the sparkling necklace of "lady fair" to the exquisite safety-chain,
will be displayed and vended.
In the rear of the bazaar is an elegant saloon, where ices and other
refreshments will lend their allurements to the fascinations of architect-
ural novelty. This saloon opens to a spacious balcony, which in its
turn conducts to an exhibition gallery, that is at present occupied by
Mr. Hervieu's picture of Lafayette's Landing at Cincinnati. Above
the bazaar is a magnificent ball-room, the front of which, looking over
the street, will receive the rays of the sun, or emit the rival splendors of
its gas-illumined walls, by three ample, arabesque windows, which give
an unrivalled lightness and grace to the festive hall. The walls and the
arched and lofty ceiling of- this delectable apartment are to be deco-
rated by the powerful pencil of Mr. Hervieu. The rear of the room
is occupied by an orchestral gallery, whence dulcet music will guide
' ' the light fantastic toe ' ' through the mazes of the giddy dance.
Behind the ballroom is another superb saloon, issuing also to a bal-
cony. This division is assigned to the accommodation of gentlemen's
private parties, where the beau monde may regale themselves when and
how they list. Over this is a circular structure of exceedingly light and
beautiful proportions, which is intended for panoramic exhibitions; and
around it is constructed, in concentric circles, an airy corridor, from
whence the eye, that has been already delighted to satiety by the exhi-
bitions of art, may recreate itself amid the varied beauties and bland-
ishments of nature.
The rear of this antique and multifidous edifice presents a noble
facade of Egyptian columns, which will vie, in magnificence and novelty,
with the Arabian windows that decorate its front. The apartments are
all to be lighted by gas, furnished by Mr. Delany. The whole arrange-
ment and architectural of this superb building reflects great credit upon
the taste and skill of Mr. Palmer, the architect. The interior dimen-
sions of the building are : Length, one hundred and four feet ; width,
eighty feet ; height to the top of the spire, which is to surmount the
cupola, eighty feet ; height from base to cornice, thirty-three feet.
The Bazaar stands on Third street, east of Broadway.
The building was still new when sold at sheriff's sale to
8o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
pay the mechanics who worked upon it, and underwent
important changes at the hands of its different owners,
especially in the addition of another story to its height.
It has been occupied for many uses in the course of fifty-
two or three years, from the original occupation by the
Mechanic's institute down to its habitation largely by
women of ill-fame. Of late it had fallen into utter disre-
pair and dilapidation, except one room, which has been
occupied by a rolling-mill office. Long ago the paint-
ings with which Hervieu decorated its walls and ceilings
(the ceiling of the large hall is said to have been very
elaborately adorned), disappeared under successive coats
of whitewash and then of wall-paper — "a striking exhibi-
tion of vandalism," says Mr. Foote, in his Schools of
Cincinnati, "as the putting them on these walls was an
act of folly ; for, although not works of very high art, they
possess too much merit lo be defaced." The observa-
tions of her son Anthony, the famous novelist, upon his
visit to Cincinnati in the winter of 1861-2, will have in-
terest here:
I had some little personal feeling in visiting Cincinnati, because my
mother had lived there for some time,- and had there been concerned in
a. commercial enterprise, by which no one, I believe, made any great
sum of money. Between thirty and forty years ago she built a Bazaar
in Cincinnati, which I was assured by the present owner of the house
was at the time of its erection considered to be the great building of the
town. It has been sadly eclipsed now, and by no means rears its head
proudly among the great blocks around it. It had become a Physico-
medical institute when I was there, and was under the dominion of a
quack doctor on one side and of a college of rights-of-women female
medical professors on the other. ' ' I believe, sir, no man or woman ever
made adollar in that building; and as for rent, I don't even expect it."
Such was the account given of the unfortunate Bazaar by the present
proprietor.
In addition to their pecuniary troubles, sickness afflicted
the Trollopes much during their second season here, and
finally, seeing that "our Cincinnati speculation for my
son would in no way answer our experience," they deter-
mined to go back to England. The party left in early
March, 1830, and she says, "I believe there was not one
of our party who did not experience a sense of pleasure in
leaving it. The only regret was that
we had ever entered it; for we had wasted health, time,
and money there." Her experiences in this city, un-
doubtedly, had much to do in imparting gall and venom
to the celebrated book which she published shortly after
her return to the old home.
Dr. Caldwell, a phrenologist, sometimes called in that
day "the Spurzhcim of America," delivered a course of
lectures in the city this year, and created much sensa-
tion. Some twenty or thirty citizens were led to form
the Phrenological society of Cincinnati, with an elaborate
constitution, numerous officers, and other details of
equipment; but it hardly survived beyond the third
meeting. Miss Fanny Wright, the famous English Rad-
ical and Socialist, also lectured here to crowded houses.
She was an intimate friend of Mrs. Trollope and Her-
vieu, and was just then trying the experiment of coloniz-
ing negroes upon a tract called "Nashoba," in Tennessee;
which of course proved a failure.
EIGHTEEN1 HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE.
Population of the city this year, twenty-four thousand
one hundred and forty-eight; 'whites twenty-one thousand
J
eight hundred and ninety — males eleven thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five, females ten thousand and thirty-
five; colored two thousand two hundred and fifty-eight.
New buildings, two hundred and seventy. Deaths for
the year ending July 1, six hundred and forty-seven, or
one in thirty-seven and one-third of the population.
The Washington Ball of this year, February 22d, is said
to have been a very brilliant affair.
February 27th General Jackson passed through Cincin-
nati, on his way from his home in Tennessee to Washing-
ton, to be inaugurated as President of the United States.
Three steamers were in the Presidential fleet, all crowded
with passengers. They reached the landing amid can-
non-firing and other demonstrations of applause, passed
the city about a quarter of a mile, and then rounded in
the stream and swept grandly down to the landing, the
escorts falling back a little, to let the steamer with the
President first touch the shore. "All the maneuvering,"
says Mrs. Trollope, who was an eye-witness of it, "was
extraordinary well executed, and really beautiful." Car-
riages were in waiting for the General and his suite; but
he walked in a simple, democratic way through the crowd
to- the hotel, uncovered, though the weather was cold.
He was clad in deep mourning, having but lately lost his
wife. He remained quietly at the hotel a few hours,
while the steamer transacted its business, and then pro-
ceeded with it to Pittsburgh.
In the spring of this year, beginning April 13th, the
notable public seven-days' debate occurred between the
Rev. Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciple
Church, and Mr. Robert Owen, of the New Harmony
(Indiana) and other communities, in pursuance of
Owen's challenge to the Christian ministry that he would
show publicly the falsehood of all religions ever propa-
gated, and would undertake to prove all equal, and nearly
all equally mischievous. The challenge was accepted by
Mr. Campbell, who was then in the prime of his strong
powers; and the debate was attended by audiences that
thronged to overflowing the spacious Methodist church,
which held about one thousand people. It was regulated
by a presiding committee, in which were Major Daniel
Gano, Judge Burnet, Rev. O M. Spencer, Timothy
Flint, and other leading citizens. Fifteen sessions for
debate were held, and the vote at the close showed that
the sympathies of a very large majority of their hearers
were still in favor of Christianity. The addresses of the
disputants were afterwards published in book form.
A Young Men's Temperance society was organized
this year, starting off with about one hundred members.
About the middle of this year the office of the sur-
veyor general of the public lands in the northwest came
back to Cincinnati, by the worthy appointment of Gen-
eral William Lytle to that post. Ex-Governor Tiffin,
the last previous incumbent, was early removed upon the
accession of General Jackson to the Presidency, under
the new principle then brought into application in Fed-
eral appointments, that "to the victors belong the spoils;"
although Dr. Tiffin had held the place most acceptably
during the successive administrations of Presidents Madi-
son, Monroe, and J. Q. Adams. On the first of July
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
81
General Lytle visited the office at Chillicothe, exhibited
his commission and an order for the delivery of the
records, and at once removed the office to Cincinnati.
Dr. Tiffin had long been struggling with disease, and was
now near his end, closing a long and honorable public
career August 9, 1829.
i In May, 1829, the city had a visit from Caleb Atwater,
61 Circleville, the first historian of Ohio and one of the
first writers to publish a book upon American antiquities.
He was on his way to fulfill some commission for the
Government in the far northwest, and records the follow-
ing of Cincinnati, in the book which he subsequently
published:
In this city are one hundred, at least, mercantile stores, and about
twenty churches. Some of the stores do business in a wholesale way,
though quite too many of them are occupied by retailers on a small
scale. fThere are a great many taverns and boarding houses. Among
the churches, the First and Second Presbyterian, one belonging to the
Unitarians, and the Roman Catholics, and perhaps two or three belong-
ing either to the Episcopalians or the Methodists, are the best. There
are two museums, in either" of which more knowledge of the nat-
ural history of the western States can be obtained in a day than can be
obtained in any other place in a year.} These collections are very well
arranged, and kept by persons of taste, science, and politeness. No
traveller of learning should ever pass through the city without calling
to see them both, and, having once seen them, he will never neglect to
see them as often as he visits the place.
There are nine book stores, and a greater number still of printing
establishments, that issue newspapers. The two principal publishers of
newspapers issue each a daily paper.
The mechanics of this city are numerous and very excellent in their
several trades. Manufactures of iron, of wood, of stone, of all the
metals indeed, are carried on with zeal, industry and talent. The build-
ers of houses are unrivaled in the rapidity with which they do their work,
and they exhibit genius, skill, and taste.
There are nearly sixty lawyers, who, for learning, zeal, fidelity, indus-
try, morality, honor, honesty, and every other good qualification of the
heart and head, are equal to a like number of the same honorable and
highly useful profession, in any city in the United States.
The number of physicians and surgeons in the city must be, I pre-
sume, nearly eighty, who are skillful, learned, and highly respectable in
their profession.
ffhere are probably about forty clergymen in the city; and from the
morality of the place I give them credit for a considerable degree of
usefulness.
It will with great ease increase to a population of about fifty thou-
sand inhabitants. Its increase beyond that number depends on so many
causes, not yet developed, that human foresight cannot now scan them)
It will, however, continue to be the largest town in the State, unless
Zanesville or Cleveland should exceed it. [!]
/There is but one evil hanging over this city — the price of land is ex-
travagantly high, and so are house and ground rents. Every material
used in building is cheap, mechanical labor is low in price, and so is
every article of food and raiment.
Main street, for a mile in length from north to south, presents a scene
as busy, as bustling, as crowded, and if possible more noisy, especially
about the intersection of Fourth street with Main street, and also any-
where near the Ohio river, as can be found in New York.) If the ear
is not quite so much afflicted with strange cries as in Philadelphia or
Baltimore, yet for drumming and organ-grinding^I should suppose
some few spots in Main street, Cincinnati, would exceed anything of the
sort in the world-+at least I should most heartily and charitably hope so.
CHAPTER XII.
CINCINNATI'S FIFTH DECADE.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY.
It was an important decade in the growth and annals of
events in the Queen City. (The population had grown
in the ten years 1820-30, from nine thousand six hun-
dred and forty-two to twenty-four thousand eight hun-
dred and thirty-one, or two hundred and sixty per cent.;
it was to continue to grow in this decade in satisfactory
ratio, though not relatively so fast, from twenty-four
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one to forty-six thou-
sand three hundred and thirty-eight, or eighty-five per
cent.) The number of new buildings this year was two
hundred and five.
The following notices of local improvements are con-
tained in the directory for 1831 :
During the past year a new street was opened, extending Lower Mar-
ket street from Main to Walnut; and both sides oi it are now, or soon
will be, wholly built up with brick warehouses and other buildings, all
of which are beautiful and substantial. The hotel on the corner, where
the new street enters Walnut, will be one of the most splendid edifices
in the western country. It is five stories high above the basement, and
is to be covered with marble columns. The new street has received the
name of "Pearl street," and promises to be to Cincinnati what its cele-
brated namesake is to New York.
Among the best buildings erected in 1830 we would mention, in addi-
tion to the above, Greene's splendid row on Front street; Cassilly's
& Carter's on the corner of Broadway and Front; and Moore's on the
southeast corner of Main and Fourth streets. Much more taste. has
been displayed in the models of private dwellings than heretofore, espe-
cially in those erected on Fourth street. Of the public buildings fin-
ished during the past year, we would mention the Catholic Atheneum,
the Unitarian and the Second Presbyterian churches. The latter is
considered by good judges one of the best models of the Doric in the
United States. It is of brick, but its front, pillars, and sides are cov-
ered with cement, in imitation of marble. The cost of this church was
more than twenty thousand dollars. On its cupola has been placed a
public clock, which belongs to the city. *
This year the Miami canal was extended from the
then head of Main street, where it had stopped tempo-
rarily, across Deer creek, which it spanned by a large
culvert. The canal commissioners proposed another
halt here for a time, and the leasing of the water-power
along the borders of the new line. The improvement
was finished in July, 1834. The business of the canal
was now rapidly increasing.. During three months of
1829, the tolls at Cincinnati amounted to but three
thousand five hundred and fifteen dollars; while in
a single month, the first of navigation in 1831, they ag-
gregated two thousand ninety-five dollars and sixty-five
cents.
In the spring of this year a young attorney came to
Cincinnati, who was favorably introduced under the name
of Salmon P. Chase. He came from Washington, where
he had been keeping a classical school for boys. His
edition of the Statutes of Ohio, published soon after-
wards, with a preliminary sketch of State history, at once
gave him wide and permanent fame, and brought him
large practice. In 1834 he became solicitor of the Branch
Bank of the United States, and also for a city bank. In
1837 he had a very celebrated case, in which he de-
* This church stood on the south side of Fourth street, between Race
and Vine, about where the Mitchell & Rammelsberg company now have
heir furniture warehouse.
82
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
fended a colored woman, claimed as a slave under the
law of 1793. In the same year he made an argument
in defense of James G. Birney, indicted for harboring a
fugitive slave, that won him great praise, and was also
widely noticed.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE.
Some notable men, more or less identified with the
history of Cincinnati, were in public office this year.
John McLean was a justice of the supreme court; Peyton
S. Symmes register, and Morgan Neville receiver of
the land office, which was still maintained here; Micajah
Williams was surveyor general, Charles Larabee surveyor
of the port of Cincinnati, and Colonel William Piatt
paymaster in the army.
I Two hundred and fifty new buildings were put up this
Vy_ear. y Population, twenty-six thousand and seventy-one.
Bills of mortality, eight hundred and twenty, or one in
thkty-four of the population.
(The first macadamized road was built into the city
this year, and others speedily followed. /
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO.
The city made some progress, despite many drawbacks.
Three hundred buildings were erected, and the total
number in the city was now four thousand and sixteen.
The population increased nearly two thousand, or to
twenty-eight thousand and fourteen. Nevertheless, it was
a sad year for Cincinnati. It was scourged by flood,
fire, famine, and cholera. The freshet of the year is
memorable in the river and local annals. The Ohio
began to rise about the ninth of February, and was at
its maximum height on the eighteenth, when it touched
the extraordinary level of sixty-two feet above low-water
mark. Great suffering and loss of property and in some
cases lives were experienced all along the river, but es-
pecially at Cincinnati. The whole of the old-time
"bottom" was flooded so deep and so far up that the
ferry boats landed at the corner of Main and Pearl streets.
The Mill creek bridge was swept off, and that over Deer
creek badly damaged. Thirty-five squares were inunda-
ted, many buildings damaged or wrecked, or swept off
bodily, and thousands of people were turned out of
house and home. Two lives were lost in the raging
wate'rs. A town meeting was held February 15, and
measures of relief to the distressed and homeless were
devised. Vigilance committees to prevent theft and
wanton destruction of property, also committees of relief
and of shelter, were appointed. All public buildings,
school-houses, the basements of churches, and every
available place of refuge, were surrendered to the refu-
gees, and relief afforded as rapidly as possible. Benefits
were given the sufferers by Mr. Letton of the Museum,
Mr. Frank, with his gallery of paintings, Mr. Brown, of
the amphitheatre, and the Beethoven society, which gave
a concert of sacred music Many weeks elapsed before,
the waters having subsided, the city below Third street
resumed its wonted aspect, and then many injured build-
ings or desolated spots told of the ruin that had been
wrought.
Most of the provision stores and groceries were then
kept in the drowned districts; and few had time to re-
move their stocks before the flood reached them. There
was consequently a scarcity of food, and a partial famine
added to the miseries of the situation. Mr. L'Homme-
dieu says of this and other calamities of the year.
The greater portion of flour and other provisions had been kept below
high-water mark. Some few, more successful than others, had suc-
ceeded in raising their stocks of flour to upper stories. But, then, what
exorbitant prices they demanded, and would have obtained but for the
denunciation of an independent press ! Later in the year, and follow-
ing the fire, flood and famine, came the dreaded pestilence, the Asiatic
cholera, which carried more of our population to their graves than have
any of its visitations since, notwithstanding our then small population
of twenty-five thousand. |
One of the results of the cholera was a large number of orphans. \
The ladies of Cincinnati found an occasion for their efforts in caring for \
the unfortunates. With funds placed in their hands by the Masonic
lodges, and others of the city, they founded the Cincinnati orphan asy-
lum. The city gave them the use of a building on the ground now /
occupied for the beautiful Lincoln park. f
The great fire occurred the early part of the year, and
devastated the tract from below Third street to the Com-
mercial bank.
The cholera came on the thirtieth of September, and
staid for thirteen months. The board of health for some >
time denied the presence of~AsiaTjc~chakra, but on the" '
tenth of October published an official list of deaths from
that cause. In that month died here four hundred and
twenty-three persons — over half of all who fell from the
scourge duting its prevalence in the city. Forty-one died
in one day — the twenty-first of October. The dreadful
epidemic continued until late in the year, and was re-
newed the next season. Says a paragraph in the Life of
Bishop Morris:
The city, during the prevalence of this dreadful epidemic, presented
a mournful aspect. Thousands of citizens were absent in the country;
very many were closely confined by personal affliction or the demands
of sick friends; hundreds were numbered among the dead; the transient
floating population had entirely disappeared; the country people, in
terror, stood aloof ; business was almost wholly suspended; the tramp
of hurrying feet was no longer heard on the streets; the din of the city
was hushed, and every day appeared as a Sabbath. Instead, however,
of the sound of church-going bells and the footsteps of happy throngs
hastening to the house of God, were heard the shrieks of terror-stricken
victims of the fell disease, the groans of the dying, and the voices of
lamentation. For weeks funeral processions might be seen at any hour,
from early morning to late at night. All classes of people were stricken
down in this fearful visitation. Doctors, ministers, lawyers, merchants
and mechanics, the old and the young, the temperate and the intemper-
ate, the prudent and the imprudent, were alike victims. Seventy-five
members of the Cincinnati station died that year, and fifty of them
were marked on the church records as cholera cases.
This year, on the fourth day of November, was to oc-
cur the semi-centennial celebration of the temporary
occupation opposite the mouth of the Licking, by a por-
tion of General George Rogers Clark's force, in 1782, as
agreed by the officers and men at that time. General
Simon Kenton, Major James Galloway, of Xenia, John
McCaddon, of Newark, and a few others, were still living,
and they caused extensive advertisement of the proposed
celebration to be made in the western papers, for several
months beforehand. It was intended, on the third or
fifth of November (the fourth coming on Sunday this
year), among other observances, to lay the corner-stone
of a suitable monument at the intersection of several
streets on the site of old Fort Washington; but whin the
day came, cholera was stalking with awful presence
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
83
through every street and by-way of Cincinnati, and only
a handful of the venerable survivors met in the city,
sadly exchanged greetings and reminiscences, uttered
their laments for the honored dead, and partook of a din-
ner at the expense of the city. The following address, pre-
pared by General Kenton, to awaken interest in the oc-
casion, will still be read with pleasure :
ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE WESTERN COUNTRY.
The old pioneers, citizen-soldiers and those who were engaged with
us in the regular service in the conquest of the western country from
the British and savages fifty years ago, have all been invited to attend
with the survivors of General George Rogers Clark's army of 1782,
who purpose the celebration of a western anniversary, according to
their promise made on the ground the fourth day of November in that
year. Those also who were engaged in like service subsequently, and
in the late war, have been invited to attend and join with us in the
celebration on the said fourth of November, at old Fort Washington,
now Cincinnati. I propose that we meet at Covington, Kentucky, on
the third, the fourth being Sabbath, to attend divine service, on Mon-
day meet our friends on the ground where the old fort stood, and then
take a final adieu, to meet no more until we shall all meet in a world of
spirits.
Fellow-citizens of the West! This is a meeting well worthy your
very serious consideration. The few survivors of that race who are now
standing on the verge of the grave, view with anxious concern the wel-
fare of their common country, for which they fought against British
oppression and savage cruelty to secure to you, our posterity, the bles-
sings of liberty, religion, and law. We will meet and we will tell you
what we have suffered to secure to you these inestimable privileges. We
will meet, and, if you will listen, we will admonish you "face to face,"
to be as faithful as we have been, to transmit those blessings unim-
paired to your posterity; that America may long, and we trust forever,
remain a free, sovereign, independent, and happy country. We look to
bur fellow-citizens in Kentucky and Ohio, near the place of meeting, to
make provision for their old fathers of the West. We look to our
patriot captains of our steamboats, and patriotic stage contractors and
companies, and our generous innkeepers, to make provision for the
going and returning to Cincinnati, from all parts of the West. We
know that they will deem it an honor to accommodate the gray-headed
veterans of the West, who go to meet their companions for the last
time; for this may be the only opportunity they will ever have to serve
their old fathers, the pioneers and veterans of the West.
Fellow-citizens ! Being one of the first, after Colonel Daniel Boone,
who aided in the conquest of Kentucky and the West, I am called upon
to address you. My heart melts on such an occasion. I look forward
to the contemplated meeting with melancholy pleasure. It has caused
tears to flow in copious showers. I wish to see once more, before I
die, my few surviving friends. My solemn promise, made fifty years
ago, binds me to meet them. I ask not for myself ; but you may find
in our assembly some who have never received any pay or pension, who
have sustained the cause of their country equal to any other service,
who in the decline of life are poor. Then, you prosperous sons of the
West, forget not those old and gray-headed veterans on this occasion.
Let them return to their families with some little manifestation of your
kindness to cheer their hearts. I add my prayer. May kind Heaven
grant us a clear sky, fair and pleasant weather, a. safe journey, and a
happy meeting, and smile upon us and our families, and bless us and
our nation on the approaching occasion.
Simon Kenton.
Urbana, Ohio, 1832.
This city was visited this year by Colonel Thomas
Hamilton, author of Cyril Thornton and other popular
novels of that day, who made the following notes upon
Cincinnati in his anonymous and agreeable work upon
The Men and Manners of America :
In two days we reached Cincinnati, a town of nearly thirty thousand
inhabitants, finely situated on a slope ascending from the river. The
streets and buildings are handsome, and certainly far superior to what
might be expected in a situation six hundred miles from the sea and
standing on ground which, till lately, was considered the extreme limit
of civilization. It is, apparently, a place of considerable trade. The
quay was covered with articles of traffic; and there are a thousand indi-
cations of activity and business which strike the senses of a traveller, but
which he would find it difficult to describe. Having nothing better to do,
I took a stroll about the town, and its first favorable impression was not
diminished by closer inspection. Many of the streets would have been
considered handsome in New York or Philadelphia; and, in the private
dwellings, considerable attention had been paid to external decoration.
The most remarkable object in Cincinnati, however, is a large Graeco-
Moresco-Gothic-Chinese-looking building, an architectural compila-
tion of prettiness of all sorts, the effect of which is eminently gro-
tesque. Our attention was immediately arrested by this extraordinary
apparition, which could scarcely have been more out of place had it
been tossed on the earth by some volcano in the moon. While we
stood there, complimenting the gorgeousness of its effect and specu-
lating "what aspect bore the man" to whom the inhabitants of these
central regions could have been indebted for so brilliant and fantastic
an outrage on all acknowledged principles of taste, a very pretty and
pleasant-looking girl came out and invited us to enter. We accord-
ingly did so, and found everything in the interior of the building had
been finished on a scale quite in harmony with its external magnifi-
cence.
This was the Trollopean Bazaar, of course, which re-
ceived many similar notices from travellers, especially
foreigners.
^ EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE.
C Population of thev-city, twenty-seven thousand six
hundred and forty-five.) Votes, three thousand nine
hundred and ninety-five; New buildings, three hundred
and twenty-one — two hundred brick, one hundred and
twenty-one frame.
The cholera, as before stated, continued into this year.
.Its first re-appearance was about the middle of April.
The most destructive month was July, when one hun-
dred and seventy-six died. The total mortality from this
visitation of the pestilence, from September, 1832, to
September, 1833, inclusive, was eight hundred and thir-
teen. The average deaths per day this year were far less
than in 1832, but the disease staid four times as long, or
nearly six months.
June 26th, the powder-mill owned by David D. Wade
exploded, killing six persons.
On the eighth of August died Dr. James M. Stough-
ton, one of the pioneer physicians.
December 26th, that being then supposed to be the
right anniversary (the forty-fifth) of the landing of the
Losantiville pioneers, the occasion was celebrated by a
large party of natives of Ohio — chiefly, of course, young
men, with many invited guests. Major Daniel Gano
was president of the affair ; William R. Morris, first vice-
president; Henry E. Spencer, second vice-president;
Moses Symmes, third vice-president. The address was
delivered by Joseph Longworth, esq. ; poems were re-
cited by Peyton- S. Symmes and Charles D. Drake,
afterwards United States Senator from Missouri; and the
chaplains were the Revs. J. B. Firiley and William Burke.
The committee of arrangements included a number of
prominent young Queen Citizens of that day: George
Williamson, William R. Morris, L. M. Gwynne, J. M.
Foote, Alfred S. Reeder, G. W. Sinks, Joseph Long-
worth, Daniel Gano, Henry E. Spencer, M. N. McLean,
James C. Hall, George W. Burnet, R. A. Whetstone, and
W. M. Corry. The banquet was given in the Commer-
cial Exchange, on the river bank, upon the site of the
first cabin built in Losantiville. The dinner was pre-
pared almost exclusively from native productions, and
84
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
only wine produced in the vicinity was imbibed. This
was presented by Nicholas Longworth, in honor of the
old pioneers and their descendants. Among the unique
viands on the table was a roast composed of two uncom-
monly fat raccoons. Responses to toasts were made by
James C. Ludlow, son of Colonel Israel Ludlow; by
Generals Harrison and Findlay, Majors Gano and Symmes,
Judge Goodenow, Nicholas Longworth, and Samuel
J. Browne, the latter then the oldest Englishman in the
State. A part of General Harrison's address will be
found in the military chapter, in the first division of this
book
Another foreigner of some note, Mr. Godfrey T. Vigne,
visited the city in July, and thus recorded his impressions
of it in his book on Six Months in America:
In appearance it differs from most of the larger towns in the United
States, on account of the great improvement that has taken place in
the color of the houses, which, instead of being of the usual bright
staring red, are frequently of a white gray or a yellowish tint, and dis-
play a great deal of taste and just ornament. The public buildings are
not large, but very neat and classical; I admired the Second Presby-
terian church, which is a very pretty specimen of the Doric. The
streets are handsome and the shops have a very fashionable air.
The principal trade of Cincinnati is in provisions. Immense quan-
tities of corn and grain are sent down the Ohio and the Mississippi to
New Orleans. Part of it is consumed by the sugar planters, who are
supposed to grow no corn, and part is sent coastwise to Mobile, or ex-
ported to Havana and the West Indies generally.
Cincinnati has displayed more wisdom than her opposite neighbor in
Kentucky. A speculative system of banking was carried on about the
same time, and was attended with the same results as those I have be-
fore noticed when speaking of that State. Credit was not to be
obtained, commerce was at an end, and grass was growing in the
streets of Cincinnati. But the judicature, with equal justice and de-
termination, immediately enforced by its decisions the resumption of
cash payments. Many of the leading families in the place were, of
course, ruined, and at present there are not above five or six persons in
Cincinnati who have been able to regain their former eminence as men
of business. But it was a sacrifice of individuals for the good of the
community, and fortune only deserted the speculators in order to at-
tend upon the capitalists, who quickly made their appearance from the
Eastern States, and have raised the city to its present pitch of prosper-
ity.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR.
Votes this year in the city, four thousand and seven;
nag. buildings, three hundred.
(The cholera renewed its appearance, but less violently
trW in 1833. It prevailed to some extent, however,
through all the warm season, to the sad depression of
business and social affairs. Everything, in fact, was
stagnant It is said that the town had never before ap-
peared so dull and apparently lifeless and inert as at the
close of this summer. Property was sacrificed at low
rates, and business was at times almosr at a standstill. It
was the last year of the visitation, however, until 1849,
fifteen years afterwards. )
The trustees of the Lane seminary had this year a
serious difference of opinion with a number of their anti-
slavery students, which resulted in a formidable secession
from the school and an appeal to the public. A fuller
account will be given in our -historical sketch of that
institution.
Cincinnati had some visitors of unusual interest this
year. One who is still remembered tenderly and affec-
tionately by the older residents, who were young men at
the time, was Thomas S. Grimke, a prominent member
of the bar of Charleston, South Carolina, who came
upon invitation to deliver the annual oration before the
literary societies of Miami university, Oxford. While in
Cincinnati he addressed the college of teachers, a literary
society called the Inquisition, and the Temperance soci-
ety, always speaking wisely and well, and sometimes ris-
ing into rare eloquence. He was here only a single
week, yet in that time won universal recognition, love,
and reverence, and was overwhelmed with social atten-
tions. Remaining in Ohio a few weeks longer, he was
overtaken by death while visiting in Madison county,
October 12, 1834, at the age of forty-eight years; and
with him expired, as many believed, the most brilliant
intellectual light in the southern States.
Late this year came another American of genius,
Charles Fenno Hoffman, author of that musical drinking
song so much parodied by the temperance societies —
Sparkling and bright in its liquid light,
Is the wine our goblets gleam in;
With hue as red as the rosy bed
The bee delights to dream in —
but unhappily during most of the last half-century an in-
mate of an insane asylum in Pennsylvania. Some of his
delightful paragraphs will be found under other heads in
this book. One only is quoted here :
The population of the place is about thirty thousand. Among
them you may see very few but what look comfortable and contented,
though the town does not wear the brisk and busy air observable at
Louisville. Transportation is so easy along the great western waters,
that you see no lounging poor people about the large town, as when
business languishes in one place and it is difficult to find occupation,
they are off at once to another, and shift their quarters whither the
readiest means of living invite them. What would most strike you in
the streets of Cincinnati would be the number of pretty faces and stylish
figures one meets in the morning. A walk through Broadway here re-
wards one hardly less than to promenade its New York namesake. I
have had more than one opportunity of seeing these western beauties
by candle-light ; and the evening display brought no disappointment to
the morning promise. Nothing can be more agreeable than the society
which one meets with in the gay and elegantly furnished drawing-
rooms of Cincinnati. The materials being from every State in the
Union, there is a total want of caste, a complete absence of settishness
(if I may use the word). If there be any characteristic that might jar
upon your taste and habits, it is, perhaps, a want of that harmonious
blending of light and shade, that repose both of character and manner,
which, distinguishing the best circles in our Atlantic cities, so often
sinks into insipidity or runs into a ridiculous imitation of the imperti-
nent nonchalance which the pseudo-pictures of English "high life" in
the novels of the day impose upon our simple republicans as the height
of elegance and refinement.
About the same time appeared for a few days upon
Cincinnati streets a shrewd foreign observer and repre-
sentative of the French Government, Michel Chevalier,
whose book of travels in the United States included the
following pleasant notices:
The architectural appearance of Cincinnati is very nearly the same
with that of the new quarters of the English towns. The houses are
generally of brick, most commonly three stories high, with the windows
shining with cleanliness, calculated each for a single family, and regu-
larly placed along well paved and spacious streets, sixty-six feet in
width. Here and there the prevailing uniformity is interrupted by some
more imposing edifice, and there are some houses of hewn stone in very
good taste, real palaces in miniature, with neat porticos, inhabited by
the aristocratical portion of Mrs. Trollope's hog merchants, and several
very pretty mansions surrounded with gardens and terraces. Then
there are the common school-houses, where girls and boys together
learn reading, writing, cyphering, and geography, under the simultane-
ous direction of a master and mistress. In another direction you see a
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
85
small, plain church, without sculpture or painting, without colored
glass or Gothic arches, but snug, well carpeted, and well warmed by
stoves. In Cincinnati, as everywhere else in the United States, there is
a great number of churches.
I met with an incident in Cincinnati, which I shall long remember.
I had observed at the hotel table a man of about the medium height,
stout and muscular, and of about the age of fifty years, yet with the ac-
tive step and lively air of youth. I had been struck with his open and
cheerful expression, the amenity of his manners, and a certain air of
command which appeared through his plain dress. "That is," saidmy
friend, "General Harrison, clerk of the Cincinnati court of common
pleas." "What! General Harrison of the Tippecanoe and the
Thames?" "The same; the ex-general; the conqueror of Tecumseh
and Proctor; the avenger of our disasters on the Raisin and at Detroit;
the ex-governor of the territory of Indiana, the ex-senator in Congress,
the ex-minister of the United States to one of the South American re-
publics. He has grown old in the service of his country, he has passed
twenty years of his life in those fierce wars with the Indians, in which
there was less glory to be won, but more dangers to be encountered,
than at Rivoli and Austerlitz. He is now poor, with a numerous family,
neglected by the Federal Government, although yet vigorous, because
he has the independence to think for himself. As the opposition is in
the majority here, his friends have bethought themselves of coming to
his relief by removing the clerk of the court of common pleas, who was
a. Jackson man, and giving him the place, which is a lucrative one, as a
sort of retiring pension. His friends in the east talk of making him
President of the United States. Meanwhile we have made him clerk
of an inferior court. " After a pause my informant added, "at this
wretched table you may see another candidate for the Presidency, who
seems to have a better chance than General Harrison; it is Mr. Mc-
Lean, now one of the judges of the supreme court of the United
States."
The town was also visited, in the course of the year,
by two clerical gentlemen from abroad, delegates from
the British Congregational Union — the Rev. Drs. An-
drew Reed and James Matheson, on a tour in behalf of
Protestant religion, which they afterwards described in A
Narration of the Visit to the American Churches. We
extract the following concerning Cincinnati :
There is a great spirit of enterprise in this town; and, with an ardent
pursuit of business, there is a desire for domestic comfort and a thirst
for scientific improvement, not equaled in such circumstances. They
have libraries and good reading societies; they have lectures on art and
science, which are well attended. They sustain a "scientific quarterly"
and a "monthly magazine, " with a circulation of four thousand; and
they have newspapers without end. Education is general here; the
young people, and even the children, appear to appreciate it. They
regard it as the certain and necessary means of advancement. I over-
heard two fine children, in the street, remark as follows. The younger
one, about nine years old, speaking of her sister, said, with concern,
"Do you know, Caroline says she will not go to school any more?"
"Silly girl!" replied the elder, about thirteen; " she will live to repent
of that !" It must be admitted that this is a very wholesome state of
feeling.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE.
Population, thirty-one thousand. New buildings, three
hundred and forty. Bills of mortality, nine hundred and
twenty-six, or one in thirty-four, of the population.
s The cholera did not return this year, and as soon as
it was reasonably certain that the scourge had departed,
business and public and social affairs in Cincinnati awak-
ened to more vigorous life than ever. Mr. Mansfield
says, in the Drake Biography :
fh season of extraordinary activity ensued. The mind sprang up
elastic from the pressure, and all was accomplished that mind could do.
Enterprise, business, growth, the leality of active energy, and the ide-
ality of a growing and prosperous future, sprang up, as the conse-
quence of an elastic and invigorated public mind. The general trade
of the country had been safe and profitable — hence there was little tim-
idity to strengthen prudence or restrain extravagance. In the east
commenced that series of enormous speculations whose centre was at
New York, and which, in some respects, has never been surpassed in
this country./ It spread to the west, but prevailed comparatively little
at Cincinnati. The speculations here were on a small scale, and it is
doubtful whether they did more than give a necessary and healthful
excitement to the business community, which had so long been in a
dull, quiescent state. X^ertain it is, that Cincinnati now owes half her
growth and prosperity toVplans of public works and usefulness then
formed and undertaken. J
(The public works named by Mr. Mansfield as among
the local projects of this year were the great Southern
railroad route to Charleston; the Cincinnati & St. Louis
railroad, by Lawrenceburgh ; the Little Miami railroad,
which was chartered the next March; the Cincinnati, Co-
lumbus, & Cleveland railway, also chartered the next
year; the Mad River & Lake Erie, and Covington &
Lexington railroads; and the Whitewater canal. All
these works, though not in all cases under these names,
were afterwards built.i
April 4th, a grand celebration was held at the First
Presbyterian church, of the forty seventh anniversary of
the settlement of Ohio, where William M. Corry pro-
nounced one of his finest orations. The dinner was at
the Commercial Exchange, and was principally from the
products of Ohio, with no wine or ardent spirits what-
ever.
On the eighteenth of the same month, the Young
Men's Mercantile library association was founded. Its
history will be duly told elsewhere. Forty-four years af-
terwards Mr. John W. Ellis, of New York, one of the
illustrious forty-five who founded this noble institution,
wrote a letter at some length to Mr. Newton, the libra-
rian, containing reminiscences of 1835 which will bear
transcription here:
It must be borne in mind that Cincinnati at that period, in 1835, com-
pared with the present Cincinnati, was a very insignificant place in re-
spect to wealth, population, business, and everything which constitutes
a modern city. The population then was less than forty thousand. Its
wholesale business was done entirely by the Ohio river, and by the
canal as far north as Dayton; but for the interior trade almost entirely
by wagons. For the size of the place, it had a respectable wholesale
business, extending in a small way to the upper and lower Mississippi,
along the Ohio, from its mouth as far east as what is now West Vir-
ginia; but a large proportion of the business with the interior in dry
goods, groceries, and the other numerous wants of an interior com-
munity was supplied by wagons, which brought in their products and
carried out merchandise. There were no railroads whatever at that
period in the west. The grocery trade was supplied entirely by steam-
boats from New Orleans. Lighter goods were wagoned by the Na-
tional road, over the Alleghany mountains, to Wheeling or Pittsburgh,
and thence by steamboat down the river. When the water in the upper
Ohio was low, these goods were brought from New York by the Hud-
son river and Erie canal to Buffalo, thence by lake and Ohio canal to
Portsmouth, and thence down the river. All these means of convey-
ance will seem now to the active young men 0$ Cincinnati as very prim-
itive.
Nearly all the retail business of the city was done on Main street,
from Third street to Sixth street; the wholesale business almost entirely
on the lower end of Main street and on Front street facing the river.
Pearl street had just been opened, but extended no further west than
Walnut street, and a few wholesale stores had begun on that square.
Fourth, Walnut, Vine, and other streets, now filled with an active busi-
ness, were then the seat of residences, nearly all built with detached
houses, surrounded with shrubbery, and the streets lined with trees.
Central avenue, then Western row, and the Miami canal on the north,
were the boundaries of population.
An article contributed by B. D. (Benjamin Drake?) to
the Western Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal,
also helps to the understanding of Cincinnati this year.
More than ordinary attention was given to the Southern
86
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
railroad project, as was seen in our chapter on railroads.
The manufactures of the year were estimated at five
millions. With Newport and Corrington, the population
was thirty-five thousand. Exports were estimated at six
millions or more. There were fifty stages and sixty mails
a week; the steamboat arrivals were two thousand two
hundred and thirty-seven; the imports included ninety
thousand barrels of flour and fifty-five thousand of whiskey.
The public improvements in hand were the extension of the
Miami canal from Dayton to the Maumee bay, near
Toledo, a part to be completed early the next summer; the
macadamized turnpike from Chillicothe to Cincinnati;
extensions of the Cincinnati, Columbia, and Wooster,
and the Cincinnati, Lebanon, and Springfield turnpikes;
the Cincinnati and Harrison turnpike, to be finished
early in 1836, and extend to Brookville, Indiana; the
Whitewater canal, the Little Miami railroad, etc.
Many of the houses erected this year would do credit
to any city in the Union. A number of warehouses were
put up; also St. Paul's church, two banking-houses on
Third street, and ten or twelve large, commodious, and for
the time elegant school buildings, "contributing in a
high degree to the advancement of our beautiful city,"
says Mr. B. D. A population of one hundred thousand
was predicted by 1850 — which prophecy, glowing as it
might have seemed, was exceeded by nearly sixteen thou-
sand. Real estate is mentioned by B. D. as lower in
price, in Cincinnati and its Kentucky suburbs, than in
any other city of the Union having population, business,
and permanent local advantages of equal magnitude.
The Ohio Anti-Slavery society was formed this year,
with headquarters in Cincinnati, and began the issue of
a weekly paper, of which we shall hear more in 1836.
By 1840 the society was employing nine travelling agents
and lecturers, and had become a great power in political
agitation.
December nth, John W. Cowan was hanged in Barr's
woods, near the spot where the Atlantic & Great Western
railway depot was afterwards situated, for the brutal mur-
der of his wife and two children on Smith street.
In the summer of this year the city was honored with
a visit from the renowned English authoress and thinker,
Miss Harriet Martineau. She spent some time here;
and in her subsequent book of Retrospect of Western
Travel gave to the city the ablest chapter, in the judg-
ment of the present writer, that has ever been written
upon it. We make room for a few short extracts :
»
There is ample room on the platform for a city as large as Philadelphia,
without encroaching at all on the hillsides. The inhabitants are already
consulting as to where the capitol shall stand whenever the nation shall
decree the removal of the general government beyond the mountains.
If it were not for the noble building at Washington, this removal would
probably take place soon, perhaps after the removal of the great south-
ern railroad. It seems rather absurd to call senators and representatives
to Washington from Missouri and Louisiana, while there is a place on
the great rivers which would save them half the journey, and suit almost
everybody else just as well, and many much better. The peril to health
at Washington in the winter season is great, and the mild and equable
temperature of Cincinnati is an important circumstance in the case.
From this, the Montgomery road, there is a view of the city and sur-
rounding country which defies description. It was of that melting
beauty which dims the eyes and fills the heart — that magical combina-
tion of all elements— of hill, wood, lawn, river, with a picturesque city
steeped in evening sunshine, the impression of which can never be lost
nor communicated. We ran up a knoll and stood under a clump of
bushes to gaze; and went down, and returned again and again, with
the feeling that if we lived upon the spot we could nevermore see it look
so beautiful.
We soon entered a somewhat different scene, passing the slaughter-
houses on Deer creek, the place where more thousands of hogs in a
year than I dare to specify, are destined to breathe their last. Deer
creek, pretty as its name is, is little more than the channel through
which their blood runs away. The division of labor is brought to as
much perfection in these slaughter-houses as in the pin manufactories
of Birmingham. So I was told. Of course I did not verify the state-
ment by attending the process.
A volume might presently be filled with descriptions of our drives
about the environs of Cincinnati. There are innumerable points of view
whence the city, with its masses of buildings and its spires, may be seen
shining through the limpid atmosphere, like a cloud-city in the evening
sky. There are many spots where it is a relief to lose the river from
the view, and to be shut in among the brilliant green hills, which are
more than can be numbered. But there is one drive which I almost
wonder the inhabitants do not take every summer day, to the Little
Miami bottoms. We continued eastward along the bank of the river
for seven miles, the whole scenery of which is beautiful; but the unfor-
gotten spot was the level about the mouth of the Little Miami river,
the richest of plains or level valleys, studded with farmhouses, enlivened
with clearings, and kept primitive in appearance by the masses of dark
forest which filled up all the unoccupied spaces. Upon this scene we
looked down from a great height, a Niphates of the New World. On
entering a little pass between two grassy hills, crested with wood, we
were desired to alight. I ran up the ascent to the right, and was start-
led at finding myself on the top of a preeipice. Far beneath me ran
the Little Miami, with a narrow, white, pebble strand, arrow-like trees
springing over from the brink of the precipice, and the long evening
shadows making the current as black as night, while the green, up to
the very lips of the ravine, was of the sunniest, in the last flood of
western light. For more reasons than one I should prefer Cincinnati as
residence to any other large city of the United States. Of these rea-
sons not the least would be that the "Queen of the West" is enthroned
in a region of wonderful and inexhaustible beauty.
Another English traveller, the Honorable Charles Au-
gustus Murray, was also here this year, and made the fol-
lowing notice in his Travels in North America :
On the last day of spring I arrived at Cincinnati, that precocious
daughter of the west, that seems to have sprung, like the fabled goddess
of war and wisdom, into existence in the full panoply of manufacturing
and commercial armor.
I have been in company with ten or twelve of the resident families,
and have not seen one single instance of rudeness, vulgarity, or incivil-
ity ; while the shortness of the invitations and absence of constraint and
display render the society more agreeable, in some respects, than that
of more fashionable cities. If the proposition stated is merely this, "that
the manners of Cincinnati are not so polished as those of the best circles
of London, Paris, or Berlin; that her business, whether culinary or dis-
played in carriages, houses, or amusements, are also of a lower caste,"
I suppose none would be so absurd as to deny it. I hope few would be
weak enough gravely to inform the world of so self-evident a truth ; but
I will, without fear of contradiction, assert that the history of the world
does not produce a parallel to Cincinnati in rapid growth of wealth and
population. Of all the cities that have been founded by mighty sover-
eigns or na:ions, with an express view to their becoming the capitals of
empires, there is not one that, in twenty-seven [forty-seven] years from
its foundation, could show such a mass of manufacture, enterprise,
population, wealth, and social comfort, as that of which I have given a
short and imperfect outline in the last two or three pages, and which
owes its magnitude to no adscititious favor or encouragement, but to
the judgment with which the situation was chosen, and to the admirable
use which its inhabitants have made thereof.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTV-SIX.
Population estimated at thirty-eight thousand — proba-
bly somewhat too large. Votes four thousand three hun-
dred and thirty-five. New buildings, three hundred and
sixty-five. Commerce, eight million one hundred thou-
sand dollars. The public schools, the mercantile library,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
87
and the leading public charities, had well begun their or-
ganic existence. A general committee upon internal im-
provements was appointed at a public meeting of citizens,
which proved a very useful committee. Upon it were
such men as Micajah T. and John S. Williams, E. D.
Mansfield, Dr. Daniel Drake, Robert Buchanan, John C.
Wright, George Graham, and Alexander McGrew. Mor-
tality of the year, nine hundred and twenty-eight, or about
one in forty.
This, pretty nearly the middle yefur'of Cincinnati's
history, was a tolerably eventful one/ On the eleventh
of April a mob rose against the colored people, and set
fire to a number of their houses in a locality then known
as "the swamp,'' just below Western Row, now Central
avenue, at the then foot of West Sixth street.) Another
and more serious emeute occurred in July, which resulted
in the destruction of the Philanthropist newspaper office.
This paper had been started by Mr. Birney in 1834 at
New Richmond, Clermont county, where it had been
repeatedly threatened, but never mobbed ; and was re-
moved to Cincinnati, on the encouragement of friends
of the anti-slavery cause there, about three months before
its destruction. A meeting was held in July, composed
largely from the most respectable classes in the city,
largely young men, at which resolutions were passed that
no abolition paper should be published or distributed in
the town. On the fourteenth of that month, the publi-
cation of the Philanthropist still continuing, the printing
office was violently entered by a mob, and the press and
materials, which were the property of Mr A. Pugh, the
printer, afterwards of the Chronicle, were defaced, "pied,'
and partially destroyed. Even this did not daunt the
fearless editor, and the publication went on. On the
twenty-third a great meeting of citizens was held at the
Lower Market, "to declare whether they will permit the
publication or distribution of abolition papers in this
city." A committee was appointed, which requested the
executive committee of the anti-slavery society to stop
the publication. They ' refused; when the committee
published the correspondence, adding remarks which
deprecated a resort to violence. Nevertheless, on Satur-
day night, July 30th, a large party, composed, like the
aforesaid meeting, mainly from the more respectable
classes in the city and of young men, gathered on the
corner of Main and Seventh streets, held a short consul-
tation, then marched down to the office, only two squares
distant, effected an entrance and again seized the press
and materials, but this time carried them out in part,
scattered the type in the street, smashed the press, and
completely dismantled the office. Part of the press was
dragged down Main street and thrown in the river. The
mob even went to Pugh's house to find other materials
supposed to be there; but found none, and offered no
violence. The dwellings of Birney, Donaldson, and
other prominent abolitionists were rather noisily visited,
but no mischief done to them. It then returned to Main
street, proposing to pile the remaining contents of the
office in the street ; but was dissuaded, as neighboring
buildings might be fired by the blaze. Retiring up Main
street, a proposition was made to mob the office of the
Gazette, whose editor, Mr. Charles Hammond, had not
altogether pleased the malcontents by his course; but
better counsels prevailed. An attack was made on the
residences of some of the blacks in Church alley; but
two guns were fired at the assailants, and they withdrew
in disorder. A rally and second charge were made after
a time, when the houses were found abandoned by the
negroes, were entered and their contents destroyed.
Some weeks after, upon the return of E. D. Mansfield
from the Knoxville railroad convention, he and Mr.
Hammond, Salmon P. Chase, and a few others, deter-
mined to hold an afternoon meeting at the coutt house, to
consider the outrage. It was crowded; sundry speeches
were made; a large committee was appointed to report
resolutions; but, after all, nothing was done except to
condemn mobs in general terms, regret the recent occur-
rence, and commend the plan of the American Coloniza-
tion society as "the only method of getting clear of slav-
ery." After the death, in September, 1880, of the Hon.
W'illiam M. Cony, a tribute was paid to his memory in
the Cincinnati Commercial, by ex-Governor Charles An-
derson. In it occurred the following paragraph, which
we take pleasure in embalming for posterity in the pages
of this history:
All Cincinnati was aroused in 1836 into a wild ferocity towards the
great Abolitionist, James G. Birney, esq. He was a scholar, orator,
gentleman, Christian, and philanthropist, if ever these sentiments did
centre in any one man. But his paper, published from the corner of
Main and Fifth streets, was universally esteemed and denounced as a
most pestilent nuisance to the city, the State, and the Nation. And
doubtless, in the morbid and reckless state of the public feeling in the
southern States, such an issue from Cincinnati did operate injuriously
against the business and property of the citizens, which was based
mainly upon their southern trade. A public meeting, was therefore held
in the court house for the denunciation, warning, and, if necessary,
the expulsion of so great a culprit. Every man of influence or property
in Cincinnati, save one alone, was directly or indirectly a party to this
outrage upon free thought, free speech and a free press. That single
man was William M. Corry. He alone, amidst the general obloquy
and indignation, bared his biave breast to this popular tempest of the
combined plutocracy and mobocracy of the whole city, and ably de-
fended Mr. Birney's rights. It was in vain. His office was publicly
pillaged. His press was smashed into splinters. His types were sown
broadcast from the market place through Main street and into the Ohio
river. He was driven into exile to Buffalo.
May 30th occurred the first parade of the Cincinnati
Gray's; and on the fourteenth of June a volunteer com-
pany under Captain James Allen, editor of the Cincinnati
Republican, departed to join General Houston's army and
aid in the struggle for Texan independence. On the sixth
of March the subscription books for the Little Miami
railroad were opened; and on the twentieth of February
the city, also Newport and Covington, were illuminated
in honor of the projected Cincinnati & Charleston rail-
road, which was soon temporarily defeated, by the refusal
of the Kentucky legislature to grant right of way through
the State.
On the thirteenth of January began the memorable de-
bate between the Rev. Alexander Campbell and Bishop
Purcell, which was afterwards published and extensively
circulated. February 23d died Peter Williams, of Delhi,
the pioneer mail carrier from Cincinnati through the
wildernesses. General Jackson visited the city March
1 8th, and was received with great acclamation by admir-
88
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ing throngs. William Barr, a very prominent old resident,
died March 21st. On the 24th of that month the city
debt amounted to two hundred and forty thousand dol-
lars.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN.
New buildings this year, three hnndred and five, not-
withstanding it was a year of great financial disaster,
There were five thousand nine hundred and eighty-one
house in the city. Mr. E. D. Mansfield wrote long sub-
sequently: "Just after the convention of 1837, say up to
1848, the growth of Cincinnati continued with great ra-
pidity. Strange as it may seem, the constant depression
and want of money did not impede building; on the con-
trary, it aided Cincinnati. . . For several years
the city grew rapidly." The deaths this year numbered
nine hundred and sixty-eight, or about one in thirty-nine.
On the third of May the first loan for local improve-
ments was voted by the city, to the amount of six hun-
dred thousand dollars.
January 6th, John Washburn was hanged upon a scaf-
fold erected at the junction of the Walnut Hills and
Reading roads, for the murder upon the same spot, for
money, of an inoffensive old man named Beaver. After-
wards, June 3rd, Hoover and Davis were executed for
complicity in the same murder; and Byron Cooley, on
the twenty-fifth of November, for killing John Rambo.
It was a great year for capital punishments.
October 28th, a monument to the memory of Wiliiam
M. Millan was dedicated by Nova Caesarea Harmony
Lodge No. 2, upon an eminence on the farm of William
M. Corry, esq., then two and a quarter miles from Cin-
cinnati, near the Reading turnpike, in a graveyard de-
signated by Mr. McMillan before his death. A eulogy
was pronounced by Mr. Corry, which was published in
pamphlet form, and widely complimented. The monu-
ment was afterwards removed to Spring Grove cemetery,
where it now stands. It is of grey freestone, in the
psuendo-Doric order, and surmounted by a Grecian urn.
Some observations made upon Cincinnati this year by
a garrulous American traveller, Professor Frederick Hall,
M.D., in his Letters from the East and from the West, may
fittingly be reproduced here:
Perhaps, I might give you a juster idea of the appearance of Cin-
cinnati by comparison. You cannot have forgotten how Genoa ap-
peared to us, as seen from the point where our steamboat anchored or '
from that where the American ship-of-war, the Potomac, was stationed,
farther out in the bay. The view was enrapturing. Our eyes were
riveted to it. We had never seen its parallel. Rightly do the Italians,
thought we, style Genoa 'La Superba.' Here, we could not help
imagining, Vespasian took from Nature the model of his Colosseum
which he commenced at Rome. The arena of his, often saturated
with human blood, uselessly, wickedly shed, represents this narrow,
flat plain, overspread with marble houses and palaces and churches,
and all the pomp and bustle of a populous and magnificent town.
The sloping galleries of the Roman Colosseum are a miniature rep-
resentation of the lofty and ragged Appenines which form the semi-
circular back-grounds of the city, and on which are perched many a
sumptuous mansion, many a terraced garden, many an humble cottage,
and many a moss-clad ruin.
Were you here, I would conduct you across the Ohio river in the
convenient steam ferry-boat, lead you to a spot half a mile from the
water's edge, and there ask you to take a deliberate survey ot Cincin-
nati and of the country back of it. You would, I think, at once say
that it bears no slight resemblance to the native city of Columbus. The
high lands here, though in some degree similar, are less lofty, less
rocky, and exhibit fewer human habitations; but they are far richer,
their forms vastly more variegated and more beautiful. You do not,
it is true, here see anything like the towering light-house of Genoa, or
the Cathedral of Lorenzo, or- the ' palazzo ducal;' nor are you to ex-
pect it. Consider the difference in the ages of the two cities. The one
is an infant at the breast ; the other wears bleached locks. The one is
not yet fifty years old; the other is two thousand. But, old as she is,
her population does not exceed eighty-five thousand. That of Cincin-
nati has already attained to near half of that number; and what will it
be two thousand years hence, if it continues to increase, as it has done
during the last quarter of a century? Let fancy stretch away into
futurity, and view her then. She will see a little world of men — not a
New York— not a Glasgow— but a London. Since the year 1812 her
population has received an augmentation of more than twenty-six
thousand souls. Should she continue to increase in the same ratio for
two thousand years to come, what will be her numbers? What hill will
not be crowded with houses? What valley will not pe crowded with
them?
Another author-traveller of 1837 to the Queen City
was no less a notable of that day than the great writer
of sea-tales, Captain Francis Marryat. In his Diary of
the American Journey, subsequently published, he thus
notes matters and things here:
Arrived at Cincinnati. How rapid has been the advance of the
western country! In 1803 deer-skins, at the value of forty cents per
pound, were a legal tender; and, if offered instead of money, could not
be refused — even by a lawyer. Not fifty years ago the woods which
towered where Cincinnati is now built, resounded only to the cry of the
wild animals of the forest or the rifle of the Shawnee Indian; now
Cincinnati contains a population of forty thousand inhabitants. It is a
beautiful, well-built, clean town, reminding you more of Philadelphia
than any other city in the Union. Situated on a hill on the banks of
the Ohio, if is surrounded by a circular phalanx of other hills; so that,
look up and down the streets whichever way you will, your eye reposes
upon verdure and forest-trees in the distance. The streets have a row
of trees on each side, near the curb-stone, and most of the houses have
a small frontage, filled with luxuriant flowering shrubs, of which the
althea Frutix is the most abundant. It is, properly speaking, a Yan-
kee city, the majority of its inhabitants coming from the east; but they
have intermarried and blended with the Kentuckians of the opposite
shore — a circumstance which is advantageous to the character of both.
There are, however, a large number of Dutch and German settlers
here; they say ten thousand. They are not much liked by the Ameri-
cans ; but have great influence, as may be conceived when it is stated
that, when a motion was brought forward in the municipal court for
the city regulations to be printed in German as well as English, it was
lost by one vote only.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT.
New buildings, three hundred and thirty-four. Mortal-
ity, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five. Votes in
the city, four thousand five hundred and seventy-three.
April 25th, the most terrible accident recorded in the
history of Cincinnati occurred at the Fulton landing,
then just above the city, in the explosion of the new and
beautiful steamer Moselle. An elaborate and most inter-
esting account of this event has been given in the third
edition of the Annals of the West, the publisher of that
work having been an eye-witness of the event. We trans-
cribe the narrative for these pages :
The Moselle was regarded as the very paragon of western steamboats;
she was perfect in form and construction, elegant and super o in all her
equipments, and enjoyed a reputation for speed which admitted of no
rivalship. As an evidence that the latter was not undeserved, it need
only be mentioned that her last trip from St. Louis to Cincinnati, seven
hundred and fifty miles, was performed in two days and sixteen hours—
the quickest trip, by several hours, that had ever been made between the
two places.
On the afternoon of April 25, 1838, between four and five o'clock, the
Moselle left the landing at Cincinnati, bound for St. Louis, with an un-
usually large number of passengers, supposed to be not less than two
hundred and eighty, or, according to some accounts, three hundred. It
was a pleasant afternoon, and all on board probably anticipated a de-
7
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
89
lightful voyage. The Moselle proceeded about a mile up the river to
take on some German emigrants. At this time it was observed by an
experienced engineer on board, that the steam had been raised to an
unusual height, and when the boat stopped for the purpose just men-
tioned, it was reported that one man who was apprehensive of danger
went ashore, after protesting against the injudicious management of the
steam apparatus. Yet the passengers generally were regardless of any
danger that might exist, crowding the boat for the sake of her beauty
and speed, and making safety a secondary consideration.
When the object for which the Moselle had landed was nearly accom-
plished, and the bow of the boat just turned in preparation to move
from the shore, at that instant the explosion took place. The whole of
the vessel forward of the wheels was blown to splinters ; every timber
{as an eye-witness declares), "appeared to be twisted, as trees some-
times are, when struck by lightning." As soon as theaccident occurred,
the boat floated down the stream for about one hundred and fifty to
two hundred yards, where she sunk, leaving the upper part of the cabin
out of the water and the baggage, together with many struggling hu-
man beings, floating on the surface of the river.
It was remarked that the explosion was unprecedented in the history
of steam. Its effect was like that of a mine of gunpowder. All the
boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously ; the deck was blown into
the air, and the human beings who crowded it were doomed to instant
destruction. It was asserted that a man, believed to be a pilot, was
carried, together with the pilot-house, to the Kentcky shore, a distance
of a- quarter of a mile. A fragment of a boiler was carried by the explo-
sion high into the air, and descending perpendicularly about fifty yards
from the boat, it crushed through a strong roof and through the second
floor of a building, lodging finally on the ground floor.
Captain Pernn, master of the Moselle, at the time of the accident
was standing on the deck, above the boiler, in conversation with
another person. He was thrown to a considerable height on the steep
embankment of the river and killed, while his companion was merely
prostrated on the deck, and escaped without injury. Another person
was blown a great distance into the air, and on descending he fell on a
roof with such force that he partially broke through it, and his body
lodged there. Some of the passengers who were in the after-part of the
boat, and who were uninjured by the explosion, jumped overboard.
An eye-witness says that he saw sixty or seventy in the water at one
time, of whom comparatively few reached the shore. There were after-
ward the mutilated remains of nineteen persons buried in one grave.
It happened, unfortunately, that the larger number of the passengers
were collected on the upper deck, to which the balmy air and delicious
weather seemed to invite them, in order to expose them to more certain
destruction. It was understood, too, that the captain of the ill-fated
steamer had expressed his determination to outstrip an opposition boat
which had just started; the people on shore were cheering the Moselle,
in anticipatiou of her success in the race, and the passengers and crew
on the upper deck responded to these acclamations, which were soon
changed to sounds of mourning and distress.
Intelligence of the awful calamity spread rapidly through the city;
thousands rushed to the spot, and the most benevolent aid was prompt-
ly extended to the sufferers, or rather to those within the reach of
human assistance, for the majority had perished. The scene here was
so sad and distressing that no language can depict it with fidelity.
Here lay twenty or thirty mangled and still bleeding corpses, while
many persons were engaged in dragging others of the dead and
wounded from the wreck or the water. "But," says an eye-witness,
"the survivors presented the most touching objects of distress, as their
mental anguish seemed more insupportable than the most intense bod-
ily suffering.''
Death had torn asunder the most tender ties; but the rupture had
been so sudden and violent that none knew certainly who had been
taken or who had been spared. Fathers were distractedly inquiring for
children, children for parents, husbands and wives for each other. One
man had saved a son, but lost a wife and five children. A father,
partially demented by grief, lay with a wounded child on one side, his
dead daughter on the other, and his expiring wife at his feet. One
gentleman sought his wife and children, who were as eagerly seeking
him in the same crowd. They met and were reunited.
A female deck .passenger who had been saved seemed inconsolable for
the loss of her relatives. Her constant exclamations were, "Oh! my
father! my mother! mysisters!" a little boy about five years old, whose
head was much bruised, appeared to be regardless of his wounds, and
cried continually for a lost father, while another lad, a little older, was
weeping for a whole family. One venerable man wept for the loss of
his wife and five children. Another was bereft of his whole family, con-
sisting of nine persons. A touching display of maternal affection was
evinced by a woman, who, on being brought to the shore, clasped her
hands and exclaimed, "Thank God, I am safe!" but instantly recollect-
ing herself, she ejaculated in a voice of piercing agony, "Where is my
child ? " The infant, which had been saved, was brought to her, and
she fainted at the sight of it.
Many of the passengers who entered the boat at Cincinnati had not
registered their names, but the lowest estimated number of persons on
board was two hundred and eighty. Of these eighty-one were known
to be killed, fifty-five were missing and thirteen badly wounded.
On the day after the accident a public meeting was called at Cincinnati,
at which the mayor presided, when the facts of this melancholy occur-
rence were discussed, and among other resolutions passed was one
deprecating the great and increasing carelessness in the navigation of
steam vessels and urging this subject upon the consideration of Con-
gress.
The Moselle was built at Cincinnati, and she reflected great credit
on the mechanical genius of that city, as she was truly a superior boat,
and under more favorable auspices might have been the pride of the
waters for several years. She was new, having been begun the previous
December and finished in March, only a month before the time of her
destruction.
A committee was appointed at the meeting of citizens,
to report upon the causes of the disaster. Dr. Locke,
Jacob Strader, Charles Fox, T. J. Matthews, and J.
Perm, formed the committee. They made a prolonged
and careful examination, and published a report in a
pamphlet of seventy-six pages. It was mainly from the
pen of Dr. Locke, and is a thoroughly scientific exposi-
tion of the subject, much of which has permanent in-
terest and value.
October 20th, a fire occurred on McFarland street,
which destroyed two or three small buildings, arid took
the life of a little son of Mrs. McComas, aged eight
years. The citizens subscribed one thousand two hun-
dred and seventy-nine dollars and sixty-six cents the next
forenoon for the relief of the sufferers. On the twenty-
third there was another fire on Broadway, between Fourth
and Fifth, destroying cabinet and turners' shops, and a
bedstead factory.
The semi-centennial of the settlement of Cincinnati
was celebrated in good style this year, Dr. Daniel Drake
delivering the oration. The invited guests included
many aged Ohio pioneers of 1785-7-9, and other years.
The first fair of the Ohio Mechanics' institute was held
this year and was a gratifying success.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE.
January 3d, the city buys the entire rights and prop-
erty of the Cincinnati Water Works company for three
hundred thousand dollars.
iary 2 2d, Robert Wright lost an arm by an acci-
dent in cannon-firing while giving a salute at the Public.
Landing, in honor of Washington's birthday.
March 1st, occurred the death of Morgan Neville, a
prominent citizen, and formerly receiver at the land
office. On the eighteenth a lad named Winship was
killed in a menagerie exhibiting here, by an uncaged
tiger.
June 10th, the first superior court for the city was
organized, with David K. Este, judge, and Daniel Gano,
clerk.
December 9th, died the well-known pioneer merchant,
Colonel! John Bartle, aged ninety-five. He came to
Losantivillel in December, 1789. General Robert Y.
9°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Lytle, another and yet more eminent resident of Cincin-
nati, died at New Orleans on the twenty-first of this
month.
A vigorous attempt was made this year to suppress the
liquor-selling coffee-houses by making their licenses
practically prohibitory; but it was evaded by the propri-
etors taking out tavern licenses, which cost but twenty-
five dollars and gave the, recipients one more day in
which to sell liquors.
The population of the city in 1849 was about forty-two
thousand five hundred; number of new buildings, three
hundred and ninety-four — two hundred and eighty brick,
one hundred and fourteen frame. Mortality list, one
thousand two hundred and eighty-two, or one in thirty-
five.
I
CHAPTER XIII.
CINCINNATI'S SIXTH DECADE.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY.
The official census this year exhibited a population for
Cincinnati of forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-
eight, an increase since 1830 of eighty-five per cent.
The new buildings this year numbered four hundred and
six — brick two hundred and sixty (in the seven wards re-
spectively forty-seven, seventeen, thirty-one, twelve, sev-
enty-six, thirty-three, forty-four), frame one hundred and
forty-six (in the several wards in order, thirteen, one,
fourteen, three, forty-three, eighteen and fifty-four). The
vote of the year was six thousand three hundred and
forty; the mortality bills one thousand three hundred
and twenty-three, of whom ninety-seven were strangers.
They being deducted, the deaths of inhabitants were
only one thousand one hundred and twenty-nine, or one
in thirty-nine of the population.
April 3d, deceased Charles Hammond, a leading ed-
itor, politician and lawyer of the city, and one of the
strongest and most accomplished men the place ever
had. Further notice of him will be made in our chap-
ters on the bar and on journalism.
This was the year of the Harrison campaign, in which,
certainly, Cincinnati, Hamilton county, and all Ohio
took an exceeding interest. The warm season was full
of excitement in the Queen City, and there were great
rejoicings when her favorite son was declared the win-
ner. The state of the campaign in this region and along
the river is amusingly illustrated in the remarks of Mrs.
Steele, an intelligent eastern traveller hereaway this year,
in her Summer Journey in the West:
Sixteen miles below Cincinnati is the residence of General Harrison,
the candidate for the Presidency. It is said he lived in a log cabin; but
it was a neat country dwelling, which, however, I dimly saw by moon-
light. To judge from what we have seen upon the road, General Har-
rison will carry all the votes of the west, for every one seems enthusi-
astic in his favor. Log cabins were erected in every town, and a small
one of wicker-work- stood upon nearly all the steamboats. At the
wood-yards along the rivers it was very common to see-a sign bearing
the words, " Harrison wood," " Whig wood, " or "Tippecanoe wood,"
he having gained a battle at a place of that name. The western States,
indeed, owe him a debt of gratitude; for he may be said to be the
cause, under Providence, of their flourishing condition. He subdued
the Indians, laid the land out in sections, -thus opening a door for set-
tlers, and, in fact, deserves the name given him of "Father of the
West."
The city was also visited this year by the much trav-
elled Englishman and voluminous writer of his travels,
the Rev. J. S. Buckingham, who published in all some
nine volumes of American travel. From several extracts
relating to Cincinnati, which will appear in different
places in this history, we select the following for inser-
tion here :
The private dwellings of Cincinnati are in general quite as large and
commodious as those of the Atlantic cities, with these advantages, that
more of them are built of stone, and much fewer of wood, than in the
older settlements ; a greater number of them have pretty gardens, rich
grass-plats, and ornamental shrubberies and flowers surrounding them,
than in any of the eastern cities; and, though there is not the same os-
tentatious display in the furniture of the private dwellings here, which is
met with at New York especially, every comfort and convenience,
mixed with a sufficient degree of elegance, is found in all the residences
of the upper and middle classes; and it may be doubted whether there
is any city in the Union in which there is a more general diffusion of
competency in means and comfort in enjoyments, than in Cincinnati.
The stores also are large, well filled, and many of them as elegant in ap-
pearance and as well supplied with English and French articles as in
the largest cities on the coast, though somewhat dearer, of course. The
hotels ate numerous and good, and boarding-houses at all prices abun-
dant. The Broadway Hotel, at which we remained, appeared to us
one of the cleanest and most comfortable we had seen west of the Alle-
ghanies.
Mrs. Steele's Diary of a Summer Journey in the West
contains the following:
Cincinnati, July 19th.
As much as we had heard of Cincinnati, we were astounded at its
beauty and extent, and at the solidity of its buildings. It well merits
the name bestowed upon it here — Queen of the West. We have ex-
plored it thoroughly by riding and walking, and pronounce it a wonder-
ful city. . . We spent the morning slowly driving up
and down each street, along the Miami canal, and in the environs of
the city in every direction, and were quite astonished — not because we
had never seen larger and finer cities, but that this should have arisen in
what was so lately a wilderness. Its date, you know, is only thirty
years back [!]. The rows of stores and warehouses ; the extensive and
ornamented dwellings; the thirty churches, many of them very hand-
some, and other public buildings, excited our surprise. Main street is
the principal business mart. While in the centre of this street, we
mark it for a mile ascending the slope upon which the town is built, and
in front it seems interminable; for, the river being low, we do not
observe we are looking across it to the street of the opposite city of
Covington, until a steamboat passing, tells us where the city ends.
Broadway is another main artery of this city — not, however, devoted
to business, but bounded upon each side by rows of handsome dwellings.
Third, Fourth, Seventh, Vine, and many other streets, show private
houses not surpassed by any city we had visited. They are generally ex-
tensive and surrounded by gardens, and almost concealed from view of
the passers by groves of shade-trees and ornamental shrubbery; An
accidental opening among the trees shows you a glimpse of a piazza or
pavilion, where, among groves and gardens, the air may be enjoyed by
the children or ladies of the family.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE.
The publication of the first of Mr. Charles Cist's valuable
series of volumes on Cincinnati occurred this year, and
from it a fully sketched picture of the city at this time may
be made up. The buildings were now largely brick, espe-
cially in the central and business parts. Dwellings and
warehouses were not only greater in number, but "greatly
superior to those previously erected in value, elegance,
and convenience." Its population, numbering about fifty
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
9i
thousand people of all ages, included four hundred and
thirty-four professional men, two thousand two hundred
and twenty-six of the mercantile classes, ten thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six mechanics in seventy-seven
different trades, and one thousand and twenty-five agents,
bar-keepers, hotel-keepers, and the like. The capital
invested in commerce was estimated at five million
two hundred thousand dollars, and in merchandize,
twelve million eight hundred and seventy-seven thou-
sand dollars. There w£re twenty-three lumber-yards,
with one hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars capi-
tal and sales in 1840 amounting to three hundred and
forty-two thousand five hundred dollars. There were
eight banks, with an aggregate capital of more than six
millions. The Miami canal was now in operation to
Piqua, and the extension was completed eighty miles be-
yond Dayton and was making rapid progress toward De-
fiance, at the rapids of the Maumee. For two years it
had paid more than the annual interest upon the debt in-
curred in its construction, which was considered "the
highest evidence of its utility.'' The vast water-power
which it had brought to the city was mostly in use. The
Whitewater canal was nearly finished. An improvement
in the Licking, being made at Kentucky's expense, was
expected to bring benefits to Cincinnati. A steam packet
was to be immediately put on the river. The Little Mi-
ami railroad was completed for about thirty-five miles out,
and more was under contract. Turnpike improvements
had been steadily extended. The Charleston or South-
ern railroad scheme was still held in abeyance by the op-
position of Kentucky, and the depression in the moneyed
world. The exports on the Miami canal had increased
from eight thousand five hundred and seven dollars and
sixty-nine cents in 1828 to seventy-four thousand three
hundred and twenty dollars and ninety-nine cents in
1840. The city had one German and six English daily
papers, with a large number of tri-weeklies, weeklies, and
monthlies. There were forty-six churches, including two
synagogues, and a large number of benevolent and char-
itable societies and institutions, on both public and
private foundations. Science and literature, education,
music, and other of the higher interests, were all em-
bodied in organizations and institutions existing here.
The fire and water service of the city had been greatly
improved. The city had been made a port of entry.
It had now sixty weekly mails, and the revenue of the
post office in 1840 had been forty-nine thousand eight
hundred and fifteen dollars and thirteen cents.
/The city is described by Mr. Cist as still "almost in
tne-eastern extreme of a valley about twelve miles in cir-
cumference, perhaps the most delightful and extensive on
the borders of Ohio." ) With the adjacent parts of Mill
creek and Fulton towmShips, and Newport and Coving-
ton, the total population of Cincinnati and suburbs was
reckoned at sixty thousand. The Germans in the city
now numbered fourteen thousand one hundred and sixty-
three — three thousand six hundred and thirty in the First,
one thousand one hundred and thirty-seven in the Sec-
ond, one thousand nine hundred and twelve in the Third,
nine hundred and ninety-six in the Fourth, four thousand
three hundred and twenty in the Fifth, six hundred and
ninety-five in the Sixth, and one thousanrLfour hundred
and seventy-three in the Seventh ward. (The American
population was fifty-four per cent., German twenty-eight,
British sixteen, French and Italian one,^pd all others
one per per cent, of the entire population/ About six
thousand eight hundred children were being educated in
the public and private schools.
Great improvements were expected — among them not
less than five hundred dwellings and warehouses to go up
during the year, including a larger proportion of ware-
houses than usual. Several blocks and single buildings
for stores were going up in March of this year. The
number of new structures for the twelve months was
afterwards reported at four hundred and sixty-two. The
present St. Peter's cathedral, on the corner of Eighth and
Plum streets, was about erecting, and was finished in
1844. (7*0 ver the Rhine" was developing rapidly, and a
new German Catholic church on Main, beyond the
canal, was to be built shortly. About three-fourths of
the Germans in those days were said to be Roman Cath-
olics. ]
Thff'use of coal for fuel was becoming quite general;
nine hundred and thirty thousand bushels had been sold
the previous year, and a sale of more than two millions
was1 expected for 1841.
[Mr. Cist finally " ventured the prediction that within
one hundred years Cincinnati would be the greatest city
in America, and by the year a. d. 2,000 the greatest city
in the world" jn
During the^early part of this year General Harrison,
the elect of the people, as well as of the Electoral College,
by a tremendous majority, made his way to Washington,
to assume the duties of Chief Magistrate of the Nation.
Judge Joseph Cox, in an address to the Cinciunati Liter-
ary club, February 4, 1871, on General William H. Har-
rison at North Bend, has thus sketched the farewell :
The -scene of his departure was most affecting. Old men who had
shared with him the toils of the campaigns among the Indians, their
wives and children, his old neighbors, the poor, of whom there were
many who had shared his bounty, gathered to witness his departure,
cheering for his triumph while their cheeks were wet with tears. The
boat on which he was to pass up the river lay at the foot of Broadway,
in Cincinnati. The wharves, streets, and every surrounding vessel and
house were filled with spectators. Standing on the deck of the steamer,
with a clear, ringing voice he recalled to the mind of the people that
forty-eight years before he had landed on that spot a poor, unfriended
boy in almost an unbroken wilderness to join his fortunes with theirs,
and that now, by the voice of a majority of the seventeen millions of
people of this free land, he was about to leave them to assume the Chief
Magistracy of the greatest Nation of the earth. He assured them that
he was devoted to the interests of the people, and although this might
be the last time he would look upon them, they would find him in the
future true to the old history of the past. Prophetic vision ! Never-
more was it given to him to look on the faces of those who this day
cheered him on to his high goal. Before visiting Washington, he went
to the old homestead on the James river, and there, in the room of
his mother (then dead many years), composed his inaugural address as
President."
Less than six months had gone, when the old hero
came back, but in his coffin. Acclamations were ex-
changed for sobs and sighs ; tears of joy for tears of
deepest grief. Judge Cox then depicts^ the final scenes :
The funeral services took place at the White House, after which the
92
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
body, accompanied by a large civic and military procession, was taken
to the Congressional burying ground and deposited in the receiving
vault, to await the arrangements of his family. The nation was
shrouded in mourning, and the ensuing sixteenth of May was set apart
as a day of fasting and prayer, upon which, in nearly every town and
city, the people met in honor of the illustrious dead.
In the meantime preparations had been made to inter the remains on
a beautiful hill just west of his home at North Bend, and under the
guidance of committees of Congress and of the principal cities of the
country, they were, in July, 1841, escorted from Washington. Arriving
in Cincinnati, the body lay in state at the house of his son-in-law, Col-
onel W. H. H. Taylor, on the north side of Sixth street, just east of
Lodge, and was visited by thousands of his old friends and fellow citi-
zens. It was then, after suitable religious services, placed on a bier on
the sidewalk, and the citizens and military filed past it. The funeral
procession, under charge of George Graham, esq., still living, then
marched to the river; the corpse was placed on a magnificent catafalque
on board a steamer, which, with two others lashed side by side and
loaded with mourners, slowly, with solemn dirges and tolling belts,
moved to North Bend. Arriving there, a long procession followed the
remains to the summit of the mound, where they were deposited in the
vault, beneath a low-built structure covered with turf. There have they
lain for nearly thirty [now forty] years.
No marble rears its head to mark
The honored hero's dust;
Nor glittering spire, nor cenotaph,
Nor monumental bust.
But on the spot his manhood loved
His aged form's at rest;
And he built his own proud monument
Within a nation's breast.
June 1 6th an ordinance was passed granting to James
F. Conover and J. H. Caldwell the right to supply gas to
the_city for the period of twenty-five years.
In September another anti-negro mob made a terrible
disturbance, originating in an affray at the corner of
Broadway and Sixth street, between some Irish and a
party of negroes, several nights before. There were
thenceforth fights every night, in that part of the city, be-
tween the whites and the blacks, until early Friday even-
ing, when a mob, composed largely of river-men and
roughs from Kentucky, gathered at the Fifth street mar-
ket-space, now the Esplanade, and marched thence to a
negro confectioner's shop on Broadway, next the syna-
gogue, where they smashed the front of it, but were
presently met and sharply engaged by the negroes with
fire-arms. Many were wounded on both sides. The
mob was addressed by the mayor and Mr. John H. Piatt,
but without avail. About one o'clock that night the mob
gained possession of a six-pound cannon from some
place near the river, loaded it with boiler punchings and
other missiles, took it to the negro quarter, and fired it
several times, but without doing much damage. It was
stationed on Broadway, and fired down Sixth street.
Many of the negroes became considerably alarmed at
this demonstration, and incontinently fled to the hills.
In about an hour the military, which had been called out
by the mayor, appeared on the scene and kept the mob
at bay. Through the next day, however, and until three
o'clock Sunday morning, the mob held its front and de-
fied its opponents. The citizens held a meeting Satur-
day morning, and passed facing-both-ways resolutions
against mobs and Abolitionists. The city council held a
special meeting to consider the situation; and the ne-
groes had another meeting in a church, where they ex-
pressed their willingness to abide by the laws of 1807 —
give bonds as required by that act, or leave the State.
About three in the afternoon the mayor, marshal, po-
lice, and others went to the theatre of still- threatened
conflict, and marched off two to three hundred negroes
to jail for safe-keeping. The mob, however, recom-
menced its violence early, and at different points. The
Philanthropist office was again sacked, and a number of
houses inhabited by negroes and the negro church on
Sixth street were partially destroyed and rifled of their
contents. An attempt was made to fire the book estab-
lishment of Truman & Smith, on Main street, which was
for some reason obnoxious to the roughs. Before morning,
however, the mob, not receiving fresh accessions, stopped
its violence, and dispersed through sheer exhaustion.
Several men were killed in the progress of the affair, and
twenty or thirty wounded, a few of them dangerously.
About forty of the mob were arrested. The affair as-
sumed importance enough to cause the issue of a procla-
mation by the governor. That night the military turned
out in force, including a troop of horse and several foot
companies, with the firemen acting under authority as
police, and eighty citizens who had volunteered to sup-
port the officers of the law.
In October the Western Methodist Anti-Slavery con-
vention assembled at Cincinnati. It actually could not
then find a meeting-house of its own denomination open
to it, but found a hospitable reception in a Baptist church.
Hon. Samuel Lewis was chairman of this meeting. Fif-
teen years afterwards the feeling had so changed that one
of the largest Methodist churches of the city was used
for a great and enthusiastic Republican meeting, assem-
bled to promote the election of General Fremont.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO.
One of the chief events of this year was the arrival
from Pittsburgh of the young but already celebrated
English novelist, Charles Dickens, with his wife. They
staid but a short time, and then embarked on the steamer
Pike, for Louisville, stopping here also for a day on his
return. He gave Cincinnati a chapter in his American
Notes, and treated it much more fairly than some other
places alleged themselves to have been treated. We ex-
tract the following:
Monday, April 4, 1842.
When the morning sun shines again, it gilds the house-tops of a lively
city, before whose broad, paved wharf the boat is moored ; with other
boats, and flags and moving wheels and hum of men around it ; as
though there were not a solitary or silent rood of ground within the
compass of a thousand miles around.
Cincinnati is a beautiful city ; cheerful, thriving, and animated. I
have not often seen a place that commends itself so favorably and pleas,
antly to a stranger at the first glance as this does, with its clean houses
of red and white, its well-paved roads and footways of bright tile. Nor
does it become less prepossessing on a closer acquaintance. The
streets are broad and airy, the shops extremely good, the private resi-
dences remarkable for their elegance and neatness. There is some-
thing of invention and fancy in the varying styles of these latter
erections, which, after the dull company of the steamboat, is perfectly
delightful, as conveying an assurance that there are such qualities still
in existence. The disposition to ornament these pretty villas and ren-
der them attractive leads to the culture of trees and flowers, and the
laying-out of well kept gardens, the sight of which, to those who walk
along the streets, is inexpressibly refreshing and agreeable. I was
quite charmed with the appearance of the town and its adjoining sub-
urb of Mount Auburn, from which the city, lying in an amphitheatre of
hills, forms a picture of remarkable beauty and is seen to great advan-
tage.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
93
There happened to be a great temperance convention held here on
the day after our arrival ; and as the order of march brought the pro-
cession under the windows of the hotel in which we lodged, when they
started in the morning, I had a good opportunity of seeing it. It com-
prised several thousand men, the members of various "Washington
Auxiliary Temperance Societies," and was marshaled by officers on
horseback, who cantered briskly up and down the line, with scarves and
ribands of bright colors fluttering out behind them gaily. There were
bands of music, too, and banners out of number ; and it was a fresh,
holiday looking concourse altogether.
I was particularly pleased to see the Irishmen, who formed a distinct
society among themselves, carrying their national Harp and their por-
trait of Father Mathew high above the people's heads. They looked
as jolly and good-humored as ever ; and, working the hardest for their
living, and doing any kind of sturdy labor that came in their way, were
the most independent fellows there, I thought.
The banners were very well painted, and flaunted down the street fa-
mously. There was the smiting of the rock and the gushing forth of
the waters ; and there was a. temperate man with a considerable of a
hatchet (as" the standard-bearer would probably have said) aiming a
deadly blow at a serpent which was apparently about to spring upon
him from the top of a barrel of spirits. But the chief feature of this
part of the show was a huge allegorical device, borne among the ship-
carpenters, on one side whereof the steamboat Alcohol was represented
bursting her boiler and exploding with a great crash, while upon the
other the good ship Temperance sailed away with a fair wind; to the
heart's content of the captain, crew, and passengers.
After going round the town, the procession repaired to a certain ap-
pointed place, where, as the printed programme set forth, it would be
received by the children of the different free schools, "singing temper-
ance songs." I was prevented from getting there in time to hear these
little warblers, or to report upon this novel kind of vocal entertainment
— novel, at least, to me ; but I found, in a large open space, each soci-
ety gathered round its own banners and listening in silent attention to
its own orator. The speeches, judging from the little I could hear of
them, were certainly adapted to the occasion, as having that degree of
relationship to cold water which wet blankets may claim ; but the main
thing was the conduct and appearance of the audience throughout the
day, and that was admirable and full of promise.
Cincinnati is honorably famous for its free schools, of which it has so
many that no person's child among its population can, by possibility,
want the means of education, which are extended, upon an average, to
four thousand pupils annually, I was only present in one of these es-
tablishments during the hours of instruction. In the boys' department,
which, was full of little urchins (varying in their ages, I should say, from
six years old to ten or twelve), the master offered to institute an extem-
porary examination of the pupils in algebra — a proposal which, as I
was by no means confident of my ability to detect mistakes in that
science, I declined with some alarm. In the girls' school reading was
proposed, and as I felt tolerably equal to that art, I expressed my will-
ingness to hear a class. Books were distributed accordingly, and some
half-dozen girls relieved each other in reading paragraphs in English
history. But it was a dry compilation, infinitely above their powers;
and when they had blundered through three or four dreary passages
concerning the Treaty of Amiens and other thrilling topics of the same
nature (obviously without comprehending ten words), I expressed my-
self quite satisfied. It is very possible that they only mounted to this
extreme stave in the ladder of learning for the astonishment of a visitor,
and that at other times they keep upon its lower rounds ; but I should
have been much better pleased and satisfied if I had heard them exer-
cised in simpler lessons, which they understood.
As in every other place I visited, the judges here were gentlemen of
high character and attainments. I was in one of the courts for a few
minutes, and found it like those to which I have already referred. A
nuisance cause was trying; there were not many spectators ; and the
witness, counsel, and jury formed a sort of family circle, sufficiently jo-
cose and snug.
The society with which I mingled was intelligent, courteous, and
agreeable. The inhabitants of Cincinnati are proud of their city, as one
of the most interesting in America, and with reason; for, beautiful and
thriving as it is now, and containing, as it does, a population of fifty
thousand souls, but two and fifty years have passed away since the
ground on which it stands (bought at that time for a few dollars), was
a wildwood and its citizens were but a handful of dwellers in scattered
log huts upon the river's shore.
Another bank mob occurred in the city on the first of
November, caused by the suspension of the Bank of
Cincinnati and the Miami Exporting company's bank.
Some movable property, books, and papers, were reached
and destroyed, and a demonstration was also made
against two exchange offices; but the City Guard, under
command of the astronomer, Captain O. M. Mitchel,
were defending the banks, and after they had fired a vol-
ley or two on the mob, wounding several, the crowd dis-
persed and did no further damage.
The number of new buildings erected this year was
five hundred and thirty-seven.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE.
Mr. Cist notes this year as an era in the political ex-
istence of Cincinnati, as having two natives of the county
rival candidates for the office of Mayor at the spring
election — Messrs. Henry E. Spencer and Henry Morse
— which was certainly a very interesting circumstance,
but was paralleled in 1845, when the same two were
again candidates for the office.
February 28th a disastrous fire and explosion occurred
in Pugh & Alvord's pork-packing establishment, which
killed eight persons and wounded fourteen, among them
several prominent citizens.
November 2d, the first number of the Cincinnati Com-
mercial was issued, by Messrs. Curtiss & Hastings. On
the twenty-eighth the Whitewater canal was opened.
December 2 2d, S. S. Davies, ex-mayor of the city, de-
parted this life.
Number of new buildings this year, six hundred and
twenty-one.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR.
This year was comparatively devoid of events, save
the inevitable quadrennial excitement of the Presidential
election. On the twenty-seventh of April the first
ground was bought for Spring Grove cemetery. The
eighth of October marked the advent of Millerism, of
which an interesting account will be found in our chap-
ter on Religion in Cincinnati. The first, and long the
only cotton factory in the city, was erected this year by
Messrs. Samuel Fosdick, Anthony Harkness, and Jacob
Strader.
During the summer and fall of this year, Mr. Charles
Cist pursued his favorite occupation of enumerating the
buildings, of the city, the results of which he published
in his Miscellany. He found in the First ward fifteen
public buildings (including the post office, a theatre, and
the unfinished observatory), and one hundred and twenty
dwellings, shops, storehouses, mills, and offices — total
seven hundred and thirty-five — five hundred and fifty-
one of brick and one hundred and eighty-four frames.
Eighty-two had been built in 1844, against twenty-six the
previous year. The Second ward showed up twenty-two
public buildings and one thousand and thirty-nine dwel-
ings, etc., — eight hundred and twenty-five brick and two
hundred and fourteen frame. One hundred and two of
these had been put up within the year. The Third ward
contained but six public edifices, but had one thousand
one hundred and sixty-two private buildings — two of
stone, four hundred and thirty-four frame, and seven
94
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
hundred and twenty brick. Some of the new structures,
one hundred and seventeen in number, are described as
of great extent and height. Mr. Cist says :
The Third ward is the great hive of Cincinnati industry, especially
in the manufacturing line. Planing machines, iron foundries, brewer-
ies, saw-mills, rolling-mills, finishing shops, bell and brass foundries,
boiler yards, boat building, machine shops, etc., constitute an exten-
sive share of its business.
The Fourth ward, also embracing a large share of the
heavy business of the city, now had four buildings of a
public character and one thousand two hundred and
seven others — four stone, six hundred and fifty-two
brick, and five hundred and fifty-one frames — one hun-
dred and seventeen built the same year. Fifth ward —
public buildings, thirteen; private, one thousand five hun-
dred and fifty-two; brick, eight hundred and twenty-five;
frame, seven hundred and twenty-seven ; built this year,
one hundred and seventy-six. Sixth — public structures,
ten; private, one thousand and fifty-three; built in 1844
(seventy-nine less than in 1843), one hundred and seven-
teen; brick, four hundred and ninety-five; frame, five
hundred and sixty-eight. Several improvements of a su-
perior character are noted. Seventh — twelve public build-
ings, one thousand two hundred and ninety-nine private —
six hundred and ten brick, seven hundred and one frames;
two hundred and nineteen built this year. The great edi-
fice going up, as it had been for four years, was the Roman
Catholic cathedral, on Plum street. Eighth — seven pub-
lic and one thousand one hundred and fifty-seven private
structures — four hundred and three brick, seven hundred
and sixty-one frame ; built during the year, two hundred
and twenty-six. "A great number of fine dwellings of
brick'' are noted as among the new improvements. Ninth
— fourteen public and one thousand one hundred and
ninety-eight private buildings; new ones, eighty-two;
brick, four hundred and seventy-eight ; frame, seven hun-
dred and thirty-two; stone, two. The total number of
buildings in the city was ten thousand seven hundred and
seventy-three, an increase of one thousand two hundred
and twenty-eight over the previous year. It was also
thought that as many as five hundred new buildings had
been put up during the year in the district between the
corporation line and the base of the hills on the north.
Many familiar old buildings disappeared this year —
among them Fairchild's corner, on Main and Front,
which was a quarter of a century old ; Elsenlock's comer,
on Walnut and Front, which was one of the earliest en-
closed lots of Losantiville, and the building upon it the
favorite resort of the "United Democracy;" also, east of
Main, above Fifth, an old white frame building, put up
in the days of Fort Washington, and Andrew's Buck's ho-
tel, once a fashionable resort. Looking from the corner
of Main and Fifth, all buildings of a quarter of a century
before, within the view, had disappeared.
A classification made of citizens this year, according
to their pecuniary ability, developed the fact that there
was only one man (Nicholas Longworth) worth over five
hundred thousand dollars; six were worth two hundred
thousand to four hundred thousand dollars; twenty-six
one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand dollars;
forty-three fifty thousand*to one hundred thousand dol-
lars; fifty-six thirty thousand to fifty thousand dollars;
seventy-three twenty to thirty thousand dollars; eighty-
two fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars; one
hundred and eighteen ten thousand to fifteen thousand
dollars; four hundred and twenty-three five to ten thqu-
sartd dollars; six hundred and forty-five two thousand
five hundred to five thousand dollars; eight hundred and
twenty-six one thousand five hundred to two thousand
five hundred dollars; and thirteen hundred and thirteen
under one thousand five hundred dollars. It was esti-
mated that the sale of eight squares in the business part
of the city would more than pay all the bank debts then
due by her business men.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE.
The population of the city this year had grown to seven-
ty^four thousand six hundred and ninety-nine — an in-
crease of twenty-eighf thousand three hundred and sev-
enteen, or sixty-one per cent., in five years. The increase
was to be yet more remarkable during the five years to
come.)) The number of new buildings was one thousand
two hundred and fifty-two — seven hundred and eighty-
nine brick, four hundred and sixty-three frame. The
total number of buildings in the city was eleven thousand
five hundred and sixty, exclusive of stables and the like.
Among the finer structures in the course of erection this
year were the Cincinnati college, the Masonic and Odd
Fellows' halls, the College of Dental Surgery, two Ro-
man Catholic, two Presbyterian, four Methodist, one
Welsh, and two Disciple churches. The building of the
college, on Walnut street, between Fourth and Fifth,
where its successor now stands, had been burned on the
nineteenth of January, and a more spacious and elegant
structure was now going up.
In May of this year Mr. Cist thus notes in his Miscel-
lany some interesting facts relating to the trend of the
Dusiness interests of the city:
r |The increase of business in Cincinnati compels it to radiate from its
former centres. Blocks of business stands are forming east, west and
north of the existing commercial regions.) Thus some thirty large
ware- and store-houses have been or are just about to be erected on
Walnut, between Water and Second streets. (Commerce is finding vent
down Second, Third and J'ront streets to the west, and up Second and
Third streets to the east.1 That fine block known by the name of
Hopple's row, and which l»s hardly been a year built, is now occupied
with lace and dry-goods stores, drug-shops, carpet ware-houses, etc., in
which goods are offered wholesale to as good advantage as in any other
part of the city. Among these the dry-good store of Baird &
Scrmyler may be especially alluded to as a fine establishment. These
E-e the OjCcupants of the lower buildings ; up stairs is a perfect den of
ipers in the shape of lawyers and editors.
We continue Mr. Cist's interesting notices of local
matters :
f Our Northwest Territory.— There is nothing in Cincinnati ex-
k hibits a growth as vigorous as the northwestern part of our city) popu-
larly called Texas. What constituted originally the Seventh ward was, (
only seven years ago, interspersed here and there with dwellings, but
consisted principally of brick-yards, cattle-pastures and vegetable gar-
dens, for the supply of markets. Such was the unimproved condition
of this region, that nearly two hundred and fifty acres, occupied as
pasturage, were owned by four or five individuals alone) Two hundred
and fifty acres of pasturage in a city, and that city as thriving as Cin-
cinnati ! (The whole number of dwellings at that period, within the
bounds of that ward, were short of three hundred and fifty, and its
whole population could not have reached to twenty-five hundred souls;
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
95
and these the buildings and inhabitants of a section of Cincinnati more
than a mile square!
Now what a change! Eleven hundred new buildings, most of them
of a character for beauty, permanence and value equal to the average
of the main body of our city improvements. The streets graded and
paved to a great extent, churches and public school-houses going up in
its midst, and well-paved sidewalks, adding to the general finish and
convenience.) With all these improvements, too, space has been left,
at the sides and in the fronts of the buildings, for that free introduction
of shrubbery and flowers which render our city so attractive to stran-
gers, and so airy and pleasant to ourselves. It is, in short, completely
rus in urbe, abounding in spots which combine the comfort of a coun-
try villa with the convenience and advantages of a city residence.
It may serve to give a striking view of the magnitude and extent of
the improvements in this region to state that London street has been
graded from Fulton to Mound street west, which extent, some one
thousand two hundred feet in length, is now dug down from five to
ten feet, to fill up one thousand feet farther west and the entire width —
sixty feet — of the street. The stupendous character of the work may
be inferred from the volume of earth filled in, which, at the intersection
of Baymiller street, measures sixteen feet in depth. Tfie greater part
of this is also paved, and progressing as fast in paving as is prudent,
the graded ground being covered with stone as fast as it settles to its
permanent bed. This must become one of the finest entrances to our
city. /The population of this section of Cincinnati is now, doubtless,
eleven thousand, the inhabitants having quadruped since 1838.
A new and important avenue to trade and marketing has been
opened through this part of the city, by extending Freeman street to
the Hamilton road. The effect of this will be to direct a large share of
the travelling to the city, to the intersection of Fifth and Front streets;
and to bring the pork-wagons into direct communication with the pork-
houses which must be put up on the line of the Whitewater canal.
This avenue will also become a formidable rival to Western Row, as
a connection between the adjacent parts of Indiana and Cincinnati^
owing to the scandalous condition into which the upper part of that
street has been suffered to dilapidate, which renders it impassable in
winter and unpleasant at all times. •
Eighth street was now paved to a distance of more
than two miles west of Main, and was rapidly coming
into use as one of the chief avenues of travel to and
from the country.
Mr. [Elmore] Williams was originally the owner of all that valuable
property at the corner of Main and Front streets, facing one hundred
feet on Front and two hundred on Main street, extending from Worth-
ington Shillito & Co.'s grocery store to Front, and thence Place Traber
& Co.'s store, west to Main street, and became so under these circum-
stances: The lot in question was taken up by Henry Lindsey, who
after holding it a year or more disposed of it to a young man for a job
of work, whose name Mr. Williams has forgot. The second owner,
having a desire to revisit his former home in New Jersey, and being
unwilling to trust himself through the wilderness without a horse,
begged Mr. Williams, with whom' he was acquainted, the latter then
residing at the point of the junction of the Licking and the Ohio, to
take his lot in payment for a horse, saddle and bridle of his, valued at
sixty-five dollars. After much importunity and principally with the view
of accommodating a neighbor, Mr. Williams consented, and after
holding the property a few days, disposed of it again tor another
horse and equipments, by which he supposed he made ten dollars,
perhaps. This lot not long afterwards fell into the hands of Colonel
Gibson, who offered it for one hundred dollars to Major Bush of Boone
county, in 1793. So slight was the advance for years to property in
Cincinnati. This lot, probably at this time the most valuable in the
city, estimating the rent at six per cent, of its value, is now worth three
hundred and thirty-seven thousand and four hundred dollars. Where
else in the world is the property which in fifty-four years had risen
from four dollars to such a value?
The man is still living, and in full possession of his faculties, bodily
and mental, who stood by surveying the first cellar-digging in Cincin-
nati. This was the cellar of the first brick house put up here, and
which was built by the late Elmore Williams, at the corner of Main
and Fifth streets. As one-half of the community in that day had never
seen a cellar, being emigrants from the farming districts, and the other
half were surveying a novelty in Cincinnati, it may readily be conceived
there was no scarcity of on-lookers. My informant gives it as his
judgment that the west half of the Wade dwelling on Congress street,
is the oldest building now standing in Cincinnati, certainly the only
one remaining of what were built when he first saw the place. Most of
the houses were log cabins, and hardly better, so he phrases it, "than
sugar-camps at that." The city, when he landed, had not five hundred
inhabitants. He has lived to behold its increase to seventy-five. thou-
sand. Where will the next fifty years find it?
June i:th, was held a meeting of the southern and
western anti-slavery convention in the city, with animated
and interesting discussions.
An interesting event occurred on the twenty-eighth of
September, in the dedication of Spring Grove cemetery.
Cincinnati had now the beginnings of a worthy "God's
acre."
The city was visited in 1845 by the great English
geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, who, more than any other
man in the history of geology, industriously collected
facts and constructed theories for it. He was out much
on explorations in this region with Dr. John Locke, who
had been on the State geological survey; and visited the
Big Bone lick, in company with Robert Buchanan, Mr.
Anthony, and other intelligent gentlemen. The following
are some of Sir Charles' remarks upon the geology and
paleontology of this part of the valley:
The Ohio river at Cincinnati, and immediately above and below it, is
bounded on its right bank by two terraces, on which the city is built,
the streets in the upper and lower part of it standing on different levels.
These terraces are composed of sand, gravel, and loam, such as the
river, if blocked up by some barrier, might now be supposed to sweep
down in its current and deposit in a lake. The upper terrace is bounded
by steep hills of ancient fossiliferous rocks. Near the edge of the higher
terrace, in digging a gravel-pit, which I saw open at the end of Sixth
street, they discovered lately the teeth of the elephas primigenius, the
same extinct species which is met with in very analogous situations on
the banks of the.Thames, and the same which was found preserved en-
tire with its flesh in the ice of Siberia. Above the stratum from which
the tooth was obtained I observed about six feet of gravel covered by
ten feet of fine yellow loam, and below it were alternations of gravel,
loam, and sand, for twenty feet. But I searched in vain for any accom-
panying fossil shells. These, however, have been found in a similar
situation at Mill creek, near Cincinnati, a place where several teeth of
mastodons have been met with. They belong to the genera mclania,
lymncea, amnicola, succinea, physa, planorbis, paludina, cyclas, helix
and pupa, all of recent species, and nearly all known to inhabit the im-
mediate neighborhood. I was also informed that near Wheeling a bed
of freshwater shells, one foot thick, of the genus unio, is exposed at the
height of one hundred and twenty feet above the main level of the
Ohio. The remains of the common American mastodon (M. gigantius)
have also been found at several points in the strata in the upper terrace,
both above and below Cincinnati. Upon the whole it appears that the
strata of loam, clay, and gravel, forming the elevated terraces on both
sides of the Ohio and its tributaries, and which we know to have re-
mained unaltered from the era of the Indian mounds and earthworks,
originated subsequently to the period of the existing mollusca, but
when several quadrupeds now extinct inhabited this continent. The
lower parts, both of the larger and smaller valleys, appear to have been
filled up with a fluviatile deposit, through which the streams have sub-
sequently cut broad and deep channels. These phenomena very closely
resemble those presented by the loess, or ancient river-silt of the Rhine
and its tributaries, and the theory which I formerly suggested to ac-
count for the position of the Rhenish loess (also charged with recent
land and freshwater shells, and occasionally with the remains of the ex-
tinct elephant) may be applicable to the American deposits.
I imagined first a gradual movement of depression, like that now in
progress on the west coast of Greenland, to lessen the fall of the waters
or the height of the land relatively to the ocean. In consequence of
the land being thus lowered, the bottoms of the main and lateral val-
leys become filled up with fluviatile sediment, containing terrestrial
and freshwater shells, in the same manner as deltas are formed where
rivers meet the sea, the salt water being excluded, in spite of continued
subsidence, by the accumulation of alluvial matter brought down, inces-
santly from the land above. Afterwards I suppose an upward move-
ment gradually to restore the country to its former level, and, during
this upheaval, the rivers remove a large part of the accumulated mud,
96
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
sand and gravel. I have already shown that on the coast of Georgia
and South Carolina, in the United States, we have positive proofs of
modern oscillations of level, similar to those here assumed.
The rock forming the hills and table-lands around Cincinnati, called
the blue limestone, has been commonly referred to the age of the
Trenton limestone of New York, but is considered by Messrs. Conrad
and Hall, and I believe with good reason, as comprehending also the
Hudson river group. It seems impossible, however, to separate these
divisions in Ohio, so that the' district colored blue (No. 15) may be re-
garded as agreeing with Nos. 14 and 15 in other parts of my map.
Several of the fossils which I collected at Cincinnati, the encrinites and
aviculae (of the sub-genus Pterined) in particular, agree with those
which I afterward procured near Toronto, on the northern shores of
Lake Ontario.
After seeing at Cincinnati several fine collections of recent and fossil
shells in the cabinets of Messrs. Buchanan, Anthony and Clark, I ex-
amined with care the quarries of blue limestone and marl in the sub-
urbs. The organic remains here are remarkably well preserved for so
ancient a rock, especially those occurring in a compact argillaceous
blue limestone, not unlike the lias of Europe. Its deposition ' appears
to have gone on very tranquilly, as the lingula has been met with in its
natural and erect position, as if enclosed in mud when alive, or still
standing on its peduncle. Crnstaceans of the. genus Trinacleus are
found spread out in great numbers on layers of the solid marl, as. also
another kind of trilobite, called Paradoxides, equally characteristic of
the Lower Silurian system of Europe. The large hotelus gigas, three or
four inches long, a form represented, in the Lower Silurian of northern
Europe, by the asaphi with eight abdominal articulations, deserves also
to be mentioned, and a species of graptolite. I obtained also Spirifer-
lynx in great abundance, a shell which Messrs. Murchisbn and De
Verneuil regard as very characteristic of the Lower Silurian beds of^
Russia and Sweden. Among the mollusca I may also mention Cept<Bnar
sericea, Orthls striatula, Belleropkon bilobatus, Aviculte of the 'sub-
genus Pterinea, Cypricradia, Orthoccras, and others. There were
also some beautiful forms of Crinoidea, or stone-lilies, and many corals,
which Mr. Lonsdale informs me differ considerably from those hitherto
known in Britain — a circumstance probably arising from the small de-
velopment of coralline limestones in the Lower Silurian strata of our
island. Several species of the new genus Stenopora of Lonsdale are
remarkably abundant.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX.
January 6th, occurred the first annual meeting of the
New England society; Henry Starr, president. On the
fifteenth, the post office was removed from near the
Henrie house to the Masonic building, at the corner of
Third and Walnut streets.
March 25th, Messrs. Wright & Graff sold at auction
seventy-five feet of ground, with buildings thereon, on
the southeast corner of Third and Walnut, for fifteen
thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars; and April
14th, there was a considerable sale of lots belonging to
the Barr estate, at the West end.
April 17th, Miles Greenwood's foundry was burned,
but he rebuilt promptly and reoccupied September 17th,
just five months after the fire.
On the 9th of July the First and Second Ohio infantry
regiments, commanded by Colonels O. M. Mitchel and
Curtis, left Camp Washington for the theatre of war in
Mexico.
August 10th, announcement was made that the Little
Miami railroad would run its first train to Springfield.
On the 14th, the Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, for many years
pastor of the First Presbyterian church, dies.
September 7th, the Merchants' exchange is opened in
the college building. On the 28th Edward Byington
falls by the hand of violence, slain by Theodore Church.
New buildings to the number of nine hundred and
eighty were erected.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN.
New buildings this year, one thousand one hundred
and forty. The first five-story brick in Cincinnati was
put up at the corner of Pearl and Walnut streets, by Ed-
mund B. Reeder — the building afterwards occupied by
Booth's hardware store. While the cellar was being dug,
an old bystander gave the interesting information that he
had once loaded a fiat-boat on that very spot.
On the twenty-first of August, the first public tele-
graphic dispatch wired to Cincinnati was received by the
local press. It was justly accounted a very interesting
event.
In December another tremendous flood occurred in
the Ohio, reaching its height about the seventeenth, when
it stood only six inches lower than in the great freshet of
1832. The city was better prepared for it, however, and
although there was much distress and loss, it did not
entirely renew the excitement and unhappy scenes of fif-
teen years before.
On the twenty-second of April, Levi Coffin and family
moved to Cincinnati. This arrival is solely noticeable
because it brought a strong reinforcement to the rather
feeble band of abolitionists in the city, and because it in-
troduced here a new branch of trade — a grocery store at
which, no products of slave labor were to be had. Mr.
Coffin was of- Massachusetts and Maryland stock, but a
native of. North. Carolina, where he became thoroughly
impressed, with the ills of slavery, and a confirmed abo-
litionist. He went in 1822 to Indiana, and taught school
there awhile, returned to North Carolina, engaged in
teaching again, but came west finally in the fall of 1826
and located at Newport, Wayne county, Indiana, where
he remained for more than twenty years, engaged in
store-keeping, pork-packing, making linseed oil, and
managing a station of the Underground railroad. In
the last named business — quite the reverse of profitable,
in a pecuniary sense — he was exceedingly zealous, and
assisted many fugitive slaves in the direction of the
north star. He says in his volume of Reminiscences:
"This work was kept up during the time we lived in
Newport, a period of more than twenty years. The num-
ber of fugitives varied considerably in different years,
but the annual average was more than one hundred."
It was to his house in Newport that the Eliza Harris
of Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin went, on her journey
northward, and told her thrilling story of escape.
In 1844 he became convinced that it was wrong to sell,
buy, or use any product of slave toil, and began the
search for groceries and cotton goods that were, from first
to last, solely the result of free labor. He found associ-
ations already existing in Philadelphia and New York,
manufacturing goods of free-labor cotton, and getting
sugar and other groceries from the British West Indies
and other localities where slavery did not exist He
bought a limited stock of these for his Newport store
and sold them, necessarily to Abolitionists almost exclu-
sively, and at a very small profit, compared with that he
might have realized from slave-labor wares. He traveled
in the south to find localities where slaves were not used
in the production of cotton and sugar ; and in one case,
/.,,. 1,1 - ■ ■
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
97
where cotton was ruined for his purposes by being neces-
sarily passed through a gin operated by slaves, he bought
a three hundred dollar gin in Cincinnati and shipped it
to Mississippi, relying upon his correspondent there to
pay for it in cotton. It was thenceforth known as the
"Abolition gin," and greatly stimulated the production of
free-labor cotton.
Mr. Coffin came to Cincinnati in 1847, at the solicita-
tion of a Union Free-labor convention, held at Salem,
Indiana, the previous fall, to open a wholesale depository
of free-labor goods. This he did, though at much pecu-
niary sacrifice and in the face of much personal obloquy.
Contrary to his expectation, he had also to remain in act-
ive service as president of the Underground railroad, as
he had come now to be generally considered. His Rem-
iniscences say.
I was personally acquainted with all the active and reliable workers
on the Underground railroad in the city, both colored and white. There
were a few wise and careful managers among the colored people, but it
was not safe to trust all of them with the affairs of our work. Most of
them were too careless, and a few were unworthy — they could be bribed
by the slave-hunters to betray the hiding-places of the fugitives.
We were soon initiated into Underground railroad matters in Cincin-
nati, and did not lack for work. Our willingness to aid the slaves was
soon known, and hardly a fugitive came to the city without applying to
us for assistance. There seemed to be a continual increase of run-
aways, and such was the vigilance of the pursuers that I was obliged to
devote a large share of time from my business to making arrangements
for the concealment and safe conveyance of the fugitives. They some-
times came to our door frightened and panting and in a destitute con-
dition, having fled in such haste and fear that they had no time to bring
any clothing except what they had on, and that was often very scant.
The expense of providing suitable clothing for them when it was neces-
sary for them to go on immediately, or of feeding them when they were
obliged to be concealed for days or weeks, was very heavy. Added to
this was the cost of hiring teams when a party of fugitives had to be
conveyed out of the city by night to some Underground railroad depot,
from twenty to thirty miles distant. The price for a two-horse team on
such occasions was ten dollars, and sometimes two or three teams were
required. We generally hired these teams from a certain German livery
stable, sending some irresponsible though honest colored man to pro-
cure them, and always sending the money to pay for them in advance.
The people of the livery stable seemed to understand what the teams
were wanted for, and asked no questions.
Learning that the runaway slaves often arrived almost destitute of
clothing, a number of the benevolent ladies of the city— Mrs. Sarah
H. Ernst, Miss Sarah O. Ernst, Mrs. Henry Miller, Mrs. Dr. Ayde-
lott, Mrs. Julia Harwood, Mrs. Amanda E. Foster, Mrs. Elizabeth
Coleman, Mrs. Mary Mann, Mrs. Mary M. Guild, Miss K. Emery,
and others — organized an anti-slavery sewing society, to provide suit-
able clothing for the fugitives. After we came to the city, they met at
our house every week for a number of years, and wrought much prac-
tical good by their labors.
Our -house was large, and well adapted for secreting fugitives. Very
often slaves would lie concealed in upper chambers for weeks, without
the boarders or frequent visitors at the house knowing anything about
it. My wife had a quiet, unconcerned way of going about her work,
as if nothing unusual was on hand, which was calculated to lull every
suspicion of those who might be watching, and who would have been
at once aroused by any sign of secrecy or mystery. Even the intimate
friends of the family did not know when there were slaves secreted in
the house, unless they were directly informed. When my wife took
food to the fugitives she generally concealed it in a basket, and put
some freshly ironed garment on the top, to make it look like a basket-
ful of clean clothes. Fugitives were not often allowed to eat in the
kitchen, from fear of detection.
The interest of these statements, as part of a mem-
orable chapter of local and political history, justifies the
space we have given to them. Mr. Coffin remained in
Cincinnati, successfully but modestly conducting his
business as an Abolition storekeeper and underground
railway manager so long as necessary; and after the war,
at a meeting of the colored folk of Cincinnati and vicin-
ity, to celebrate the adoption of the fifteenth amendment
to the Constitution, he formally and humorously resigned
his office as President of the Underground railroad, de-
claring that " the stock had gone down in the market,
the business was spoiled, the road was of no further use" ;
and retired amid much applause. During the war and
afterwards, he did much good work among the destitute
and suffering freedmen. He since published his Remin-
iscences in a thick volume, abounding in interesting nar-
ratives. After his death a second edition was published,
with an added chapter giving an account of his closing
years. He died at his residence in Avondale, September
16, 1877, at the advanced age of seventy-nine, leaving
his widow still surviving.
A terrible riot occurred at the county jail this year,
resulting in the death of eleven persons, some of whom
were wholly innocent of any complicity with the mob.
Two soldiers in the Mexican war had been discharged at
its close and returned to the city with their land war-
rants. They were soon after accused of an outrage upon
the person of the little daughter of the family with whom
they were boarding, near the Brighton house, and were
lodged in the old jail, on Sycamore street, the officers
taking them thither fighting their way with the utmost
difficulty through an infuriated mob. . Toward evening
an immense crowd gathered about the place, which was
'guarded by the finest military companies in the city — the
Greys and the Citizens' Guards — and several rushes were
made upon the building. At first the assailants were re-
pulsed by the firing of blank cartridges; but at last, when
the soldiers were pressed back, and the ringleaders were
actually within the doors of the jail, it became necessary
to fire with ball, which was done with terribly fatal effect,
stretching eleven persons lifeless at the first fire, some of
them at a distance from the mob, and not participating
in it. The people were unarmed and dispersed at once
in haste, not to return; and the prisoners were saved
from the threatened vengeance. After a little time for
reflection, popular feeling settled in favor of the action
of the officers and soldiery, and finally in favor of the
prisoners themselves. They were not even brought to
trial, the grand jury unanimously refusing to bring a bill
of indictment against them; and there is little doubt that
the infamous charge was part of a scheme to dispossess
them of the land-warrants which they had honestly
earned by hard and dangerous service. Public opinion
was turned so strongly against their persecutors, indeed,
that they found it advisable to disappear from the com-
munity, to escape possible lynching themselves.
Number of new buildings this year, one thousand
three hundred and five.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE.
The number of names upon the directory this year is
twenty-one thousand five hundred and forty-five, exceed-
ing the number upon the directory of 1846 by six thou-
sand nine hundred and forty-five. The addition was
made this year of Fulton, a tolerably large and densely
98
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
populated suburb, equal to about one-third of the former
dimensions of the city. The Burnet house was erected
this year by a joint stock company, and was then ac-
counted the finest hotel building in the country. Many
distinguished persons were its guests, in the earlier as
well as the later days. The room once occupied by
Jenny Lind still bears her name.
In November or December came the famous Lady
Emmeline Stuart Wortley. She staid but one day in
Cincinnati, on account of the crowded hotels, and made
few remarks upon the place in the book she afterwards
published. She noted it as a "very handsome city, in a
remarkably fine situation;" has a good word for the Ger-
man immigrants; has her attention attracted by "the
floating wharves, which are rendered necessary by the
continued and rapid fluctuations of the river." She gives
the town a malicious little fling at the close :
It may be confidently stated that Cincinnati, the pride of the banks
of "La Belle Riviere," is in fact what its name, "Porkopolis," implies
— the Empire city of pigs, as well as of the west; but it is fortunate that
they condescendingly allow human beings to share the truly magnifi-
cent location with them.
On the first of May, one train per day, each way, be-
gan to run over the Little Miami railroad to Springfield.
On the sixth occurred the murder of O- Brasher by
Jesse Jones; and on the tenth the death of Colonel
Charles H. Brough, a prominent lawyer of the city, and
soldier of the Mexican war.
July 20th was made memorable by the poisoning of
the Simmons family, and November 30th by the at-
tempted destruction in the same way of the Forrest fam-
ily, by the notorious poisoner, Nancy Farrer, in whose
trial the young lawyer, Rutherford B. Hayes, late Presi-
dent of the United States, bore a distinguished part.
She finally escaped the meshes of the law, on the plea of
insanity, and was sent to the Lick Run asylum.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his Memoirs of Dr. Drake,
submits the following valuable remarks and statistics con-
cerning the fatality and social characteristics of the chol-
era in Cincinnati this year :
It commenced at the middle of April, but did not entirely cease until
the return of frosts; but the intensity of the pestilence may be dated
from the middle of June to the middle of August. In other words, it
increased and declined with the heat. Except in the first season, 1832,
this has been its uniform characteristic in every year of its appearance.
It was so in 1833, '34, '39, '49, '50, '51, and '52. In the latter seasons it
was very light. In September, 1849, the Board of Health in Cincinnati
returned the following number of deaths, between the first of May and
the first of September — four months :
Deaths by cholera 4, 1 14
Deaths by other diseases 2,345
Aggregate 6,459
If we add to this the aggregate number of deaths in the last two
weeks of April, and from the first of September to the fifteenth of Oc-
tober, during which the number of deaths exceeded the average, we
shall have for six months at least seven thousand, of which four thou-
sand six hundred were from cholera. The mortality of the other six
months, at the aggregate rate, was only one thousand five hundred. ■
We have, then, for 1849, a total mortality of eight thousand five hun-
dred, which (the population of the city being one hundred and sixteen
thousand) made a ratio of one in fourteen.
If we examine this mortality socially, we shall arrive at some extraor-
dinary results. The division of the cemeteries at Cincinnati, by na-
tionalities and religions, is so complete that it is easily determined how
many of Americans and how many Protestants died of cholera. Tak-
ing the number given above, of those who died between the first of May
and the first of September, we have this result :
German, Irish, and Hebrews, died of cholera in four months 2,896
Americans, English, Scotch, and Welsh, " 1,218
4,114
We see thus that the deaths among the Germans and
Irish are within a fraction of being fourfold that of the Americans and
double that of the entire population proportionally. A more minute
and detailed investigation of this matter would, perhaps, prove that the
proportion of mortality was even more than this against the foreign
element.
At some time during the forties, probably, but in some
year or years which we are unable to designate with cer-
tainty, a series of letters was written from a house now
within the precincts of the city, which, as collected and
published by the celebrated English authoress, Mary
Howitt, under the title of our Cousins in Ohio, form
one of the most pleasant little books in the Cin-
cinnati literature. Names in them are carefully con-
cealed, and even Cincinnati is not once mentioned ; but
the local coloring is in places unmistakable. "Red
creek," for example, is undoubtedly Mill creek, and
Big Bluff creek, very likely, was Lick run; and Stony
creek Bold-face, which enters the river at Sedamsville.
The cedar grove mentioned as "the cedars," where lived
a sister of Mary Howitt and from which the letters were
written, is now occupied by the Young Ladies' Academy
of St. Vincent de Paul, a Roman Catholic institution,
conducted by the Sisters of Charity, beyond Price's
hill, on the Warsaw turnpike, in the extreme western
part of the city. It was formerly the property of a Mr.
Alderson. We present some entertaining extracts from
the book in question :
The wooden bridge over the Red creek was now repaired. This was
but a temporary bridge, the great stone bridge having been swept
away the former summer, in a thunder-storm ; and this was the third
that our friends had seen over Red creek since they came into the
country. When first they came, it was crossed by an old, covered,
wooden bridge ; and this was burned down one night by a man whose
horses' feet stuck fast in a hole of the planking, which made him so an-
gry that he vowed never again to be stopped by the same cause, and
therefore he set fire to the bridge before he left the place. In the course
of the summer a new bridge was again to be erected.
This Red creek was a small tributary of the Ohio. It was a very
beautiful stream, and its serpentine course could be traced at the cedars,
although its waters were unseen, by the white trunks and branches of
the buttonwood trees which grew upon its banks. It was famous in
Indian tradition, and the children often sang to themselves, in a low,
chanting strain, one of its legends, which an American poet had beau-
tifully sung in modern verse.
This day proved altogether an eventful one. Uncle Cornelius [Col-
onel Sedam?] told them about the landing of three hundred and ninety-
five emancipated slaves which he had witnessed [in Cincinnati]. They
arrived in the steamer at about eight o'clock that morning. They were
a motley company of men, women, and children, old and young, but
all decently dressed, and bringing with them their wagons and house-
hold stuff and considerable property — some people said to the value of
ten thousand pounds. The history of their emancipation was interest-
ing. It had been a struggle of nine years' continuance ; but to the
honor of the south, the law had decided in their favor, and they were
on their way to Mercer county, in the State of Ohio, which was chiefly
settled by free colored people, and where a tract of land had been pur-
chased for them.
These poor people had been the property of one John Randolph, a.
wealthy planter of Roanoke, Virginia. During his lifetime he had been
a strenuous upholder of slavery ; yet, even then, it was said that his con-
science often rebelled against him, and, but for custom and the fear
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
99
of ridicule, and perhaps of persecution also, he would have liberated
his slaves. He did, however, all that he believed it possible for him to
do; he provided in his will for their liberation after his death, and left a
handsome provision for their transportation to a free State and for their
maintenance there.
But this, it is said, did not' satisfy his conscience on his dying bed.
Being then unable to speak, he called for a pencil and paper, and wrote
upon it the word, "Remorse." He felt, it is probable, in those last
moments that even the act of kindness which he had prepared to do
after his death could not atone to the Almighty for a lifelong practice
of oppression, against the sinfulness of which his own soul had even
thus testified.
He died, and after a long nine years' struggle the slaves were freed
by law; and thus they now were on their way to what they hoped would
be a home of freedom and peace. Uncle Cornelius said that the prin-
cipal street of the city presented a singular sight, and one which they
who saw would not soon forget. First came in the procession a crowd
of negroes — men, women, and children, all dressed in coarse, cotton
garments, but having the appearance of people who, by their dress,
were in comfortable circumstances. They were on their way from the
river, up which the steamer had brought them, to the canal, where
they were again to embark for their new location. Behind them came
their baggage-wagons, which formed a very long and singular array;
and altogether it was the most extraordinary company of emigrants
which had ever been seen in those parts. Many of the women had
very young babies in their arms ; there were also some very old people
amongst them, and the one who brought up the rear was a very striding
figure. He was the oldest and noblest-looking colored man that Uncle
Cornelius had ever seen; he walked slowly with a. long cane, and had
something grand and patriarchal in'his aspect and manner. Probably
he might be one of those who had been brought up with his afterwards
celebrated master, and, perhaps, when remorse wrung his death-bed
soul, he might be remembered by him as one to whom a lifelong injus-
tice had been done.
Willie, one day, at the beginning of the month, rode with his father
some miles up the country, to Stony Creek valley, to see the wagon
loaded with charcoal, for which purpose it had been sent beforehand.
Charcoal was used to burn in a small stove with coal or wood, in the
cold mornings and evenings, to warm and cheer the rooms; and a store
of it was therefore laid in.
Stony Creek valley was one of the most secluded valleys in the
neighborhood; the road which ran along it passed through pleasant
woods, and now and then crossed the rocky bed of the stream. The
Valley itself was famous for lime and charcoal-burning; it was but little
cleared of wood, and the houses, .-which were mostly log-cabins, were
inhabited by Germans, principally charcoal-burners. There was a pleas-
ant kind of poetical, out-of-the- world character about the whole place;
and the curling smoke which rose up so dreamily into the sunny sky,
from the rude charcoal and lime kilns, added greatly to its effect.
CHAPTER XIV.
CINCINNATI'S SEVENTH DECADE.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY.
The census of this year was taken under inauspicious
conditions, on account of the return of the cholera from
its visitation of 1 84o7jNevertheless the figures obtained,
one hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and
thirty-eight, were very large as contrasted with the forty-
six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight of ten years
before, showing an increase in the decade of sixty-nine
thousand one hundred, or very nearly two hundred and
fifty per cent. — an average of almost seven thousand
newcomers every year. The new buildings this year
numbered one thousand four hundred and eighteen, and
the total number of buildings was sixteen thousand two
hundred and eighty-six. The new ones included five
stone, nine hundred and thirty-nine brick, and four hun-
dred and sixty-four frame structures. Brick houses had
advanced in number beyond all others, and were now
three-fifths of all in Cincinnati. Among new public
edifices were the German Protestant Orphan asylum, the
Widow's home, sundry school-houses and engine houses,
the Episcopal church on Sycamore street, and St. John's,
at the corner of Seventh and Plum, the First and Seventh
Presbyterian churches, and two hotels. The City hall
and new court house were projected, the public offices
being still at the southeast corner of Fourth and Vine
streets. Fourteen macadamized roads now entered the
city, with an aggregate length of five hundred and four-
teen miles; two canals, together with their extensions,
reaching out five hundred and sixty miles, and twenty-
one railways, were in the immediate Cincinnati connec-
tions, in all measuring one thousand seven hundred and
thirteen miles, with five hundred and eighty-six miles
more in progress and one thousand and six undertaken.
The churches of the city numbered ninety-one, with four
synagogues.
Mr. Charles Cist, writing for his decennial volume
(Cincinnati in 1851) of the next year, has the following
paragraph concerning the heterogeneous character of the
city's population. Although written thirty years ago, it
is well worth quotation now:
The population of the city presents many varieties of physiology.
The original settlers were from various States of the Union; and the
armies of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, during the Indian wars, left
behind them a still greater variety of persons. The subsequent immi-
gration, though largely from the Middle and northern Atlantic States,
has been, in part, from the more southern. In latter years it has been
composed, still more than from either, of Europeans. The most
numerous of these are Germans, next Irish; then English, Scotch, and
Welsh. Very few French, Italians, or Spaniards have sought it out.
Lastly, its African population, chiefly emancipated slaves and their
offspring, from Kentucky and Virginia, is large; and although inter-
marriages with the whites are unknown, the streets show as many mu-
latto, griffe, and quadroon complexions as those of New Orleans.
Thusrjthe varieties of national physiology are very great.
yThis was a cholera year in Cincinnati, one terribly de-
structive to human life, and resulting in a panic, which
at one time almost depopulated the city. The number
of deaths reached the high figure of four thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two — more than four per cent, of the
entire population. J The census was taken this year, and
Mr. Cist says, in nis Cincinnati in 185 1 : "The popula-
tion returns were further reduced, from the still greater
numbers put to flight by the approach and arrival of that
pestilence. For weeks every vehicle of conveyance was
filled with these fugitives, who, in most cases, did not
return in time to be included in the enumeration of in-
habitants." He thought that, but for this drawback, the
census would have made a return for-the city of not less
than one hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants. The
actual figures obtained were, as we have seen, one hun-
dred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight
— an increase of two hundred and fifty per cent, in ten
years, against an increase of ninety per cent, from 1830
to 1840. No other city in the United States exhibited a
ratio of increase so large, nor was there any other whose
absolute increase was so great, except only Philadelphia
and New York
IOO
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
February 2d, Mr. John C. Avery, one of the earlier
sheriffs of the county, died at his home in Cincinnati.
May 3d, the well known hotel keepers, Messrs. Cole-
man & Reilly, having become lessees of the new Burnet
house, gave a grand ball by way of house-warming.
June 18th, officer Peter Davison, of the police force,
was murdered by John C. Walker.
On the first of September the house of refuge was
opened for the reception of inmates.
The Little Miami railroad depot, at the corner of
Front and Kilgour streets, was erected this year.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE.
The American Association for the Advancement of
Science, then an infant in years, but a strong and vigor-
ous one, met in the Queen City this year. At the close
of the session, in seconding a resolution of thanks to the
good people of the place tor their hospitalities and court-
esies, Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, very
handsomely said :
He had heard much of the Great West, much of the Queen City, and
had come to put his anticipations to the test. He expected to see a
boundless, magnificent forest world, with the scattered clearings, and
log cabins, and energetic New-England-descended inhabitants ; he
thought to find Cincinnati a thriving frontier town, exhibiting views of
neat wood houses, with white fronts, ' ' green doors, and brass knock-
ers ;" but instead of this, he found himself in a city of palaces, reared
as if by magic, and rivaling in appearance any city of the Eastern
States or of Europe. But it was not things of mere stone, brick, and
mortar, which pleased him most in the Queen of the West. Imperial
Rome had her palaces and noble structures, but in her proudest days
she boasted not of a Mechanics' Institute, an Academy of Natural
Sciences, a Mercantile Library Association, or a Young Mens' Lyceum
of Natural History. These are the pride of Cincinnati, these her noblest
works. Grateful as we ought to be, and are, for the kindness and
courtesy shown us as members of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, we are more thankful to the Cincinnatians for
having founded her literary and scientific associations, and for liberally
opening her treasuries of knowledge to the world.
Among the many visits to the city in 1851, was that of
Lord Morpeth, the Right Honorable the Earl of Carlisle,
whose tour through this country made a great stir in
social, political, and other circles. In the lectures pro-
nounced and printed after his return home, he said the
following of the Queen City :
I again turned my face to the west, and passed Cincinnati, which,
together with all that I saw of the State of Ohio, seemed to me the part
of the Union where, if obliged to make the choice, I should like best to
fix my abode. It has a great share of the civilization and appliances of
the old-settled States of the east, with the richer soil, the softer climate,
the fresher spring of life, which distinguish the west. It had, besides,
to me the great attraction of being the first free State which I reached
on my return from the region of slavery ; and the contrast in the ap-
pearance of prosperity and progress is just what a friend of freedom
would always wish it to be. One of my visitors at Cincinnati told me
he remembered when the town only contained a few log cabins ; when
I was there it had fifty thousand [!] inhabitants. I shall not easily for-
get an evening yiew from a neighboring hill, over loamy cornfields,
woody knolls, and even some vineyards, just where the Miami river dis-
charges its gentle stream into the ample Ohio.
The city this year had a population of one hundred
and thirty-two thousand three hundred thirty-three, an
increase of nearly seventeen thousand upon the census
of the year before.
May 23d, Horatio Wells, of the Cincinnati type foun-
dry, was accidentally shot.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY- TWO.
The population of the city had now mounted to one
hundred and forty-five thousand five hundred and sixty-
three, an increase of thirteen thousand two hundred and
thirty-three, or nearly twelve per cent, upon that of the
previous year.
May 4th, the eighteenth anniversary of the Young
Men's Mercantile Library association was observed with
much eclat. A poem was recited by Thomas Buchanan
Read, and the Hon. J. T. Morehead delivered an address
upon the Growth of Commerce in the West.
The same day was characterized by a widely different
transaction — the murder of William Church by Henry
Le Count, for which the assassin suffered the extreme
penalty of the law on the twenty-sixth of the ensuing
December. This was the first private execution under
the statute requiring privacy, and was in the jail-yard,
about which surged an immense multitude, while there
were many onlookers from the windows which com-
manded a view of the scene.
This was the year of Kossuth's tour in the United
States, in the course of which he visited Cincinnati.
Francis Pulszky, his compatriot and fellow-traveller,
makes the following notes of the visit, in the book of
Sketches of American Society published by himself when
the tour was over. Says Pulszky:
I preceded Kossuth thither, in order to deprecate on his part all costly
processions, pageantry and banquets; and as he was exhausted already
by speeches, I wished to arrange matters so that he should onlv once
address the multitude, and once those who had formed themselves into
associations of friends of Hungary.
But as soon as I was introduced to the committee of arrangements,
I saw that my diplomacy must fail. Thirty gentlemen belonged to that
body, and the great question was just under discussion whether, be-
sides the mayor of the city, it should be the chairman of the city coun-
cil, or the chairman of the committee of arrangements, who was to
occupy the carriage with the ' city's guest ' at the festive entry. I do
not remember how this grave concern was settled; but, of course, it
was impossible under such circumstances to carry the proposal that no
procession should be held. Besides, every coterie claimed a separate
speech; and the result was that Kossuth had to address 'the Big peo-
ple' of Cincinnati at a banquet, and others again at 'Nixon's hall,'
and then the ladies and the Northern Germans, and the Southern Ger-
mans, and the fashionable public at large, and the lower classes at
large, and likewise the inhabitants of Covington, the suburbs of Cin-
cinnati on the Kentucky side.
But this was not the only consequence of the want of homogeneity
in the population of Cincinnati. Kossuth several times requested the
members of the committee to allow that he should himself bear his
own expenses, and that the appropriation made for his entertainment
by the city council, which had invited him, should be given to the
Hungarian fund, The committeemen declined to comply with his de-
sire; it seemed to them mean to do it. We left Cincinnati; and Mr.
Coleman, the lessee of the Burnet Honse— the splendid hotel in which
we had been accommodated— presented his bill to the city council.
Some other remarks of Pulszky's are in better temper :
American grandiloquence is too well-known. We can scarcely sup-
press a smile, when every westerner whom we meet, assures us in the
first moment of our acquaintance, that America is a great country.
But when we see Cincinnati, with its one hundred and thirty thousand
inhabitants, its extensive commerce and navigation; the canal connect-
ing the Ghi with Lake Erie; the railways radiating in every direction
from this common centre; its schools and colleges; its astronomical
observatory; its ninety-two churches and chapels; its ten daily papers,
and its numerous beneficent institutions; and when we remember that
in 1788 this city was laid out in the wilderness, we must excuse the
boast of the American. He has full right to pride himself on his nation
and on its energies. After the difficulties he has surmounted, and with
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
IOl
the self-confidence they have inspired in him, he does not know the
limit which could stop his progress.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE.
Estimated population, one hundred and sixty-five thou-
sand; other figures report it more specifically at one hun-
dred and sixty-one thousand one hundred and eighty-six
— a large increase in either case.
The city building, between Plum and Qentral avenue,
on Eighth street, was erected this year, two hundred and
five feet long and fifty-two feet wide.— The ground and
park- in front cost sixty thousand dollars, the building
about twenty-seven thousand dollars. It is still occupied
by the city offices, though long since insufficient and un-
fit for their purposes. The park comprises about one
and a quarter acres.
On the ninth of December a remarkable criminal
trial, known in the bar traditions as the " Kissane forgery
case," came up for hearing and determination.
Cincinnati had at least one distinguished visitor this
year, in William Chambers, the renowned Edinburgh au-
thor and publisher. In the inevitable book that fol-
lowed he remarked of Cincinnati, among other things :
Public education being enjoined and liberally provided for by the
laws of Ohio, the stranger who takes any interest in such matters will
find in Cincinnati numerous schools worthy of his notice, in which in-
struction of the best quality is imparted without charge to all pupils
indiscriminately. Where free education exists in England, it is a
charity; here it is a right. The natural fruit of a system so exceed-
ingly bounteous is an educated population, possessing tastes and as-
pirations which seek a solacement in literature from the materialities of
every-day life. I do not know that I ever saw a town of its size so well
provided as Cincinnati with publishers, libraries and reading-rooms.
The Young Men's Mercantile Library association has a most imposing
suite of apartments fitted up as a library and reading-room — the num-
ber of books amounting to fourteen thousand volumes, and the reading
room showing a display of desks, on which are placed nearly a hundred
newspapers. Cincinnati is, I believe, also favorably known for its cul-
tivation of the fine arts; and its exhibition of pictures, at any rate,_ shows
that its inhabitants do not employ all their time in mere money-making.
In the cathedral of St. Peter there are some valuable paintings by Eu-
ropean artists; one, by Murillo, having been a gift from Cardinal Fesch.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR.
May 5 th, the new superior court was organized, with
Bellamy Storer, Oliver M. Spencer, and W. Y. Gholson,
as judges.
May 26th a citizen named Arrison was murdered by
means of an infernal machine.
July 27th is the date of a notable event in the organ-
ization of the fire department of the city — the public trial
of the steam fire engine Citizen's Gift, built in Cincinnati
and paid for by a popular subscription.
The population is set down this year at one hundred
and seventy thousand and fifty seven.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE.
Population one hundred and seventy-two thousand
three hundred and seventy. Growth is slower, and the
rate of increase now falls off year by year.
On Washington's birthday a grand "dramatic festival"
or performance is given at the National theatre, on Syca-
more street, for the benefit of the poor. A number of
well known citizens take part as amateurs; among them
Charles Anderson, Judge Flinn, William H. Lytle, Wil-
liam B. Cassily, and Martin B. Coombs. Four thousand
dollars are realized from the receipts.
April 5th there is a sharp fight "over the Rhine" be-
tween the Know Nothings and the Germans. On the
tenth — city election day — there is a mob in the Elev-
enth ward, which destroys a ballot-box and scatters the
contents.
June 14th, an accident occurs in the course of excava-
tion of the Walnut Hills railway tunnel, which kills five
men.
August 28th, occurs the opening of the Cincinnati,
Wilmington & Zanesville railroad.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX.
The estimate of population for this year, which is also
continued for the next, is one hundred and seventy-four
thousand. If this statement be correct, or approximate
correctness, the town was virtually at a stand-still for one
year.
February 2d, a vote was given by the citizens, author-
izing the loan of the city's credit to the amount of six
hundred thousand dollars, to the Ohio & Mississippi rail-
road.
April 4th, Police Lieutenant Parker loses his life at the
hands of an assassin.
May 20th, the Daily Times publishes the names of fif-
teen residents of Cincinnati, then still surviving, who had
lived in the city fifty years or more, and were all more
than seventy years old ; thirteen others had lived here
thirty to fifty years; forty-three were sixty to seventy years
old, and had lived here over thirty years ; and thirty-four
more, not so old, had lived in Cincinnati more than that
period. The pioneers were largely'of hardy, long-lived
stock. A number of additional names were sent in by a
correspondent the next day.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN.
May 29th, the city council passes an ordinance prohib-
itory of the sale of liquor on Sunday, by a vote of twenty-
six to seven. On the twenty-eighth, Jacob W. Piatt dies.
On the thirtieth, there is great excitement over a fugitive
slave case, in the course of which the United States mar-
shal is stabbed, but not killed.
June 24th, grand railroad excursions start for St. Louis,
New York, and Boston, to celebrate the opening of the
Ohio & Mississippi and the Marietta & Cincinnati rail-
roads.
July 2, a very destructive fire occurs, laying in ashes
Resor's stave factory, Johnston & Meader's furniture
factory, and other establishments, with a total loss of
two hundred thousand dollars. On the twenty-second
occurs the Loefner murder and suicide, in which Nicho-
las T. Horton also loses his life by the hand of violence.
A great coal famine prevailed at one. time this year;
and fuel of no other kind being available in sufficient
quantity to afford relief, the price of coal rose to seventy-
five and eighty cents a bushel. All classes, except the
coal dealers, were much embarrassed by it, and the poor
suffered terribly, in some cases actually burning furniture,
partitions, fences, and whatever else was at hand that
was combustible. In this exigency considerable pres-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
sure was brought to bear upon the city council to vote
relief — a measure headed by Hon. Benjamin Eggleston,
then chairman of the finance committee of the council.
After much opposition a vote of one hundred thousand
dollars was obtained, not as a gift, but as a fund for use
in lifting the blockade. A meeting of presidents of all
the railways leading into Cincinnati was held and ar-
rangements consummated for the exclusive use of their
freight trains for a few days in the transportation of coal.
This soon afforded relief. Deliveries at first were limited
to three bushels, at twenty-five cents per bushel, which
represented actual cost; and were increased as larger
supplies were received. When accounts were finally
adjusted the balance against the city was very small,
while a vast amount of good had been done.
A similar event occurred in 1863; but in this case an
absolute grant of one hundred thousand dollars was
made, which was paid out weekly to the needy in small
sums, chiefly to the families of soldiers in the army.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT.
An official census, taken this year, gives the city an enu-
meration of one hundred and seventy-five thousand nine
hundred and sixty-eight. The original Pike's Opera
House is erected, to the great delight of the citizens.
The report of the Superintendent of the Merchant's Ex-
change says : "The most splendid opera house in the
whole country has been built. Whole squares have been
so changed by replacing the old buildings by new as not to
be recognized, new streets have been opened, and the city
rapidly extended over the available space on the west."
February 29th, Captain J. B. Summons, a prominent
citizen, exchanges time for eternity.
April 13th, John Mitchell's chair factory is burned, and
William Gaither accidentally, killed. On the twenty-
second, Pryor P. Lee, engineer at the Cincinnati Type
Foundry, was badly hurt by the explosion of an infernal
machine. A gas explosion also occurred this year in the
basement of the Radical Methodist Church on Sixth
street, and a number were severely injured.
May 9th, Gregory is murdered by Kendall.
October 21st, Augustus Ward murders John Mortimer.
The city had a visit this year from the famous English
poet, Charles Mackay. He devoted to Cincinnati a
pleasant letter of some length, but it is hardly so interest-
ing to read as some of the older accounts of travelers.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE.
The last of Mr. Cist's valuable volumes was published
this year, under the title of Cincinnati in 1859. We ob-
tain from it much of the information which follows. He
estimates the local population at two hundred and twenty-
five thousand, which must have included all the suburbs,
since an enumeration before us, purporting to be official,
places the number of inhabitants at only one hundred and
seventy-eight thousand three hundred and fifteen. The
colored population had been reduced from a ratio in
1840 of one in twenty to one in thirty-seven. The centre
of population in the United States had approached nearer
to Cincinnati, the exact centre being a little below Ma-
rietta.
The city now had a river front of about six miles, with
an average depth to the north corporation line of one
and one-fifth miles. Its area was four thousand five
hundred and twenty-one acres, of which about one-quar-
ter, or one thousand one hundred and twenty-six acres in
the north part, was not subdivided into city lots. This,
however, was more than made good by the suburbs on
the east, west, and north, which were almost as com-
pactly built as the city itself. The number of brick
buildings, but twenty-two per cent, of the whole in 18 15,
was now eighty per cent. It was thought that there was
no city in the world, equal or greater in population, in
which there was so large a share of resident property-
holders. A marked improvement in the style of public
buildings was noted. Among the more recently built
were Pike's Opera House, then considered the finest
public building built by private resources in the world,
the Central Presbyterian church, and the Masonic
temple. 1 he Carlisle building and Shillito's former store
are also mentioned in terms of praise; also the compara-
tively new post office and custom house at the corner of
Vine and Fourth streets,, and the Marine hospital on the
corner of Lock and Six'jji."- _, ; "t
The vine culture had"begn greatly extended within
twenty miles of the city, two thousand acres being covered
with vineyards, and four hundred- thousand gallons of
wine made per year. Cincinnati 'fe'ad become, probably,
the most extensive manufacturing eity in the country.
The capital and yearly expenses invested in manufactures
and mechanical operations were estimated at ninety
million dollars, with a profit of thirty-three and one-third
per cent., or thirty million dollars. Forty-five thousand
persons were engaged in this department of industry,
while five thousand six hundred were in trade and com-
merce, handling values of eighty million dollars, upon
which ten millions were realized, or a profit of twelve and
one-half per cent. The value of manufactured products
for the year was one hundred and twelve million, two
hundred and fifty-four thousand four hundred dollars,
against fifty-four million, five hundred and fifty thousand .
one hundred and thirty-four dollars in 1851, and seven-
teen million, seven hundred and eighty thousand and
thirty-three dollars ten years before. The average value
of raw materials was but fifty per cent, of the entire pro-
duct. The imports of the year were expected to reach
eighty-five millions, and exports ninety millions, giving a
"balance of trade" in favor of Cincinnati of five millions.
The railway lines running into the city now were the
Little Miami, the Marietta & Cincinnati, the Cincin-
nati, Hamilton & Dayton, the Cincinnati & Indiana, and
the Ohio & Mississippi. The place was in full connec-
tion with three thousand two hundred and thirty-two
miles of railroad, and four thousand seven hundred and
eighty-nine miles of connecting lines were under way.
Near Cincinnati the Dayton & State Line and the Cin-
cinnati & Indiana Junction were in preparation.
The city had two banks, one savings bank, eight pri-
vate banks, and one emigrant and remittance office.'
Insurance had been largely developed, and there were
sixteen local companies and forty-three foreign compa-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i°3
nies represented. The higher interests of the community
had kept pace with the material in their march. In jour-
nalism, there were nine daily newspapers, twenty-two
weeklies, six semi-monthlies, thirteen monthlies, and two
annuals — a very fine exhibit for nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury ago. Much had been done for science, literature,
and art. The Ohio Mechanics' institute had nine hun-
dred and fifty .members, and was handsomely lodged in
its building on the corner of Vine and Sixth. The Cin-
cinnati Horticultural society's fairs, then held every spring
and fall, were very popular, and the society was doing a
good work in its province. A great deal of excellent
work in astronomy was being done by Professor Mitchel
and his pupils at the observatory. The Young Men's
Mercantile Library association had three thousand and
seventy members, and a collection of nearly twenty thou-
sand volumes, with an annual circulation of forty-five
thousand. The feeling toward fine art had been im-
proved; and Mr. William Wiswell, at No. 70 West Fourth
street, was devoting the whole lower floor of his building
to a free art gallery, which had become a familiar resort,
especially of evenings.
Education was also far advanced. The public schools
employed two hundred and seventy-eight teachers, which
was twice as many as in 1850, and four times as many as
in 1840. There was sixteen fine school buildings, hold-
ing about nine hundred pupils apiece; and instruction
was also given at public expense in the city infirmary and
the orphan asylum. The Woodward high school had six
teachers and one hundred and seventy-six pupils; the
Hughes high school as many teachers and one hun-
dred and fifty-nine pupils. The lower schools in-
cluded twenty district, four intermediate, and six night
district schools. There was also one night high school
and one normal school. The expense of all for 1858-was
one hundred and thirty-eight thousand six hundred and
five dollars. The Roman Catholic parochial schools had
seventy-eight teachers and seven hundred and seventy-
five pupils; private schools and academies over one hun-
dred and fifty teachers and four thousand students.
The most prominent of these were the Wesleyan Female
college, the Cincinnati Female seminary, the Mount Au-
burn Young Ladies' institute, Herron's seminary for
boys, the English and Classical school, the Law school
in Cincinnati college, St. Xavier's college, six medical
colleges, and Bartlett's Commercial college.
May 6th, the local bar loses one of its prominent mem-
bers, W. R. Morris, esq., by death.
May 16th, Johnson & Meader's furniture factory burns
again, with ten other buildings.
August 20th, the Dayton and Michigan railroad is
opened, giving Cincinnati new connections with Toledo
and Detroit.
September 29th, the "Little Giant" from Illinois, Hon.
Stephen A. Douglas, then in training for a nomination to
the Presidency the next year, visits the city and is warmly
received by his friends and admirers.
CHAPTER XV.
CINCINNATI'S EIGHTH DECADE.
The former half of this was filled with the prologue,
the acts, and the epilogue of the great drama of civil war.
The events of every one of its years, in Cincinnati and
Hamilton county, that are worthy of public record, re-
late almost solely to this; and we have but a meagre rec-
ord besides for this decade. Special chapters will be
given, directly after these brief notes, to the part which
Cincinnati played in the enactment of the mighty tragedy.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY.
The United States census enumerated the total popu-
lation of the city as one hundred and sixty-one thousand
and forty-four. The population by wards, as in other
years, will be found in a table below.
This was the year of the visit of the Prince of Wales and
his illustrious party to Cincinnati, in the course of their tour
through the United States. They came on the special
invitation of Mayor Bishop, and were of course elegantly
entertained while here.
In January came to the Queen City the excursion of
the legislatures of Kentucky and Tennessee, upon the
occasion of the completion of the Louisville & Nashville
railroad, which soon afterwards was to prove so service-
able to the cause of the Union, in the transportation of
men and the material of war. The Solons went on to
Columbus, by way of Xenia, returned to this city by way
of Dayton, and thence to their homes.
On the third of March a lamentable accident occurred
at the new St. Xavier's church, on Sycamore street, in
the falling of an extensive wall, burying no less than six-
teen persons in its ruins — a degree of fatality almost, if
not quite, unequaled in the history of similar accidents.
April 18th, the Young Men's Mercantile Library asso-
ciation completed its twenty-fifth year, and celebrated a
"Silver Festival" in consequence.
May 2d, a great hurricane sweeps over and through
Cincinnati, unroofing buildings and inflicting many other
but mostly petty losses.
On the twenty -fourth of that month, the street railroads
were relieved by the council of the per capita tax which
had theretofore been imposed.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE.
Three hundred and thirty-six new buildings were put
up this year — three hundred and nine of brick and stone,
and twenty-seven of wood.
January 9th, officers Long and Hallam, of the police
force, were killed by the Lohrers, father and son. On
the twenty-fifth Patrick McHugh was hanged for the mur-
der of his wife.
In February President-elect Lincoln passed through
Cincinnati on his way to Washington to be inaugurated.
Mayor Bishop made . a reception speech, to which Mr.
Lincoln replied in terms suited to the momentous crisis
then impending.
April 13th, comes the news of the bombardment of
Fort Sumter, awakening intense indignation and the de-
sire for speedy and adequate punishment of the South for
104
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
its aggressions. Camp Harrison is soon opened for the
reception of volunteers, on the race-ground near Cummins-
ville. On the eighteenth, the conflict having fully opened,
the city council votes two hundred thousand dollars to
the war fund.
May ist, a committee of public safety for the city was
appointed. On the seventeenth, General Robert Ander-
son, returning from his luckless post at Sumter, was given
an enthusiastic public reception for his meritorious con-
duct there.
June 20th, the Indiana regiments passing through Cin-
cinnati were fed at the Fifth street market house.
August 2d, occurred the first reception to the returning
volunteers of the three months regiments. There was,
less joy and enthusiasm on the twenty-ninth, when the
body of Major General Lyon, killed in the battle of Wil-
son's creek, near Springfield, Missouri, was received with
military honors.
September 27th, an uneasy feeling having prevailed for
some time in regard to possible danger from the direction
of Kentucky, measures were taken, but not carried to
completion, to fortify the city.
October ist, came the first sad sight of the arrival of
wounded soldiers from the front of battle.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO. .'
January 24th marked the greatest height of. another
tremendous freshet in the Ohio, which reached within Ta
few feet of the high-water mark of 1832.
February 17th, was celebrated the glorious victory of
Fort Donelson.
March 10th, death of the well known poet, one of
the most notable ever resident in Cincinnati, W. W. Fos-
dick. On the 20th a soldiers' home is opened in the
Trollopean Bazaar. On the 25th a disturbance occurs
at Pike's opera house, in consequence of a lecture there
on public affairs by Mr. Wendell Phillips.
July 1 8th, a state of alarm prevails in the city in con-
sequence of rebel movements in Kentucky. A raid by
John Morgan upon the city is expected, and preparations
are made for defence. On the second a great war meet-
ing had occurred at the Fifth street market place.
August nth, citizens and soldiers attend in large num-
bers the funeral of Colonel Robert L. McCook, murdered
by guerrillas while riding sick in an ambulance in advance
of his troops, in southern Tennessee. A bust of heroic
size was afterwards set up to his memory in Washington
parjc.
September 2d, genuine and well-based alarm again pre-
vails in consequence of the apparent advance on Cincin-
nati of a rebel force in Kentucky, under Generals Kirby
Smith and Heath. On the fourth martial law is pro-
claimed in the city, and before the next day has gone
the city is full of volunteers. Ample preparations are
made here and back of Covington for resistance. The
famous "squirrel hunters'" campaign follows. By the
fourteenth the alarm is mainly over, and the militia are
ordered home by the Governor.
An enumeration of population this year, founded
upon the school census, the Directory, or some other ba-
sis of estimates, yields a total of one hundred and eighty-
four thousand five hundred and seventeen.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE.
Population this year, by official estimate, one hundred
and eighty-six thousand three hundred and twenty-nine.
New Year's Day the great sanitary fair, for the benefit
of sick and wounded soldiers, was opened, and culmi-
nated in a magnificent success. Its operations will be
detailed at some length in the next chapter.
In January died Mrs. Mary Barr, who had been a res-
ident of the city since 1809 — fifty-four years.
April 4th, the order for the re-organization of the State
militia, under the name of the Ohio National Guard, was
received.
May 5th, the place of amusement known as the Palace
Varieties was burned. On the fifteenth of the same
month, the operations of the first draft for the army be-
gan in Cincinnati.
The John Morgan raid through Hamilton county and
southern Ohio generally, occurs in early July, and creates
great excitement in Cincinnati. It is made the subject
of a chapter in part I of this work.
The Plum street railway depot — four hundred feet by
sixty-four — was erected this year.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR.
This year the present Cincinnati, Hamilton, & Dayton
depot — four hundred by sixty — was put up at the corner
of Fifth and Hoadly streets, reaching through to Sixth.
Very little of stirring interest happened this year,
apart from the events of the war. The principal scenes
of conflict were now far away — in northern Georgia and
by the rivers of Virginia — and it was a comparatively
quiet year for Cincinnati.
The estimate of population for the year is one hun-
dred and ninety-three thousand, seven hundred and
nineteen.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE.
The estimate is increased this year to a round two
hundred thousand — probably too great, as all the esti-
mates and professed enumerations thereafter, until the
official census of 1870, which shows the incorrectness of
Ihe figures for a number of previous years.
A liberal system of public improvements was devised
and entered upon by the city authorities after the close
of the war, to remedy defects and neglects which were
inevitable during the continuance of the great struggle.
It included the present magnificent and costly structures
occupied by the Cincinnati Hospital, the Workhouse,
and the House of Refuge.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX.
Estimate of population, two hundred and ten thou-
sand, eight hundred and sixty-six.
January 27th, the police and fire alarm telegraph, for
which a persistent pressure had been kept up for years,
was completed and successfully put in operation.
March 2 2d, the superb opera house erected by Samuel
N. Pike was destroyed by fire. It had two thousand sit-
tings, and on the occasion of Christine Nilsson's first
4^^^ cf.cfcrli^Cr
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i°5
appearance in the city, had held three thousand and
three hundred people. Its destruction recalled the lines
of Mr. T. Buchanan Read, the poet-artist, to Mr. Pike:
Who builds a noble temple unto Art,
And rears it grandly from the head and heart,
Hath done a noble service, and his name
Shall live upon the golden roll of Fame.
April 3d, deceased Mr. M. D. Potter, the senior pro-
prietor of the Commercial.
June 8th, a successful swindle was perpetrated upon
the Third National bank, whereby it lost the sum of
four thousand five hundred dollars.
July nth, another calamity happens to the music and
amusement-loving people of Cincinnati, in the burning
of the Academy of Music building.
The cholera visits the city again this year, and with
terribly destructive effect. The total number of deaths
from this cause here was two thousand and twenty-eight
— one in every ninety-five and seventy-four hundredths
population, or ten and forty-four hundredths in every
thousand. On the thirteenth of August there are eighty-
six deaths by cholera.
August 21st, the splendid Jewish temple, K. K. Benai
Jeshurun, at the corner of Eighth and Plum streets, was
dedicated.
December 1st the great Suspension Bridge is at last
opened to foot travel.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN.
New Year's day had a very satisfactory celebration for
the people of Cincinnati and the Kentucky suburbs, in
the full opening of the suspension bridge to all kinds of
carriage as well as foot travel.
April 4th, three criminals, George Goetz, Alexander
Aulgus, and Samuel Carr, are hanged for the murder of
James Hughes.
Estimate of population for the year, two hundred and
twenty thousand five hundred. This, and the two esti-
mates which follow in this decade, are greater than the
official footings of 1870. The new buildings of the year
counted up one thousand three hundred and seventy-
two.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT.
Estimate of the population, two hundred and thirty-
five thousand. The bonded debt of the city was now
four million five hundred and seven thousand dollars,
having increased one million forty-seven thousand five
hundred dollars within a year, during about which time
had been erected the workhouse and the hospital, the
greater part of the Eggleston Avenue sewer had been
laid, and a material increase in the facilities afforded by
the water-works had been made. The hospital alone,
which was occupied this year, cost seven hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. The aggregate estimated value of
property in the city was eleven million three hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
June 1 8th, a great thunder-storm occurred, during
which several houses in the city were struck by lightning,
and one burned.
On the ninth of July the Varieties theatre was the vic-
tim of the fire-fiend.
November 4th, a public building, devoted to a very
different purpose, the Widows' Home, was also burned.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE.
The estimated population for this year was put in round
numbers at a quarter of a million — too great, probably,
by nearly forty thousand. The city now, according to
Mr. George E. Stevens's book on Cincinnati, from which
we condense the following statements, was the largest and
wealthiest inland city in America. Although but eighty
years old, it had reached a population as great as Phila-
delphia had after one hundred and sixty years' settle-
ment, and as New York had in 1833. It was "moving
steadily and compactly forward to a magnificent future."
It "is destined to become the focus and mart for the
grandest circle of manufacturing thrift on this continent,
the Edinburgh of a new Scotland, the
Boston of a new New England, the Paris of a new
France." Mill creek was still the western boundary, but
the river front was nearly ten miles long, and the north
line of the city was more than two miles from low-water
mark. The front margin of the lower plateau, originally
a steep bank, had been wholly graded down to a gentle
declivity, and much of the surface drainage of the city
passed directly into the river. The wholesale business
was chiefly on Main, Walnut, Vine, Second, and Pearl
streets; the retail trade on Fourth, Fifth, and Central
avenue. The great staples of the Cincinnati markets —
iron, cotton, tobacco, sugar, etc. — were mainly on Front,
Water, and Second streets. Pearl street was largely oc-
cupied by dry goods, notions, clothing, and boot and
shoe stores. Third was then, as now, the Wall street of
Cincinnati, containing many of the banks, insurance and
law offices, etc. The city had four magnificent retail
shopping establishments. Some superb new buildings
had gone up, including those we have named, and also
the St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church, at the corner
of Seventh and Smith streets. There were in all one
hundred and nineteen churches. The Tyler-Davidson
fountain was in progress. The Garden of Eden park had
been surveyed, and a force was occupied in grading it.
Large part of the work on the great reservoir in the park
for the water-works, had been done. A satisfactory in-
crease had been observed in the numerous branches of
productive industry followed in the city. The total esti-
mated value of products for the year was fifty million dol-
lars. About twenty-five thousand children were in the
public schools, and twelve thousand more in private and
parochial schools and seminaries of learning, among which
were now two theological seminaries. The death rate
per year was only eighteen and five one-hundredths in
one thousand of population; and from the single cause
of consumption only nine and forty-eight one-hundredths
per cent, of the deaths occurred, against fourteen and
two one-hundredths in New York city, and fifteen and
thirty-eight one-hundredths in Philadelphia. The fire
department was regarded in efficiency as above any other
on the face of the earth, and the previous year there had
been a remarkable exemption from destructive fires in
Cincinnati,
io6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The first seven months of 1869 were comparatively de-
void of interesting events. August was characterized by
several, however. On the third was opened, in the new
Sinton building, near the Burnet House, the Exposition
of Textile Fabrics, which pioneered the magnificent series
of industrial expositions that have since followed. A
pretty full history of this notable success, and the annual
fairs succeeding, will be found in another chapter. On
the thirty-first of the month, a party of fifty-three Cin-
cinnatians, about one-third of them ladies, and. including
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Buchanan and many other promi-
nent residents, started on an excursion to California, by
way of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette, Toledo,
Wabash & Western, Hannibal & St. Joseph, St. Joseph
& Council Bluffs, Union Pacific, and Central Pacific
railroads. The project was started among the members
of the Chamber of Commerce, the number going limited
to sixty, and the expense of round-trip tickets to three
hundred dollars each. Most of the party returned in a
body October 8th, after an extremely agreeable tour. A
neat little book was afterwards made of the letters con-
tributed by a correspondent with the party to the Cin-
cinnati Commercial.
On the twentieth of October the College building, on
Walnut street, was again desolated by fire. The Mer-
cantile Library suffered much by the flames, water, and
hasty removal, and other institutions in the structure sus-
tained serious loss.
This year occurred the celebrated struggle over the
Bible reading practised in the public schools. It began
at a regular meeting of the School Board September 6th,
in a proposition for the union of the Roman Catholic
schools with the public schools, and an amendment
offered to prohibit the oral reading of religious books, in-
cluding the Bible, before the pupils of the schools. The
subsequent transactions are detailed in our special chap-
ter on Education.
CHAPTER XVI.
CINCINNATI IN THE WAR.
The Queen City found herself, with all her great ad-
vantages of situation for commercial and other purposes,
peculiarly and quite unhappily placed at the outset of the
great war of the Rebellion. Her growth had been largely
the result of Southern trade; her business connections
with the South, by river and rail, were extensive and val-
uable; while her social connections, through the large
immigration from some of the slave States to Cincinnati,
in all periods of her history, through the intermarriage
of many Cincinnatians with Southern families, and
through interchanges of visits and courtesies, were ex-
ceedingly numerous and powerful. Mr. Parton says, in
his little aitid- in the Atlantic Monthly (February, 1863),
on the "Siege of Cincinnati," that many leading families
in the city were in sympathy with the Rebellion, and
that there were few which did not have at least one mem-
ber in its armies. But, he adds, "the great mass of the
people knew not a moment of hesitation, and a tide of
patriotic feeling set in which silenced, expelled, or con-
verted the adherents of the Rebellion." The old busi-
ness relations with the South were speedily broken up,
and the city soon began to reap a great pecuniary harvest
by the supply of gunboats and military stores in immense
quantity, and by the various labors incident to the estab-
lishment and maintenance of camps and the movement
of troops.
Cincinnati, by her local situation, had also much cause
for fear. It was by far the largest and richest city of a
northern State upon the border of a slave State. By its
wealth, and the value of the contents of its banks, its
warehouses, and manufactories, to the Confederacy, as
well as by its steadfast and abounding loyalty, its -zeal
and activity in support of the Union cause, the vengeance
to be wreaked and the prestige to be gained by its fall, it
offered a standing and very great temptation to the Con-
federate arms for capture and plunder. The most nota-
ble facts of its war history are the menace delivered from
the southward by the rebel generals in the summer of
1862, and that from the westward and northward by John
Morgan a year later. Happily, it was delivered from all
its dangers to the end; but the peril was none the less
real and palpable during nearly every year, and in many-
months of the war. It was keenly felt at the dread be-
ginning; and when, in April, 1861, at the recommenda-
tion of Captain George B. McClellan, then the young
president of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, his friend and
former comrade, Captain Nathaniel Pope, of the regular
army, proceeded to Columbus to give military advice to
Governor Dennison, he had little to suggest except the
purchase of some big columbiads for the defence of
Cincinnati, to be mounted upon the hills on the Ohio
side, since nothing of the kind could be done in Ken-
tucky, which was then assuming a position of armed neu-
trality. The Governor, with some reasonable doubts,
signed the order for the guns, and they were bought;
but history is silent as to the further part they played in
the suppression of the Rebellion.
The position of Kentucky was of eminent importance
to the safety of Cincinnati, and for some time excited
great uneasiness, which was measurably relieved by the
assurance of Judge Thomas M. Key, of the Ohio State
Senate, who had been sent to interview Governor Ma-
goffin, that the Kentucky executive dwelt particularly
upon "his firm purpose to permit nothing to be done
that could be viewed as menacing the city of Cincinnati."
The people of the city, however, were by no means dis-
posed, in consequence of this assurance, to grant any
concessions to treason. Mr. Reid says, in his "Ohio in
the War":
The first note of war from the east threw Cincinnati into a spasm of
alarm. Her great warehouses, her foundries and machine shops, her
rich moneyed institutions, were all a tempting prize to the confederates,
to whom Kentucky was believed to be drifting. Should Kentucky go,
only the Ohio river would remain between the great city and the needy
enemy, and there were absolutely no provisions for defense.
The first alarm expended itself, as has already been seen, in the pur-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
107
chase of huge columbiads, with which it was probably intended that
Walnut Hills should be fortified. There next sprang up a feverish
spirit of active patriotism that soon led to complications. For the citi-
zens, not being accustomed to draw nice distinctions or in a temper to
permit anything whereby their danger might be increased, could see
little difference between the neutral treason of Kentucky to the Govern-
ment and the more open treason of the seceded States. They accord-
ingly insisted that shipments of produce, and especially shipments of
arms, ammunition, or other articles contraband of war, to Kentucky
should instantly cease.
The citizens of Louisville, taking alarm at this threatened blow at
their very existence, sent up a large delegation to protest against the
stoppage of shipments from Ohio. They were received in the council
chamber of the city hall, on the morning of April 23d. The city
mayor, Mr. Hatch, announced the object of their meeting, and called
upon Mr. Rufus King to state the position of the city and State au-
thorities. Mr. King dwelt upon the friendship of Ohio for Kentucky
in the old strain, and closed by reading a letter which the mayor had
procured from Governor Dennison, of which the essential part was as
follows :
"My views of the subject suggested in your message are these: So
long as any State remains in the Union, with professions of attachment
to it, we cannot discriminate between that State and our own. In the
contest we must be clearly in the right in every act, and I think it bet-
ter that we should risk something than that we should, in the slightest
degree, be chargeable with anything tending to create a rupture with
any State which has not declared itself already out of the Union. To
seize arms going to a State v. hich has not actually seceded, could give
a pretext for the assertion that we had inaugurated hostile conduct,
and might be used to create a popular feeling in favor of secession where
it would not exist, and end in border warfare, which all good citizens
must deprecate. Until there is such circumstantial evidence as to cre-
ate a moral certainty of an immediate intention to use arms against us,
I would not be willing to order their seizure; much' less would I be wil-
ling to interfere with the transportation of provisions."
"Now," said Mr. King, " this is a text to which every citizen of Ohio
must subscribe, coming as it does from the head of the State. I do
not feel the least hesitation in saying that it expresses the feeling of the
people of Ohio. "
But the people of Ohio did not subscribe to it. Even in the meeting
Judge Bellamy Storer, though very guarded in his expressions, inti-
mated, in the course of his stirring speech, the dissatisfaction with the
attitude of Kentucky. "This is no time,'' he said, "for soft words.
We feel, as you have a right to feel, that you have a governor who can-
not be depended upon in this crisis. But it is on the men of Kentucky
that we rely. All we want to know is whether you are for the Union,
without reservation. Brethren of Kentucky ! The men of the North
have been your friends, and they still desire to be. But I will speak
plainly. There have been idle taunts thrown out that they are cowardly
and timid. The North submits; the North obeys; but beware! There
is a point which cannot be passed. While we rejoice in your friendship,
while we glory in your bravery, we would have you understand that we
are your equals as well as your friends. ''
To all this the only response of the Kentuckians, through their
spokesman, Judge Bullock, was ' ' that Kentucky wished to take no part
in the unhappy struggle; that she wished to be a mediator, and meant
to retain friendly relations with all her sister States. But he was greatly
gratified with Governor Dennison 's letter."
The citizens of Cincinnati were not. Four days later, when their in-
dignation had come to take shape, they held a large meeting, whereat
excited speeches were made and resolutions passed deprecating the
letter, calling upon the governor to retract it, declaring that it was too
late to draw nice distinctions between open rebellion and armed neu-
trality against the Union, and that armed neutrality was rebellion to the
Government. At the close an additional resolution was offered, which
passed amid a whirlwind of applause :
' ' Resolved, That any men, or set of men, in Cincinnati or elsewhere,
who knowingly sell or ship one ounce of flour or pound of provisions, or
any arms or articles which are contraband of war, to any person or any
State which has not declared its firm determination to sustain the Gov-
ernment in the present crisis, is a traitor, and deserves the doom of a
traitor."
So clear and unshrinking was the first voice from the great conserva-
tive city of the southern border, whose prosperity was supposed to de-
pend on the southern trade. They had reckoned idly, it seemed, who
had counted on hesitation here. From the first day that the war was
opened, the people of Cincinnati were as vehement in their determina-
tion that it should be relentlessly prosecuted to victory, as the people of
Boston.
They immediately began the organization of home guards, armed
and drilled vigorously, took oaths to serve the Government when they
were called upon, and devoted themselves to the suppression of any
contraband trade with the southern States. The steamboats were
watched; the railroad depots were searched; and, wherever a suspi-
cious box or bale was discovered, it was ordered back to the ware-
houses.
After a time the general government undertook to prevent any ship-
ments into Kentucky, save such as should be required by the normal
demands of her own population. A system of shipment-permits was
established under the supervision of the collector of the port, and pass-
engers on the ferry-boats into Covington were even searched to see if
they were carrying over pistols or other articles contraband of war; but,
in spite of all efforts, Kentucky long continued to be the convenient
source and medium for supplies to the Southwestern Seceded States.
The day after the Cincinnati meeting denouncing his course relative
to Kentucky, Governor Dennison, stimulated perhaps by this censure,
but in accordance with a policy already formed, issued orders to the
presidents of all railroads in Ohio to have everything passing over their
roads in the direction of Virginia or any other seceded State, whether
as ordinary freight or express matter, examined, and if contraband of
war, immediately stopped and reported to him. The order may not
have had legal sanction ; but in the excited state of the public mind it
was accepted by all concerned as ample authority. The next day
similar instructions were sent to all. express companies.
On the other hand, Cincinnati began active efforts to
supply the northern armies — not only with competent
officers and brave men, but with clothing, food and
munitions of war. Some of the earliest contracts for
uniforms for the State regiments were taken in the city,
and Miles Greenwood very soon began at his foundries
the manufacture of field-guns for twelve batteries ordered
by the State, as also the rifling of old muskets, convert-
ing them into what became known as "the Greenwood
rifle," and was in time highly esteemed by the troops.
At once upon the sounding of the tocsin at Sumter,
Cincinnati began her generous offers to and sacrifices for
the Union. The Guthrie Grays and the Rover Guards
were among the first militia companies of the State
whose services were tendered to the governor. The lat-
ter, with the Zouave Guards and the Lafayette Guards,
both also of Cincinnati, became, respectively, companies
A, D and E, in the original organization of the Second
Ohio infantry ; and the former was made the nucleus of
the Sixth regiment of volunteer infantry. Colonel Lewis
Wilson, who had promptly resigned the high office of
chief of police in Cincinnati, to offer his services to the
government, was made commandant of the Second.
General Thomas L. Young, since governor of the State
and member of congress, foreseeing the trouble that was
coming, offered his aid to General Scott in organizing the
volunteer forces, twenty-five days before the rebels fired
on Sumter; and is thus claimed to have been the first
volunteer from Hamilton county, and very likely from the
State, unless the lamented President Andrews, of Kenyon
college, is to be excepted. Other early offers from pat-
riotic men in various public and private stations,
were made by thousands; and the entire demand made
by the Federal government upon the State of Ohio, in
the first call for troops (two regiments), could have been
answered in this city alone, as it was by the State at
large, within twenty-four hours. Enlistments in Cincin-
nati were hearty and general from all classes. The con-
tingent of many thousands furnished to the Federal
ioS
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
armies by Hamilton county was almost wholly Cincin-
nati's contingent. The earlier Kentucky regiments, fur-
nished in pursuance of Governor Dennison's noble utter-
ance after the insolent and treasonable refusal of Governor
Magoffin, "If Kentucky will not fill her quota, Ohio will
fill it for her," were largely filled by Cincinnati men.
One of the local regiments, the Thirty-ninth, furnished
the largest number of re-enlisted "veterans," five hundred
and thirty-four, of any Ohio regiment or other command
of any arm of the service. The first Major General of
the Ohio militia (McClellan), and one (Joshua H. Bates)
of the three brigadiers appointed by the governor at
once after the outbreak of the rebellion, were of the
Queen City. A remarkable number of the most distin-
guished of the Union generals were from Cincinnati —
Major Generals McClellan, Rosecrans, Mitchel and
Godfrey Weitzel;* Brevet Major Generals R. B. Hayes,
August Willich, Henry B. Banning, Manning F. Force
and Kenner Garrard; Brigadier Generals Robert L. Mc-
Cook, William H. Lytle,* A. Sanders Piatt,* Eliakim P.
Scammon, Nathaniel McLean, Melancthon S. Wade and
John P. Slough ; and Brevet Brigadier Generals Andrew
Hickenlooper, Benjamin C. Ludlow, Israel Garrard,*
William H. Baldwin, Henry V. N. Boynton, Charles E.
Brown,* Henry L. Burnet, Henry M. Cist,* Stephen J.
McGroarty, Granville Moody, August Moor, Reuben D.
Mussey, George W. Neff, Edward F. Noyes, Augustus C.
Parry, Durbin Ward and Thomas L. Young. A number
of the more eminent commanders of Ohio regiments, of
the lamented dead of the war, were also Cincinnatians —
as the young Colonel Minor Milliken, Colonels John F.
Patrick, Frederick C. Jones, William G. Jones and John T.
Toland. The first governor of Ohio during the rebellion,
William Dennison, is a native of Cincinnati ; and another
of the war governors, the redoubtable John Brough, was
for a time a lawyer and editor in the citv. Hon. Salmon
P. Chase, the great secretary of the treasury, whose ad-
ministration of the National finances during the long
struggle was so efficient that a leader of the rebellion said
at its close: "It was not your generals that defeated us;
it was your treasury" — was long a resident of Cincinnati,
and went to Washington from this city. A host of other
Cincinnatians, in various civil and military capacities,
served with usefulness and honor in the terrible crisis.
Especially useful to the government were the medical
men of Cincinnati. The first surgeon-general of the
State appointed by Governor Dennison at the outbreak
of the war, on the recommendation of McClellan, was
Dr. George H. Shumard, of the city, though long absent
from it, engaged in^ geological surveys and otherwise.
One of the State board of examiners, before whom all
candidates for appointment as surgeon or assistant surgeon
in Ohio commands were compelled to pass, was Dr. John
A. Murphy, of Cincinnati. More than half the entire
number of "United States Volunteer Surgeons," who
entered the service independently of special commands,
and whose addresses are given in "Ohio in the War,"
were Cincinnati men. One of these, Dr. William H.
Mussey, ultimately became one of the board of medical
* Natives of Cincinnati.
inspectors — small in number, but important and influ-
ential in their duties — who stood next to the surgeon-
general and his assistant as the ranking medical officers
of the army. Another, Dr. William Clendenin, became
assistant medical director of the army of the Cumber-
land. Another, Dr. Robert Fletcher, won much distinc-
tion as medical purveyor at Nashville for the great armies
operating in Tennessee and Georgia. Some of the regi-
mental surgeons became scarcely less distinguished; as
Dr. James, of the Fourth Ohio cavalry, who rose to be
the chief medical officer of the entire cavalry of the
army.
Within a time astonishingly short, after the outbreak
of the war, Camp Harrison was established, upon the
trotting park in the outskirts of Cumminsville, and troops
began pouring in thither. General William H. Lytle, by
whom it was selected, was appointed commander of the
Camp. The Guthrie Grey regiment, ready by the after-
noon of April 20th, and several other companies, were the
first to rendezvous there. Colonel Geffroy, of the Gib-
son House, set to work in town among the ladies of the
East End, and soon enlisted a large number of them in
the patriotic work of collecting materials and making up
underwear for the soldiers in the parlors of his hotel,
while the ladies of the West End were soon engaged in
similar work at a private residence. The Cincinnati Aid
association was organized by the citizens at large, to help
support the families of soldiers in the field; and the
Daughters of Temperance also organized an aid society
of their own.
A general meeting of Irish citizens was held at Mozart's
hall April 20th, at which many volunteeted, and a reso-
lution was passed to raise an Irish regiment, several
wealthy men present offering to give a thousand dollars
each for the purpose. It was raised, and became the
Tenth Ohio infantry. Ex-Mayor R. M. Moore raised
one company of it. McCook's German regiment was
raised with great promptitude, elected its field officers on
the night of the twenty-third, and went to camp the next
day, after a triumphal march through the city. The Sto-
rer Rifles were the first company to get arms. It was
splendidly equipped with Sharp's rifles, the private prop-
erty of the men. Many home companies were recruited
for drill and organization, one or two in every ward; and
by the nineteenth of April it was estimated that at least
ten thousand were preparing for military service. On
that day the news of the attack at Baltimore on Feder-
al troops was received, and the Germans recruiting for
Cook's regiment paraded the streets amid great enthusi-
asm. Len Harris, afterwards a colonel and mayor of
the city, recruited ninety men the first day after the war
opened. The printers of the city raised a company
among themselves. The Lafayette Guards, ordered to
Columbus, took upon the cars two hundred and seven
men, although eighty-seven men was then the maximum
of a company. The loyal enthusiasm for enlistment and
preparation for war was unbounded. The city authori-
ties voted a quarter of a million dollars from the sinking
fund for the purposes of the opening conflict, and the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
109
people saw to it that the American flag was hung from
every flagstaff and window where it ought to be floating,
at one time compelling the officer in charge at the Cus-
tom house to fling it to the breeze, and several times
obliging masters of steamers to raise aloft the banner of
of beauty and of glory. After one or two vessels
from above had gone by without landing, evidently with
arms and munitions of war for the South, a committe of
safety was appointed to see that no more such articles
passed the city. Messrs. Rufus King, Miles Greenwood,
William Cameron, Joseph Torrence, J. C. Butler, and
Henry Handy composed the committee. Their efforts
were cordially, though always judiciously, seconded by
an excited populace, which was sometimes on the point
of mobbing suspected steamers or recusant captains. An-
other committee — Colonel A. E. Jones, C. F. Wilstach,
and Frederick Meyer — was also appointed to act in con-
junction with the city authorities in stopping the ship-
ment of supplies to the rebels; and still another commit-
tee of safety, consisting of one person from each ward
and neighboring township, to act as occasion might de-
mand in concert with the military and municipal author-
ities. Joint meetings of Cincinnati, Newport, and
Covington patriots were held — the first of them April
18th; and no pains or cost was spared to get ready for
the coming conflict.
The sanitary condition of the troops sent to the field,
and compelled to live under conditions widely different
from those to which they had been accustomed, early- at-
tracted the attention of philanthropic and patriotic Cin-
cinnatians, and called for organized effort. The "Cincin-
nati Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission,''
one of the most efficient societies of the kind formed in
the north, was the first of their deliberations. Its story
has been simply and pleasantly told in brief in a volume
narrating the "History of the Great Western Sanitary
Fair," published in Cincinnati after the culmination of
that success.
Soon after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the President and the Sec-
retary of War were induced by certain gentlemen to issue an order au-
thorizing them and their associates to co-operate with the Government
in the relief of sick and wounded soldiers, and to prosecute such inqui-
ries of a sanitary character as might further the same end. Under this
authority these parties organized the United States Sanitary Commis-
sion, and have since elected to that body a few others not originally act-
ing with them. They also construed their powers as enabling them to
create a class of associate members, several hundred in number, resid-
ing respectively in almost every loyal State and territory. The duties
of these associates, and the extent to which they share the power com-
mitted to the original members have never been precisely defined.
Appointments were made as early as May, 1861, of several such as-
sociate members, resident in Cincinnati; but no organization of a branch
commission was effected until the succeeding fall.
Through the instrumentality of Dr. W. H. Mussey, the use of the
United States marine hospital, an unfurnished building originally in-
tended for western boatmen, was procured from Secretary Chase, a '
board of ladies and gentlemen organized for its management, and the
house furnished by the donations of citizens, and opened for the recep-
tion of sick and wounded soldiers in May, 1861. This institution was
carried on without cost to the Government, all necessary services of
surgeons and nurses, and all supplies, having been supplied gratuitously
until August, 1861, when the success of the enterprise induced the Gov-
ernment to adopt it, and it was taken charge of by the Medical Director
of the Department.*
* Mrs. Cadwell became its matron. Her name is a sacred one with
thousands of soldiers throughout the west.
The western secretary of the Sanitary Commission having given no-
tice to the associate members resident in Cincinnati of their appoint-
ments, the Cincinnati branch was formally organized, at a meeting at
the residence of Dr. W. H. Mussey, November 27, 1861. Robert W.
Burnet was elected president, George Hoadly, vice-president, Charles
R. Fosdick, corresponding secretary, and Henry Pierce, treasurer.
The body thus created was left almost wholly without instruction or
specification of powers. It had no other charge than to do the best it
could with what it could get. It was permitted to work out its own
fate by the light of the patriotism and intelligence of its members. If
any authority was claimed over it, or power to direct or limit its action,
it was not known to the members for nearly two years from the date of
its organization.
The steps actually taken, however, were from time to time communi-
cated to the United States Sanitary Commission at Washington, and by
them approved. Delegates more than once attended the sessions of
that body, and were allowed to participate in its action. The Branch
were requested to print, as one of the series (No. 44) of the publications
of the Commission, their report of their doings to date of March 1,
1862 ; and two thousand five hundred copies of the edition were sent to
Washington for distribution from that point.
Previous to the organization of this Branch, an address had been is-
sued by the United States Sanitary Commission to the loyal women of
America, in which the name of Dr. Mussey was mentioned as a proper
party to whom supplies might be sent. A small stock had been received
by him, which was transferred to the Branch, and circulars were at once
prepared and issued appealing to the means of such useful action as
might seem open. A Central Ladies' Aid Society in Cincinnati, for
Cincinnati and vicinity, was organized,* and the cS-operation of more
than forty societies of ladies in Hamilton county thus secured. This
society, it is proper to add, continued its beneficial connection with the
Branch in vigorous activity, furnishing large quantities of supplies of
every description, for nearly two years, and until the dispiriting effect
of the change hereafter to be noticed, in the relations of the branch to
the work of distribution, paralyzed its efforts, and resulted finally in a
practical transfer of the labors of the ladies to other fields of no less
patriotic service.
The camps and hospitals near Cincinnati were subjected to inspec-
tion, and all necessary relief was furnished. Concert of action was es-
tablished with the Volunteer Aid Committee, appointed at a public
meeting of citizens in October, 1861, of whom Messrs. C. F. Wilstach,
E. C. Baldwin, and M. E, Reeves, were elected members of the Branch.
Their rooms, kindly furnished free of expense by the School Board, be-
came its office and depot ; and finally, in the spring of 1862, a complete
transfer was made of all the stock in the hands of that committee to the
Cincinnati Branch, and the former body was merged in this.
Under the stimulus of constant appeals to the public, and by wise use
of the means received, the confidence of the community having been
gained, large quantities of hospital and camp supplies, and some money,
were received, and the members entered with zeal upon the duty of dis-
tribution. The force which the United States Sanitary Commission
then had in the West, consisted of the Western Secretary and a few in-
spectors, who were engaged in travelling from camp to camp, without
any fixed quarters. The body was not prepared, and did not profess to
to undertake this duty.
A serious question soon presented itself to the mind of every active
member of the Branch whether to prosecute the work of distribution
mainly through paid agents, or by means of voluntary service. At
times there had been differences of opinion upon the subject, and some
of the members have had occasion, with enlarged experience, to revise
their views. The result of this experience is to confirm the judgment
that the use of paid agents by such an organization, in such crises, is,
except to a limited extent, inexpedient. It has been clearly proved that
voluntary service can be had to a sufficient extent; and such service
connects the army and the people by. a constantly renewing chain of
gratuitous, valuable, and tender labors, which many who cannot serve
in the field esteem it a privilege to be permitted to perform in the sick
room and the hospital.
The members of this Branch felt at liberty to pledge publicly, in
their appeals for contributions, that the work of distribution should be
done under their personal supervision, subject of course to the control
of the proper medical officers of the army; and, until late in the au-
tumn of 1862, they faithfully kept this pledge, and were able to effect,
as they all believed, a maximum of benefit with a minimum of com-
plaint. Fault-finding never ceases while the seasons change; but the
*Of which Mrs. George Carlisle was president, and Mrs. Judge
Hoadly secretary. All its members were devoted workers.
no
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
finding of fault with the gratuitous services of men well known in a
community have no power to injure.
While their labors were prosecuted under this plan, nearly every
member of the branch was brought into personal contact with the work
of distribution. They were present on the battle-field of Shiloh. They
were first at Perryville and Fort Donelson, at which place they inaug-
urated the system of hospital steamers. They called to their aid suc-
cessfully the services of the most eminent surgeons and physicians, and
the first citizens of Cincinnati. They gained the confidence of the
legislature of Ohio, which made them an appropriation of three thou-
sand dollars; and of the city council of Cincinnati, who paid them in
like manner the sum of two thousand dollars; and of the secretary of
war and the quartermaster general, who placed at their control, at
Government expense, a steamer, which for months navigated the
western waters in the transportation of supplies and the sick and
wounded. They fitted out, in whole or in part, thirty-two such steam-
ers, some running under their own management, others under that of
the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati, the United States
sanitary commission and the war department.
The relief furnished at Fort Donelson by this Branch constituted a
marked and at the same time a novel instance of their mode of manage-
ment, which may properly receive more specific mention here, as it
elicited high praise from the Western Secretary, and the compliment of
a vote of encouragement from the United States Sanitary Commission.
In this case a handsome sum was at once raised by subscription among
the citizens, and the steamer Allen Collier was chartered, loaded with
hospital supplies and medicines, placed under the charge of five mem-
bers of the Branch, with ten volunteer surgeons and thirty-six nurses,
and- dispatched to the Cumberland River. At Louisville the Western
Sanitary accepted an invitation to join the party. It was also found
practicable to accommodate on board one delegate from the Columbus
and another from the Indianapolis Branch Commission, with a farther
stock of supplies from the latter. The steamer reached Donelson in ad-
vance of any uther relief agency. Great destitution was found to exist —
on the field no chloroform at all, and but little morphia, and on the
floating hospital Fanny Bullitt, occupied by three hundred wounded,
only two ounces of cerate, no meat for soup, no wood for cooking, and
the only bread hard bread — not a spoon or a candlestick. Sufferings
corresponded. Happily the Collier bore an ample stock, and, with
other parties on a like errand, who soon arrived, the surgeons' task was
speedily made lighter, and his patients gained in comfort. The Collier
returned after a short delay, bringing a load of wounded to occupy hos-
pitals at Cincinnati, which this Branch had meanwhile, under the au-
thority of General Halleck and with the aid of that efficient and noble
officer, Dr. John Moore, then Post Surgeon at Cincinnati, procured
and furnished.
This was but the beginning of very arduous and extensive services,
personally and gratuitously rendered by members of this Branch. They
traveled thousands of miles on hospital steamers, on their errands of
mercy, and spent weeks and months in laborious service on battle-fields
and in camps and hospitals. They aided the Government in the estab-
lishment of eight hospitals in Cincinnati and Covington, and suggested
and assisted the work of preparing Camp Dennison, seventeen miles
distant, as a general hospital for the reception of thousands of patients.
They bought furniture, became responsible for rent and the pay of
nurses, provided material for the supply-table, hired physicians, and in
numberless ways secured that full and careful attention to the care and
comfort of the soldiers which, from inexperience, want of means, or the
fear of responsibility, would otherwise, during the first and second years
of the war, have been wanting.
During the period to which allusion has been made, the United
States Sanitary Commission had few resources, and those mostly em-
ployed in proper service at the East, where the members principally re-
side. This Branch was called on to aid that body, and, to the extent
of its means, responded. At one time (early in 1862) it was supposed
impossible to sustain that organization, except by a monthly contribu-
tion from each of the several branches, continued for six months; and
this Branch was assessed to pay to that end the sum of two hundred
and fifty dollars per month for the time specified, which call was met
by an advance of the entire sum required, viz. : two thousand three
hundred and seventy-five dollars. This sum, small as it now seems in
comparison with the enormous contributions of a later date, was then
considered no mean subsidy by either of the parties to it.
In May, 1862, the Soldiers' Home of the Branch was established, an
institution which, since its opening, has entertained with a degree of
comfort scarcely surpassed by the best hotels in the city, over eighty
thousand soldiers, furnishing them threehundred and seventy-two thou-
sand meals. It has recently been furnished with one hundred new iron
bedsteads, at a cost of five hundred dollars. The establishment and
maintenance of the home the members of the Cincinnati branch look
upon as one of their most valuable works, second in importance only to
the relief furnished by the "sanitary steamers" dispatched promptly to
the battle-fields, with surgeons, nurses and stores, and with beds to
bring away the wounded and the sick; and they may, perhaps, be per-
mitted with some pride to point to these two important systems 6T relief
inaugurated by them. The necessity for the last mentioned method of
relief has nearly passed away ; we hope it may soon pass away entirely,
never to return. The home long stood, under the efficient superintend-
ence of G. W. D. Andrews, offering food and rest to the hungry and
wayworn soldier, and reminding us of the kind hearts and loyal hands
whose patriotic contributions and patient toil, supplementing the aid
furnished by the Government through the quartermaster and commis-
sary departments of the army, enabled them to establish it. To this
aid of a generous and benign government, dispensed with kindness and
alacrity by the officers who have been at the heads of these departments
in this city, this institution is indebted, in great measure, for its exist-
ence and usefulness.
The importance of perpetuating the names of all soldiers whose lives
had been or might be sacrificed in the defense of our Government, being
an anxious concern of many of the members of our commission, and re-
garded by them as of so much importance, they early resolved that, so
far as they could control the matter, not only should this be done, but
that their last resting place should -be in a beautiful city of the dead,
Spring Grove cemetery. An early interview was had with the trustees,
who promptly responded to the wishes of the commission, and gratuit-
ously donated for that purpose a conspicuous lot, near the charming
lake, of a circular shape, and in size sufficient to contain three hundred
bodies. In addition thereto, this generous association have interred,
free of expense for interment, all the soldiers buried there. This lot
having become occupied, the commission arranged for another of
similar size and shape nearly, for the sum of one thousand five hundred
dollars. The subject of the payment of the same having been pre-
sented to the legislature of Ohio, the members unanimously agreed
that, as a large proportion of those who were to occupy this ground as
their last home were the sons of Ohio, it was the proper duty of the
State to contribute thereto. In accordance therewith, an appropriation
of three thousand dollars was made for the purpose, subject to the ap-
proval of His Excellency, Governor Tod. A third circle, of the same
size and shape, ' adjacent to the others, was therefore secured at the
same price. The propriety of this expenditure was approved of by the
governor, after careful examination of the ground and its value. Two
of these lots have been filled, and the third is in readiness for occupancy,
should it become necessary. A record is carefully made on the books
of the cemetery of the name, age, company and regiment, of each sol-
dier interred there, that relatives, friends and strangers may know, in all
time to come, that we for whom their lives were given were not un-
mindful of the sacrifice they had made, and that we properly appreciate
the obligations we are under to them, for their efforts in aiding to se-
cure to us and future generations the blessings of a redeemed and re-
generated country.
In view of the work of this branch from the commencement, we can
not but express our heartfelt gratitude to that kind Providence which
has so signally blessed its efforts, and made the commission instru-
mental in the distribution of the large amount of donations which have
been poured into their hands by full and free hearts for the benefit of
sufferers who are bravely defending our country and our homes.
It will be seen that one and a half per cent, of the cash receipts from
the commencement will cover all expenses for clerk-hire, labor, freight,
drayage, and other incidental matters; and this comparatively small
expense is, in great measure, owing to the extreme liberality — which
should here be gratefully acknowledged — of the free use of the tele-
graph wires, and the free carriage of hundreds of tons of stores by the
several express companies, railroads and steamboats.
With all this liberality, our supplies would long since have been ex-
hausted by the constantly increasing requirements of our soldiers, had
not the sagacity and enterprise of a number of energetic and patriotic
gentlemen suggested the idea of and inaugurated the great western
sanitary fair of this city, the wonderful result of which realized to the
commission over a quarter of a million of dollars.
A very large amount of money and sanitary stores was handled by
this branch of the commission. From the date of its organization to
August 11, 1864— long before its final work was done— a total of three
hundred and thirteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty-six dollars
and thirty cents had come into its treasury, of which there was still on
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
in
hand, in government securities and cash in the bank, the handsome
remainder of one hundred and twenty-two thousand, nine hundred and
five dollars and fifteen cents. Nearly three hundred different articles
had been purchased or received as donations — some of them in great
quantity — and used in the soldiers' home or local hospitals, or for-
warded to the troops. Among these "sanitary stores'' were checker-
boards, solitaire boards, puzzles, "pretzels," and some other things, of
which people would hardly think in this connection, but which were
undoubtedly found useful in aiding the prevention or cure of disease.
The total value of the sanitary supplies distributed by the branch to the
close of 1863 — about the middle of the war — was not far from a mil-
lion of dollais.
The Great Western Sanitary Fair, to which reference is
made in the foregoing sketch, had its origin in an impulse
received from the success of a similar fair held in Chica-
go in October, 1863. As a result of consultations be-
tween gentlemen of the Sanitary Commission and the
National Union association, of some agitation through
the newspapers, and several meetings, a very extensive
and efficient scheme for such an exposition was set on
foot. Mr. Reid says:
Presently the whole city was alive with the enthusiasm of a common
generous effort. Those who best know the usually staid and undemon-
strative Queen City unite in the testimony that she was never before so
stirred through all the strata of her society, never before so warm and
glowing, for any cause or on any occasion. Churches, citizens' associa-
tions, business men, mechanics, took hold of the work. Committees
were appointed, embracing the leading men and the best workers in
every walk of life throughout the city; meetings of ladies weie held;
circulars were distributed ; public appeals filled the newspapers. "
General Rosecrans, who had been temporarily retired
from service in the field, but had lost none of his popu-
larity at home, was secured as president of the fair; and
his appointment and active efforts contributed largely to
its success. The fair was opened by an address from
him on the morning of December 21st, and continued
through the holidays. So extensive were the prepara-
tions that five different halls and buildings — two of them
expressly erected for the purpose, in the Fifth and Sixth
street market spaces — were needed. Mozart and Green-
wood halls, and the Palace Garden, were the permanent
buildings occupied. It was a splendid exhibit and bazaar,
and led, with the public readings, lectures, and other en-
tertainments gratuitously at the Mozart hall in aid of the
movement, to "such a lavish expenditure of money as
the city had never before dreamed of." The cash re-
ceipts of the enterprise were about two hundred and
sixty thousand dollars, of which only eight and one-fifth
per cent, was absorbed in expenses, and the magnificent
sum of two hundred and thirty-five thousand four hun-
dred and six dollars and sixty-two cents was poured into
the treasury of the Branch. This was a larger sum, in
proportion to population, than was realized from any
other fair of the kind, except in Pittsburgh and St. Louis,
which came later and had superior advantages.
Mr. Reid says of the operations of this Branch :
The largest and most noted organization in Ohio for the relief of sol-
diers was, of course, the "Cincinnati Branch of the United States San-
itary Commission." This body, throughout its history, pursued a policy
little calculated to advance its own fame — admirably adapted to ad-
vance the interests of the soldiers for whom it labored. It had but one
salaried officer, and it gave him but a meagre support for the devotion
of his whole time. It spent no large funds in preserving statistics and
multiplying reports of its good works. It entered into no elaborate
scientific investigations concerning the best sanitary conditions for large
armies. It left no bulky volumes of tracts, discussions, statistics, eulo-
gies, and defences — indeed, it scarcely left a report that might satisfac-
torily exhibit the barest outline of its work. But it collected and used
great sums of money and supplies for the soldiers. First of any con-
siderable bodies in the United States, it sent relief to battle-fields on a
scale commensurate with the wants of the wounded. It was the first
to equip hospital boats, and it led in the faithful, patient work among
the armies, particularly in the west, throughout the war. Its guardian-
ship of the funds committed to its care was held a sacred trust for the
relief of needy soldiers. The incidental expenses were kept down to
the lowest possible figure, and were all defrayed out of the interest of
moneys in its hands before they were needed in the field — so that every
dollar that was committed to it went, at some time or other, directly to
a soldier in some needed form. In short, it was business skill and
Christian integrity in charge of the people's contributions for their men
in the ranks. . . . The Cincinnati Branch of the Sanitary
Commission continued to devote its moneys sacredly to the precise pur-
pose for which they were contributed. At the close of the war many
thousand dollars were in the treasury. These it kept invested in United
States bonds, using the interest and drawing on the principal from time
to time, as it was needed for the relief of destitute soldiers, and specially
for their transportation to their homes, in cases where other provision
was not made for them. Three years after the close of the war, it still
had a remnant of the sacred sum, and was still charging itself as care-
fully as ever with its disbursement.
Another most efficient organization, for which Cincin-
nati became distinguished during the war, was the local
branch of the United States Christian commission. The
religious elements in the city had been stirred profoundly,
and excited to the most ardent patriotism, by the out-
break of the war. Some of the earliest volunteers for
military service had been of the city clergy, of whom at
least one, the Rev. Granville Moody, achieved great dis-
tinction and a brigadier's commission, and most of the
Cincinnati pulpits gave forth no uncertain sound in aid
of the Union cause. On the third of June, in the first
year of the war, the association of Evangelical ministers
in the city adopted the following energetic and whole-
hearted deliverance:
Deeply grateful to Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, for his past
mercies to this nation, and particularly noting at this time His gracious
goodness in leading our fathers to establish and preserve for us a Con-
stitutional Government unequalled among the Governments of the
earth in guarding the rights and promoting the entire welfare of a great
people — we, the Evangelical ministry of Cincinnati, have been led by a
constrained sense of accountability to Him, the author of all our good,
and by unfeigned love for our country, to adopt the following state-
ment:
We are compelled to regard the Rebellion which now afflicts our land
and jeopardizes some of the most precious hopes of mankind, as the
result of a long-contemplated and widespread conspiracy against the
principles of liberty, justice, mercy, and righteousness proclaimed in
the word of God, sustained by our constitutional Government, and
lying at the foundation of all public and private welfare. In the pres-
ent conflict, therefore, our Government stands before us as representing
the cause of God and man against a rebellion threatening the nation
with ruin, in order to perpetuate and speed a system of unrighteous op-
pression. In this emergency, as ministers of God, we cannot hesitate
to support, by every legitimate method, the Government in maintain-
ing its authority unimpaired throughout the whole country and over
this whole people.
Among other demonstrations of loyalty, Archbishop
Purcell had the flag of the Union raised over St. Peter's
cathedral in Cincinnati and the churches elsewhere in
his diocese, and throughout the war cast his immense in-
fluence among his people steadily for the Federal cause.
After a time the Cincinnati branch of the United States
Christian commission was organized, and did a noble
work. It received and disbursed the sum (including
eight thousand one hundred and forty-four dollars from
the Cleveland branch) of one hundred and seventeen
112
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
thousand and thirty-three dollars, besides stores to the
value of two hundred and eighty-nine thousand six hun-
dred and two dollars, and publications worth three thou-
sand and twenty-four dollars. The final statement of the
operations of the branch says: "From the opening of
the office at No. 57 Vine street, until it closed, an unin-
terrupted stream of money and stores poured in upon us
from the patriotic men and women of the west, and espe-
cially of the State of Ohio. Soldiers' aid societies, and
ladies' Christian commissions by scores and hundreds,
kept us supplied with the means to minister largely to
the comfort and temporal wants of our noble boys in
blue." Mr. A. E. Chamberlain, of the firm of A. E.
Chamberlain & Co., served continuously and faithfully
as president of the branch, and gave office and store room
without charge. Mr. H. Thane Miller was vice-presi-
dent; Rev. J. F, Marlay, secretary; Rev. B. W. Chidlaw,
general agent; and the committee included some of the
best-known Christian workers and residents of the city.
The chief events of the war, as most closely related" to
Cincinnati — the siege of the city and the Morgan raid-
are narrated in other chapters. We give here only that
portion of the orders issued by General Cox, under di-
rection of General Burnside, during the raid of Morgan,
which more particularly concerned the city:
Headquarters, District of Ohio, V
Cincinnati, July 13, 1863. .)
I. For the more perfect organization of militia of the city of Cin-
cinnati, the city is divided into four districts, as follows : First district,
consisting of the First, Third, Fourth, and Seventeenth- wards, under
command of Brigadier General S. D. Sturgis ; headquarters, Broadway
hotel. Second district, consisting of Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Four-
teenth wards, under command of Major Malcolm McDowell ; head^
quarters, Burnet house. Third district, consisting of Seventh, Ninth,
Tenth, and Eleventh wards, under command of Brigadier General Jacob
Ammen ; headquarters, orphan asylum. Fourth district, consisting- of
the Eighth, Twelfth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth wards, under command
of Colonel Granville Moody ; headquarters, Finley Methodist Episcopal
chapel, on Clinton, near Cutter street.
II. The independent volunteer companies will report to Colonel
Stanley Matthews ; headquarters at Walnut street house.
By command of Brigadier General J. D. Cox.
G. M. Bascom,
Assistant Adjutant General.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SIEGE OF CINCINNATI.
In the early days of 1862, a new name was growing at
once into popular favor and popular fear among the pru-
dent rebels of the Kentucky border. It was first heard
of in the achievement of carrying off the artillery be-
longing to the Lexington company of the Kentucky
State guard into the confederate service. Gradually it
came to be coupled with daring scouts by little squads of
the rebel cavalry, within our contemplative picket -lines
* From Reid's " Ohio in the War," volume I, chapter 8, by permis-
sion, with unimportant omissions and slight changes.
along Green river; with sudden dashes, like the burning
of the Bacon creek bridge, which the lack of enterprise,
or even of ordinary vigilance, on the part of some of our
commanders, permitted; with unexpected swoops upon
isolated supply-trains or droves of army cattle; with
saucy messages about an intention to burn the Yankees
of Woodsonville the next week, and the like. Then
came dashes within our lines about Nashville, night at-
tacks, audacious captures of whole squads of guards
within sight of the camps and within a half a mile of di-
vision headquarters; the seizure of Gallatin; adroit ex-
peditions upon telegraph operators, which secured what-
ever news about the National armies was passing over
the wires. Then, after Mitchel had swept down into
northern Alabama, followed incursions upon his rear,
cotton-burning exploits under the very noses of his
guards, open pillage of citizens who had been encour-
aged by the advance of the National armies to express
their loyalty. These acts covered a wide range of coun-
try, and followed each' other in quick succession ; but
they were all traced to John Morgan's Kentucky cavalry,
and such were their frequency and daring that, by mid-
summer of 1862, Morgan and his men occupied almost
as much of the popular attention in Kentucky and along
the borders as Beauregard or Lee.
The leader of this band was a native of Huntsville,
Alabama, but from early boyhood a resident of Kentucky.
He had grown up to the free and easy life of a slave-
holding farmer's son, in the heart of the Blue Grass coun-
try near Lexington ; had become a volunteer for the Mex-
ican war at the age of nineteen, and had risen to a first
lieutenantcy; had passed through his share of encoun-
ters and "affairs of honor" about Lexington — not with-
out wounds — and had finally married and settled down
as a manufacturer and speculator. He had lived freely,
gambled freely, shared in all the dissipations of the time
and place, and still had retained the early vigor of a pow-
erful constitution and a strong hold upon the confidence
of the hot-blooded young men of Lexington. These
followed l.im to the war; they were horsemen by instinct,
accustomed to a dare-devil life, capable of doing their
own thinking in emergencies, without waiting for orders,
and in all respects the best material for an independent
-band' of partisan rangers the country has produced.
They were allied by family connections with many of the
people of the Blue Grass region, and it could but result
that, when they appeared in Kentucky — whatever army
might be near — they found themselves among friends.
The people of Ohio had hardly recovered from the
spasmodic efforts to raise regiments in a day for the sec-
ond defence of the capital, into which they had been
thrown by the call of the Government, in its alarm at
Stonewall Jackson's rush through the valley. They were
now rather languidly turning to the effort of filling out
the new and unexpected call for seventy-four thousand
three-years' men. Few had as yet been raised. Here
and there through the State were the nuclei of form-
ing regiments, and there were a few arms; but there was
no adequate protection for the border, and none dreamed
that any was necessary. Beauregard had evacuated Cor-
s-Jl^bsort.J'ud.^^''-
'%
■■■■■ • .,. ■
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
"3
inth; Memphis had fallen; Buell was moving eastward
toward Chattanooga; the troops lately commanded by
Mitchel held Tennessee and northern Alabama ; Kentucky
was mainly in the hands of her home guards, and, under
the provisions of a State military board, was raising vol-
unteers for the National army.-
Suddenly, while the newspapers were trying to explain
McClellan's change of base and clamoring against BuelPs
slow advance on Chattanooga, without a word of warning
or explanation, came the startling news that John Mor-
gan was in Kentucky ! The dispatches of Friday after-
noon, the eleventh of July, announced that he had fallen
upon the little post of Tompkinsville and killed or cap-
tured the entire garrison. By evening it was known that
the prisoners were paroled; that Morgan had advanced,
unopposed, to Glasgow; that he had issued a proclama-
tion calling upon the Kentuckians to rise; that the au-
thorities deemed it unsafe to attempt sending through
trains from Louisville to Nashville. By Saturday after-
noon he was reported marching on Lexington, and Gen-
eral Boyle, the commandant in Kentucky, was telegraph-
ing vigorously to Mayor Hatch at Cincinnati, for militia
to be sent in that direction.
A public meeting was at once called, and by nine
o'clock that evening a concourse of several thousand cit-
izens had gathered in the Fifth street market-space.
Meantime more and more urgency for aid had been ex-
pressed in successive dispatches from General Boyle. In
one he fixed Morgan's force at two thousand, eight hun-
dred ; in another he said that Morgan, with fifteen hun-
dred men, had burned Perryville, and was marching on
Danville; again, that the forces at his command were
needed to defend Louisville, and that Cincinnati must
defend Lexington ! Some of these dispatches were read
at the public meeting, and speeches were made by the
mayor, Judge Saffin, and others. Finally, a committee
was appointed, consisting of Mayor Hatch, Hon. George
E. Pugh, Joshua Bates, Thomas J. Gallagher, Miles
Greenwood, J. W. Hartwell, Peter Gibson, and J. B.
Stallo, to take such measures for organized effort as
might be possible or necessary. Before the committee
could organize came word that Governor Tod had or-
dered down such convalescent soldiers as could be gath-
ered at Camp Dennison and Camp Chase, and had sent
a thousand stand of arms. A little after midnight two
hundred men, belonging to the Fifty-second Ohio, ar-
rived.
On Sunday morning the city was thoroughly alarmed.
The streets were thronged at an early hour, and by nine
o'clock another large meeting had gathered in the Fifth-
street market-space. Speeches were made by ex-Senator
Pugh, Thomas J. Gallagher, and Benjamin Eggleston.
It was announced that a battalion made up of the police
force would be sent to Lexington in the evening. Ar-
rangements were made to organize volunteer companies.
Charles F. Wilstach and Eli C. Baldwin were authorized
to procure rations for volunteers. The city council met,
resolved that it would pay any bills incurred by the com-
mittees appointed at the public meeting, and appropri-
ated five thousand dollars for immediate wants. Eleven
hundred men — parts of the Eighty-fifth and Eighty-sixth
Ohio, from Camp Chase — arrived in the afternoon and
went directly on to Lexington. The police force, under
Colonel Dudley, their chief, and an artillery company
with a single piece, under Captain William Glass, of the
city fire department, also took the special train for Lex-
ington in the evening. Similar scenes were witnessed
across the river at Covington during the same period.
While the troops were mustering, and the excited people
were volunteering, it was discovered that a brother of
John Morgan was a guest at one of the principal hotels.
He made no concealment of his relationship or of his
sympathy with the rebel cause, but produced a pass from
General Boyle. He was detained.
Monday brought no further news of Morgan, and the
alarm began to abate. Kentuckians expressed the belief
that he only meant to attract attention by feints on Lex-
ington and Frankfort, while he should make his way to
Bourbon county and destroy the long Townsend viaduct
near Paris, which might cripple the railroad ' for weeks.
The Secretary of War gave permission to use some can-
non which Miles Greenwood had been casting for the
Government, and Governor Morton, of Indiana, fur-
nished ammunition for them, the Columbus authorities
having declined to supply it, except on the requisition of
a United States officer commanding a post. The tone
of the press may be inferred from the advice of the
Gazette that "the bands sent out to pursue Morgan"
should take few prisoners — "the fewer the better."
"They are not worthy of being treated as soldiers,'' it
continued; "they are freebooters, thieves, and murder-
ers, and should be dealt with accordingly."
For a day or two there followed a state of uncertainty
as to Morgan's whereabouts or the real nature of the
danger. In answer to an application for artillery, the
Secretary of War telegraphed that Morgan was retreating.
Presently came dispatches from Kentucky that he was
still advancing. Governor Dennison visited Cincinnati
at the request of Governor Tod, consulted with the
"committee of public safety," and passed on to Frank-
fort to look after the squads of Ohio troops that had
been hastily forwarded to the points of danger.
The disorderly elements of the city took advantage of
the absence of so large a portion of the police force at
Lexington. Troubles broke out between the Irish and
negroes, in which the former were the aggressors; houses
were fired, and for a little time there were apprehensions
of a serious riot. Several hundred leading property
holders met in alarm at the Merchants' Exchange, and
took measures for organizing a force of one thousand
citizens for special service the ensuing night. For a day
or two the excitement was kept up, but there were few
additional outbreaks.
While Cincinnati was thus in confusion, and troops
were hurrying to the defense of the threatened points,
John Morgan was losing no time in idle debates. He
had left Knoxville, East Tennessee, on the morning of
the fourth of July; on the morning of the ninth he had
fallen upon the garrison at Tompkinsville; before one
o'clock the next morning he had possession of Glasgow;
«
ii4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
by the eleventh he had possession of Lebanon. On the
Sunday (thirteenth) on which Cincinnati had been so
thoroughly aroused, he entered Harrodsburgh. Then,
feigning on Frankfort, he made haste toward Lexington,
striving to delay reinforcements by sending out parties to
burn bridges, and hoping to find the town an easy cap-
ture. Monday morning he was within fifteen miles of
Frankfort; before nightfall he was at Versailles, having
marched between three and four hundred miles in eight
days.
Moving thence to Midway, between Frankfort and
Lexington, he surprised the telegraph operator, secured
his office in good order, took off the dispatches that
were flying back and forth; possessed himself of the
plans and preparations of the Union officers at Frankfort,
Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati; and audaciously
sent dispatches in the name of the Midway operator, as-
suring the Lexington authorities that Morgan was then
driving in the pickets at Frankfort. Then he hastened
to Georgetown, twelve miles from Lexington, eighteen
from Frankfort, and within easy striking distance of any
point in the Blue Grass region. Here, with the union
commanders completely mystified as to his whereabouts
and purposes, he coolly halted for a couple of days and
rested his horses. Then, giving up all thought of at-
tacking Lexington, as he found how strongly it was garri-
soned, he decided — as Colonel Duke, his second in com-
mand, naively tells us in his History of Morgan's Cav-
alry— "to make a dash at Cynthiana, on the Kentucky
Central railroad, hoping to induce the impression that
he was aiming at Cincinnati, and at the same time thor-
oughly bewilder the officers in command at Lexington
regarding his real intentions." Thither, therefore, he
went; and to some purpose. The town was garrisoned
by a few hundred Kentucky cavalry and some home
guards, with Captain Glass' firemen-artillery company
from Cincinnati, in all perhaps five hundred men. These
were routed after some sharp fighting at the bridge and
in the streets; the gun was captured, and four hundred
and twenty prisoners were taken, besides abundance of
stores-, arms, and two or three hundred horses. At one
o'clock he was off for Paris, which sent out a deputation
of citizens to meet him and surrender. By this time the
forces that had been gathering at Lexington had moved
against him, under General Green Clay Smith, with
nearly double his strength; but the next morning he left
Paris unmolested, and marching through Winchester,
Richmond, Crab Orchard, and Somerset, crossed \he
Cumberland again at his leisure. He started with nine
hundred men, and returned with one thousand two hun-
dred, having captured and paroled nearly as many, and
having destroyed all the Government arms and stores in
seventeen towns.
Meantime the partially lulled excitement in Cincinnati
had risen again. A great meeting had been held in
Court street market-space, at which Judge Hugh J.
Jewett, who had-been the Democratic candidate for gov-
ernor, made an earnest appeal for rapid enlistments, to
redeem the pledge of the government to assist Kentucky,
and to prevent Morgan from recruiting a large army in
that State. Quartermaster-General Wright had followed
in a similar strain. The City Council, to silence doubts
on the part of some, had taken the oath of allegiance in
a body. The Chamber of Commerce had memorialized
the council to make an appropriation for bounties to vol-
unteers; Colonel Burbank had been appointed military
governor of the city, in response to a dispatch requesting
it, from Mayor Hatch and others; and there had been
rumors of martial law and a provost marshal. The popu-
lar ferment largely took the shape of clamor for bounties
as a means of stimulating volunteers. The newspapers
called on the governor to "take the responsibility,'' and
offer twenty-five dollars bounty for every recruit. Public-
spirited citizens made contributions for such a purpose —
Mr. J. Cleves Short, one thousand dollars, Messrs. Tyler
Davidson & Co., one thousand two hundred dollars, Mr.
Kugler, two thousand five hundred dollars, Mr. Jacob
Elsas, five hundred dollars. Two regiments for service
in emergencies were hastily formed, which were known
as the Cincinnati Reserves.
Yet, withal, the alarm never reached the height of the
excitement on Sunday, the thirteenth of July, when
Morgan was first reported marching on Lexington. The
papers said they should not be surprised any morning to
see his cavalry on the hills opposite Cincinnati; but the
people seemed to entertain less apprehension. They
were soon to have greater occasion for fear.
For the invasion of Morgan was only a forerunner. It
had served to illustrate to the rebel commanders the ease
with which their armies could be planted in Kentucky,
and had set before them a tempting vision of the rich
supplies of the "Blue Grass."
July and August passed in comparative gloom. Mc-
Clellan was recalled from the Peninsula. Pope was
driven back from the Rapidan, and after a bewildering
series of confused and bloody engagements, was forced to
seek refuge under the defences at Washington. On the
southwest our armies seemed torpid, and the enemy was
advancing. In the department in which Ohio was spe-
cially interested, there were grave delays in the long-
awaited movement on Chattanooga, and finally it ap-
peared that Bragg had arrived there before Buell.
Presently vague rumors of a new invasion began to be
whispered, and at last, while Bragg and Buell warily
watched each the other's maneuvers, Kirby Smith, who
had been posted at Knoxville, broke camp and marched
straight for the heart of Kentucky, with twelve thousand
men and thirty or forty pieces of artillery. With the first
rumors of danger, Indiana and Ohio had both made
strenuous exertions to throw forward the new levies, and
Indiana in particular had hastily put in the field in Ken-
tucky a large number of perfectly raw troops, just from
the camps at which they had been recruited.
Through Big Creek and Roger's Gap Kirby Smith
moved without molestation; passed the National forces
at Cumberland Gap without waiting to attempt a reduc-
tion of the place ; and absolutely pushed on into Ken-
tucky unopposed, till, within fifteen miles of Richmond
and less than three times that distance from Lexington
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
"5
itself, he fell upon a Kentucky regiment of cavalry under
Colonel Metcalf and scattered it in a single charge. The
routed cavalrymen bore back to Richmond and Lexing-
ton the first authentic news of the rebel advance. The
new troops were hastily pushed forward in utter igno-
rance of the strength of the enemy, and apparently with-
out any well-defined plans, and so, as the victorious in-
vaders came up toward Richmond, they found this force
opposing them. Smith seems scarcely to have halted,
even to concentrate his command; but, precipitating the
advance of his column, upon the raw line that confronted
him, scattered it again at a charge (August 29th). Gen-
eral Manson, who commanded the National troops, had
been caught before getting his men well in hand} A little
farther back he essayed the formation of another line, and
the check of the rout; but, while the broken line was
steadying, Smith again came charging up, and the disor-
derly retreat was speedily renewed. A third and more
determined stand was made, almost in the suburbs of the
town, and some hard fighting ensued ; but the undisci-
plined and ill-handled troops were no match for their en-
thusiastic assailants, and when they were this time driven,
the rout became complete. The cavalry fell upon the
fugitives; whole regiments were captured, and instantly
paroled; those who escaped fled through fields and by-
ways and soon poured into Lexington with the story of
the disaster.
Thither now went hurrying General H. G. Wright, the
commander of the department. A glance at the condi-
tion of such troops as this battle of Richmond had left
him, showed that an effort to hold Lexington would be
hopeless. Before Kirby Smith could get up he evacuated
the place, and was falling back in all haste on Louisville,
while the railroad company was hurrying its stock toward
the Cincinnati end of the road ; the banks were sending
off their specie ; Union men were fleeing, and the pre-
dominant rebel element was throwing off all disguise.
On the first of September General Kirby Smith entered
Lexington in triumph. Two days later he dispatched
Heath with five or six thousand men against Covington
and Cincinnati ; the next day he was joined by John
Morgan, who had moved through Glasgow and Danville;
and the overjoyed people of the city thronged the streets
and shouted from every door and window their welcome
to the invaders. Pollard, the Confederate historian, says
the bells of the city were rung, and every possible mani-
festation of joy was made. A few days later Buell was
at Nashville, Bragg was moving into Kentucky, and the
"race for Louisville," as it has sometimes been called, was
begun. So swift was the rebel rush upon Kentucky and
the Ohio border ; so sudden the revolution in the aspect
of the war in the Southwest.
We have told the simple story of the rebel progress.
It would need more vivid colors to give an adequate
picture of the state into which Cincinnati and the sur-
rounding country were thereby thrown.
News of the disaster at Richmond was not received in
Cincinnati until a late hour Saturday night, August 30th.
It produced great excitement, but the full extent of its
consequences was not realized. There were soldiers in
plenty to drive back the invaders, it was argued; only a
few experienced officers were needed. The sanitary
commission hastened its shipments of stores towards the
battle-field, and the State authorities began preparations
for sending relief to the wounded; while the newspapers
gave vent to the general dissatisfaction in severe criti-
cisms on the management of the battle, and in wonders
as to what Buell could be doing. Thus Sunday passed.
Monday afternoon rumors began to fly about that the
troops were in no condition to make any sufficient oppo-
sition, that Lexington and Frankfort might have to be
abandoned. Great crowds flocked about the newspaper
offices and army headquarters to ask the particulars; but
all still thought that in any event there were plenty of
troops between the invaders and themselves. By dusk
it was known that, instead of falling back upon Cincin-
nati, the troops were retreating through Frankfort to
Louisville — that between Kirby Smith's flushed regiments
and the banks and warehouses of the Queen City stood
no obstacle more formidable than a few unmanned siege
guns back of Covington, and the easily crossed Ohio
river.
The shock was profound. But none thought of any-
thing, save to seek what might be the most efficient
means of defence. The city council at once met in extra
session, pledged the faith of the city to meet any expen-
ses the military authorities might require in the emer-
gency ; authorized the mayor to suspend all business and
summon every man, alien or citizen, who lived under
the protection of the Government, to unite in military
organizations for its defence ; assured the general com-
manding the department (General Wright) of their entire
confidence, and requested him to call for men and means
to any extent desired, no limit being proposed save the
entire capacity of the community.
While the municipal authorities were thus tendering
the whole resources of the city of a quarter of a million
people, the commander of the department was sending
them a general. Lewis Wallace was a dashing young
officer of volunteers, who had been among the first from
Indiana to enter the field at the outbreak of the war,
and had risen to the highest promotion then attainable
in the army. He was notably quick to take responsibili-
ties, full of energy and enthusiasm, abundantly confident
in his own resources, capable of bold plans. When the
first indications of danger appeared he had waived his
rank and led one of the raw regiments from his State
into the field. Then, after being for a short time in
charge of the troops about Lexington, he had, on being
relieved by General Nelson, returned to Cincinnati.
Here the commander of the department seized upon
him for service in the sudden emergency, summoning
him first to Lexington for consultation; then, when him-
self hastening to Louisville, ordered Wallace back to
Cincinnati, to assume command and defend the town,
with its Kentucky suburbs.
He arrived at nine o'clock in the evening. The mayor
waited upon him at once with notice of the action of the
city council. The mayors of Newport and Covington
soon came hurrying over. The few army officers on
n6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
duty in the three towns also reported; and a few hours
were spent in consultation.
Then, at 2 a. m., the decisive step was taken, a procla-
mation of martial law was sent to the newspapers. Next
morning the citizens read at their breakfast tables — before
yet any one knew that the rebels were advancing on Cin-
cinnati, two days in fact before the advance began — that
all business must be suspended at nine o'clock; that they
must assemble within an hour thereafter and await orders
for work; that the ferry-boats should cease plying, save
under military direction; that for the present the city po-
lice should enforce martial law; that in all this the princi-
ple to be adopted was : "Citizens for labor, soldiers for bat-
tle." It was the boldest and most vigorous order in the
history of Cincinnati or of the war along the border.*
"If the enemy should not come after all this fuss,''
said one of the general's friends, "you will be ruined."
"Very well," was the reply; "but they will come, or, if
they do not, it will be because this same fuss has caused
them to think better of it."
The city took courage from the bold course of its gen-
eral; instead of a panic there was universal congratula-
tion. "From the appearance of our streets,'' said one of
the newspapers the next day, in describing the operations
of martial law, " a stranger would imagine that some pop-
ular holiday was being celebrated. Indeed, were the
millenium suddenly inaugurated, the populace could
hardly seem better pleased." All cheerfully obeyed the
order, though there was not military force enough present
to have enforced it along a single street. Every business
house was closed; in the unexpectedly scrupulous obe-
dience to the letter of the proclamation, even the street-
cars stopped running, and the teachers, closing their
schools, reported for duty. But few hacks or wagons
were to be seen, save those On Government service. Work-
ing parties of citizens had been ordered to report to Col-
onel J. V. Guthrie; companies of citizen soldiers to
Major Malcolm McDowell. Meetings assembled in every
ward; great numbers of military organizations were
*The following is the text of this remarkable order, which practically
saved Cincinnati:
PROCLAMATION.
The undersigned, by order of Major-General Wright, assumes com-
mand of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport.
It is but fair to inform the citizens that an active, daring, and power-
ful enemy threatens them with every consequence of war; yet the cities
must be defended, and their inhabitants must assist in preparations.
Patriotism, duty, honor, self-preservation, call them to the labor, and it
must be performed equally by all citizens.
First. All business must be suspended. At nine o'clock to-day every
business house must be closed.
Second. Under the direction of the Mayor, the citizens must, within
an hour after the suspension of business (ten o'clock A. m.), assemble
in convenient public places ready for orders. As soon as possible they
will then be assigned to their work. This labor ought to be that of love,
and the undersigned trusts and believes it will be so. Anyhow, it must
be done. The willing shall be properly credited, the unwilling prompt-
ly visited. The principle adopted is, citizens for the labor, soldiers for
the battle.
Third. The ferry-boats will cease plying the river after four o'clock
A. m., until further orders.
Martial law is hereby proclaimed in the three cities; but until they can
be relieved by the military, the injunctions of this proclamation will be
executed by the police. Lewis Wallace,
Major General Commanding.
formed; by noon thousands of citizens in fully organized .
companies were industriously drilling. Meanwhile, back
of Newport and Covington, breastworks, rifle-pits, and
redoubts had been hastily traced, guns had been mounted,
pickets thrown out. Toward evening a sound of ham-
mers and saws arose from the landing; by daybreak a
pontoon bridge stretched from Cincinnati to Covington,
and wagons loaded with lumber for barracks and material
for fortifications were passing over.
In such spirit did Cincinnati herself confront the sud-
den danger. Not less vigorous was the action of the
governor. While Wallace was writing his proclamation
of martial law, and ordering the suspension of business,
Tod was hurrying down to the scene of danger for con-
sultation. Presently he was telegraphing from Cincinnati
to his adjutant-general to send whatever troops were ac-
cessible without a moment's delay. " Do not wait," he
added, "to have them mustered or paid — that can be
done here — they should be armed and furnished ammuni-
tion." To his quattermaster he telegraphed: "Send five
thousand stand of arms for the militia of the city, with
fifty rounds of ammunition. Send also forty rounds for
fifteen hundred guns (sixty-nine calibre)." To the peo-
ple along the border, through the press and the military
committees, he said :
Our southern border is threatened with invasion. I have therefore
to recommend that all the loyal men of your counties at once form
themselves into military companies and regiments to beat back the en-
emy at any and all points he may attempt to invade our State. Gather
up all the arms in the county, and furnish yourselves with ammunition
for the same. The service will be of but few days' duration. The soil
of Ohio must not be invaded by the enemies of our glorious Govern-
ment.
To Secretary Stanton he telegraphed that he had no
doubt a large rebel force was moving against Cincinnati,
but it would be successfully met. The commander at
Camp Dennison he directed to guard the track of the
Little Miami railroad against apprehended dangers, as
far up as Xenia.
The rural districts were meanwhile hastening to the
rescue. Early in the day — within an hour or two after
the arrival of the Cincinnati papers with news of the
danger — Preble and Butler counties telegraphed offers
of large numbers of men. Warren, Greene, Franklin,
and half a score of others, rapidly followed. Before
night the governor had sent a general answer in this
proclamation :
Cincinnati, Septembers, 1862.
In response to several communications tendering companies and
squads of men for the protection of Cincinnati, I announce that all
such bodies of men who are armed will be received. They will repair at
once to Cincinnati, and report to General Lew Wallace, who will com-
plete their further organization. Nonebut armed men will be received,
and such only until the fifth instant. Railroad companies will pass all
such bodies of men at the expense of the State. It is not desired that
any troops residing in any of the river counties leave their counties.
All such are requested to organize and remain for the protection of their
own counties. David Tod, Governor.
Before daybreak the advance of the men that were
thenceforward to be known in the history of the State as
the "Squirrel Hunters," were filing through the streets.
Next morning, throughout the interior, church and fire-
bells rang; mounted men galloped through neighbor-
hoods to spread the alarm ; there was a hasty cleaning of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
117
rifles and moulding of bullets and filling of powder-horns
and mustering at the villages ; and every city-bound train
ran burdened with the gathering host.
While these preparations were in progress, perhaps
Cincinnati might have been taken by a vigorous dash of
Kirby Smith's entire force, and held long enough for
pillage. But the inaction for a day or two at Lexington
was fatal to such hopes. Within two days after the proc-
lamation of martial law the city was safe beyond per-
adventure. Then, as men saw the vast preparations for
an enemy that had not come, they began, not unnaturally,
to wonder if the need for such measures had been im-
perative. A few business men complained. Some Ger-
mans began tearing up a street-railroad track, in revenge
for the invidious distinction which, in spite of the danger,
had adjudged the street-cars indispensable, but not the
lager-beer shops. The schools had unintentionally been
closed by the operation of the first sweeping proclama-
tion, and fresh orders had to be issued -to open them;
bake-shops had been closed, and the people seemed in
danger of getting no bread ; the drug-stores had been
closed, and the sick could get no medicines. Such over-
sights were speedily corrected, but they left irritation.*
The Evening Times newspaper, giving voice to a senti-
ment that undoubtedly began to find expression among
some classes, published a communication which pro-
nounced the whole movement "a big scare," and ridiculed
the efforts to place the city in a posture of defense, t
To at least a slight extent the commander of the De-
partment would seem to have entertained the same opin-
ion. After two days of martial law and mustering for the
defense of the city, he directed, on his return from Louis-
ville, a relaxation of the stringency of the first orders, and
notified Governor Tod that no more men from the in-
terior were wanted. The next day he relieved General
Wallace of the command in Cincinnati and sent him
across the river to take charge of the defences; permitted
the resumption of all business save liquor selling, only re-
quiring that it should be suspended each afternoon at
* The following order, issued by the mayor, with the sanction of
General Wallace, obviated the difficulties involved in the literal suspen-
sion of all business in a great city :
First. The banks and bankers of this city will be permitted to open
their offices from one to two P. M.
Second. Bakers are allowed to pursue their business. m
Third. Physicians are allowed to attend their patients.
Fourth. Employes of newspapers are allowed to pursue their busi-
ness.
Fifth. Funerals are permitted, but only mourners are allowed to
leave the city.
Sixth. All coffee-houses and places where intoxicating liquors are
sold, are to be closed and kept closed.
Seventh. Eating and drinking-houses are to close and keep closed.
Eighth. All places of amusement are to close and keep closed.
Ninth. All drug-stores and apothecaries are permitted to keep open
and do their ordinary business.
George Hatch, Mayor of Cincinnati.
f Within an hour or two after this publication, General Wallace sup-
pressed the Times; for this article, as was generally supposed, although
it was subsequently stated that the offensive matter was an editorial re-
viewing the militaiy management on the Potomac. The zealous loyalty
of the paper had always been so marked that General Wallace was
soon made to feel the popular conviction of his having made a grave
mistake, and the next day the Times was permitted to appear again as
usual.
four o'clock, and that the evenings should be spent in
drill ; systematized the drain upon the city for labor on
the .fortifications, by directing that requisitions be made
each evening for the number to be employed the next
day, and that these be equitably apportioned among the
several wards.*
The day before the issue of this order had witnessed
the most picturesque and inspiring sight ever seen in
Cincinnati. From morning till night the streets re-
sounded with the tramp of armed men marching to the
defence of the city. From every quarter of the State
they came, in every form of organization, with every
species of arms. The "Squirrel Hunters," in their home-
spun, with powder-horn and buckskin pouch; half-organ-
ized regiments, some in uniform and some without it,
some having waited long enough to draw their equip-
ments and some having marched without them; cavalry
and infantry ; — all poured out from the railroad depots
and down toward the pontoon bridge. The ladies of the
city furnished provisions by the wagon-load; the Fifth-
street market-house was converted into a vast free eating
saloon for the Squirrel Hunters; halls and warehouses
were used as barracks.
On the fourth of September Governor Tod was able
to telegraph General Wright : "I have now sent you for
Kentucky twenty regiments. I have twenty-one more in
process of organization, two of which I will send you this
week, five or six next week, and the rest the week after.
I have no means of knowing what number of
gallant men responded to my call (on the militia) for the
protection of Cincinnati; but presume they now count by
thousands." And the next day he was forced to check
the movement:
Columbus, September 5, 1862.
To the Press:
The response to my proclamation asking volunteers for the protection
of Cincinnati was most noble and generous. All may feel proud of the
gallantry of the people of Ohio. No more volunteers are required for
the protection of Cincinnati. Those now there may be expected home
in a few days. I advise that the military organizations throughout the
State, formed within the past few days, be kept up, and that the mem-
bers meet at least once a week for drill. Recruiting for the old regi-
.ments is progressing quite satisfactorily, and with continued effort there
is reason to believe that the requisite number may be obtained by the
fifteenth instant. For the want of proper accommodations at this point,
recruiting officers are directed to report their men at the camp nearest ■
their locality, where they will remain until provision can be made for
their removal. Commanding officers of the several camps will see that
every facility is given necessary for the comfort of these recruits.
David Tod, Governor.
*This order, which was hailed by the business community as sensible
and timely, and which certainly gave great mitigation to the embarrass-
ments caused by the suspension of business, was as follows:
"Headquarters, Department of the Ohio, )
"Cincinnati, September 6, 1862. J
"General Order No. n.
"The resumption of all lawful business in the city of Cincinnati, ex-
cept the sale of liquor, is hereby authorized until the hour of four o'clock
p. M., daily.
1 'All druggists, manufacturers of breadstuffs, provision dealers, rail-
road, express and tiansfer companies, persons connected with the public
press, and all persons doing business for the Government, will be al-
lowed to pursue their vocations without interruption.
"By command of Major General Wright.
"N. H. McLEAN,
"Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff."
n8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The exertions at Cincinnati, however, were not
abated. Judge Dickson, a well-known lawyer of the city,
of radical Republican politics, organized a negro brigade
for labor on the fortifications, which did excellent and
zealous service. Full details of white citizens, three
thousand per day — judges, lawyers and clerks, merchant-
prince and day-laborer, artist and artisan, side by side —
were also kept at work with the spade, and to all pay-
ment of a dollar per day was promised. The militia
organizations were kept up; "regiments of the reserve"
were formed; and drilling went on vigorously. The
Squirrel Hunters were entertained in rough but hearty
fashion, and the ladies continued to furnish bountiful
supplies of provisions.
Across the river regular engineers had done their best
to give shape to the hasty fortifications. The trenches
were manned every night, and after an imperfect fashion
a little scouting went on in the front. General Wallace
was vigilant and active, and there was no longer a possi-
bility that the force under Kirby Smith could take the
city.
At last the rebel detachment which had marched
northward under General Heath began to move up as if
actually intending attack. One or two little skirmishes
occurred; and the commander of the department, de-
ceived into believing that now was the hour of his greatest
peril, appealed hastily to Governor Tod for more militia.
The governor's response was prompt:
Columbus, September 10, 1862.
[To the Press of Cleveland.]
To the several Military Committees of Northern Ohio:
By telegram from Major-General Wright, commander-in-chief of
western forces, received at two o'clock this morning, I am directed to
send all armed men that can be raised immediately to Cincinnati. You
will at once exert yourselves to execute this order. The men should be
armed, each furnished with a blanket, and at least two days' rations.
Railroad companies are requested to furnish transportation of troops to
the exclusion of all other business. David Tod, Governor.
The excitement in the city once more sprang up.
Every disposition was made for defence, and the attack
was hourly expected. The newspapers of September
nth announced that before they were distributed the
sound of artillery might be heard on the heights of Cov-
ington; assured readers of the safety of the city, and ex-
horted all to "keep cool." Business was again sus-
pended, and the militia companies were under arms.
The intrenchments back of Covington were filled; and,
lest a sudden concentration might break through the
lines at some spot and leave the city at the mercy of the
assailants, the roads leading to it were guarded, and only
those provided with passes could travel to or fro, while
the river was filled with gunboats, improvised from the
steamers at the wharves.
But the expected attack did not come. As we now
know, Kirby Smith had never been ordered to attack,
but only to demonstrate; and about this very time the
advance of Buell seemed to Bragg so menacing that he
made haste to order Smith back to his support. General
Wallace gradually pushed out his advance a little, and
the rebel pickets fell back. By the eleventh all felt that
the danger was over. On the twelfth Smith's hasty re-
treat was discovered. On the thirteenth Governor Tod
checked the movement of the Squirrel Hunters, an
nounced the safety of Cincinnati, and expressed his con-
gratulations.
On this bright Saturday afternoon the "regiments of
the reserve'' came marching across the pontoon bridge,
with their dashing commander at the head of the column.
Joyfully these young professional and business men
traced their way through Front, Broadway, and Fourth
streets to the points where they were relieved from the
restraints of military service, and permitted to seek the
pleasures and rest of home. An examination of the
dockets and daybooks of that eventful fortnight will show
that the citizens of Cincinnati were absent from their
usual vocations ; but Monday, the fifteenth, brought again
to the counting-rooms and workshops the busy hum of
labor.
General Wallace took his leave of the city he had so
efficiently served in a graceful and manly address :
To the people of Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington:
For the present, at least, the enemy has fallen back, and your cities
are safe. It is the time for acknowledgments: I beg leave to make you
mine. When I assumed command, there was nothing to defend you
with, except a few half-finished works and some dismounted guns; yet
I was confident. The energies of a great city are boundless; they have
only to be aroused, united and directed. -You were appealed to. The
answer will never be forgotten.
Paris may have seen something like it in her revolutionary days, but
the cities of America never did. Be proud that you have given them
an example so splendid. The most commercial of people, you sub-
mitted to a total suspension of business, and without a murmur adopted
my principle, " citizens for labor, soldiers for battle."
In coming time strangers, viewing the works on the hills of Newport
and Covington, will ask, "Who built these intrenchments?" You can
answer, "We built them." If they ask, "Who guarded them?" you
can reply, "We helped in thousands." If they inquire the result, your
answer will be, "The enemy came and looked at them, and stole away
in the night."
You have won much honor. Keep your organizations ready to win
more. "Hereafter be always prepared to defend yourselves.
Lewis Wallace,
Major General Commanding.
He had done some things not wholly wise, and had
brought upon the people much inconvenience not wholly
necessary. But these were the inevitable necessities of
the haste, lack of preparation, and the pressure of the
emergency. He took grave responsibilities, adopted a
vigorous and needful policy, was prompt and peremptory
when these qualities were the only salvation of the city.
He will be held in grateful remembrance so long as Cin-
cinnati continues to cherish the memory of those who do
her service.
As the regiments from the city were relieved from duty,
so the Squirrel Hunters were disbanded and sought the
routes of travel homeward, carrying with them the thanks
of a grateful populace.
While the attack was expected, there were many in
Cincinnati who thought that the enemy might really be
amusing the force on the front while preparing to cross
the river at Maysville, above, and so swoop down on the
city on the undefended side. To the extent of making
a raid into Ohio at least, such an action was actually en-
tertained, and was subsequently undertaken by Colonel
Basil W. Duke, of John Morgan's command, who was
left to occupy the forces near Cincinnati as long as possi-
ble after Kirby Smith's withdrawal. He went so far as
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
119
to enter Augusta, on the river above Cincinnati, where he
was encountered by a determined party of home guards,
and given so bloody a reception that after a desperate
little street-fight he was glad to abandon his movement
and fall back in haste to Falmouth, and thence, soon
after, toward the rest of the retreating forces.
Work on the fortifications was prudently continued,
and some little time passed before the city lapsed into
its accustomed ways; but the "siege of Cincinnati" was
over. The enemy was before it about eight days — at no
time twelve thousand strong.
As most of those who were in charge of the operations
during the siege were Cincinnatians, a list of the whole
is subjoined :
On the staff of Governor Wallace.— Chief of Staff, Colonel J. C.
Elston, jr.; Chief of Artillery, Major C. M. Willard; Aid-de-camps,
Captains James M. Rose, A. J. Ware, jr., James F. Troth, A. G. Sloo,
G. P. Edgar, E. T. Wallace; Volunteer Aid-de-camps, Colonel J. V.
Guthrie, Lieutenant Colonel G. W. Neff, Majors Malcolm McDowell,
E. B. Dennison, Captains James Thompson, A. S. Burt, Thomas
Buchanan Read, S. C. Erwin, J. J. Henderson, J. C. Belman.
Negro Brigade, Camp Shaler. — Commander, Judge Dickson; Com-
missary, Hugh McBirney; Quartermaster, J. S. Hill.
Fatigue Forces, — In charge, Colonel J. V. Guthrie; Commissary,
Captain Williamson; Quartermaster, Captain George B. Cassilly.
Camp Mitchell. — Under Captain Titus.
Camp Anderson. — Under Captain Storms.
Camp Shaler, back of Newport. — Under Major Winters.
River Defence. — In charge, R. M. Corwine; Aid, William Wiswell,
jr. Men in Mill Creek, Green, Storrs, Delhi, Whitewater, Miami, Co-
lumbia, Spencer, and Anderson townships subject to orders of above.
Collection of Provisions. — Committee appointed by General Wal-
lace: William Chidsey, T. F. Rogers, T. Horton, T. F. Shaw, and A.
D. Rogers.
In command of Cincinnati. — Military Commander, Lieutenant Col-
onel S. Burbank, U. S. A. ; Aid, John B. Caldwell; Provost Marshal,
A. E. Jones.
Employment of Laborers for Fortifications. — Hon. A. F. Perry,
assisted by Hon. Benjamin Eggleston, Charles Thomas, and Thomas
Gilpin.
V
CHAPTER XVIII.
CINCINNATI'S NINTH DECADE — ***o.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY.
January was the eventful month of this year. On the
fifteenth a stone wall at the corner of Third and Elm
streets fell with destructive effect, crushing buildings and
burying one or two persons in the ruins. On the seven-
teenth a remarkably curious storm of thunder and light-
ning occurred. On the thirtieth Colonel John Riddle,
ofthe old Cincinnati family, departed this life, followed
May 2d by Mr. Adam N. Riddle.
February 19, the Kentucky legislature was given a
banquet in Cincinnati, to prepossess the members in fa-
vor of legislation in behalf of the Southern railroad.
On the twentieth Cavagna's dairy, with valuable blooded
stock, was burned.
April 8th, Policeman Sears lost his life by violence, at
the hands of George Lynch.
July 9th, George Jaques was killed by a fall from the
spire of the new St. Paul's Methodist church.
June 16, the new Saengerfest hall was "opened, and in
the same, September 6th, the first great industrial exposi-
tion was formally opened.
The census of the year developed a population of two
hundred and sixteen thousand two hundred and thirty-
nine. Families, forty-four thousand nine. hundred and
thirty-seven; average number in each family, five and
four-hundredths persons; dwellings, twenty-four thousand
five hundred and fifty; persons in each dwelling, aver-
age, eight and eighty-one hundredths; new structures in
the county, one thousand and thirty-four; valuation of
them, two million four hundred thousand five hundred and
ninety dollars; churches in the county, two hundred and
twenty-five; church buildings, two hundred and fourteen;
valuation, five million one hundred and eight thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine. The vast majority of
new structures and churches, of course, belonged to the
city. .
The annexations of the year to the corporation of Cin-
cinnati aggregated twelve and three-fourths square miles.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE.
Down to and including this year, we have been in-
debted for many items in these annals to the enterprise
of the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, which, in its issue
of January 1, 1872, comprised several columns of notes
of events in the city, from the beginnings to that date.
For our annals of the decade we acknowledge indebted-
ness almost exclusively to such of the local papers as
have published, at the close of a year or the beginning
of the next, chronological statements of the ' leading
events of the twelve-month.
This year was constructed the fine Odd Fellows' hall,
on Fourth street, at the northeast corner of Home, built
at a cost of seventy thousand dollars, exclusive of the
ground on which it stands.
Cincinnati was declared a port of entry.
January 6th, died Dr. Wesley Smead, a leading founder
of the widows' home and one of the old bankers of the
city. On the twenty-second the Central Christian church,
on Ninth street, is dedicated. On the thirtieth, the Cin-
cinnati Firemen's Relief society is organized.
February 4th, there was a grand jubilee of the Ger-
mans throughout the city, over the unification of the
Fatherland; fifth, the Evangelical Lutheran church, on
Race street, is dedicated; twenty-first, fire at the Bethel
— damage fifteen thousand dollars.
March 17th, death of Colonel William Schillinger, an
old resident, aged eighty-nine.
April : 3th, the new bicameral city council holds its first
meeting, with a board of aldermen and a board of coun-
cilmen.
May 3d, the United States Distillers' association meets
at the Burnet house; fifth, fire in Blymyer, Norton &
Company's factory— loss forty thousand dollars; fifteenth,
great fire on Sycamore street; Mills, Johnson & Compa-
ny's whiskey establishment burned out — loss two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, insurance one hundred and
twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars.
June 5th, the extensive picnic riot at Parlor Grove;
120
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
twenty-fifth, demonstration by the Catholics, in celebra-
tion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pius Ninth's pon-
tificate.
July 2d, rededication of St. John's Methodist Episcopal
church, corner Longworth and Park streets; during the
month generally, and for some time before and after,
much agitation on both sides about the observance of
Sunday.
August 8th, corner stone of new Odd Fellows' hall, cor-
ner of Fourth and Home streets, laid with imposing cer-
emonies.
September 6th, opening of the Second Industrial ex-
position with great eclat; eighteenth, President Grant
visits the city; twenty-second, purchase of the Markley
farm, for water works purposes, voted by the board of
aldermen; twenty-fourth, laying of corner stone of Church
of the Atonement (Catholic), on Third street; thirtieth,
one death from yellow fever. ,
October 5th, dedication of the Tyler-Davidson foun-
tain; ninth, contribution of one hundred thousand dol-
lars by the city, and fifty-five thousand one hundred and
eighty-five by citizens, for relief of sufferers by the Chicago
fire; twenty-fourth, the board of councilmen ratify the
purchase of the Markley farm.
November 26th, dedication of McLean chapel, on
Ninth street, near Freeman.
December 23d, first meeting of the "Reunion and Re-
form" organization, in the college building; twenty-sixth,
the park commissioners recommend the purchase of Bur-
net woods for a park.
The "city has a notable visitor this year in Sir James
Macaulay, M. A., M. D., of Edinburgh, the editor of the
Leisure Hour. He gives two interesting and frank, but
agreeable chapters to Cincinnati, in his book of travels,
Across the Ferry, subsequently published. We make
only the following extracts :
To a traveler going westward, Cincinnati may appear a half-grown,
half-settled, recent city ; but, coming back upon it as I did from Chi-
cago, it had a staid, compact, and almost venerable look. Smoke has
helped to impart this aspect of premature antiquity. It is one of the
smokiest and ' ' Auld Reekie " like cities in America. The brick-built
streets have a sombre appearance in the older districts.
Forty years ago, when Chicago was beginning its existence, Cincin-
nati had its court house, gaol, college, medical school, museum, public
library, five classical schools, forty-seven common schools, and twenty-
five churches, and was a place of great trade and extensive manufac-
tures.
I consider Cincinnati at the present time one of the most "represent-
ative" and fairly average of the great cities of the States. It is equally
removed from the condition of the older cities of the east and the south,
and of the newer cities of the west, such as Chicago or San Francisco.
Boston and Philadelphia, Charleston and New Orleans, date from old
British times, and, with Republican institutions, retain the continuity of
social life and historical tradition from before the War of Independence.
Cincinnati has sprung up since American nationality began, but has
existed long enough to acquire all the distinctive features of American
life and character, both soeial and political. The foreign or immigrant
element, both Irish and continental, in its population, is larger, and in-
fluences the affairs of the city in the same ways, and much in the eame
proportion, as they do the whole Union. The difficulties which Ameri-
can statesmen have to encounter, in political and social life, from di-
versities of nationality and of religion, here present themselves in a
marked manner. Observing this, I saw that in Cincinnati I could
study the present position and future prospects of the American
republic better than in most other cities, and therefore prolonged my
stay beyond the proportion of time required for mere sight-seeing ; in
which, indeed, there is not much to attract the traveler.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO.
The total mortality of the city this year was singularly
large, being five thousand two hundred and nineteen, or
one in every forty-one and thirty-five hundredths of the
population. This was due largely, however, to the terri-
ble devastations of small-pox, which swept off one thou-
sand one hundred and seventy-nine of the inhabitants.
Robinson's opera house was built this year, at the
northwest corner of Ninth and Plum streets, by John
Robinson, the veteran circus manager. The extensive
cellar underneath was constructed for the purpose mainly
of wintering his menagerie,
February 1st, the national convention for the amend-
ment of the constitution so as to recognize Christianity,
met in Cincinnati; on the eleventh, the Christian church
on Ninth street was dedicated; on the twentieth, the
Merrell drug mill, on Third street, was burned, with a
.loss of fifty thousand dollars.
March 3d, the board of trade rooms, at No. 122 Vine
street, were opened; on the sixth, six steamers burned
at the public landing — loss two hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars; on the eighteenth, terrible boiler explosion
at Woods & Conahan's soap-factory, on Central avenue,
killing two men and three children, and injuring others.
April 7th, deaths of George Shillito and Colonel
Henry W. Burdsal; ninth, a sixteen-foot rise in the Ohio
in twenty-four hours — heavy loss of coal in barges; four-
teenth, funeral services at Wesley chapel of Rev. M. P.
Gaddis, and consecration services at St. Peter's of the
Catholic bishops Dwenger and Gilmour; seventeenth,
strike and riotous demonstrations of coal shovelers and
cart drivers; twenty-second, coal exchange organized;
twenty-sixth, new Odd Fellows' temple on Fourth street
dedicated.
In May the National Liberal Convention meets at
Exposition hall, and on the third nominates Horace
Greeley for President and B. Gratz Brown for Vice Pres-
ident; nineteenth, robbery and riot at the East End;
twenty-second, terrible tornado in the eastern suburbs.
June 4th, reception of the musical composer, Franz
Abt.
July 10th, meeting of the National Society of stove
manufacturers at College hall; fourth, death of Mr. Wil-
liam Smith, ex-superintendent of the Chamber of Com-
merce, and editor of the Price Current.
August 1 6th, first prosecutions in the city under the
Adair liquor law, creating great sensation among the
liquor dealers.
September 2d, death of Mr. Henry J. Miller, ex-pres-
ident of the Cincinnati Gas and Coke company, at Niag-
ara Falls; fourth, opening of the Third Industrial Exposi-
tion; eighth, organization of the Newsboys' and Boot-
blacks' association; twentieth, visit of Horace Greeley to
the city, and enthusiastic reception.
October 5th and 7th, attacks on political processions
and small riots; eighteenth, Burnet Woods leased by the
city.
November 8th, the epizootic appears among the horses,
and thirteenth and fourteenth, the citizens organize to
drag the fire-engines.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
121
December 9th, the Bethel fair opened in Exposition
Hall ; four men killed and others injured by the fall of
a scaffold at the water works ; twentieth and twenty-sec-
ond, intensely cold weather — a drunken man freezes to
death, and several kitchen-range pipes explode, with seri-
ous results; twenty-eighth, one million two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars voted to aid the construction of the
Chesapeake & Cincinnati railroad.
EIGHXEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY -THREE. .
/The annexations of suburban tracts to the city were
/substantially completed this year by the admission of
Columbia February i, 1873, of Cumminsville March
1 8th, and Woodburn June 9th, all together amounting^
to four and one-fourth square miles, and increasing the
area of the city to fifteen thousand, two hundred and
sixty acres, or twenty-four square miles. In 1870 it had
but seven square tpiles, or four thousand, four hundred
and eighty acres, on which dwelt over two hundred thou
sand people, making Cincinnati the most densely-crowded
city in America, and almost in the world. __
The new Ohio & Mississippi railroad depot, on the
corner of Mill and Front streets, was erected this year.
This was the year of the great financial panic follow-
ing the suspension of the banking-house of Jay Cooke
& Company, at Philadelphia, in September. Cincinnati
met the storm bravely, although much suffering was ex-
pected, especially during the winter, among the families
of operatives and others thrown out of employment.
But Mayor Johnston, in his next succeeding message, was
enabled to present this encouraging view:
There was a stagnation of business; a large number of public and
private improvements were suspended. Laborers were thrown out of
employment, and that expressive term called "hard times ' was every-
where in vogue. From this state of things, Cincinnati was a sufferer,
but probably in a less degree than almost any other city. The panic,
in fact, brought into strong relief the solid capital and comparatively
small liabilities of our citizens, and we were thus enabled better to
weather the storm, which was so destructive to other communities that
were not in our favorable condition. Not only was our wealth tried
and vindicated, but there was a similar triumphant result on the side of
charity and humanity. While many of our wealthy citizens were con-
tributing to relieve, so far as they could, the unfortunate, the municipal
authorities also took prompt and energetic action. Soup and lodging
houses were established and placed in charge of a committee of Coun-
cil, and thereby a large amount of suffering and destitution was relieved
or prevented. It was also properly deemed advisable that such public
works as were of an indispensable character should be pushed vigor-
ously forward, in order to afford the largest amount of employment to
our laboring population. By these means the winter, which providen-
tially was a very mild one, was passed without bringing with it that
misery which was so generally feared and anticipated. With the open-
ing of spring there is no disagreeable change. Not in several years
have there been so many building permits applied for as at the present
time ; and this is one of the best signs of returning prosperity. The
future has a more promising appearance than was deemed possible a
few months ago, and I think the indications are not to be mistaken that
the progress of Cincinnati, in the increase of its wealth and in its gen-
eral prosperity, will be more marked in the decade now nearly half
through than at any previous period of its history.
Epidemic or Asiatic cholera also came this year, to add
another scourge to the calamities of 1873. The first
death from this source was reported on the fourteenth of
June; the last fatal case terminated October 18th. Mean-
while two hundred and seven persons died of it in the
city, being one in every one thousand one hundred and
ninety-three of population, besides some deaths probably
of this disease^but reported as caused by cholera infan-
tum, cholera morbus, and acute diarrhoea. These, it was
noted, were greater in number than the average from such
reported causes in other years. The Board of Health
was active and efficient in sanitary precautions for the
city, in exhortations to citizens and otherwise; but all
their efforts were unable completely to avert the scourge.
An interesting and elaborate special report upon Cholera
in Cincinnati in 1873 was subsequently made by Dr. J.
J. Quinn, health officer, and is embodied in the annual
reports of the city for this year. Some deaths from the
disease also occurred at Carthage, seven miles from the
city.
This year was comparatively uneventful. January 9th
four fires occurred in the city within twenty-four hours.
February 4th the Globe rolling mill was burned, with a
loss of seventy-five thousand dollars; ninth, the new
rooms of the McMicken School of Design were formally
opened; twentieth, the County Infirmary, at Carthage,
was opened.
March 12th, the ordinance for the annexation of Cum-
minsville was adopted by the people; fifteenth, Judge
Humphrey Leavitt, formerly of the United States Dis-
trict Court for Southern Ohio, died.
May 6th, the Musical Festival was hopefully opened;
ninth, the funeral of Bishop Mcllvaine, who died March
14th, at Florence, Italy, was attended; sixteenth, the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and
Animals began active operations.
June 8th, a great fire occurred in coal-oil stores, de-
stroying one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars'
worth of property, and turning thirty families out of
doors; thirteenth, second coal-oil fire, costing thirty-five
thousand dollars; sixteenth, the cholera appeared in the
city.
July 1st, five of the street-railway companies consoli-
dated; twenty-fifth, death of Stephen Molitor, a promi-
nent German editor; twenty-eighth, the corner-stone of
the Second Presbyterian church is laid.
August 14th, Probate Judge William Tilden died at
Sandusky; seventeenth, death of Major Daniel Gano, for
many years clerk of the county, from paralysis; twenty-
eighth, the corner-stone of Mt. Lookout Observatory is
laid.
September 2d, the Cincinnati stock-yards are opened,
and the Fourth Industrial Exposition.
October 13th, the City Council appropriates fifteen
thousand dollars for the relief of the sufferers from yellow
fever at Memphis, and there is general resumption of
payments by the banks.
November 7th, death of Piatt Evans, sr.; one hundred
thousand dollars city bonds voted for park improvements.
December 12th, the first contract on the Southern
railroad is awarded, and the amount allowed by the
courts to owners of the site of the government building
is fixed at six hundred and ninety-five thousand one hun-
dred and thirty-three dollars and sixty-three cents; fif-
teenth and sixteenth, workingmen's troubles— -a com-
mittee wait upon the mayor to demand relief, and issues
a manifesto; second and twenty-third, the adjourned
16
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
session of the State Constitutional Convention meets in
the Spencer House; twenty-sixth, general strike of en-
gineers and firemen on the Panhandle railroad.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR.
January 5th the Zoological Society was organized. On
the sixth and seventh there were thirty hours of continu-
ous snowfall, and telegraphic and railway communica-
tions were mostly suspended. On the nineteenth ten
thousand dollars' worth of diamond rings was stolen from
Duhme's jewelry store. On the twentieth the ladies'
temperance crusade began to awaken general attention.
On the twenty-ninth the Strobel picture-frame factory
was destroyed, with a loss of sixty-five thousand dollars.
In February, a notable religious revival occurred in
some of the city churches. On the thirteenth the struct-
ures on the site of the new government building were
sold. On the twenty-fifth the Public Library building
was formally dedicated ; oration by the Hon. George H.
Pendleton.
March 5th occurred the first mass meeting of the tem-
perance crusaders, in Wesley chapel; seventh, the gift by
Mr. Joseph Longworth of fifty thousand dollars to the
School of Design; twelfth and sixteenth, visitation of sa-
loons by temperance ladies, and twenty-seventh, wild ex-
citement in Fourth street over a temperance prayer-
meeting ; twenty-eighth, great mass-meeting at Exposition
Hall in favor of liquor license.
April 9th, large anti-license meeting at Pike's Opera
House; 14th to 1 6th, session of the Cincinnati Presby-
tery, which approves the women's crusade; 1 6th, mass
meeting at Pike's to promote municipal reform, com-
mittee of safety appointed; 26th, grand State convention
at Wesley Chapel, in opposition to liquor licenses, with
enthusiastic meetings in various churches.
May 4th, a praying band at a saloon is wet down with
a hose; nth, one hundred thousand dollars is given to
the Bethel by David Sinton; 12th, Lanning's planing-
mill, on Plum street, is burned — loss sixty thousand dol-
lars; r4th, excitement and mobs occur in the West End
over the temperance prayer-meetings, and there is a riot on
Freeman street from this cause the next day ; 1 7th, forty-
three female crusaders are arrested, and have a prayer-
meeting in the station house ; 20th, they are dismissed,
with an admonition by the Police Judge; 28th, another
municipal-reform mass meeting, at Wesley Chapel.
June 1st, new building of the Y. M. C. A. dedicated;
June 4th, reunion of the Pioneers of the Miami Valley.
July 27th, great flood in Licking river; heavy loss of
barges and coal.
August 13th, mass meeting in behalf of temperance at
Pike's, and another on the 27th to celebrate the defeat of
the license clause in the new State Constitution; 26th,
Burnet Woods Park opened to the public.
September 2d, the Fifth Industrial Exposition opens
with great eclat; 7th, the Grand Opera House opens ;
14th, the Grand Hotel opens; 24th, Exposition regatta.
October 26th, new Mozart Hall opened ; 30th, Dumont
& Company's machine and boiler works burned — loss
seventy-five thousand dollars.
November rst, temperance crusade temporarily re-
vived ; 6th, Werk's soap and candle factory burns — loss
two hundred thousand dollars ; 9th, Mr. David Sinton
gives thirty-three thousand dollars to the Y. M. C. A.,
and the Cincinnati Orchestra gives its first concert ; 20th,
deaths of S. B. W. McLean, formerly of the Daily En-
quirer, andof Peter Ehrgott, a prominent German resident.
December 2d, death of Rev. Charles B. Davidson,
D.D.; nth, Griffith's planing-mill burned — loss seventy-
five thousand dollars; 2 2d, general raid of the police
upon the gamblers ; 29th, the Secretary of the Treasury
visits Cincinnati ; 30th, death of Judges J. Bryant Walker
and Jonathan Cilley.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE.
Some of the events of this year were peculiarly notable.
September was rich in public events — particularly open-
ings. On the 7th of that month the Fifth Industrial Ex-
position was opened ; on the 9th the Cincinnati Base-ball
Park ; on the 1 8th, the Zoological Garden ; and on the
27th, the Chester Driving Park, with races. October 3d
the Hebrew Union College was opened, with exercises in
the synagogue of Rabbi Wise. January 3d, the Second
Presbyterian church, on Elm street, was dedicated. On
the 13th of the same month the Queen City Club selected
the site for its club-house. March 29th, ground was
broken on the Kentucky side for the Cincinnati Southern
Railway bridge. April nth, Mr. W. S. Groesbeck made
his gift of fifty thousand dollars for free concerts in Bur-
net Woods Park, and May 17th Mr. R. R. Springer his
of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the
Music Hall. November 28th, the fund for the hall neces-
sary to secure Mr. Springer's gift was raised. At the
Zoo a unique event occurred March 24th, in the com-
bat of an escaped lioness and a donkey, in which the
former was ingloriously defeated. Both have since died,
and their stuffed skins are fitly mounted in the Carnivora
House, at the Garden. April 1 7th, an infernal machine
was exploded in St. Xavier's Catholic church building, in
course of erection, but without doing serious injury.
June 1 8th, a slight shock of earthquake was felt at Cin-
cinnati. In May, a remarkably successful Musical Festi-
val was held. The greatest fire was that in John Hol-
land's gold-pen manufactory, which was damaged to the
amount of one hundred thousand dollars, January 9th.
An unusual number of noteworthy deaths occurred
this year, including those of Hon. S. S. L'Hommedieu;
Father William Taylor, believed by many to have been
the first male child born in Cincinnati ; Dr. Thomas E.
Thomas, Professor of Biblical Literature in Lane Semin-
ary; Rev. C. H. Taylor, D.D., pastor of the Third Pres-
byterian church ; Rev. Erwin House, another well-known
clergyman; Judge Bellamy Storer, one of the most
famous jurists in Ohio ; Judge Robert Moore, formerly
of the court of common pleas; Benjamin Pine, an old
pioneer, and Charles Avery, a centenarian ; Robert A.
McFarland, financial editor of the Daily Enquirer ; Mr.
George Dominick, a prominent business man ; General
McKee, and many others.
A fresh visitation of small-pox added again to the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
123
customary mortality, some weeks furnishing at least one-
third of the deaths. The Board of Health exhibited
great energy and skill in checking and preventing it.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX.
The centennial year was not signalized by events 01
commanding importance in the Queen City.
On the fifth of February a panic occurred at Robinson's
new opera house, through a false alarm of fire, by which
several persons were killed, and the whole city put for a
time in fear. Washington's Birthday was celebrated by
an important social event, the Continental Costume Re-
ception. The twenty-eighth of February, Mardi Gras,
was devoted to a ridiculous street-parade and other
mummeries, during which Mrs. Mary A. Thornton, one
of the earliest and oldest residents of the city, was killed
by falling' from a platform while viewing the procession.
March 14 a further loan of the city's credit to the
Southern railroad, to the amount of six million dollars,
was voted by the citizens.
May 15 Dom Pedro, emperor of Brazil, visited the
city. On the twenty-first the Catholic societies had a
parade, through pouring rain, in honor of Archbishop
Purcell, whose fiftieth anniversary of accession to the
priesthood was celebrated two days thereafter. On the
twenty-sixth a fire occurred at Melodeon hall, destroying,
with other things, Dubufe's famous painting of the prodi-
gal son ; loss said to be one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.
April 4 the College Hill Narrow-guage, and June 6 the
Westwood Narrow-guage railroads were opened to the
public.
June 14 the National Republican convention met in
Cincinnati, and on the sixteenth nominated Rutherford
B. Hayes, a former Cincinnatian, President, and William
A. Wheeler, of New York, for Vice-President.
July 4, the Centennial anniversary of National Inde-
pendence was enthusiastically celebrated. The First
regiment Ohio national guard went into camp the same
day at Oakley, and remained three days.
The remainder of the year was comparatively unevent-
ful. The necrology of 1876 includes the names of Judge
William B. Caldwell, deceased March 21, and Judge
David K. Este, April 1, at the advanced age of ninety-
one. Mr. John Gerke, an ex-treasurer of Hamilton
county, also died this year, and Dr. Stephen Bonner, a
well-known philanthropist of the city.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN.
This was an average, but not an extraordinary year,
for the number and importance of its local events.
On the twelfth of January two steamers, the Calumet
and the Andes, were sunk in front of the city by the
breaking up of ice in the Ohio and its tributaries.
March 25th ex-President Grant reached the city, and
on the twenty-ninth was honored with a reception by the
Queen City club, which opened its superb club-house at
the corner of Seventh and Elm streets with a reception
on the twentieth of December.
April 4th, a banquet was given to A T. Goshorn, in
token of his successful and eminent labors as- director-
general of the Centennial exhibition. On the twentieth
the first passenger train passed over the entire length of
the Cincinnati Southern railroad. Four days afterwards,
the corner-stone of the new government building was
laid with due ceremony.
A vigorous temperance movement, under the lead of
Francis Murphy, began May 22.
The Cincinnati & Eastern railroad (narrow guage) was
opened to travel June 3.
July 23d the corner-stone of the new structure for the
Children's home was laid, and on the corresponding day
of August the McCook monument in Washington park
was unveiled.
President Hayes visited the city September 15th, and
was received with great acclamation. On the fourth of
the same month the Ohio Archaeological association met
in Cincinnati, and on the next day the National Anthro-
pological association. On the twenty-sixth of September
the Ohio College association opened a three-days' session
in the hall of the old college building.
The Caledonian society celebrated its fiftieth anniver-
sary November 30th.
The greatest fire of the year occurred December 10th,
in the burning of the Meader furniture factory, with a
loss of one hundred thousand dollars.
Among the dead of 1877 were Mr. and Mrs. Vachel
Worthington, who died July 7th and September 9th, re-
spectively; and Mrs. Deborah Sayre, of one of the pio-
neer families, December 29th.
There were some labor-strikes this year, and at times a
great and dangerous excitement prevailed, threatening the
peace of the city. One extensive strike lasted ten days ;
but no life was lost nor any property destroyed. The cit-
izens made up a contribution and bought a Gatling gun,
which was presented to the police force for use in case of
an emergency; and one hundred of them were sworn in-
to service as special policemen, and were on duty for ten
days.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT. '
A yellow-fever year in Cincinnati. The first case was
that of a merchant from New Orleans, named Hines, at the
Grand hotel; the last October 9th. A quarantine was or-
dered August 17th, against all steamers arriving from the
South, which were to remain five hundred feet below
Keek's Landing until visited, inspected, and officially per-
mitted to land. In all thirty-five cases occurred, of which
but two were those of residents, the others coming from
abroad. Seventeen of them were fatal. The fever also
appeared this year at Gallipolis and other points on the
river.
The notable events of this year, as summarized by the
daily papers at its close; were as follows, in chronological
order: January 12th, death of Mrs. Angela Podesta An-
eta, a native of Italy, aged one hundred and nine years;
January 2 2d, organization of the Builders' Exchange;
January 23d, David Sinton gives ten thousand dollars
to the Bethel; February 17th, assignment of the Catholic
institute, liabilities one hundred and ninety-six thousand
dollars; February 17th, death of Hon. Larz Anderson,
an old, esteemed, and wealthy citizen; March 4th, the
124
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Miami Valley Savings bank suspended with a deficiency
of eighteen thousand dollars; March 14th, formal open-
ing of the Builders' Exchange; April 8th, Music hall
opened to the public; April 26th, death of Mrs. May A.
Slough, of a pioneer family, aged seventy-four years;
May 2d, proposal to grant two million dollars more bonds
to the Southern railroad defeated, on popular vote, by a
majority of two hundred and nineteen; May 6th, open-
ing of the Women's Loan exhibition; May 17th, Ameri-
can Social Science association meets at Cincinnati; open-
ing address by the Hon. W. S. Groesbeck; June 5th, the
Music hall is pronounced a success by the experts;
June 1 2th, the Republican State convention is held at
the Music hall; June 15th, death of Dr. O. M. Lang-
don, Ex-Superintendent of the Longview asylum; June
1 6th, burning of the Co-operative foundry, loss forty
thousand dollars; June 20th, first commencement exer-
cises of Cincinnati university; July 16th, death of Mrs.
Nancy W. Miller, a pioneer, aged eighty-two years; July
17th, National Narrow-guage Railroad convention at the
Highland House; July 2 2d, death of Mrs. Elizabeth
Yeatman, aged seventy-one years; August 1st, yellow fe-
ver in the city, two cases, one fatal; September 2d,
opening of the new store of John Shillito & Company;
October 14th, opening of the College of music; October
16th, Fifth annual congress of the Protestant Episcopal
church, at Pike's Opera House; October 24th, the Wood-
ward statue unveiled; November 30th, death of Profes-
sor Arthur Forbriger, Superintendent of drawing in the
Cincinnati Public schools; December 5th, formal open-
ing of the Children's home; December 16th, Bodmann
tobacco factory burned, loss seventy-five thousand dol-
lars, insurance full; December 22d, funeral at Sedams-
ville of Mr. Thomas H. Yeatman, of the well-known
pioneer family; December 29th, completion of one hun-
dred thousand dollars subscription for Exposition build-
ings. In the autumn months diphtheria and scarlet fever
extensively prevailed, with a fatality from the former of
fifty-eight, and one hundred and eighty-one from the lat-
ter.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTV-NINE.
The Fire Underwriters of the State met in convention
at Cincinnati February 12th. On the fifteenth Henri-
etta Wood, a colored woman kidnapped twenty-six years
before by Zebulon Ward, opposite Cincinnati, was
awarded two thousand five hundred dollars damages
against Ward by the United States court sitting in this
city.
April 19th a blackguard journalist named Lester A.
Rose was soundly beaten in the streets by a son of the
Hon. Alphonso Taft, in punishment for a scurrilous pub-
lication reflecting upon Judge Taft's domestic relations.
May 10th a lecture by Henry Ward Beecher in the
city was made the occasion of a "bread-and-water ban-
quet" by the Cincinnati Socialists, in memory of a re-
mark attributed to him. National conventions of A. O.
H. and Railroad ? Master Mechanics meet in Cincinnati.
June 1st John King, a crippled newsboy, achieved
greatness by presenting his library, a valuable collection
of twenty-five hundred volumes, to the public library.
July 1st the national convention of music teachers met
in Cincinnati. On the twenty-first the city issued quar-
antine edicts against arrivals from Memphis.
On the fifteenth of September the seventh industrial
exposition was opened with great eclat; many distin-
guished persons, including the President and several gov-
ernors present, and an immense multitude.
November 7th General Joseph Hooker was buried
with solemn and imposing obsequies at Cincinnati.
December 7th a temporary closing of the Sunday
theatres in the city was effected; on the ninth the last
rail on the Cincinnati Southern railroad was laid. On
the eighth of the same month Gaff's stockyards, with nine
hundred and fifty head of cattle, were destroyed by fire.
For ninety-two years the annals of Cincinnati, as Cin-
cinnati, come down — nine decades, and two year's, in part,
to spare. As an appendix, therefore, to the story of the
Ninth Decade, we supply the historic notes of
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
January 8th, a freshet submerges the northwestern part
of the city. The next day the treasurer of the produce
exchange defaults in the amount of thirty-one thousand
five hundred dollars. On the fifteenth a reception in
honor of ex-Governor Richard M. Bishop, then just re-
tired from the executive office, was given at Lytle Hall ;
sixteenth, Bishop Elder was appointed coadjutor to Arch-
bishop Purcell; eighteenth, the superior court decides in
favor of the validity of the street railroad ordinance passed
by the city council; twenty-first, the National Association
of Distillers meets at the Burnet house, and the semi-
centennial reunion of the First Congregational church
occurs.
February 6th, the city council passes an ordinance fix-
ing the price of gas at one dollar and seventy cents per
thousand feet; nineteenth, the net profit of the Seventh
Industrial Exposition is announced as twenty thousand
and forty-two dollars and twenty cents; thirteenth, the
Cincinnati railroad company receives the right to operate
the whole Southern railroad; twentieth, the Irish agita-
tor, Parnell, arrives in the city, and a great meeting is
held by his countrymen in Music Hall; twenty-third, ex-
Mayor Robert M. Moore dies; twenty-sixth, the first cot-
ton reaches the city over the Southern railroad ; twenty-
ninth, Colonel Enoch T. Carson is appointed chief of
police, and the public schools celebrate Longfellow's birth-
day.
March 1st, the free kindergarten for poor children is
opened in the old Spencer house ; third, the trouble in
the college of music develops, resulting afterwards in
the resignation of Theodore Thomas, musical director;
sixth, the Hamilton county Republican club opens its
doors, with Judge Taft as president; eighth, the first
through passenger train from Cincinnati to Chattanooga
departs; seventeenth, the grand reception and banquet
in honor of the opening of the Southern railroad is given
to three thousand Southerners; twenty-second, a formida-
ble strike of cigar makers ends ; twenty-ninth, the fair for
the benefit of the Widows' Home opens.
April 5 th, the fortieth anniversary of the Union Bethel
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
125
is celebrated; sixteenth, a destructive wind and rain storm
occurs in the Ohio valley; nineteenth, the total receipts
of the'Widows' Home fair are announced as thirty thou-
sand five hundred and twenty-four dollars and three cents;
twentieth, the new board of health is organized; thirtieth,
the Methodist Episcopal quadrennial conference opens in
Pike's opera house.
May 4th, John Short, millionaire, dies; fifth, the Pot-
tery club gives its first reception; ninth, the German
Protestant Orphan Asylum gets its semi-annual benefit,
with receipts two thousand five hundred and sixteen
dollars and eighty-five cents; twentieth, the Methodist
conference votes, by two hundred and twenty-nine to one
hundred and thirty-nine, that the denomination shall not
have a colored bishop ; twenty-fourth, the conference lays
on the table the question of lay representation; twenty-
seventh, the profits of the May musical festival are four-
teen thousand three hundred and fifty-seven dollars and
seventy-eight cents; twenty-eighth, the cooperage com-
pany is burned out, losing fifty thousand dollars, and four
hundred men being thrown out of employment.
June 6th, the affairs of the Consolidated Street Car
railroad company are wound up, and the Street rail-
road company begins operations, with a capital of four
and a half millions; ninth, the exhibition of the school
of art and design opens; on the nineteenth, the Sunday-
schools celebrate the Robert Raikes centennial at Music
Hall; twenty-first, the two leading English evening papers,
the Times and the Star, consolidate under the name of
Times-Star; twenty-second, the National Democratic
convention opens at Union Hall, and on the twenty-
fourth nominates General Hancock for President and W.
E. English for Vice-President; twenty-ninth, George M.
Herancourt, the oldest brewer in the city, dies, leaving a
a fortune of one million dollars.
July 1 st, the Cincinnati Northern railroad company is
organized, to complete and operate the Miami Valley
Narrow-gauge road; fourteenth, Henry Resting, the
heaviest man in the city, dies; thirty-first, the county
commissioners authorized the issue of fifteen thousand
dollars in bonds, in aid of the county Agricultural society.
August 1 6th, the elephant "Hatnee" arrives at the Zoo-
logical gardens ; twenty-fourth, the annual convention of
deaf mutes is held at the Highland house, and the State
tournament of Ohio archers occurs at the Zoo; twenty-
seventh, the College Hill club wins the championship at
this tournament.
September 7th, the old-time telegraphers have a reun-
ion in the city ; eighth, the annual Industrial Exposition
opens, and Mr. Charles W. West offers one hundred and
fifty dollars toward the founding of an art museum; tenth,
Hon. William M. Corry dies; fifteenth, Thomas LeBou-
tillier, prominent business man, dies; twenty-second, Gen-
eral B. F. Butler delivers a Democratic campaign speech
to an immense crowd at Fifth street market space; twenty-
third, Marmet's coal elevator burned — loss seventy-five
thousand dollars; same day, the Bell and Edison tele-
phone exchanges are consolidated; twenty-ninth, the
eleventh annual meeting of the American Bee-keepers'
society occurs at the Bellevue house; thirtieth, reunion
of Little Miami pioneers at Mount Lookout, and form-
ation of a pioneer society.
On the eleventh of September of this year the Rev.
P. B. Aydelott, D. D., almost if not quite the only re-
maining representative of the faraway old-time clergy of
the city, departed this life, in his eighty-sixth year. He
was born in Philadelphia, January 7, 1795, studied med-
icine and then theology, was ordained to the Episcopal
ministry in 1820, preached in New York, in Maryland,
and at Philadelphia, and came to Cincinnati in 1828 as
rector of Christ church. His views subsequently changed
to Presbyterianism, aud he became pastor of the Lane
seminary church, and subsequently did much ministerial
service in the city. As old age came on ■ he spent much
time in writing religious books and tracts, and in visiting
the sick. For many years he was a director, and for the
last ten years of his life president of the Western Tract
society, of Cincinnati.
In October, on two successive days (26th and 27 th)
died two old citizens of Cincinnati. One came in 1832, the
other in 1804. The former was Philip Hinkle; the latter
was Edward Deering Mansfield, one of the most re-
nowned and useful citizens of southwestern Ohio. No
name in the records of Cincinnati, during six decades,
recurs more frequently or honorably than his. He was
born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1801, and came
with his father, General Jared Mansfield, to Cincinnati,
four years afterwards. He was educated in the log-cabin'
schools here, in the Episcopal academy at Cheshire, Con-
necticut, and at the West Point military academy, Prince-
ton college and the Litchfield law school. He began
practice in Cincinnati in 1825, and soon became promi-
nent and influential, though rather in literature and pub-
lic affairs generally than in law. In 1836-7 he was a
professor in Cincinnati college, and about the same time
very active in promoting the scheme of a railway from
this city to Charleston; was from 1836 to 1852 editor of
the Chronicle (part of the time a daily, and there was one
year of a Monthly Chronicle, a very creditable literary mag-
azine), and of the 'Atlas, and afterwards of the Railroad
Record; was several times a member of the legislature, and
was the first and only State commissioner of statistics; and
also did much public service in authorship, education and
otherwise. His last years were spent in busy retirement
at his farm '"Yamoyden," near Morrow, Warren county,
where he died full of years and honors.
Mr. Hinkle was born at Hinkletown, Pennsylvania,
October 24, 181 1, almost exactly sixty-nine years before
his death. He was a carpenter by tradet and came from
New Orleans to Cincinnati in the spring of 1832. Here
he amassed wealth as a builder, a dealer in lumber and a
constructor of houses for shipment to Kansas and other
new States. He dispensed his money generously, and
was an especial benefactor of the Bethel, of Lane semi-
nary, and the Western Female seminary, at Oxford. His
death was greatly mourned at the Bethel, where impres-
sive commemoration services were held on the following
Sabbath.
October 1st, Senator Conkling speaks at the Highland
house; ninth, the fund for the West Art museum is
126
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
raised — three hundred and thirteen thousand five hun-
dred and thirty-two dollars ; twenty-first, the Abend Post,
German daily newspaper, suspends publication.
November 17th, death at Riverside of Major Peter
Zinn, an old and famous resident of the city and suburbs;
nineteenth, coldest day of an uncommonly cold snap for
the season ; twenty-ninth, death of Oliver Perrin, a prom-
inent merchant.
December 3d, the city schools celebrated Dr. O. W.
Holmes' birthday; tenth, the board of public works de-
cided to try Mr. David Sinton's smoke consumer on the
pumping-houses; eleventh, Gay's bucket factory burns,
and five firemen lose their lives; twelfth, the grand
Trades Unions' balls occur; thirteenth, the Bank of
Cincinnati turns over its business to the new Citizens'
bank; twenty-fourth, articles of incorporation were filed
for the Cincinnati Central railroad; Christmas night,
grand performance of Handel's oratorio of the "Mes-
siah" at Music hall; twenty-seventh, the board of educa-
tion passes an order prohibiting married women from
teaching in the public schools; twenty-eighth, the Cin-
cinnati Mutual Life Insurance association is incorpor-
ated.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE.
The first quarter of this year, which is all we are able
to comprehend in this closing section to the annals of
ninety-two years, was marked by nothing else so much
in and about the city, at least in the view of the local
historian, as the death of old citizens and pioneers, or
representatives of pioneer families.
February 5th, at College Hill, in her eighty-second
year, died Mrs. Jane White Cist, widow of Charles Cist,
the author, editor, and antiquary to whose industry the
writer and reader of this history, especially of these
annals, is greatly indebted. Mr. Cist was a country store-
keeper and postmaster at Harmony, Pennsylvania, when
married to Miss White November 18, 1817. They came
to Cincinnati, with four small children, February 22,
1 8*7, in a flatboat from the mouth of Beaver river. They
removed to College Hill in August, 1853, where Mr.
Cist died September- 5, 1869. Mr. Lewis J. Cist, the
poet and essayist, is one of their children.
One of the oldest printers of Cincinnati died Febru-
ary 23d, at New Burlington, Springfield township, where
he had resided on a small farm for the preceding fifteen
years. He was a native of London, England, came to
the city about 1822, was a printer's apprentice under the
famous Moses Dawson, of the Enquirer, and afterwards
worked for many years in the Cincinnati offices. When
he first began at the trade here, the old-fashioned buckskin
balls for inking the type had not yet been superseded by
the composition roller.
On the twelfth of this month, at his residence on
Betts street, which was named from him, Smith Betts, a
wealthy and prominent citizen, departed this life. He
was born July 5, 1806, in Cincinnati, to which William
Betts, his father, had come six years before, from New
Jersey, with a profitable cargo, which, exchanged for a
farm, laid the foundation of a fortune.
March 1st, at the Loring house, Cincinnati, deceased
one of the most widely and favorably known of the old
residents of the Queen City — Mr. George Graham, who
had been one of the most useful citizens of his time.
He was born in Stoystown, Somerset county, Pennsyl-
vania, in November, 1798, and came to this city in 1822,
here entering into the wholesale dry goods business. He
was afterwards a commission merchant, boat-builder and
owner, a State legislator in 1830-1, for eleven years
thereafter a very active and intelligent member of the
board of education, to whom various reforms and the
building of superior school-houses for that day were due,
was an active promoter of the building of the Harrison
turnpike and the founding of Jeffersonville, Indiana;
and for nearly half a century was conspicuously identi-
fied with almost everything that'had the well-being of his
adopted city in view. He was one of the charter mem-
bers of the Lafayette lodge No. 81, Free and Accepted
Masons, organized in 1824 in honor of the visit of the
Marquis de Lafayette to this city, and delivered the
address of welcome when the distinguished patriot visited
the lodge. He was one of the five citizens who bought
the original Cincinnati water works from Samuel W.
Davies, and managed them for some years. His is a
great and venerable name in the history of Cincinnati.
His daughter is the wife of Mr. John M. Newton, of
College Hill, librarian of the Young Men's Mercantile
Library association.
The same day, at the Cincinnati hospital, William Hal-
ler died, at about sixty-two years of age. He had
achieved considerable local notoriety as a socialist, com-
munist, and free-thinker.
Joseph Bates died March 8th, at East Walnut Hills.
He was the oldest child of Clark and Rachel Bates, who
in the Indian and pioneer times, and for many years
afterwards, occupied the well-known Bates place in the
Mill creek valley, opposite the present workhouse, where
General Mansfield, father of the late E. D. Mansfield,
lived for a time. Here the elder Bates died in 1853,
aged eighty-four. His wife survived until 1861. They
had seventeen children, of whom three are living at the
time we write— Ethan S. Bates, president of the Spring
Grove Avenue railroad, Henry M. Bates, and Mrs. Jane
Cary.
In January, a company of Cincinnati capitalists was
formed to introduce the electric light, of which a spec-
imen was nightly flashed from the front of the Daily
Commercial office. February 12th, the demolition of the
Trollopean Bazaar, on East Third street, was begun by
its new owners, Messrs. Emery Brothers, who were to
build a tenement house upon its site, after the pattern of
the French flats. During the first week in this month,
the renowned French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, performed
at Pike's to crowded houses; and during the last week
the Operatic Festival, under the auspices of the College
of Music, presented to immense audiences at the Music
hall, and upon a scale never before approached in this
country, a number of the .finest operas known to the
lyric stage.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
127
The following comparative statement, as between 1879
and 1880, of the valuation for taxation of new structures,
of personalty, and of bonds, etc., will help to an under-
standing of the material status in Cincinnati at this period,
as well as illustrate growth during a single year :
0
n
Personal-
Personal-
Bonds,
&c,
1880.
Bonds,
&c,
1879.
Taxable
Valuation
Taxable
Valuation
w 3
0 5
ty, 1880.
ty, 1879.
New Struct-
ures, 1880.
New Struct-
ures, 1879.
ISt..
$ 680,506
$ 653,660
$ 42,485
$ 56.850
$218,360
$ 86,700
2d...
79L9I3
861,470
172,750
189,050
127.775
94,840
3d. . .
312,888
406,768
153.083
125,100
25.540
20,782
4th. .
211,430
196,081
21,050
none
io.495
6,100
5th..
1,582,862
1,516,314
108,125
none
16,200
13,100
6th..
1,257,980
1,716,275
40,520
108,100
11,200
15.780
7th..
626,298
569,416
70,100
82,800
30.950
37,360
8th..
9,967,097
11,976,451
none
9,000
152,300
39.7io
oth..
1,576,461
1,661,315
37.55o
157.646
21, OOO
51,400
10th . .
320,876
309.033
71,665
56,400
5O,5O0
28,650
nth..
156,872
165,373
9,100
27.950
23.475
39.33o
12th..
249.32S
341,789
123.754
192,650
46,400
7S.45o
13th..
679.48S
519.561
none
18,200
36,100
18,100
14th..
658,744
548,829
30,000
177,900
36,850
18,200
15th..
243,025
298,026
none
28,150
34.530
16th..
386,986
342.798
7.35o
70,400
45.30O
18,200
17th . .
752.i39
652,071
436.329
none
I06, 189
15.150
18th..
2,374,174
2,854,228
448, 140
50,000
104,300
109,980
19th. .
480,588
6i7,6r8
none
none
18,200
22,750
20th . .
422,774
515.947
34.875
36.459
24.537
30,460
21st . .
510,489
513.565
6,900
2,000
65,500
64,870
22d. . .
441.475
608,602
4L750
22,750
2,895
24,969
23d. . .
420,107
480,828
96, 150
none
24.415
9,300
24th . .
354.347
409,663
none
none
32,270
25th..
250,804
247,222
8r.55°
87,080
17,700
21,170
COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE POPULATION OF CINCINNATI.
WARDS
1800
1810.
1820.
'1830.
1840.
1850.
i860.
1870.
1880.
ISt ..
2,357
4,819
8,866
6,845
7.371
10, 192
12,706
2d ..
3,498
'6,032
5.396
8,213
4,158
3.953
9.885
3d ..
1.770
4,192
7.314
7,668
8,313
8,644
12,487
4th..
2,017
4,290
6,075
10,957
11,338
6,002
12,823
5th..
5.498
9.325
5.283
5.940
6,286
8.35T
6th..
4.578
9,630
7.793
8,569
8,955
7th..
4,8n
9.345
7.707
8,092
9.545
8th..
14,424
13,292
17.523
7,198
9th. .
10,705
9.057
8,816
9,270
10th . .
13.032
11,519
11,054
12,205
nth. .
f * ^
12,738
6,247
11,496
12th . .
19.336
18. 596
I3.580
10,485
13th..
nth& 12th
.,7.537
7.48o
".739
14th . .
> , >
9.035
8,836
9.!03
15th . .
11,946
13,712
9,"3
16th . .
10,679
17. 483
9.979
17th . .
4.025
4,880
9,398
18th..
16,231
9.473
19th..
8,883
9,182
20th . .
2,35°
9.445
2 ISt . .
5.333
12,086
22d . .
2,362
11,899
23d ..
2.357
12.855
24th . .
1,421
io,353
25th..
15.953
5,622
Total,
75o
2,320
9,642
24,831
46.338
115.438
161,044
216,239
255,608
CHAPTER XIX.
THE GERMAN ELEMENT IN CINCINNATI.
The omission of some notice of this, one of the most
marked characteristics of the Queen City during large
part of its wonderful history, would be unpardonable in a
work of this class. Fortunately, the historian is spared
the necessity of making the elaborate and painful research
and personal inquiry necessary to present even an outline
sketch of the inception and growth of the Teutonic ele-
ment here, by the well-directed labors of Governor Koer-
ner, of Illinois, and his collaborators in the preparation
of his valuable work, The German Element in the
United States. It is published in the language of the
Fatherland, from which the following pages have been
neatly translated for these columns by Miss Maria A.
Roelker, assistant in the Cincinnati public library.
THE PIONEER GERMAN.
In Cincinnati, the principal business city of the Ohio
valley, the influence of the German element made itself
felt quite early. Already," in the first years of the legal
existence of the village, two Germans were elected for the
chief municipal office — David Ziegler, from Heidelberg,
1802 and 1803; and Martin Baum, from Hagenau, Al-
satia, 1807 and 181 2. Zeigler was the first president of
the then rather insignificant village.
MARTIN BAUM.
But it was especially Baum (born at Hagenau, July 15,
1761; died in Cincinnati December 14, 1831), who did
so much for the rise of the German element in Cincin-
nati and the Ohio valley. Through his great wealth, which
he had won through many different business enterprises
and used again, he helped a great deal to raise the west.
Already, in the year 1803, it was principally Baum who
called to life the first bank in the west, the "Miami
Exporting company," whose president he remained for
many years. Through this company, which carried on
at the same time a great transportation business, Baum
became one of the most important promoters and im-
provers of the navigation of the rivers of the west. He
called to life the first sugar refinery, the first,iron foundry,
the first woollen factory, the first steam flouring mill, and
other industrial establishments of that kind. A great
number of persons found work and profit in his different
factories; and, since he could not find enough good and
skillful workmen in the backwoods, he would enlist in
Baltimore and Philadelphia newly arrived immigrants;
and in this way led the first current of emigration towards
the west. Moreover, the first ornamental garden, as well
as the first vineyard, which Baum laid out at Deer creek,
at present within the city boundaries, marks him as one
of the most assiduous men of the west.
Not only did Baum help more than anybody else
towards the progress of business life, but his taste for art,
science, and literature, attracted the more cultivated men
who settled here, where nature had done so much to
beautify their colony. The foundation of the Lancas-
terian school (181 3), out of which arose the Cincinnati
college (181 8), was, besides Judge Burnet's, principally
Baum's work. He was also many years an active mem-
ber of the board of the college, and its first vice-presi-
dent. Baum was also one of the original stimulators and
founders of the first public library of the west (February,
1802); of the Western museum (1817); of the literary
society (18 18); of the society for the promotion of agri-
culture in the west (1819); and of the Apollonian soci-
ety (1823). In the year 181 2 he was nominated for Con-
.gress, but refused to be a candidate, because he could not
128
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
spare the time he would be compelled to be absent from
his extended business.
If we consider that he was in those days the wealthiest
and most respected citizen of the town; that he was also
president of the Cincinnati branch of the bank of the
United States; and that he stood in connection with the
most important men of the land, it is clear that Baum
was to the German element in the first period a power-
ful support. His house, the most elegant in the town,
was open to all intellectually great men who visited Cin-
cinnati, and German literary men were especially wel-
come. Julius Ferdinand voi» Salis, cousin of the well
known German lyric poet, Count Johann Gaudenz von
Salis, lived with him about the year 1817. He had trav-
elled through the Orient as a natural philosopher, "and
wrote here," says Klauprecht, "in the retirement of this
western market town, his experiences and impressions of
the cradle of mankind for a German publisher, when in
the year 181 9 death took the pen out of his hand."
BURKHALTER.
At the same time lived also at Baum's country seat in
the Deer creek valley, an anchorite, Christian Burkhalter,
formerly secretary to Prince Blucher. He was born in
Neu-Wied, and, driven by religious fanaticism, emigrated
to America in 1 8 1 6. He afterwards joined the Shakers who
founded Union village in Warren county, Ohio, in 1820,
where the Duke of Weimar met him in 1826. Burkhal-
ter left the Shaker community again later, and founded in
Cincinnati (1837) the German Whig newspaper, West-
licher Merkur, whose conductor and editor he remained
till 1841. In that year the name of the paper was changed
into Der Deutsche im Westerly and was edited by Burk-
halter and Hofle. But, as also here the result was not
equal to the expended work, the paper passed in the same
year over into the hands of Rudolph von Maltiz, and was
named the Ohio Volksfreund. Burkhalter retired now
from taking active part in a German newspaper, and be-
came a silent partner in the Cincinnati Chronicle, edited
by Pugh, Hefley (Hofle), and Hubbell. Already, in the
year 1836, Burkhalter had taken part, with the well-known
Abolitionist, James G. Birney, in the publication of the
Philanthropist, one of the first Abolition papers in the
land, which appeared in Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio,
after the printing rooms in Cincinnati of Achilles Pugh,
editor of the same, were demolished by a mob in the
summer of 1836.
ALBERT VON STEIN.
In the year 1817 Albert von Stein came also to Cincin-
nati. He had gained already in the United States quite a
name as an able engineer. He was the promoter and
builder of the Cincinnati water-works, the first water-
works of the country which were worked by pumps.
Afterwards Stein was for a while engaged in Philadelphia
as draughtsman for Wilson's Illustrated ' Ornithology.
Since then he has built the water-works at Richmond
and Lynchburgh, Virginia, the Appomatox canal, near
Petersburgh, Virginia, and the water-works of New Or-
leans, Nashville, and Mobile. Of the last-named works
Stein was the owner till his death (1876). He was at the
time eighty-four years old. His family has still posses-
sion of the works.
REV. DR. FRIEDRICH REESE.
At this time (1817), and soon after, Catholic and Prot-
estant communities formed themselves, not only in Cin-
cinnati, but also at other places in Ohio. Dr. Friedrich
Reese, a very learned, active, and popular man, after-
wards Bishop of Detroit, was the first German Catholic
priest in Cincinnati (1825). He was born at Vianen-
burgh, near Hildesheim, and had, like Pio Nono, first
served in the cavalry, and then studied theology. He
died at Hildesheim December 27, 1871, after having
been called to Rome and given up his episcopate in
1841. In Cincinnati Reese was the founder of the scien-
tific school, the Athenaeum, which passed afterwards
into the hands of the Jesuits, and was changed by them
into the present St. Xavier college.
On a visit to Germany, (1828-29), through Reese's in-
fluence the Leopoldinen institution in Vienna was called
to life, and is still in existence, for the aid of poor Catho-
lic missionaries. Reese wrote a History of the Bishopric
of Cincinnati, which was published in 1829 at Vienna,
and was otherwise busy in literary pursuits. Joseph Zas-
lein, Jakob Gulich, and Ludwig Heinrich Meyer, were
the first German Protestant pastors in Cincinnati.
GERMAN CHURCHE&
It is not our plan to follow the development of the
different religious societies; but it can be stated that,
particularly in Cincinnati, as well the Catholic as the
Protestant churches of the Germans soon flourished; and
the first named especially possess considerable real estate.
The Catholics published, in 1837, the Wahrheits Freund,
the first Catholic periodical of the country, at first super-
intended by the present Archbishop of Milwaukee, J. M.
Henni, which soon found a wide circulation through the
whole west. On the Protestant side appeared for a
while Der Protestant, under the superintendence of
Georg Walker; and afterwards (1838) Der Christliche
Apologete, a Methodist paper, conducted by Wilhelm
Nast, which found also in their circles a great number of
readers.
WILHELM NAST,
born July 18, 1807, studied theology, and especially phi-
losophy, at the same time with David Strauss, in the cel-
ebrated Tubingen institute. He emigrated to the United
States in 1828; accepted, at first, a position as tutor in a
private family in New York; then became teacher of the
German language at the military school at West Point
(1831-2); went over to the Methodist church, and be-
came professor of the classic languages at different col-
leges; organized German Methodism in Ohio; founded
the Christliche Apologete, whose permanent editor he re-
mained, and later the Sonntagschul Glocke, a juvenile
paper, both the principal organs of German Methodism,
of which he is the acknowledged father. His original
theological works and translations are very numerous.
In 1844 he went as missionary of the Methodist church
to Germany, and labored there with some good results
for this form of Christianity. He visited also the Evan-
/'
wmtttecm
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
129
gelical Alliance convention at Berlin in 1857, trying to
win a field for Methodism there.
Dr. Nast is a learned theologian and philolbgjst. He
has gained a high position in the religious circles of this
country, and has done a great deal for the preservation of
the German element, and especially the German language.
If he had not founded the German Methodist papers,
which gained such wide circulation, the Germans who
went over to the Methodist church 'would have become
quite alienated from their language and German thinking
by other religious papers, to them the most favored and
often their only reading. And there is no question, as
orthodox as the father of German Methodism may be,
his thorough education at a German university, under
the direction of a man like F. C. Baur, has given him a
scientific and intellectual turn of mind which must have
saved him, in comparison with his many American fel-
low-workers, from a too extreme tendency. He has pre-
served, at least as a spiritual discipline, a great attachment
for his Fatherland, and persuaded many of his young
friends to visit German universities, although he must
have been aware that they would change their narrow re-
ligious views for wider and riper ones. He is called
everywhere a man of high character, who has gained in
every relation of life the esteem of his fellow men.
GERMAN JOURNALISM.
Cincinnati was especially a good soil for political news-
papers. Already,in the year 1 826, appeared there Die Ohio
Chronik, a weekly paper ; but it did not live long. In the
year 1832 Karl von Bonge, Albert Lange (later a resident
of Terre Haute), and Heinrich Brachmann published for
election purposes a so-called campaign paper, for the. in-
terest of the Whig party. On the seventh of October,
1834, appeared the Weltburger, edited by Hartmann, whose
energies were first directed against the Democrats; but it
changed in a short time its tendency and name, when it
went into the hands of Benjamin Boffinger, who called it
Der Deutsche Franklin, and worked for the interest of
the Democratic Presidential candidate, Mr. Van Buren.
But the Whig party succeeded before the election (1836)
. in regaining the Franklin.
The Democrats founded now the Volksblatt, directed
and edited by Heinrich Rodter, with the help of several
of the most esteemed Germans, as Rumelin, Rehfuss,
August Renz, and others.
HEINRICH RODTER,
born March 10, 1805, at Neustadt, on the Hardt, had
already in his youth been engaged in his father's paper-
factory. Overflowing with animal spirits, his youthful
years had been rather stormy. Serving a short time in a
Bavarian light cavalry regiment at Augsburg, helped a
good deal to make a Philistine out of him. Returning
home, he began to study law; bul the political excite-
ment which spread after the July revolution, especially
along the Rhine provinces, also took hold of him. He
became acquainted with the journalists, Dr. Wirth and
Siebenpfeiffer, and other leaders of the agitation, as
Schiller, Savoye, Geib, and Pistorius. He was especially
active at the Hambacker fe"te; and to escape the judicial
'7
trial threatening him, he left his well-beloved Pfalz in
the summer of 1832, and came to Cincinnati, but went
soon after to Columbus, where he became the director
of a German Democratic paper. He returned after a
short time to Cincinnati, where he directed the newly-
founded Democratic paper, the Volksblatt, from the year
1836 to 1840.
While many German newspapers, especially in small
towns, had been so far only shallow party papers, true imita-
tions of similar American presvproducts, Rodter succeed-
ed in bringing a higher active tendency into his Volksblatt,
and smoothed the way to a better, more worthy develop-
ment of the German press in his State. The opposition
paper, formerly Der Deutsche Franklin, then called West-
lichee Merkur, did not fight with the same weapons, and
so gave rise to many bitter attacks in Rodter's paper,
though he did not on his side violate decency conspicu-
ously. The example of the German press in other States
prevented that.
The Alte und Neue Welt, and several other papers in
'Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, especially the New Yorker
Slaats-Zeitung and the Anzeiger des Western in St. Louis,
had appeared already several years before, and won a
great number of readers by their pointed, intelligent and
well-written articles.
GERMAN SOCIETIES.
It became a necessity very much felt, to establish a
German society, like others already existing in different
parts of the country, to ward off ruptures and discords,
which had become in our old Fatherland the source of
all troubles, and the cause of political weakness and
want of freedom of the people. At a meeting held by
more than two hundred of the most esteemed German
citizens, at the city hall, July 31, 1834, it was resolved
that the founding of such a society was a necessity;
"that as citizens of the United States we can take that
part in the people's government which our duty and right
commands, and that through reciprocal aid we may mu-
tually assure ourselves of a better future, to assist those
in need, and to secure generally those charitable aims
which are impossible to the single individual." The
principal workers at this meeting were Heinrich Rodter,
Johann Meyer, Karl Libeau, Ludwig Rehfuss, Salomon
Menken (father of the formerly celebrated actress, Adah
Isaaks Menken), Daniel and Karl Wolff, Raymund
Wetschger, and others. Karl Rumelin, Dr. Sebastian
Huber, J. D. Felsenbeck, Karl and Johann Belser, and
many others, joined the meetings for organization on the
fourteenth and eighteenth of August. Heinrich Rodter
was the first president of the society, which is still in ex-
istence, although only as a small mutual aid association
of its members. The mania for organizing military com-
panies had by this time (1836) also reached Cincinnati
from the cities of the east. Through Rodter's influence
the German Lafayette Guard was founded, whose first
captain he became.
RODTER AGAIN.
Upon the whole, the endeavor to secure the rights of
the German element made itself particularly felt in Cin-
13°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
cinnati. Rodter was also elected a member of the city
council, and enjoyed generally at the time a great popu-
larity among his fellow-citizens. In the year 1840 he
sold the Volksblatt to Stephen Molitor, and removed to
Columbus, where he devoted himself again to the fabrica-
tion of paper, which he had been taught in youth. But
he did not feel happy in Columbus. Returning to Cin-
cinnati he studied law again, and in 1 847-8 was elected
a member of the legislature of Ohio. The law which se-
cures workingmen a lien on houses built by them, as also
the law which reduced the naturalization expenses for
foreigners, were both proposed by him, and were passed
through his exertions. Although he belonged, up to the
time of his death, to the Democratic party, he voted for
the abolition of all those oppressive laws which existed in
most of the free States, as well against the free negroes as
the slaves. He gave also his voice for S. P. Chase as
senator of the United States, although he was well ac-
quainted with his opinions against slavery and every-
thing connected with it. For a few years he became the
partner of the eminent lawyer J. B. Stallo, but returned
to journalism again in 1850, and bought the Ohio Staats
Zeitung, which he conducted under the name of Demo-
kratisches Tageblatt till the year 1854. In the year 1856
he was elected justice of the peace by a large majority,
but died the following year.
KARL GUSTAV RUMELIN*
comes from an old and worthy family of Wurtemberg,
which had given to the country during the last century
very able officials. His father devoted himself to com-
merce and manufactures, and lived at Heilbronn, where
Rumelin was born, March 19, 1814. After attending
the scientific schools of his native town till the year 1829,
he exchanged the college for his father's counting-room.
In a few years he obtained a position as clerk in a busi-
ness house at Wimpfen. He had felt for some time a
great inclination to emigrate to America. This was in-
creased when, in the year 1832, a great emigration from
Wurtemberg and Hessen took place, which received an
overwhelming impetus through Duden's letters. His
father gave him, against his expectation, permission to
carry out his plans. Our young traveller arrived in
Philadelphia August 27, 1832, after a journey of eighty-
seven days. As he did not succeed in finding at once a
suitable position, he took hold with good courage of any
opportunity of work offered to him, hard though it might
be, holding every kind of work honorable. After some
time he obtained a position in a store belonging to an
Irishman, who had many Irish customers. This gave
him an opportunity to make closer acquaintance with
this class of people.
His attachment to the Democratic party, which he has
preserved through his whole life, had taken hold of him
already in Philadelphia, where he arrived just at the
time of a presidential election. Jackson was for him a
hero of the first magnitude. His studies and experience
at home had already given him an enthusiasm for free
trade and a prejudice against paper money and a bank-
*Thisname is now spelt "Reemelin."
ing system. Besides, he thought he recognized among
the partisans of Clay, or in the Whig party, an inclina-
tion towards Puritanism which was naturally repugnant
to his genuine German nature. However, taking his
youth into consideration, and his short experience on
American soil, one may doubt whether his decided party
spirit was founded from the very beginning on personal
conviction and a critical examination of the pending
party questions. He followed perhaps more an unde-
fined feeling, as almost all Germans did at the time.
The name Democracy had already a certain charm for
them. It was natural to compare and identify the wealthy
merchants, the great church lights, and the owners of
factories, who belonged mostly to the Whig party, with
the European aristocracy. The philosophical apprecia-
tion of both parties, no doubt, occurred to Rumelin, as
with many others, somewhat later.
After a year's stay he felt a longing to go further west.
After a wretched and dangerous journey (on the boat
which brought him from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, the
cholera had broken out, claiming many victims), he ar-
rived at the last-named town, to be attacked himself by
this terrible disease. He then found a situation in a
store, and again began to interest himself in politics and
public life. He was one of the founders of the German
society, which was called to life in 1834, and remained a
member for forty years, when he removed his homestead
several miles outside of the city. In the year 1836, dur-
ing the Presidential campaign, the formerly Democratic
German weekly paper, Der Deutsche Franklin, the only
German paper, went over into the hands of the other
party. Rumelin belonged to those who felt very much
annoyed about it. He took part in founding a new Dem-
ocratic journal, the Volksblatt, whose manager Rodter
became. The means which the Germans had were but
small, but their zeal was great. The printing-room was
moved to the building where Rumelin was in business,
free of rent. He learned himself the secret of the black
art, set the types and printed the sheets, and in case of
necessity even became paper carrier himself. The regu-
lar carrier was a baker, who had to carry around his
"bretzels'' at the same time, which, as Rumelin said him-
self, went off faster than the papers. He wrote also
many articles for the paper, and proposed repeatedly the
founding of a German university. Sickness prevented
him from taking part in the first Pittsburgh convention.
But Rumelin, as well as Rodter and Rehfuss, went stump-
speaking during the campaign of 1836, and, as it seemed,
with success; for Hamilton county, in which Cincinnati
is located, and which had given in 1834 a majority for
the Whigs, gave from 1836 to 1840 a majority to the
Democrats.*
Rodter became the owner of the Volksblatt, which went
afterwards into Molitor's hands. It remained Democratic
till the year 1856, when the German Democracy of the
north went over in great numbers to the Republican party.
* Among the men to whom this change is to be especially attributed
ought to be mentioned C. Backhaus, Dr. Roelker, who has worked
beneficially for the city in every direction, and Bishop Henni, who
worked quietly, but,effectively.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
I31
In the year 1836 Rumelin became partner of his for-
mer employer and did a good business, especially by
having always a good assortment of imported German
groceries in stock. "A part of his earnings he invested in
real estate. He wrote also now for American journals.
He speaks of this in his written communications to the
present editor as follows :
I represented by it the German affairs, for it seemed to me absurd
that we Germans should talk about these matters only among ourselves,
exciting mutually our zeal. I thought the Americans ought to be won
for them too, if our steps were to have lasting results.
In the year 1837 he married a Swiss lady, born in Cin-
cinnati. She had lived several years in Switzerland, but
had been educated in New England. She combined the
American and German nature in a pleasant blending, and
has been to him a true companion through his life.
In the spring of 1843 Rumelin sold his business to re-
tire to the country, but undertook first a trip to his old
home. After his return he was fleeted from Hamilton
county to the house of representatives of Ohio for the
years 1844 and 1845, and in 1846 for two years to the Sen-
ate. In the house of representatives he brought it about
that the message of the governor, as well as the reports of
the officials, should be printed in the German language. ■
The minority report in favor of the annexation of Texas,
not on account of, but in spite of slavery, excited great
attention, and was reprinted in many Democratic papers.
His speeches, by which he criticised very sharply the then
defective method of taxation, showed a thorough study of
political economy.
In the years 1846, 1847, 1848 Rumelin studied law in
the office of Judge Van Hamm, passed his examination,
and was admitted to the bar. He continued the study
scientifically, but felt no inclination to make a profession
of it. In the year 1849 he niade a second visit to the
Fatherland, and wrote travelling correspondence for the
New York Evening Post, one of the first papers of the
Union, superintended by William Cullen Bryant and
John Bigelow. These letters were reprinted by several
other papers. They contained many new ideas which
were here but partly appreciated. Though Rumelin had
the welfare of his newly adopted country very much at
heart, he was. not an absolute admirer of all our institu-
tions, and was not altogether blind towards our weak-
nesses. What he thought he would always speak out
candidly. While in Germany he was elected a member
of the convention which was to draw up a new constitu-
tion for Ohio. He received the news of his election
when the pilot brought the latest papers on board the
steamer entering the New York harbor, on which he .
had returned from Germany, in April, 1850.
In this convention (1850-51) Rumelin was one of the
most prominent and active members. It is to his
especial credit that the article of the constitution which
prevents the legislature from making arbitrary divisions
in the electoral districts, is due to his exertions. Both
parties had made the greatest abuse of this right of
"dividing districts, so that very often, by arranging the
counties ingeniously into electoral districts, the minority
of the people managed to get the majority in the legisla-
ture. According to the present constitution of Ohio the
division is made every ten years, and is regulated ac-
cording to the number of inhabitants by constitutional
provision. Rumelin has lived to see several other States
adopt the same measures to prevent corruption. He
opposed with all his energy the secret ring of the Dem-
ocratic party called the "Miami Tribe," which had
formed itself for personal purposes, with intention to
control the whole party; made many enemies by it in- his
own party, and lost his chance as candidate for Congress,
but he had the satisfaction of seeing the ring broken
through his active co-operation. During the celebrated
election campaign between Fremont and Buchanan, he
declared himself for Fremont, as many Democrats had
done, simply because Fremont belonged himself to the
Democratic party. He did not want to join the Repub-
lican party. A trip to Germany prevented him from
taking personal part in this campaign. This journey was
partly occasioned by family matters, partly by business
matters, which he had to settle as president of a railroad
in Europe, and partly, also, to visit European reform
schools and learn about their management, having been
appointed commissioner for reform schools in Ohio, by
Governor Chase. After having visited these institutions
to his satisfaction in England, where he made the ac-
quaintance of Earl Derby, grandfather of the present
Lord Derby, who was especially interested in the im-
provement of these schools, he went with him to France
on a similar tour of inspection. The reform schools of
Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany, were also
visited by him. Those in France he found to be model
institutions, especially the one in Mettray, near Tours.
His report, signed by all the members of the commis-
sion, was laid before the legislature; a law for the erec-
tion of a reform school for juvenile delinquents was
made, and Governor Chase appointed Rumelin one of
the superintendents, but he resigned the position in
1859. During the years 1854-9 Rumelin was also a
member of the permanent State commission of the
banks, as also of a special commission to examine frauds
of the treasury. A very extensive and interesting report
of nearly two thousand pages, mostly written by Rume-
lin, was the result of this examination.
Although Rumelin had already, for some time before
the year i860, cast off party fetters, and had often voted
and worked for men of the opposite party, if he thought
them more worthy for the office, he could not, during
the Presidential campaign of Lincoln, Douglas, Bell and
Breckinridge, make up his mind to vote for any one of
the first-named. He belonged to those few Germans
who felt that they had to give Breckinridge the preference
over Lincoln as a statesman; Rumelin was personally
acquainted with Breckinridge, and respected him highly.
However, he was getting tired of politics. He was of the
opinion that nothing but a misunderstanding of the real
opinions existing north and south, and the ambition of
the leaders on both sides, had caused the war. He retired
to country life. He had owned for several years a beauti-
ful country place near Cincinnati, and had planted an
orchard and a vineyard, having sent for the best sorts of
132
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
trees and slips to Europe. He said this love for farming
had been in the family for several generations. He was
not a book-farmer only, but took hold of the plough,
the spade and the axe with his own hands most heartily.
During the years 1865 and 1866 we find him again in
Germany, where he took his oldest son to a university.
He visited at the same time Italy, Hungary, Servia and
Bosnia. His reports concerning these travels appeared
in the New York Commercial Bulletin. In i87ito 1872
he was manager of the magazine, the Deutscher Pionier,
in Cincinnati, and made in 1872 his sixth journey to
Europe, to take two of his sons to a university and his
daughters to a young ladies' institute. In Strasburg and
Wurzburg he attended, in his fiftieth year, lectures upon
his favorite studies, political economy and the science of
government. In the year 1876 he was elected by popu-
lar vote for two years to the honorary office of a member
of the board of control for Hamilton county. That he
voted for Tilden in 1876, as many thousands of Germans
have done, who otherwise belonged to the Republican
party, is easily understood. The Democratic party nom-
inated him as their candidate for the important and re-
sponsible office of Auditor of State, although Rumelin's
opinions about financial questions differed from theirs.
But all Democratic candidates were beaten by a consider-
able majority during that election (October 15, 1879).
At present Rumelin is engaged in writing a book; a
critique upon American politics, which will be, no doubt,
of great interest. We have spoken already about his
many letters of correspondence for newspapers, and his
activity in the - State ■ Legislature. He has written also
many articles for agricultural journals. A long article of
his about the climate of Ohio has been published in the
reports of the agricultural bureau of the State. In the
year 1859 he published a Vine-dresser's Manual, and in
1868 The Wine-maker's Manual. His most important
work up to this time is his Treatise on Politics as a Sci-
ence, published by Robert Clarke & Company in Cincin-
nati in 1875.
EMIL KLAUPRECHT.
The first belles-lettres journal in the country appeared
during the year 1843, under the management of Emil
Klauprecht. Born at Mainz in 1815, he came during the
year 1832 to the United States, and went at first to Padu-
cah, Kentucky, on the Ohio. In 1837 he chose Cincin-
nati for his home, and carried on a lithographic business
very successfully, but turned soon to journalism. In
1843 he published the first belles lettres periodical, the
Fliegende Blatter, with lithographic illustrations, the first
German illustrated paper of the United States. Soon
after he became editor of a Whig paper, the Republikaner,
which he made for ten years the principal organ of this
party in the Western States. He wrote also a number of
novels, and an historical work, the Deutsche Chronik in
der Geschichte des Ohio Thales (German Chronicle in
the History of the Ohio Valley). This work goes back
to the beginning of the history of the Territories and
States of the west, contains a great deal of interesting
material, and must have required a studious research
among historical sources, but, as regards a clear, easily
surveyed, and chronologically arranged representation, it
is not a success. During the years 1856 to 1864 he was
engaged on the Cincinnati Volksblatt, and was then ap-
pointed consul of the United States for Stuttgart, which
position he filled till 1869, when an inscrutable whim of
the Grant administration appointed a colored gentleman
in his place, a Mr. Sammis, from Pensacola, formerly a
barber by profession, who, it was said, could neither read
nor write. Since that time Klauprecht devotes himself
at Stuttgart to literary work. He writes for the Augs-
burger Allgemeine Zeitung, and sends also from time to
time articles for the Westlichsn Blatter, the Sunday num-
ber of the Cincinnati Volksblatt. Klauprecht is a very
talented man, and added in Cincinnati a great deal as
well to the public as to social life. By nature he was in-
clined to irony and sarcasm, was of a very lively nature,
as almost all the children of the golden city Mainz are,
and entered journalism at a very unfortunate time, when
both parties entertained mutually very hostile feelings.
He had chosen the unpopular side, that of the Whigs;
and had therefore the wind and the sun against him. As
well in the English as the German papers, at this time in
Cincinnati a rude tone had taken possession of the press,
which seemed to take a delight in personal rancor.
Klauprecht knew how to return these attacks with usury,
and there is no question that he, spirited as he was, on
this field had the better of his opponents. He accus-
tomed himself to repay the abuse of others in a similar
manner, but when a German editor attacked the honor
of his family, he allowed himself to be carried away to
revenge his right by a pistol-shot, which wounded his
adversary dangerously. Tried before a court, he was
sentenced to a year's imprisonment, to the great surprise
of the people, as such offences are usually not only ex-
cused but often even approved. He was, however, par-
doned by the governor, to the general satisfaction, before
the time set for his imprisonment. Klauprecht certainly,
for more than ten years, exerted a decided influence as
an able journalist and a leader of his party, in the city
and the State. As consul he filled his office most excel-
lently.
HEINRICH VON MARTELS.
Another editor of the Volksblatt at that time, and after-
wards of the Volksfreund, was Heinrich von Martels,
whose life was a very eventful one. He was born in
1803, at the Castle Dankern, in the dukedom of Aren-
berg-Meppen, attended the college at Osnabruck, entered
the cavalry of Hanover as cadet, and was, in 1822, sec-
ond lieutenant of the Cuirassiers. As captain of the
Sixth infantry regiment he took his leave of absence, and
traveled in 1832, accompanied by his father and his
brothers, to the United States, following Duden's tempt-
ing call, and settled in Missouri, in the neighborhood of
Duden's farm. He himself returned, however, again in
1833, as he had left his heart with a lady of high station
in Osnabruck; for, as he tells us in his book, published
in 1834 at Osnabruck, Der Westliche Theil der Ver-
einigten Staaten von Nordamerika, (The Western Part
of the United States of North America), this city of the
peace of Westphalia had robbed him of his heart's peace.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
133
Fiction and truth are intermingled in this book in the
strangest manner ; but one can not take it ill towards the
author, as it betrays at any rate a very amiable character.
His loyalty for England's great king (the sailor-king,
William IV,) is rather extravagant, but, as another king
has remarked, "loyalty is, even in exaggeration, beauti-
ful." However, the author talks with a similar enthu-
siasm about Washington and the free institutions of the
country, and his youthful fanaticisms have given place to
a healthy republican feeling. A light and graceful style
marks this fata morgana.
In the year 1839 he took his leave of military service,
and devoted himself to philosophical studies; returned
to America in 1845, went to Texas, bought a large estate
in Colorado, but soon afterwards lost all his wealth,
which was considerable, and his land. In the year 1850
he came to Cincinnati, and found for several years em-
ployment upon the Volksfreund. He interrupted this lit-
erary work for a short time to work on his farm, which he
had bought in Clermont county, but returned in i860 to
journalism. He has a knowledge of the classical lan-
guages, and talks most of the modern ones fluently, which
enables him to fulfil his office as interpreter in court with
great ability. Literary work, prose as well as poetry, is
still his favorite occupation, and brightens the days of his
old age.
JOSEPH H. PULTE.
Another prolific writer in the scientific field is the
doctor of medicine, Joseph Hypolit Pulte. He was born
at Meschede, Westphalia. After finishing his medical
studies, he went in 3834 to the United States, following
his brother, who was already a well-known physician in
St. Louis. Here he took hold with enthusiasm of hom-
oeopathy, which had been but a short time before brought
to America by Dr. Constantin Hering. After laboring
for several years in the Homoeopathic college in Allen-
town, he settled in Cincinnati as a practicing physician
about the year 1840. In the year 1850 he published the
work, Hansliche Praxis der Homoopathischen Hilkunde,
(Domestic Practice of Homoeopathy), which appeared
also in London in English and in Havana in Spanish.
He followed this by several other medical writings during
the following years. He also conducted for several years
the American Magazine of Homoeopathy and Hydro-
pathy. In 1852 he became professor of clinical practice
and obstetrics in the Homoeopathic college at Cleveland,
and founded in Cincinnati, from his own means, the
Pulte Homoeopathic medical college, which was opened
September 27, 1872. Besides his poetical writings we
ought also to make mention of his philosophical work,
with which he has enriched the literature of the country,
under the title Organon in der Weltgeschichte, which
was published in Cincinnati in 1846. It is an attempt
to bring revealed religion into harmony with philosophy.
For an analysis of this work we must refer to a lecture
delivered by Mr. H. A. Ratterman, December 26, 1877
(Deutscher Pionier, volume ten, page 317).
HEINRICH A. RATTERMANN
has been for several years the editor of the Pionier, and
fills a high position among the literary men of Cincinnati.
He was born October 14, 1832, at Ankum, district of
Osnabruck. He emigrated with his family to the United
States in 1846, where his father continued in Cincinnati
his former trade as a carpenter. Circumstances com-
pelled also Heinrich to take hold of hard work very soon,
but he made use at once of his leisure moments in study-
ing the English language. After the early death of his
father (January, 1850), the care of the family fell upon
his shoulders; and, although he worked at his business,
he continued his studies during his vacant hours. A
protracted suspension of work having compelled him to
give up his trade, he used his savings to attend a com-
mercial college, becoming then book-keeper for one of
his relations, a partner in the lumber business; and went
into other business connections when this partnership
had dissolved. Through his influence and continued
efforts the German Mutual Insurance ' Company (fire
insurance) was founded in the spring of 1858, and be-
came soon after one of the most successful institutions
of this kind in the ¥nited States. He has been for more
than twenty years the secretary and business manager of
it. But the intense activity with which he has devoted
himself to this institution has not been able to check his
inner impulse for literary work and music. He has writ-
ten poetry in the German and the English language, sun-
der the pseudonym "Hugo Reimmund," and has worked
with especial industry in the field of historical investiga-
tions, particularly in the history of civilization. Above
all, he has taken it upon himself to vindicate a just esti-
mate of the German immigration. He traces up, with a
peculiar zeal and genuine enthusiasm, the generations of
the German immigrants into the most remote period, and
his investigations into this and kindred topics are not
only deeply prosecuted, but betray a sharp and critical
judgment. There is hardly a book or pamphlet which
can give him in any way material for his historical
work that is not known to him; and the public archives
of Washington and other cities have been well searched
by him. Being engaged for a number of years with such
historical work, he has superintended, since 1874, the
monthly periodical, Deutscher Pionier, which aims to give
in an entertaining style a view of the past and present of
German life in America in every respect. This journal
has already accumulated an immense treasure of material
since its first foundation in 1869, which certainly nobody
better than Rattermann himself will be able to utilize for
a comprehensive work on immigration. He published
also an historical sketch of the city of Cincinnati, several
novels, and a Geschichte des Grossen Amerikanischen
Westens (History of the Great American West), published
in two parts, in Cincinnati, 1876 and 1877. He is also
very fond of music, and is himself a good musician; he
was one of the founders and a member of the Ssenger-
bund (1850), the Msennerchor (1857), and the Orpheus
(1858). He is a member and one of the trustees of the
Historical and Philosophical society of Ohio, a member
of the Cincinnati Literary club, a corresponding member
of the New York Historical society, and one of the most
active founders of the German Literary club of Cincin-
nati. He owns a large and valuable library, which facili-
134
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tates his praiseworthy labors. In the interest of the
insurance company he has also studied law, especially
the branches which relate to insurance. A man of such
an active and widely gifted nature could of course not
remain[:indifferent towards polities. In former times he
belonged to the Democratic party, and worked for it
prominently by speech and writing. After the war, at
the time when so many were dissatisfied with both of the
great parties, he labored for an Independent Reform
party, and we find him a delegate of the same at the
convention in Cincinnati in 1872, on the same day of the
convention of the Liberal Republicans. The Reform
party, to which belonged several of the most prominent
men, especially of Ohio, adopted an excellent platform,
which differed from that of the Liberal Republicans es-
sentially but in one point — they did not approve of Gree-
ley's nomination as candidate for the Presidency, chiefly
because he had been all his life a warm adherent to the
tariff, which measure the Reform party had opposed de-
cidedly. Rattermann's political activity seemed now, for
a time at least,, paralyzed ; but it showed itself again in
full force during the political campaign of 1876, when he
worked most energetically for Tilden, who, when Gov-
ernor of New York, had fought against corruption, and
on account of his successful attempts at reform seemed
not only to the Democrats, but also to some Republicans,
the most desirable candidate for the Presidency.
GERMAN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The result which the Germans had gained by their
powerful aid to the Democratic party during the election
of 1836, moved them to ask for themselves a service in
return from that party. They insisted especially upon
having the German language introduced into the public
schools as a branch of study. Already, in the year 1836,
a German school had been opened under the influence
of Lane Seminary, an institution under the control of the
Presbyterians. This German school, called the Emi-
grants' school, was maintained by the Emigrants' Friend
Society. The chief leaders of this institution were Bella-
my Storer as president, Johann Meyer as vice-president,
and Jakob Gulich as chairman of the executive commit-
tee. A German Pole, Johann Joseph Lehmanowsky,
acted as general agent for the society, and F. C. F. Salo-
mon, from Erfurt, was the principal of the school. Leh-
manowsky founded, besides the school in Cincinnati,
others in Dayton, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and New
Albany, Indiana. The teachers of the Cincinnati Emi-
grants' school were, besides Salomon, a poetically minded,
jolly German by the name of Julius Weyse and Julius
Schwarz, of rather eccentric character, who was a son of
Professor Schwarz, of Heidelberg. As the Emigrant
school, however, soon fell under suspicion of making
proselytes to Presbyterianism, and the Catholics had al-
ready founded a German school of their own under the
care of the Rev. J. M. Henni (now Archbishop), the
teachers of which were men like Dr. Roelker and Messrs.
Moormann and Dengler (afterward lawyers), all thorough
instructors, it was now decided, after many disputes, to
insist upon having the German also taught in the public
schools, which are maintained 'by general taxation. At
first the Board of Education was applied to; but they
considered the request inconsistent with their duties, as
only the Legislature could furnish the remedy for the
Germans. This question was now laid before that body,
which passed a law in 1838, by which the trustees of the
public schools might introduce the German language as
a branch of study into districls where a sufficient number
of persons should petition for it, provided there were
enough scholars to justify it. With this law they went
back to the trustees, who, however, availing themselves
of the little word "might," again refused to grant the pe-
tition. The pressure was continued, and during the elec-
tion of 1839 the candidates for the legislature were made
to promise to exert themselves to make the law effective,
by substituting the word "shall" for "might," thus chang-
ing the permission into a command. The Germans,
having evidently the majority at the elections, and taking
unanimously this position, the Democrats were induced
to consent to the measure, and the law was changed ac-
cording to their wishes, March 19, 1840.
During the summer of this year, the first German-
English public school was established. The principal of
this school was Joseph A. Hemann; and Heinrich Pop-
pelmann, Georg La Barre and Emilie Frankenstein were
the teachers. But the problem of a German-English
school was not yet at an end. Encouraged by the elec-
tion of 1840, the majority of the Whig party, which al-
ways had been opposed to German study in the public
schools? thought to cripple it entirely by establishing
purely German instead of German-English schools, and,
strange to say, with English principals; and the German
principal was dismissed. The Germans would not sub-
mit to this, and were now holding a number of largely
attended meetings, in which they put forth their rights
most forcibly, by speeches and resolutions. The first one
of these meetings took place July 16, 1841, with Karl
Belser in the chair. Edward Muhl delivered an excel-
lent speech in favor of preserving the rights" of the Ger-
mans in this country, especially in regard to the educa-
tion of the children in their own mother-tongue. They
did not rest by simply protesting, but elected a standing
committee to attend to the interests of the Germans in
the schools; and, not receiving the consideration they
had expected from the Board of Education, they estab-
lished schools of their own, according to their plans, till
they obtained their rights from the school board. The
principal workers in this matter were August Renz,
Stephan Molitor, Heinrich Rodter, Ludwig Rehfuss,
Pastor Seib, Emil Klauprecht, Edward Muhl, Nikiaus
Hoffer, and others. Final success crowned their efforts,
and the German-English system of the public schools in
Cincinnati, which now extends to all the classes of the
different schools, working more effectively than in any
other city of America, is the living fruit of that energetic
agitation.
To secure the privileges gained at last after so much
difficulty, they endeavored to secure a representation in
the school board. That was, however, a difficult matter,
because in the Fifth ward, in which, at the time, the Ger-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i3S
mans were well represented, the Whig party had still the
majority. They thought of Dr. Roelker as the best man
they could present as their candidate; as he, standing
sufficiently in connection with the Americans, might
have possibly a chance of being elected. And he was
elected in the spring of 1843, as the first German mem-
ber of the board of education of Cincinnati, and was re-
elected during the two following years.
DR. FRIEDRICH ROELKER
was born in the city of Osnabruck, in the year 1809. He
graduated at the College Karolinum at Osnabruck, and
entered after that the seminary at Munster. After having
finished his studies, he taught for a short time in Osna-
bruck, and emigrated in 1835 to America, where he staid
for two years in New York as a teacher. In 1837 he
went to Cincinnati, where he became an English teacher,
holding this position for two years, when, through
Henni's influence, he was appointed principal of the
Catholic Dreifaltigkeits-schule (Trinity school). He re-
signed this position after one year, to study medicine at
the Ohio Medical college, where, at the time, the very
able German professors, Dr. S. D. Gross and Dr. Johann
Eberle, delivered lectures under the rectorship of the
eminent scholar, Dr. Daniel Drakc Having graduated
at this college, he devoted himself to the practice of
medicine in Cincinnati. His position as English teacher
in the public schools had brought him into association as
well with the most prominent men of the city as with the
most influential members of the board of education; and
when the Germans of the Fifth ward nominated him as a
candidate for the school board in 1843, he was elected,
alth'ough the Democratic party, to which he belonged,
was greatly in the minority in that ward. He was at
last appointed chairman of the committee on instruction
in German, and succeeded in mollifying the hostile feel-
ing which formerly existed in the board against instruction
in German, by his moderate and thoughtful, but earnest
efforts. The German-English schools, which so far had
shown very little life, rallied and flourished soon under
his untiring care, so that they showed, even in English,
better results than the purely English schools at the next
half-yearly examinations in winter. That was a triumph
. for the Germans which filled everybody with gladness,
and a meeting of German citizens was called to give
Roelker publicly their thanks for his activity. The Ger-
man school was insured. He possessed in the. highest
degree all the qualities necessary for such a position, as
was truly said in a communication through the Volksb/atl,
by somebody in favor of his re-election in the spring of
1844. His re-election was not difficult; and even in the
year 1845, when the German division of the ward was
separated, to form a separate ward of its own, and the
Whigs of this ward, who numbered by far the majority,
put up General Findlay for Roelker's position, while the
Democrats telt too weak to dare to renominate Dr.
Roelker; he was again re-elected by the citizens, to the
great astonishment of all, without having worked for that
result personally.
But Roelker understood clearly that the preservation
of the German language did not depend on school in-
struction alone; but that continued effort afterwards
would be necessary to ripen the seed planted at the
school. For this purpose he proposed the founding of a
library company, which was brought about in the autumn
of 1844. The success in founding this society, called
Deutscher Lese-und-Bildungsverein (German Reading
and Educational Society), was due principally to Dr.
Roelker, Messrs. Rehfuss, Rodter, Molitor, Dr. Tellkampf
(who, however, soon after left Cincinnati), Dr. Emmert,
Backhaus, Klauprecht, La Barre (afterwards for many
years the librarian of the society), and many others.
Roelker was made the first President of the society,
which then continued to grow and prosper, until the
pressure of the civil war caused its dissolution. The
four thousand volumes owned by the library were pre-
sented to the Msennerchor singing society, where they
still form a free library for its members, though the large
public library, now containing over one hundred thou-
sand volumes, has made it altogether superfluous, and its
usefulness of but little importance.
The Reading and Educational society was to be eleva-
ted, under Dr. Roelker's and later under Stallo's presi-
dency, to a more important use than merely the reading
of books could accomplish. Scientific lectures were de-
livered by learned men — among others by Stallo and
Georg Fein, from Braunschweig, besides Franz Loher,
who delivered five lectures, which appeared afterwards in
print: Des deutschen Volkes Bedentung in der Weltges-
chichte (the Importance of the German People in the
History of the World).
When Dr. Roelker resigned his position as a member
of the school board in 1 846, he was elected to the im-
portant position of school examiner, in which office he
served till 1849, when he went to Europe. He is still
living in Cincinnati.
There is hardly another man in the city to whom as
much credit for the successful introduction of German
instruction in the public schools is due, as to Dr. Roelker.
His genuinely scientific education, his practical experi-
ence in teaching, and his clear, thoughtful mind, helped
him to accomplish successfully what others had com-
menced with eagerness, but could not carry through.
Roelker's successors in the school board of Cincinnati,
before the year 1850, were Messrs. Heinrich Rodter,
Stephan Molitor, F. H. Rowekamp, Johann Schiff, and
Dr. S. Unzicker.
AUGUST RENZ,
who, as all reports say, gave the first decisive word in
favor of the introduction of German into the public •
schools, was a native of Wurtemberg. He was born in
1803, studied law at the university of Tubingen, and
practiced it in his native town. He came to Cincinnati
in 1836, and established himself as a notary public. His
defective pronunciation of the English language, his want
of talent as a speaker, and his dread of pleading, kept
him, probably, from becoming a barrister. He was, how-
ever, very successful as a notary public. He took also
an active part in political journalism, and edited, in com-
pany with George Walker, the weekly paper Der Deutsch
136
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Amerikaner (1839), and afterwards the second Democratic
newspaper of Cincinnati, Die Volksbuhne (1841-45).
Renz's active interest in all public movements of the
Germans has always been guided by an unselfish prin-
ciple.
JOSEPH ANTON HEMANN,
the first German principal of the German-English schools
in Cincinnati, was born in 1816 at Oesede, near Osna-
bruck. He attended the college of Osnabruck, and emi-
grated to America in 1837. In 1838 he became a teacher
in Canton, Ohio, and in 1839 filled the same position at
the parochial school of St. Mary's parish, in Cincinnati.
After the law was passed which allowed the German lan-
guage to be taught in the public schools, he passed his
examination at the same time with the well-known Ger-
man writer of travels, Friedrich Gerstacker, who was then
staying in Cincinnati, and was appointed to the position
of principal at the German school, which he filled for a
year. When in 1841 the school board tried to suppress
the German instruction, and the Germans, as has been
said already, founded a temporary shool by voluntary con-
tributions, Hemann became principal of that school, but
in the following year he resigned the position and re-
turned as principal to St. Mary's school. Later, in 1850,
he founded the Cincinnati Volksfreund, the still-existing
Democratic newspaper, which he conducted till 1863, in
in which year he retired from journalism. Hemann has
earned especial merit by being one of the workers for the
founding of the German historical periodical, the
Deutscher Pionier. He lives at present in Canton, Ohio,
and conducts the Ohio Volkszeitung published there.
GERMAN LIBRARY.
The German Catholics founded also in 1845 a German
library, which was conducted by the German Catholic
school and reading society. It contained also four thou-
sand volumes, when it was afterwards incorporated with
the Catholic Institute.
STEPHAN MOLITOR.
We have mentioned occasionally before the gentlemen
Molitor and Walker; and both deserve an honorable
place in the history of the German press. Stephan Mol-
itor was born January 5, 1806, at Cheslitz, Oberfranken.
In November, 1823, he went to Wurzburg, and studied
philosophy and jurisprudence. His lively and independ-
ent student-life did not interfere with his studies, and he
received, soon after having finished his studies, a position
as reporter in police matters at Munchen. The motives
of his emigration are not known. He came to the United
States in 1830.
In the year 1835 he conducted the New Yorker Staats-
zeitung, which had been founded but a short time before.
But soon after we meet him in Buffalo, where he con-
ducted the Weltburger, till he made in 1837 Cincinnati
his second home. He worked there for a while in partner-
ship with Heinrich Rodter upon the Volksblatt, and made
this paper his own within a year, conducting it with great
ability and good success to the year 1863. His legal ed-
ucation and experience in government service gave him
an important advantage over most of his journalistic
rivals, He made himself very soon acquainted with
American history and politics, and was able to talk about
the recurring questions in national economy and politics
with a knowledge which is even now wanting in several
otherwise talented editors of popular German-American
papers. In the year 1863 he sold his paper, retired from
public life to his country place, and died July 25, 1873,
in Cincinnati.
During the long period from 1837 to 1863, he labored
through his journals for the spiritual elevation of his coun-
trymen and for everything which he considered best for
the people. In his obituary, which appeared in the Pio-
nier (fifth volume, page 191), we read:
Only this need be said here, that he exercised the greatest influence
as well in State as in local matters, that he worked indefatigably for the
forming of our German-American public schools, and never shrank from
breaking a lance, be it for the public welfare or for individual right.
His friend Rumelin is of the opinion that Molitor ex-
ercised, by his efficiency as an editor, an important influ-
ence upon the general politics of the Union. He also
points out his business capacity, which secured him his
position; and, although it did not bring him in great
riches, it enabled him to keep always his independence
as owner of a press. "It was well known," continues
Rumelin, "that he loved money-making, but also that he
pursued it with moderation and within limits. He never
was an office-hunter. His ambition for fame and honor
was well known, but also that he kept it within the bounds
of a man of the people, as is due to the head of a Re-
publican- newspaper.
GEORGE WALKER
was born in Urach, near Rentlingen, Wurtemberg, about
the year 1808. He was one of those men who have
missed their vocation. Having received a thoroughly
theological education at the Tubingen Stift, he became
sufficiently imbued with the ideas of Hegel and Strauss
to deviate from orthodoxy. Like many others, he might,
had he staid at home, have gradually accustomed him-
self to his position, making a sort of compromise with
his belief. But the Lutheran Synod of Baltimore had
requested the theological faculty of Tubingen to send
over some young and able theologians to serve in the
theological seminary at Gettysburg, or as pastors. Walker
was one of the young men who were sent. Arriving in
the year 1833 or l834. he found very soon that what was
called orthodoxy in Germany was here looked upon al-
most as heresy; and as, besides this, he was fond of pre-
senting himself in the free-and-easy dress and manners
of the German student, it is natural that he failed to give
satisfaction. As soon as possible he was therefore sent
to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where some Wurtemberg-
ians formed a small congregation. But even there he
came in collision with the Lutheran Synod at Columbus;
and when he turned his thoughts to politics and became
a decided Democrat of the Jackson school, he left his
congregation and went to Germantown, near Dayton, in
1838. There he founded, in company with Dr. Christian
Espich, the Protestant, and undertook also the printing
of the statute laws of Ohio in German. He removed
the Protestant soon after to Cincinnati, and became, at
'-t
-7
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r*V- v
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i37
the same time, one of the conductors of the Volksblatt,
then in the hands of Rodter. The Protestant, however,
breathed its last after a short time. He undertook in
the same year the superintendence of a newly-founded
political paper, the Deutsch-Amerikaner, which also ex-
pired soon, after a short and favorable beginning. Walker
now sho(3k the dust of Cincinnati off his feet, went to
Louisville, and superintended there soon after (1840) a
newly-founded paper, Die Volksbuhne, which, however,
conld not celebrate its first anniversary, at least not in
Louisville; for very soon after we find the same Volks-
buhne in Cincinnati, again under Walker's superintend-
ence. How long he performed on the "buhne'' (stage)
has not been ascertained; but he must have come finally
to the conviction that politics was really not his field.
He founded therefore a religio-political paper, the Hoch-
wachter (1845-49) which answered better to his inclina-
tions. Assisted by his friends, he kept this up until his
death. He died from cholera in the year 1849.
The knowledge and uncommon intellectual gifts pos-
sessed by Walker would have enabled him to work more
effectively, had it been possible for him to develop him-
self further, acquaint himself with the history, politics,
and laws of his adopted Fatherland. But he belonged
to the large number of immigrating Germans, who, al-
though endowed with good talents and comprehensive
knowledge, exclude themselves from all but their own
countrymen; and the American world does not exist for
them at all. Taking part in German enterprises and so-
cieties, which have charities for their object or are de-
voted to sociability and education, they exercise, to be
sure, a useful effect; but to the building up of our Amer-
ican nationality, they help but indirectly.
LUDWIG REHFUSS
took hold of public life with more energy. He was
Walker's friend, and also a Suabian child, for he was
born at Ebingen, January 26, 1806. Having received a
thorough education as chemist, pharmacist, and botanist,
at the university of his country, he filled the position of
a "provisor" for several of the best apothecaries of the
most important cities in his Suabian fatherland. He
took, at the same time, a lively interest in the liberal
political agitations and movements which arose in Ger-
many after the July revolution. In the year 1833 he left
Germany, probably because he despaired of political re-
form. He settled in Cincinnati and established a drug-
store which gained very soon a good reputation. He
became one of the active founders of the German
society, took part in founding in 1836 the Volksblatt,
and became a zealous Democrat. He was one of those
who, during the conflict over the German schools, urged
his party to declare themselves firmly in favor of main-
taining the German schools, under penalty of losing the
Gerirfan votes at the next election. Rehfuss also took
part in the establishment of the Lafayette guard, in the
year 1836, and became their captain. In the year 1843
he was one of the founders of the Lese und Bildung-
verein (Reading and Educational society), and added in
general through his social talents, as also through his ex-
tensive hospitality, which his means permitted, a great
deal to the elevation and animation of the social life of
Cincinnati. He continued to carry on his vocation with
great zeal, and published the results of his investigations
and experience in several pamphlets, and wrote also
about the cultivation of the vine and botany. He be-
came a member of the Association of Natural Sciences
of the United States, and during a convention of the
most eminent physicists of America, which was held in
Cincinnati, his country mansion stood hospitably open
to its members. Agassiz and Professor Henry were his
guests. The revolution of 1848 could not but fill a man
like Rehfuss with enthusiasm. He gave to it his warm-
est sympathy, and was especially one of the most active
speakers in favor of the subscription started by Gottfried
Kinkel, in aid of fresh revolutions in Germany. In
politics he maintained always a certain independence.
He died July 31, 1855, not yet fifty years old.
The Lafayette guard, which was mentioned before,
was the cause of the formation of other German town
militia companies. Soon after were formed a chasseur
company and a turner company, as also companies of
Steuben, Kosziusko, and Jackson guards. A few years
later several of these companies formed themselves into
a battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel August Moor.
AUGUST MOOR
was born March 28, 18 14, in Leipzig. He became a pupil
of the Koniglich-sachsische Forstakademie, which was con-
ducted on military principles ; and probably there his mili-
tary inclinations were awakened. By some means or other
he became involved in the September troubles of 1830, in
Leipzig or Dresden, was arrested, and sentenced to an im-
prisonment for eight months. The only thing for him to do,
after his discharge, seemed to be to try his luck in the
free States of America. He landed in Baltimore in No-
vember, 1833, found occupation in Philadelphia, became
a lieutenant of the Washington Guard of that city, un-
der Captain Koseritz, and during the Seminole war in
1836 he enlisted in a volunteer dragoon company, in
which he became lieutenant colonel. After the expira-
tion of the appointed time of service of that company
it was dissolved, and we find Moor in the year 1838 at
Cincinnati, where he conducted a bakery successfully for
several years. The Mexican war of 1846 exercised nat-
urally a great attraction upon him. He became captain
of one of the companies of an Ohio volunteer infantry
regiment, and distinguished himself in several battles
and skirmishes by his prudence and valor, so that he
soon advanced to the positions of major, lieutenant col-
onel, and colonel of the regiment. A few years after his
return he became major general of the First division of
Ohio militia, but resigned this position after a few years,
as the militia organization was very imperfect; it consist-
ed more of staff officers than of soldiers. At the breaking
out of the War of Secession Moor was one of the first
who enlisted under the flag of the Union. He became
colonel of the Twenty-eighth Ohio volunteer regiment
(the Second German regiment). Incorporated with Gen-
eral Rosecrans' army, he distinguished himself glorious-
18
138
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ly in West Virginia — fought under Hunter in the Valley
of the Shenandoah, and was considered one of the best
and bravest officers of the army. He led a brigade du-
ring the whole of his three years' service, but was not
until his discharge appointed Brevet Brigadier General.
His open and honest character, his rebellion against all
favoritisms, which, unfortunately, were very prevalent in
the army during the civil war, his want of submissiveness,
and the jealousy which existed in the higher military cir-
cles against foreigners, though the President himself was
free from such prejudices, caused probably the hinder-
ance to his advancement. Soon after the first evidences
of his military qualifications he ought have been made
brigadier general, and later he ought have been advanced
to the position of major general. He was highly appre-
ciated by the generals above him, as Rosecrans, Averill,
Burnside, and Hunter; and by them his advancement
was several times proposed. In the paper Sonst und
Jetzt, edited by Armin Tenner, Cincinnati, in 1878, we
read of General Moor:
Being modest, as all those are who are aware of their inner worth
and their true merit, he did not seek the capricious favoritism of the
people nor the approbation of the multitude; his name takes in the
annals of the Union a well-deserved rank. His earnest military char-
acter, which also in private life he can shake off, is often taken for
pride and haughtiness; but his numerous friends know how to value
him, and to acknowledge the noble kernel hidden by a rough outside
shell, and know how to distinguish a dignified manner from vulgar
haughtiness.
GENERAL AUGUST V. KAUTZ
is another distinguished military character; he is at pres-
ent brigadier-general of the United States army. He
was born at Pforzheim, Baden, in the year 1828, and
came with his parents to the United States when yet very
young. They settled in Ripley, Brown county, Ohio,
where they still lived in 1846, the year of the breaking
out of the war with Mexico. Kautz, then eighteen years
old, enlisted as private in the First volunteer regiment of
Ohio. He fought in the battle of Monterey and in sev-
eral skirmishes, and became soon after the war a lieuten-
ant in the regular army of the United States. At the
outbreak of the war of secession he was captain in the
cavalry, but commanded his regiment in those notable
days before Richmond in 1862 under McClellan. He
proved himself there an exceptionally fine horseman and
officer, and was made soon after colonel of the Second
Ohio cavalry regiment, and later commanding general of
the cavalry of the Twenty-third corps of the army. His
bold riding excited general surprise. He became brevet
major-general as well in the volunteer as in the regular
army. After the close of the war he returned to the reg-
ular army as lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth infantry
regiment. -He is the author of several small military
treatises, which have especial reference to the service.
GENERAL WEITZEL.
With him we may worthily rank General Gottfried
Weitzel, who, though he is claimed by the Americans as
one of them, was born in Germany, but came to America
in his early youth. He was born November 1, 1835, at
Winzlen, Rheinpfalz. His parents settled in Cincinnati.
In his seventeenth year he was sent as a cadet to West
Point, and left this institution in 1855, after having
passed an excellent examination, when he was made sec-
ond lieutenant of the engineer corps, which position is
only given to the best graduates. At the outbreak of the
war he was already a captain, and became attached to
General Butler's staff when that general besieged New
Orleans, and after his -promotion received the 'command
of a brigade in the army corps of General Banks, when
that general undertook his unfortunate expedition up the
Red river. Assigned to the Potomac army, under Gen-
eral Grant, he received the command of a division, and
distinguished himself, especially in the operations against
Petersburgh, the taking of which led to the fall of Rich-
mond. He was the first one who, at the head of his
command, entered the city of Richmond at the side of
President Lincoln. Strange coincidence! The German
General Schimmelpfenning was the first who led his
brigade into Charleston, and another German general
was the first who carried the flag of the Union into the
long-besieged, strongest fort of the confederates. Weitzel
is at present major in the engineer corps of the United
States army, with the brevet rank of a major general.
That Weitzel is a German by birth is proved by the fact
that he is a member of the German Pioneer society of
Cincinnati, to which only German natives are admitted.
THE GERMAN IN POLITICS.
By our. short description of the press in Cincinnati,
one can already draw some conclusion as to the interest
with which the Germans have taken hold of politics.
But it was not till 1840 that the German vote became of
great importance. It had grown immensely since 1836.
By far the larger number of Germans here then be-
longed, as in most of the older States (especially the
western), to the Democmtic party. It was hardly possi-
ble for this to be otherwise. Already before the Native
movement had lifted its threatening head in 1836, the
National Democratic party had secured the adherence of
the immigration. The liberal naturalization laws were
already due to them, under the presidency of Jefferson.
About the year 1820 the Democrats had succeeded in
Congress in lowering the price of public land and in hav-
ing the lands sold in smaller lots (forty acres) to real set-
tlers. About the year 1830, after long and vehement
contests, very liberal pre-emption laws were adopted,
which enabled the settler to pay for his land with the re-
ceipts of a moderate harvest. All these laws were passed
after very obstinate contests with the Congressmen from
the east, who had principally belonged to the former
party of Federalists, and later to the Whig party. Espe-
cially Henry Clay, the most important leader of the
Whigs, spoke very zealously against allowing the right of
pre-emption to those settlers who were not yet citizens;
that is, who had not yet lived five years in the United
States.
It has often been said that the Germans and the im-
migrants of other nations had been enticed into the
Democratic party simply by the charm of the word
"Democracy," and general phrases about liberity .and
equality, much in the mouth of Democrats. Grant that
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
139
a great many allowed themselves to be won over by
glittering phrases, yet it is certain that the general mass
of the Germans and the Irish knew how to appreciate
the real advantages of the Democratic measures. They
would not have been able to buy large tracts of land
from the Government with their usually scant means, but
would have fallen into the hands of land speculators.
Now they could, without any means, settle down and be-
gin to cultivate their land, because they enjoyed as settlers
the pre-emption right. Neither could the tariff, intro-
duced and favored by the Whig party for the benefit of a
few manufacturers in the east, be approved by the new
immigrants to the west.
The most ardent speeches of the Democratic politi-
cians could not have held the Germans for thirty years to
their party, if their material interests had not led them
the same way. The obnoxious native movement, so
profoundly mortifying to man's pride, which showed itself
first during the years 1835-37, and then renewed its
attacks in 1842-44, by slaughter and incendiarism, and
which seemed to be rather favored here and there by the
Whig party, while the Democrats opposed it decidedly in
all its public demonstrations and promised to guard the
rights of the foreigners energetically, was sufficient to
drive all the Germans, who were still undecided, by neces-
sity into the arms of Democracy.
As in other large communities, the Germans of Ohio
organized themselves also into a compact party, and in
1843 the association called Deutscher demokratischer
Verein of Hamilton county, was founded in Cincinnati.
The society issued a manifesto, by which it retained its
independence even towards its own party, in declaring
that the Germans would abandon the Democratic party
as soon as it was seen that the liberal principles avowed
by that party were not sincerely held. And if the mania
for office and the odious prejudices towards the foreign-
ers should also show themselves in the Democracy, the
Germans were to take up the fight against such unworthy
members of their party. In this programme the associa-
tion declares itself for the maintenance of the first prin-
ciple of Democracy: "The same rights and entire justice
for all men, without distinction of their religious or politi-
cal belief;" and Opposes the spirit of the native movement
with the utmost severity.
The directorship of the association was given to thirty
members, and we find among the officers the names of
Stephan Molitor, Nikolaus Hofer and Heinrich Rodter.
The society was active in many directions. It obtained
for the Germans general recognition, assured them a full
representation at the party conventions, and protected in
the public schools the German instruction, so often
threatened. But it was especially efficacious during the
Presidential election in 1844, when the Democrats
elected their candidate, Mr. Polk. German electoral
assemblies were held; political clubs and singing societies
were founded; and from this time on, the German vote
in Ohio fell very heavily into the scale.
The news of the victory won by the Native party in
the city of New York, in April, 1844, and of the incen-
diary actions of a mob of the Native Americans, who
burned Roman Catholic churches in Philadelphia, wae
received by the Germans of Cincinnati with deep solici-
tude. The executive committee of the German Demo-
cratic association called at once a meeting for April 29th,
in the hall of Landfried's Napoleon tavern, in which the
position of the immigrant citizens of the country was
taken into very serious consideration. The speeches
which were delivered against the revolting actions of the
Natives in the eastern cities displayed a spirit of deter-
mination which always goes hand and hand with the
side of right. The Germans were recommended to hold
together for united action, and were called upon to meet
the dark Native movements with boldness. A commit-
tee, with George Walker at its head, handed in resolutions
which recommended the appointment of a committee,
who were to inquire from the different candidates for
President, Vice President, governor, and other public
offices, if they approved of the principles and measures
of the so-called American Republicans (Natives), or if
they, under all conditions and in all cases, would oppose
them through official and private influence; the appoint-
ment of a committee to prepare an address to the Ger-
mans of the Union and one to the American people, to
be delivered at a public convention, which was to be
combined, on the first day of the May following, with a
spring festival; and the question of holding a general
convention of the Germans of Ohio on the Fourth of
July, 1844, was to be laid before this convention for de-
cision. Moreover, the quarrels and contentions which
prevailed among the German newspapers at the time
were taken by this meeting into consideration. The res-
olution in reference to them reads:
Resolved, That we, the Germans of Cincinnati, have watched for
some time with great displeasure the personal quarrels of the German
papers of this city, and that we hereby declare positively that we shall
in future look upon every editor of a paper, who shall again excite such
personal quarrel, as a common enemy of the immigrants; for, to be
able to conquer the common enemy, we need more than ever to be
united.
The chairman of the meeting was Molitor, the editor
of the VolksHatt; Dr. C. F. Schmidt, the editor of the
Republikaner, and Walker, editor of the Volksbuhne, were
secretaries.
Other resolutions referred to the taking part of the
German military companies in the festival — including in-
vitations to such organizations in Louisville and Colum-
bus— and to other arrangements for the festival.
The details of this May festival, which is described as
one of the most imposing public demonstrations ever
held in Cincinnati, do not belong within our province.
Pastor August Kroll delivered the oration, which is said
to have been a masterpiece of eloquence. The com-
mittee, to which the composition of the addresses before
mentioned had been assigned, delivered their report. It
was, however, resolved to postpone the same until the
next public meeting May nth, so as not to disturb the
festive joy of the day by the sad reminiscences of the
cruelties suffered by our countrymen in the east.
The address, "To the Germans of the Union," calls
attention in the commencement of the political crisis, so
dangerous to the country and its freedom, through the
140
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
rise of a party founded on Native principles or national
distinction, and upon religious and political fanaticism;
represents it to be the duty of every well-meaning citizen
of the country to meet these disturbances earnestly, but
with dignity; reminds the Germans not to allow their
own national feeling, but the preservation of the free
institutions of their adopted country, to be their guiding
star, so as to win the respect of the well-meaning Ameri-
cans, and with that the assurance of success. It asks
further of them to join the Democratic party, which al-
ready, forty years ago, without expecting at the time any
advantages, had carried the repeal of the laws against
foreigners, had adhered to those principles faithfully ever
since, and had taken the immigrants and their rights al-
ways under their protective shield. It points out that
there are among the German countrymen also members
of the Whig party, and recommends these to consult
with their conscience and their patriotism, if party mo-
tives ought to be stronger with them than the welfare and
claims of the coming generation of Americans. "Let
them remain with their party," continues the address, "if
they can do so; but we retain the pleasant hope that these
our countrymen will very soon acknowledge that the love
for their new fatherland is greater than the love for
Caesar."
If we consider that Molitor was the author of the
other address, "To the People of Ohio,'' we need not be
astonished that, besides the most convincing thorough-
ness with which the address treats the questions from the
standpoint of natural and legal rights, it represents also a
thorough knowledge of the political history of America,
and is controlled by a spirit of thoughtfulness and mod-
eration which characterized Molitor in all his actions.
The address closes with the words :
We shall watch quietly and without passion the direction this move-
ment is taking, and, as before, so shall also be in future, the welfare of
our adopted Fatherland, and the preservation of its free and glorious
institutions, our first and only aim.
To give the German element a representation in the
legislature, it was resolved in the meeting of the Demo-
cratic Association of the twentieth of July, 1844, to pro-
pose Karl Rumelin at the next Democratic convention as
a candidate for the House of Representatives of Ohio.
The convention agreed to the proposition, and Rumelin
was elected in the fall by a considerable majority of votes.
The Association made also the request, somewhat similar
to the demand made before in Pennsylvania, to have all
the public documents which are printed by the State for
the use of the citizens, also printed in the German lan-
guage; which request has ever since been heeded by the
authorities of the State. Furthermore, the candidates for
the legislature of the State of Ohio and for Congress were
questioned as to whether they were in favor of or against
the interference of the legislature in the matter of the
temperance movements, and if they would, when elected,
oppose the aims and intrigues of the Native American
party in their political and religious tendencies.
HOFER.
We have mentioned several times the name of Nikolaus
Hofer as one of the most prominent leaders of the Ger-
mans of Ohio. He was born at Rulzheim, Rheinpfalz,
in the year 1810, and came to Cincinnati in 1832, and
carried on gardening principally. He became finally a
real estate agent and administrator of General Findlay's
extensive lands. He took an active part in all mutual
efforts of the Germans, filled the office of a city commis-
sioner, and worked earnestly for the founding of German
schools. He was the first vice-president of the Demo-
cratic Association, repeatedly a delegate in the State and
local conventions of that party, and exercised a great in-
fluence, as well upon the Germans as upon the Ameri-
cans. The genial and zealous Rodter used to say that
Nikolaus Hofer was his right hand in all political affairs.
He died in January, 1875, ar,d the conjoint press of the
city published extensive and honorable obituary notices
of him. Mr. H. A. Rattermann says in his sketch of
Hofer's life (Deutscher Pioneer, volume six, page four
hundred and nineteen) :
Among the old pioneers who have been active in our city on the field
of German-American efforts at civilization, he stands out prominently
like a large oak tree among its surrounding underbrush, by virtue of
his clear insight into the social and political situations of life. Although
he has not enjoyed the highest school education, he was, on account of
his sound judgment in political matters, for a number of years looked
upon as a leader of the Germans in the upper part of the city, and to a
certain extent in the whole city. If Hofer had enjoyed a fine educa-
tion in addition to his natural talents, he would have been one of the
most prominent leaders of the American-German population.
PASTOR KROLL.
When speaking before about the May festival, we men-
tioned that Pastor August Kroll delivered the oration.
Born at Rohrback, in the Grand Dukedom of Hessen,
July 22, 1806, he was destined by his parents for the
clerical profession. He attended the gymnasium at Bud-
ingen, studied afterwards theology at the university of
Giessen, and became then assistant parson in the parish
at Eckardtshausen. On the one hand his poorly paid
vicarship and on the other the extravagant statements of
Duden about the American wonderland, which appeared
at that time in print in Germany, induced Kroll to join
the Follenius Emigration society in the spring of 1833,
with which he emigrated to America in the following
year. In company with Dr. Bruhl, who was the physi-
cian of the society, Kroll went to Cape Girardeau county,
Missouri, where they jointly rented some land and culti-
vated it. In the year 1838, however, Kroll obeyed a
call as pastor of a German Evangelical church at Louis-
ville, which position he exchanged in 1841 for the par-
sonage of the Protestant Johannis church, the oldest
German parish of Cincinnati. He worked in this parish
with great success up to the time of his death, which ac-
curred November 25, 1874. Besides fulfilling his cleri-
cal duties, Kroll was also, together with the pastor
Friedrich Botticher (born at Mackerock, Preussen, in
1800, died at Newport, Kentucky, in 1849), the principal
founder of the Protestantische Zeitblatter, a periodical
which represented liberal Protestantism in the United
States.
BOTTICHER,
educated at the university of Halle for a theologian, after-
wards a teacher in the gymnasium at Nordhausen, and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
141
later a pastor in Habernegen, had come already in 1832
to America. He may be considered here the founder of
rational Christianity, which was represented by him, and
with him, and after his death especially, by Kroll. Kroll
conducted the Protestantische Ztitblatter until his death,
with great ability and great zeal.
THE TUTOR OF POWERS.
In the history of American art the name of Hiram
Powers, the sculptor of the Greek slave and of Eve at
the fountain, fills one of the most prominent places. But
it is hardly known to many that this son of a Connecticut
farmer was the apprentice of a watchmaker, and that his
artistic career is due to a German sculptor, whose pupil
he was. Friedrich Eckstein, born at Berlin about the year
1787, attended the Academy of Arts of his native town,
and studied art under Johann Gottfried Schadow, the
founder of the academy. He came to Cincinnati in the
year 1825 or 1826, and founded during the last named
year an Academy of Fine Arts, of which he remained the
director until his early death in 1832. He died here of
cholera; and with him died also the flourishing academy.
But few of his own works are known, besides the busts
of Governor Morrow and President William H. Harrison.
These are, however, of great artistic value; the first named
is at present to be found in the State library at Colum-
bus, and the other is in the possession of General Harri-
son's descendants. His great reputation has, however,
now another representative in his before named pupil,
who, without doubt, holds the precedence among Ameri-
can sculptors.
THE FRANKENSTEINS.
About the same time the two brothers, Johann Peter
and Gottfried N. Frankenstein, made their appearance as
painters, of whom especially the last named made a great
reputation. His large landscape painting of Niagara
falls has been multiplied by engravers and lithographers,
and a bust of the Hon. John McLean, judge of the Uni-
ted States supreme court, executed by him in marble,
adorns the Federal court-room in Cincinnati.
Mr. Rattermann says about him, in a lecture upon
Art and Artists in Cincinnati, delivered before the Cin-
cinnati Literary club: "His paintings show individuality
in their conception, combined with a bright coloring,
which later has been surpassed only by his genial pupil
Wilhelm Sonntag."
In the year 1838 Gottfried Frankenstein succeeded in
bringing to life again in Cincinnati the Academy of Fine
Arts, and became its first president. It was, however, of
but short duration. Another artist, Friedrich Franks,
was in 1828 the founder of a gallery of fine arts in
Cincinnati, and afterwards the owner of the Western
museum.
THE ART SCHOOLS.
It is worthy of notice that the various endeavors to
found academies of art in Cincinnati have always pro-
ceeded from Germans; for Franks also was commonly
taken for a German.
About the efficiency of these artists' schools it need
only be said that some of the most prominent American
artists have come forth from them ; as Miner K. Kellogg,
William H. Powell, the brothers Beard, the American
artist and poet, Thomas Buchanan Read, and others.
Mr. Rattermann thus speaks of their artistic worth in
his lecture:
The artists of this first period of art in Cincinnati were principally
the pupils of nature, and only reached in their studies the point where
greater justice is done to the real than to the ideal. They belonged,
therefore, more to the realistic school, if I may express it in that way.
Only Eckstein, who was a pupil of the celebrated Schadow, and who
has been honored by the title of professor, was an idealist. His pupil
Powers, however, in spite of all his efforts at idealism, had a natural
tendency to realism, as is observable in all his productions. His aspi-
rations after ideal beauty give to his works more the appearance of
bare coldness than the warmth of feeling which shines through the
higher light. His figures are pure as snow and smooth as ice, but also
cold as ice and snow.
THE GERMANS AND MUSIC.
That music has been introduced by the Germans, and
has been especially fostered by them in Cincinnati, as
as well as throughout America, is self-evident. Already,
in the year 1823, there existed here a musical society,
the Apollonische Gesellschaft; and in 1839 another sing-
ing society was founded, from which originated in 1844
the Deutsche Liedertafel. Ever since 1846 the three
German singing societies, which existed at that time in
Cincinnati, have celebrated every year a musical festival,
and in 1849 tne nrst great German musical festival of
the United States was held in this city. On this occa-
sion the first German Saengerbund of North America was
founded, whose musical festivals have now gained a world-
wide reputation, and have prepared the way for the
foundation of the grand Music hall and the Cincinnati
College of Music, for a while under the direction of
Theodore Thomas.
THE GERMAN IN MANUFACTURES.
In the year r83i an organ factory was established in
Cincinnati by Mathias Schwab, from which have gone
forth great numbers of excellent instruments, which pro-
claim in all parts of the country the praise of German
superiority. This factory, the oldest of its kind in this
country, is still in existence, under the management of
the experienced workmen, Johann H. Kohnken and
Gallus Grimm, both having worked for thirty years under
Mr. Schwab's direction.
At that time (1836) was also made the first attempt to
use machinery extensively in the fabrication of furniture.
The invention of Woodworth's planing machine induced
Friederich Rammelsberg, a Hanoverian, who was the
foreman in Johann Geyer's furniture factory, to make all
sorts of experiments in this department. Some years
later Robert Mitchell, who had served his apprenticeship
under Rammelsberg's guidance, began also some experi-
ments, but without gaining any practical results. After
inheriting a little property, he associated himself with
Rammelsberg in 1846. The practical knowledge of
Rammelsberg, thus united to a moderate capital, and not
any longer restrained, as formerly, by his over-prudent
principal, now began to realize important results. Not
only does the gigantic building, which is still in existence
under the name of Mitchell and Rammelsberg's furniture
factory, employing more than one thousand five hun-
142
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
dred workmen (the largest furniture factory in the world),
owe its existence to him, but the general successful rise
of the furniture trade in Cincinnati and in the west is
due to him. Rammelsberg died in 1863.
S. N. PIKE.
We now come to a man whose name — at least the
name by which he is known — announces him to be
either an Englishman or an American. It was known
only to a few of his nearest neighbors that Samuel N.
Pike, the builder of the beautiful opera houses in Cin-
cinnati and in New York, was a German. He was the
son of Jewish parents by the name of Hecht, and was
bom in the year 1822, at Schwetzingen, near Heidel-
berg. He came in the year 1827 to America with his
parents, who at first staid in New York, and then set-
tled in Stamford, Connecticut. In Stamford young Pike
(his father had changed the name; Hetch means Pike
in English) received a good school education; went, in
1839, to St. Joseph, Florida, where he opened a store,
which he kept for about a year, and then went to Rich-
mond, Virginia, where he carried on business as an im-
porter of wines. From Richmond he removed to Balti-
more, then to St. Louis, and finally, in 1844, to Cincin-
nati. At all three of these places he tried to build up a
dry-goods business. He married in Cincinnati the
youngest daughter of Judge Miller, and then began a liq-
uor business, by which he soon gained enormous wealth.
When Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, travelled
through America, Pike was one of the most zealous at-
tendants at her concerts and admirers "of her divine
voice," as he used to express himself, and resolved, if he
should ever acquire sufficient wealth, to build for the
Muse of Song a temple which should do honor to Cin-
cinnati. When in the year 1856 the foundation of this
magnificent palace was being erected, but very few antic-
ipated the purposes of this colossal building. Inter-
rupted by .the crisis in business in the autumn of that
year, the building was discontinued till the fall of the
next year, and was completed in the winter of 1858-59.
On the 22d of February, 1859, the opera house, at that
time the largest and most beautiful in America, and one
of the largest in the world, was opened with due solem-
nity. It was an epoch in the musical and dramatic his-
tory of the city ; and when Pike's wealth rapidly increased
he began to build in 1866 also a grand dramatic palace
in the city of New York, the Grand opera house, which
he afterwards sold to James Fisk, jr., for eight hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. But he had hardly begun
with the building of the New York opera house when
the magnificent opera house in Cincinnati became, in the
spring of 1866, a prey to the flames. The structure was
afterwards rebuilt, and is still one of the principal orna-
ments of the city. A gigantic speculation in land in the
neighborhood of Hoboken, NewYork, brought Mr. Pike
an immense profit; so that, at his death in 1875, his for-
tune was valued at several millions of dollars.
Pike was not an uneducated man. He was a great
lover of music, and played himself on several instruments.
He was also well versed in literature, and wrote some
English poems, which appeared in print anonymously.
They show, however, more depth of feeling than tech-
nical construction. His slight intercourse with Germans
and his imperfect knowledge of the German language
contributed, perhaps, to his being taken by almost 'every-
body for an American. "In a small company," observes
somebody who was more intimately acquainted with Pike,
"he confessed one day that he was a German by birth;
and he has continued since then to converse often in his
mother-tongue with this company." In politics he be-
longed to the Democratic party, but could not be persua-
ded in 1867 to accept the nomination as candidate for
the office of mayor of Cincinnati.
GERMAN INSTITUTIONS.
In 1841 we find in Cincinnati a German society, for
intellectual entertainment, called Harmonie, and several
years later the association, Freunde der gesellschaftlichen
Reform. A German theater was founded in 1845.
FATHERLAND CELEBRATIONS.
The zeal with which Germans participated in American
politics did not interfere at all with their interest in the
events of their old Fatherland. Several of their national
memorable days were celebrated, as for instance the
birthday of Jean Paul and of Goethe. As in other places,
so also in Cincinnati, was founded an institution for the
aid of liberty movements in Germany, and large sums of
money were sent by the Germans for the relief of the
much-oppressed patriots, Wirth, Seidensticker, Jordan,
and the children of the martyr Weidig. And at a public
meeting of that time, participated in by the Germans of
all classes, without regard to their religion or their politics,
eight thousand dollars were collected for the benefit of
the poor sufferers in Germany.*
The first Turner society of Cincinnati was founded in
1848. The revolutionary agitations of Europe, and
especially those of Germany in 1848, found naturally
the greatest sympathy among the population of Cincin-
nati. The friends of liberty were encouraged and
helped by them by all possible means. The arrival
of Hecker and his friends in the autumn of 1848 was an
occasion for a great ovation, in which the American pop-
ulation participated with active interest. Hon. J. B.
Stallo welcomed the new-comers by an address, which
was a masterpiece in form and tenor. More associations
were founded for financial aid in the revolutionary
agitations, and large sums of money were procured, which
soon afterwards, when the change of affairs in Germany
had come, were used mostly for the assistance of political
fugitives.
GERMANS IN OFFICE.
It is a matter of course that, through the growing in-
fluence which the Germans exercised, their right to the
holding of public offices became more readily acknowl-
edged. About the year 1840 we find Germans as well in
the legislature as in the offices of the city departments;
and their number would have been there still greater
if the language had not stood in their way, and if the em-
* Klauprecht's Deutsche Chronik, p. 179.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i43
igrating Germans, who had to work hard in the begin
ning to earn an honest living, had been more ambitious
to hold public office. It has taken a longer sojourn in
America to arouse also in them this usually fruitless
ambition.
THE STALLOS.
We have had occasion several times before t6 mention
the name of Stallo. There is no man of whom Cincin-
nati, the State of Ohio, and all the Germans of the
United States, should be more proud, than of Johann
Bernhard Stallo. His life is not remarkable on ac-
count of strange events; he has never inhaled the air of
prisons, has not escaped by a bold flight the persecuting
powers, like Follen, Lieber, and many other Germans
before and after him. His new home gave him a most
friendly reception, and he was spared the hard struggles
for subsistence which so many, even the best of the new-
comers, have to experience at first. He has spent the
greater part of his life here, in a happy family circle, but
little shaken by the storms to which men of his promi-
nent importance are usually exposed.
It will not take many lines to describe Stallo's career.
When asked how he had been able to acquire his thor-
ough knowledge of the classic languages, and especially
his knowledge in mathematics, at so early an age, having
emigrated to America in his seventeenth year, and hav-
ing commenced teaching at once, he answered : "There
are no riddles in my life; at least none which cannot be
easily solved. All my ancestors, as well on my father's
as on my mother's side, were, as far as I can trace back
our family genealogy, village schoolmasters. My grand-
father, after whom I was named, was my first teacher.
He was an honorable old Frisian (Stallo is not an Italian
name, but a real Frisian name, meaning forester), and
wore up to the time of his death a three-cornered hat,
knee-breeches, and buckled shoes. He reserved my ed-
ucation to himself, notwithstanding his seventy years, and
was made very happy when 'I could read, and solve all
sorts of arithmetical problems, before my fouith year."
Stallo's own father had a great predilection for mathe-
matics, and instructed him in this science; as he also took
care that his son should study, not only the ancient lan-
guages thoroughly, but also should make the French lan-
guage his own, behind his grandfather's back, who hated
everything French. In his fifteenth year (Stallo was born
the sixteenth of March, 1823, at Sierhausen, near Dam-
me, Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg), he was sent to
Vechta to attend the teachers' seminary. He had at the
same time the advantage of being able to avail himself
of the teachings of the professors at the excellent gym-
nasium which was there. His knowledge in language
and mathematics advanced so rapidly that in a short
time he became ripe for the university. His father's
means, however, would not allow him to enter a univer-
sity. He says himself: "The only choice left to me was
either to lengthen the chain of schoolmasters in our family
by another link, or go to America. The idea of emigrat-
ing was brought near to me through my father's brother,
Franz Joseph Stallo, who, about the year 1830, had led
the line of emigrants from the Oldenburg country."
This uncle had been also one of Stallo's educators,
having instructed him especially in physics. He was a
very eccentric man, who, although he carried on a suc-
cessful business as printer and bookbinder, could not re-
sist an inborn inclination for physics and mechanics. He
made several useful inventions. To him is attributed the
burning of the moorland and the introduction of buck-
wheat in his neighboring country, as well as the irrigation
of barren tracts and the sowing of them with pine seed,
"by which lands, on which not even heath would grow,
were transformed into pine forests."* But, as is so often
the case with such self-taught men, he lost himself often
in the fantastic and unattainable. His business was neg-
lected, and, on account of his liberal political and reli-
gious opinions, and especially his activity in inciting the
oppressed to refuse paying taxes and to emigrate, and his
distributing inflammatory writings, he came in conflict
with the Government. The agitator was arrested, and
for several months imprisoned and his printing establish-
ment confiscated; so emigration seemed to be the only
thing left for him.
Having arrived in Cincinnati in the year 183 1, he
worked at first at his former trade. But he continued
the agitation in his old home more than ever by numer-
ous letters; and really a very great emigration followed
in the year 1832 from Damme, Vechta, Hunteburg,
Osnabruck, and the surrounding country. Franz Stallo's
thought was now upon a German settlement. An asso-
ciation was formed, land was chosen in Auglaize county,
and the little town which was to be built was to be called
(against Stallo's wish) Stallotown. Like Rome, which
was in the beginning but a space of land, with a ditch
for a boundary, so was also Stallotown at first only recog-
nizable by a wooden board, on which stood the word
"Stallotown," which was nailed to a large oak tree.
Stallo made himself useful in the new settlement as
surveyor, and, on the whole, the little colony grew very
soon, in spite of the rather unfavorable situation, which
was improved afterwards by drainage. In the summer
of 1833 they counted as many as a hundred souls. The
cholera, however, which was raging during this year in
Cincinnati, reached Stallotown, and called proportion-
ately for a greater number of victims there than in larger
towns. Franz Joseph Stallo was also among the number
who fell. The little town, which counts at present
about two thousand inhabitants, has exchanged the name
of its founder for that of Minster.
Johann Bernhard Stallo emigrated to America in the
year 1839. Provided with letters of introduction from
his father and grandfather to several ministers and
teachers in Cincinnati, he found at once a position in a
private school. There he compiled his first literary work,
a German A-B-C spelling and reading book, which was
published without the name of its author. He showed
already by this first book his deep insight into a child's
faculties of conception and understanding. There had
been a great want of just such a book in the lower classes
of the schools, so the work became soon very popular,
* Deutscher Pionier, volume VII, page 5.
144
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and has appeared in many stereotype editions. At that
time the directors of the newly-founded Catholic St.
Xavier's college, in Cincinnati, were in search of teachers;
and their attention having been called to Stallo by this
very work, and hearing also about his superior knowl-
edge, especially in mathematics, they offered him a posi-
tion as teacher of the German language at this college.
That was, however, only a nominal title, for in fact a
class was assigned to him fiom the very first for instruc-
tion in the ancient languages and in mathematics; and
he advanced with this class for the next three years in the
several grades of the course of studies. Together with
one of his associate teachers, who devoted himself with
great zeal to the studies of physics and chemistry, and
assisted by the rich library of the institution, Stallo ex-
pended now almost every leisure hour in the study of
these sciences. He devoted himself to the study of
physics and chemistry for three years, from 1841 to
1843, with all the zeal of learning within him, and with a
certain passion; and he has gained from it great satis-
faction. In the autumn of 1843 ne received a call as
teacher of mathematics, physics, and chemistry at S|.
John's college, in the city of New York, which position
he filled till the end of the year 1847. The study of the
higher mathematics led him to German philosophy, and
in 1848 appeared the fruit of his studies, a philosophical
work — General Principles of the Philosophy of Nature —
published in Boston, by Crosby & Nichols.
Although the profession which Stallo chose afterwards
may have withdrawn him somewhat from his investiga-
tions in the province of philosophic science, he has
always remained true to philosophy. A number of his
philosophical essays have been published in the most
prominent American scientific journals, especially in the
Popular Science Monthly. A valuable philosophical
library, the like of which is hardly owned by any other
private gentleman, gives evidence of the wide field of
his investigations. After having returned to Cincinnati,
he resolved to devote himself to the study of law. To
so ripe a mind as his it was easy to become soon ac-
quainted with all the principles of law in their widest
meaning, including the laws of government and national
economy. Having been admitted to the bar in the year
1849, he distinguished himself soon in his new calling in
such a way that in the year 1853 he was appointed by
the governor of Ohio as judge of the court of common
pleas of Hamilton county, to fill a vacancy. The people
elected him the same year for the regular term of that
office. As honorable and estimable as the office of judge
may be in the United States, it is not, or at least was not,
sufficiently remunerative for men who had the prospect
of a large practice. Stallo, who had married happily in
the meantime, resigned therefore his office as judge in
the year 1855, which he had filled to the highest satisfac-
tion of the bar and the people, and returned to the prac-
tice of law, in which he has labored ever since with, the
greatest success.
If "posterity winds no wreaths for the mimic," we can
say the same as well of those who have won a high repu-
tation among their contemporaries on the field of juristic
activity. The decisions of the judges of the supreme
court are kept alive, to be sure, by the regularly published
reports; but the words of the most eloquent lawyer, no
matter how important a result they may decide for the
moment, are blown away like autumn leaves. It was,
however, reserved to Stallo to gain, by an argument made
before the supreme court of Ohio, a brilliant reputation.
This was in a case which excited not only general atten-
tion in his own State, but also in several others.
The school board of Cincinnati had resolved to forbid
the reading of religious writings, including the Bible, in
public schools, as also to repeal the rule for reading every
day at the opening of the school a chapter of the Bible,
and for singing appropriate religious songs, this being, as
was held, contrary to the spirit of a free school, for the
children of parents of all religious sects and beliefs.
This action of the school board had called forth great
indignation among the different Protestant sects ; the re-
ligious papers imagined their Zion in danger, and that
atheism and Catholicism were on the point of taking
possession of our Christian country. A judicial pro-
cedure was commenced against the school board to pre-
vent the carrying out of this resolve. Stallo, called upon
to defend the measures of the board, did this with won-
derful eloquence. Sustained by the spirit and the literal
meaning of the constitution of Ohio, by leading decisions
of judges, but especially by reasons of morality and of
justice for all, this argument, lasting several hours, could
not but convince all unprejudiced listeners. The greater
number of the judges were, however, not convinced.
Being probably themselves members of a Protestant
church, and trammeled by the whole ecclesiastical in-
fluence in Cincinnati, they were not able, with the best
of intentions, to remain impartial.
In this argument Stallo attacked the claim, made be-
fore by some teacher of jurisprudence, and made proba-
bly without reflecting upon the consequences, that Chris-
tianity is part of the law of the State. He fought against
this opinion, as implying that our entire present civili-
zation is founded only on Christianity. He claimed a
strict separation of the church from the State, as being in
unison with our constitution and the spirit of the times.
He reminded the court that the fathers of the church had
continued to build on the old, celebrated heathen phil-
osophers, that the age of the reformation had been also
the age of the Humanists and of the revival of the arts
and sciences of the classic ages; that our declaration of
independence and constitution had their origin during
the skeptic, philosophic epoch which preceded the French
revolution; that Thomas Jefferson, who was in the eyes
of the orthodox an infidel, had conceived the first, and
the "pious old heathen^ Franklin had, with others of
the same mind, helped to make the latter, and that the
fathers of our republic had read the "Rights of Man" of
infidel Thomas Paine.
"I deny," proclaimed Stallo, "not only that Christi-
anity is the law of the State, and that the freedom of our
institutions is grounded in Christian civilization; but I
deny, also, that our modern European and American
civilization can in any just sense be called Christian. By
■w- tt/AKR f'-7'-'
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
145
the term civilization we designate the materials and forces
of the physical, intellectual and moral culture of a people.
Now, in the first place, the intellectual possessions which
make up the stock of our culture, and their correspond-
ing material possessions, are not only not the gains and
emoluments of Christianity, but have been acquired in
spite of its resistance and recalcitration. It is not Chris-
tianity which has expanded our mental and ph\sical hori-
zon to co-extension with spatial infinity, which has re-
vealed to us the laws according to which the stellar,
planetary and satellitic orbs form or develop themselves
in the eihereal expanse, and in obedience to which they
rotate and revolve, under the invisible guidance of im-
mutable attraction, in their perennial courses; it is not
Christianity which has unveiled the mysteries of our
planetary history, or armed us with the power by the aid
of which we subject the elements to our dominion.
Copernicus dedicated his Immortal book to a Pope; but
a Pope sealed it to the eyes of all faithful believers, and
his inquisitors interposed the walls of a prison between
the heavens and Galileo, because he had dared to look
into their depths through a telescope, and to open his
mind to the truth of the heliocentric theory. Nor was it
the Pope or the Catholic church alone who sought to
extinguish the dawning light of the new era or to obstiuct
the vision of awakening humanity. Luther and Melanc-
thon denounced the Copernican system as fiercely as the
inquisitors of Rome; and John Kepler, the discoverer of
the laws of which Newton's Principia are but the mathe-
matical verification, had to turn his back upon a
Protestant university — his alma mater — because of his
heliocentric belief, and to seek employment as a tutor in
a Catholic Austrian college. There is hardly one of the
eminent investigators to whose labors we owe the sciences
of astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, physiology,
etc., who has not been under the ban of the churches
and proscribed by the monopolists of salvation. When,
in the lapse of ages, a'ter the first centuries of the Chris-
tian era, has Chiistianity baptiztd or stood sponsor to
any of the new truths which were born into the world to
redeem it from a part of its miseries and woes, or when
has it welcomed them with a benediction ? Whenever,
of late, as of yore, the precursory glimmer of an unwonted
light has brightened the skies, the surest and readiest way
to discover its source has been to look in the direction in
which the Pope and his church have driven their latest
anathema, or a Protestant ecclesiastic has sent his loud-
est curse. At this very moment Europe is in a roar from
the discharge of ecclesiastical artillery at the zoologists
and physiologists who seek to refer the evolution of
organic beings to the same immutable laws which pre-
side over the genesis of all the phenomena of this uni-
verse.''
At this point one of the judges, Storer, interrupted the
speaker with the words:
"Do you allude to the man who thinks that our ances-
try runs into the animal creation?"
Upon which Judge Stallo answered:
"I allude to the followers of Charles Darwin, who has
formulated (and, I think,, imperfectly formulated) the
doctrine that man, too, was not placed miraculously on
the highest round in the ladder of organic progression,
but in some way had to scale that ladder, step by step."
It is impossible to give a perfect conception of the
striking logic, the wealth of philosophical truth and his-
torical illustration of this speech, by short extiacts. The
fine style is in accordance with the fine tenor of the ad-
dress. Stallo and the whole liberally thinking population
of the country had the satisfaction of seeing that the Su-
preme Court of Ohio, to which an appeal was taken from
the Cincinnati court, reversed the decree of the latter.
Stallo was for seventeen years one of the examiners of
the candidates for the position of teacher in the public
schools, and afterward one of the trustees of the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. He has, on the whole, always
shown an active interest in the education of the people.
That a man like Stallo could not remain indifferent to
politics, is self-evident. We mean politics in the higher
sense. What here usually is called politics had no at-
traction for him. Principles were only taken into con-
sideration by him. Persons were only of interest to-him
when they agreed with or opposed his views. The party
machinery, the oiganization of the party, in which so
many public characters seek their especial vocation; the
weaving of intrigues, the artificial arrangements of primary
meetings and other electoral assemblies, were always to
him objects of decided repugnance. But once he has
accepted a political honorary office; namely, when he was
chosen Elector for the Republican Presidential candi-
date, Fremont, in the year 1856. He has never aspired
to any political office for himself. Ambition is alien to
him. As the tangent only touches the circle in one place,
so has politics, so to speak, only touched him from the
outside; but in gieat vital questions he has worked inde-
tatigably with voice and pen. He joined with great en-
thusiasm the Liberal Reform movements in the year
1872, but withdrew when the Liberal Convention nomi-
nated Mr. Greeley, whom he did not acknowledge as
a representative of his principles, especially on the
question of free trade. In the year 1876, however, he
approved and advocated the election of Tilden, and
labored for it with the most brilliant and efficient activity.
Shortly before the election he wrote a number of letters
for the Staafszei/ung, of New York, which contain a real
treasure of healthy views on political questions. As well
by their tenor as by their fine style, they excited general
attention, and were reprinted in many journals.
Stallo has often been reproached with being too much
of an idealist in politics, who did not take the existing
situations into consideration, and was therefore unfit for
a political leader. Stallo has never aspired to the char-
acter of such a leader. He is not a leader, he is rather
a teacher for the parties. We have^ enough of the real-
istic politicians, who, for any price, seek the power and
the booty which proceed from that only. Men who sac-
rifice their principles for persons, or profess some princi-
ples simply to aid some persons, so-called practical states-
men, we need not seek for with a lantern. The more
satisfactory is it to meet from time to time some charac-
ters who do not appeal to the prejudices, the passions,
19
146
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and the self-interest of the multitude, but to its reason
and its conscience, who urge upon it that the moral prin-
ciples of the States do not differ from those of the indi-
vidual citizen, who call incessantly to memory the great
principles of truth, upon which free States must be
founded, who propose to themselves and others a high
aim, to the attainment of which we ought at least to as-
pire, so as to save public life from sinking down into the
slime of vulgarity. .»
Stallo, being master of both languages, English as well
as German, in the court-room, on the rostrum, and in the
school-room, has the same power of conversation in so-
cial circles — a rare gift, especially among the Germans.
And this man of the exact sciences and the science of
government has, at the same time, a very cultivated taste
for the fine arts, especially for music, which has always
been truly cherished at his home. His attractive exte-
rior appearance bespeaks at the first glance the rare rich-
ness of his intellectual gifts.
Without wishing to please or offend anybody, we dare
to say that no German in America, publicly known, com-
bines, like Stallo, a comprehensive knowledge with an
acute judgment, deep thought with a delicate sense for
the arts, incessant diligence with amiable sociality, and ac-
curate understanding of the questions of the times with
the talent of giving a clear and beautiful expression to
his understanding, by writing and speech. But what is
the most pleasing feature in this man's appearance, and
gives to his actions the true consecration, is that nobody
has ever doubted the purity of his motives, that nobody
has ever believed that his active interest in the politics of
this country had sprung from self-interested motives or
from the gratification of his own personal ambition.
CHAPTER XX.
RELIGION IN CINCINNATI.
The total history of the rise and progress of religion
in the Queen City, with adequate sketches of the two
hundred and ten churches, more or less, now existing
within its limits, would occupy at least the entire space
of the two volumes devoted to this work. It is the pur-
pose of the following chapter merely to detail the' begin-
nings of church organization in Cincinnati, supply an
outline historical notice to each of the churches which
have pioneered several of the leading religious denomi-
nations here, and give some facts concerning the present
state of religion and the churches, in the city, and a few
notes of auxiliary societies, for co-operative work.
Among the founders of Losantiville seem to have been
a goodly number of God-fearing men — the majority of
them Presbyterians, if one may infer from the type of
the first religious society planted here. In the plan and
survey of the village, provision was made for the dedica-
tion of an entire half square, now among the most valu-
able properties in the city, to the purposes of religion,
education, and burials. It included lots numbered one
hundred, one hundred and fifteen, one hundred and
thirty-nine, and one hundred and forty, being the south
half of the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and
Main — the same which has been continuously occupied,
in part by the First Presbyterian society, the church of
the pioneers, as representing the religious interest, and
in part almost continuously by the educational interest,
now and for many years embodied in the Cincinnati
college.
The ground was not long suffered to remain unoccu-
pied. As soon as the little band of Presbyterians had
been somewhat reinforced and was ready for organization,
an informal society was constituted and began to worship
upon and near this spot. In the fall of 1790 it was visited
by Mr. James Kemper, a partial licentiate of the Presby-
tery of Transylvania and a ruling elder of the church at
the forks of Dick's river, where he lived, near Danville,
Kentucky. Mr. Kemper was a native of Fauquier county,
Virginia, born November 23, 1753; married Judith
Hathaway when little more than eighteen years old, July
16, 1772; removed to Tennessee as a surveyor in 1783,
and was sent for in 1785 by friends in Kentucky, who
dispatched a small brigade of pack-horses for him one
hundred and eighty miles through the wilderness, that he
might come to the dark and bloody ground to prepare
for ministerial work. He was therefore, upon his first
visit to Cincinnati, although in his thirty-eighth year, not
yet a full-fledged preacher, but only allowed to preach on
trial, "under the direction of Mr. Rice, while he con-
tinues in the study of divinity." He was fully examined
and licensed by the Presbytery April 27, 1791, and ap-
pointed at once "to supply in the settlements of the
Miami at discretion." This was the first appointment of
the kind for any place north of the Ohio, and Mr. Kem-
per was the first regular preacher of any kind in Cincin-
nati. He promptly began service with the embryo Pres-
byterian church here, to which he had been cordially
invited, and returned in October to his Kentucky home,
to bring away his family. At the same time a man named
Daniel Doty, of Columbia, and another named French,
were engaged to go through the deep woods and bring
Mr. Kemper and family from their home near Danville
to Cincinnati. His family was large, consisting of eight
or nine children, besides the parents. The two men set
out and followed the trace along Dry Ridge, in Ken-
tucky, for sixty or more miles, reaching Georgetown the
second night out. Two men had been killed by the
Indians on this bridle-path only the week before, and the
wayfarers kept their rifles constantly ready to meet any
attack. Mr. Doty seems to have been sadly impressed,
when they arrived at Georgetown, with the fiddling and
dancing going on in almost every cabin, as though, he
said, "they neither feared God nor regarded Indians."
Perhaps the character of his mission, to escort the first
settled preacher of Christ into the Miami country, had
also some influence upon his feelings. They proceeded
to Lexington, obtained horses from an army contractor
there, went on to Mr. Kemper's residence, transported
the family and their goods over the wagon road to Lime-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
H7
stone, where they put family, horses, and all on board a
flat-boat and took them down to Cincinnati. The horses
were here turned over to the contractor, and the men
returned to Columbia.
Previous to the settlement of Mr. Kemper, the Rev.
John Smith, of Columbia, though a Baptist, had, it is
said, occasionally preached to the people here. He was
the same reverend gentleman who was afterward senator
of the United States, and was virtually forced to resign,
under suspicion of complicity in the conspiracy of Aaron
Burr. The earlier meetings were held upon the church
lot in the open air when the weather permitted, the con-
gregation sitting upon the trunks of the fallen forest mon-
archs thereon, while the preacher or reader, very likely,
used the upright remnant of a tree for his "stump" ora-
tory. Sometimes the assemblies were in a rude horse-
mill, used for grinding corn, which stood on Vine street,
below Third, at the foot of the "hill;" and sometimes in
private houses.
Then, and for several years, even after the meeting-
house was erected, the law of the territory, as well as the
law of common prudence, required every man who at-
tended the service to go with a loaded fire-arm, that he
might be ready to repel savage attack. At least one case
is on record — that of Colonel John S. Wallace — of the
imposition of a fine of seventy-five cents for failure to
obey the law in this regard. It is prettw well known, we
believe, that the custom of seating the men at the outer
end of pews originated in the necessity of their ready
and prompt movement therefrom, with arms in hand, in
case of alarm during the fearful Indian period.
Mr. Kemper arrived in Cincinnati with his family
October 17, 1791. The presbyterial records say at
this time that he "is appointed a supply at the Mi-
amis until the next stated session." When that oc-
curred, April 2, 1792, it was ordered "that Mf. Kemper
supply one Sabbath at the North Bend of the Miami,
and that he supply the rest of his time at Columbia, Cin-
cinnati, and Round Bottom. That Mr. Rice supply at
the Miami settlements two Sabbaths.'' Mr. Kemper was
as yet only a licentiate, and an ordained minister, like the
Rev. David Rice, above mentioned, was necessary to or-
ganize a church, ordain ruling elders, or administer the
sacraments — hence this appointment. October 2, 1792,
a formal call was extended to Mr. Kemper from the
united congregations of Cincinnati and Columbia, and
accepted. He was ordained at a meeting of piesbytery
in Cincinnati on the twenty-third of the same month,
and constituted pastor "of Cincinnati and Columbia
churches." Here he labored until October 7, 1796, when
he resigned. He afterwards served the Duck creek and
other Presbyterian churches in the Miami country most
of the time until his death, August 20, 1834, in his eighty-
first year.
The church here was not yet formally organized, when
Mr. Kemper was ordained and installed as pastor. He
says it was "still unorganized, because they thought the
number of male members too small to select a promising
session." In a letter to a friend, he writes that he had
formed "an unorganized church composed of six males
and two females, in Columbia and Cincinnati. The
church was one for the two places." A document found
long after among the Kemper papers makes probable the
date of this informal organization as August 20, 1791:
but some authorities say the original arrangements for a
church were made October 16, 1790, upon the occasion
of a visit from the Rev. David Rice, after Mr. Kemper's
first visit. Eight persons, as Mr. Kemper had it, formed
the nucleus of the society. They were: Joseph Reeder,
Annie Reeder, Jacob Reeder, Samuel Sering, Sarah Ser-
ing, David Kitchell, Jonathan Ticknor, Isaac Morris.
The little church seems to have been incapable, by its
very paucity of numbers, of organizing more thoroughly
until September 5, 1793, when, there being as many as
nineteen adult male members, it was practicable to select
five ruling elders and two deacons, which was accordingly
done. The Cincinnati and Columbia societies were vir-
tually one until Mr. Kemper's resignation in 1796, when
the Columbia wing was itself split into two churches — the
Duck Creek (now Pleasant Ridge) and the Round Bot-
tom— and is thenceforth heard of no more. When Mr.
Kemper's successor, the Rev. Peter Wilson, was settled in
1798, he was pastor of the Cincinnati church alone.
In October, 1791, after the arrival and settlement of
Mr. Kemper, it was agreed by the organization that an
effort should be made to raise seven hundred dollars,
with which, and from the timber growing upon the do-
nated tract, which had been partially felled upon the lot
at the corner of Main and Fourth streets, a sufficient
meeting-house could be erected. A subscription was
accordingly started January 16, 1792; the paper reading
as follows:
We, the subscribers, for the purpose of erecting a house of public
worship in the village of Cincinnati, to the use of the Presbyterian de-
nomination, do severally bind ourselves and executors firmly, and by
these presents, the several sums of money and commutations in labor
respectively annexed to our names, to be paid to John Ludlow, Jacob
Reeder, James Lyon, Moses Miller, John Thorpe, and William M'Mil-
lan, or either of them, their heirs or administrators, Trustees appointed
for the business of superintending the building aforesaid, payments to
be made as follows: One-third part of our several subscriptions to be
paid so soon as the timbers requisite for the aforesaid building may be
collected on the ground where the said house is to be built. Another
third when the said house is framed and raised. And the other third
part when the aforesaid house may be under cover and weather-boarded.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, on the day
affixed to our names.
The list of subscribers is well worth repetition here, as
probably exhibiting the names of nearly every male resi-
dent of the place and a number of officers of the garrison.
John Ludlow, Benjamin Valentine,
Jacob Reeder, Asa Peck,
James Lyon, Robert Hurd,
Moses Miller, Samuel Dick,
John Thorpe, Robert Benham,
William M'Millan, Joseph Shaw,
John P. Smith, Isaac Felty,
David E. Wade, James Wallace,
James Brady, Robert Caldwell,
Joe] Williams, Jonathan Davies,
Levi Woodward, Thomas Ellis,
William Woodward,
Jeremiah Ludlow,
James Demint,
Richard Benham,
John Cutter,
Daniel Shoemaker,
John Blanchard,
Benjamin Jennings,
John Gaston,
Jonas Seaman,
148
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Reuben Roe,
John Cummins,
Elliot & Wi.li.ims,
Thomas M'Grath,
James Bury,
Tnomas Gibson,
Henry Taylor,
Elias Wallen,
Thomas Cochran,
James Richards,
John Bartle,
J. Mercer,
H. Wilson,
William Miller,
James Reynolds,
Thomas Brown,
Matthew De.isy,
James M'Knight,
John Darr.igh,
Daniel C. Cooper,
Francis Kennedy,
General James Wilkinson,
Dr. Richard Allison,
Ensign John Wade,
Samuel Kitchell,
Samuel Williams,
David Logan,
David Long,
Joseph Spencer,
James Blackburn,
J. Mentzies,
James Kremer,
W. M. Mills,
Matthew Wii.ton,
Samuel Gilman,
John Dixon.
Joseph Lloyd,
Nehemiah Hunt,
Cornelius Miller,
Abr. Boston,
Gabriel Cox,
Samuel Pierson,
Daniel Bates,
Benjamin Fitzgerald,
James Kemper,
Isaac Bates,
John Adams,
William Miner,
James Miller,
Seth Cutter,
S. Miller,
John Lyon,
James M'Kane,
Ensign William H. Harrison,
Margaret Rusk,
Samuel Martin,
Moses Jones,
J. Gilbreath,
Winthrop Sargent,
Captain Mahlon Ford,
M. M'Donogh,
Matthias Burns,
Jabez Wilson,
James Lowry,
Alexander M'Coy,
David Hole,
James Cunningham,
Major Joseph Shaylor,
Captain William Peters,
H. Marks,
Ezekiel Sayre,
W. Elwes,
Daniel Hole,
The limit of subscription for most of these was two or
three dollars; nobody gave more than eight dollars.
Seven shillings and sixpence was not an uncommon sub-
scription. Many who could not give money, or who
could contribute something else to equal advantage,
pledged useful materials, as planks or nails, and others
gave the work of a day or mure to the building. It was
put up-— one account says for four hundred dollars — on
the corner lot already designated as partly cleared, one
hundred feet north of Fourth street and facing Main,
and so, of course, not precisely upon the spot now occu-
pied by the First Presbyterian chuich. It was an utterly
plain and bare frame building, about thirty feet front by
forty depth, one story and one room, small square win-
dows and battened doors, and no ornament whatever
except a little semi-circle in the front gable above the
door. It was roofed and weather-boarded with clap-
boards, but not lathed and plastered or ceiled for some
time. When first occupied, probably in October, there
was no floor but the earth and no stats but boards,
"whip-sawed" for the purpose, with their ends resting
upon logs placed at suitable distances apart. Indeed,
one story goes (hat the logs themselves had for a time to
serve the purposes of scats, the upper surfaces being
hewed to reasonable flatness. One account says that the
logs were split and smoothed, and set upon pins thrust
into the ground. Another version, derived from Judge
Burnet, will be found in the statement of Rev. J. B.
Finley, in his Sketches of Western Methodism. He says
the original proprietors of the town were Presbyterians,
and that "in laying out the town they appropriated the
south half of the- square bounded by Main and Walnut,
Fourth and Fifth streets, for the use of said society."
He says further :
In the autumn of 17QO the Rev. James Kemper [David Rice] organ-
ized a Presbyterian society, and the congregations met regularly every
Sabbath on this square, under the shade of the trees with which it was
covered, to listen to the word of God, After a few years on this spot
the society erected a stout frame building, forty feet by thirty in d.men-
sions. It was inclosed with clapboards, but neither lathed, p astered,
nor ceiled. The floor was made of boat-plank, Lid loosely on sleepers.
The seats were constructed of the same material, supported by blocks
of wood. They were, of course, witiKiut backs; and here our fore-
father pioneers worshipped, with their trusty rifles between their knees.
On one side of the hou^e a breastwoik of unplaned cherry boards was
constructed, which, was styled the pulpit, behind which the preacher
stood on a piece of boat-plank, supported by two blocks of wood.
The courts for the county begin to be held in this
building while it was still unfinished, as early as October,
1792, in which month James Mays was tried therein for
the murder of Matt Sullivan and sentenced 10 be hanged.
In this house, undoubtedly, also occurred the installation
of Rev. Mr. Kemper as pastor on the twenty-third of the
same month. At the same time the Presbytery of Transyl-
vania held its annual meeting in Cincinnati, and very
likely in this edifice — the first ecclesiastical body that
ever met in the place.
June n, 1794, the country having been quieted from
further fear of Indian outbreaks by Wayne's victory, and
an era of prosperity beginning to set in, it was resolved
by the trustees to raise another su^ciiption, "to finish
the meeting house, to pde the door-yard and fence in
the burying-ground." The list made in pursuance of
this resolve is still among the archives of the society;
and, as it exhibits some additional names of early Cin-
cinnatians and gives the amounts generally subscribed, it
also seems to demand reproduction in these pages:'
Moses Miller $8 00 Stephen Reeder $6 00
Jacob Reeder 8 00 William Reddeck 1 bo
James Lyon 5 00 Thomas Denny 2 50
James Kemper 8 00 Robert Mitchell 2 00
John Lyon 200 William Harris 400
Ezra Fitz Freeman 2 00 Christopher Dickson 4 00
David E. Wade 10 00 Matthias Person 1 00
John Brown 10 00 Frederick Coons 1 00
Nathaniel Stokes 2 00 J. Gibson 1 00
Elliott & Williams 8 00 Robert M'Cray 2 00
Thomas Irwin 1 00 A. Hunt & Co ■. . . 20 00
Joseph Brice 3 00 Samuel |ames 5 00
C. Avery 1 00 J arnes Ward 1 00
Jacob Lowe 1 00 James Garrison 1 00
Edward Kelly 1 00 Duncan Steward 1 00
John Galbiaith 1 00 Thomas Underlevy 1 00
Andrew Paul 1 00 Alexander Darlington 1 00
M. Winton 3 00 Martin Baum 1 00
John Adams 3 00 Enos Terry 2 00
Robert M'Clure 300 A.J.Caldwell 100
William Maxwell 300 Mrs. Willcocks 100
Robertson & Mackay 3 00 Peter Kemper 2 00
O. Ormsby 200 * Thomas Goudy 4 00
John Riddle 4 co G. Yeatman 2 00
Job Gard 3 co Ezekiel Sayre 3 00
Samuel Robinson 3 00 Nathan Moody 3 00
Luther Kitchell 5 co Samuel Kitchell 4 00
Stt.phel Oldrid 1 00 Samuel Foster 2 00
William Irvin 1 00 M'E.wee & Duffy 3 00
Nehemiah Hunt r 00 Isaac Felty 3 00
John Dixon 3 co Cornelius Van Nuvs 3 00
James F.runton 2 00 William Woodward. .'. 2 00
Whli.im Miller 2 00 Moses |ones 2 00
D. C. Orcutt 2 00 Elijah Craig 5 00
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
149
Nathan Barnes $1 00 Timothy Scanan .$1 00
Evan James 1 00 Adam Galliger 1 00
Joel Williams 3 00 Alexander Lewis z 00
Ziba Stebbins 3 00 Benjamin Davis 1 00
John McCay 1 00 John True. 1 00
John Miller 1 00 Ferd. Brokaw 1 00
William Darragh 100 Isiael Ludlow 1000
Michael Fox 1 00 T. Hole 8 00
James Ferguson 5 00 William Cummins 3 00
Miss Henderson " 00 Robert Kepe 3 00
Thomas Kebby 2 00 Thomas Kennedy 6 00
P.itrick Dickey 2 00 Joseph Kennedy 3 00
Samuel Creigh 10 co S.imuel Kennedy 3 00
William Irwin i 00 Samuel Dick 3 00
Azarias Thorn 1 00 John Hamilton 3 00
James Gillespie 1 00 Russell Farmer 2 00
John Welsh 1 00 Abel Sprague ' oo
Samuel Freeman 1 00 Kennedy Morton 1 00
Moses Bradley 1 00 James Campbell 1 00
George Gillespie 1 co Francis Kennedy 1 00
Caleb M ulford 1 00 Levi Sayres 2 00
John Miller 1 00 William M. Bothero 1 00
Ham. Flaugher 1 00 Abraham Parker 2 00
David Logan 1 00 George Dougherty t 00
Joseph M' Knight 2 00 William Bedell 4 00
Noadial Albord 7s. 6d. James Bedell 4 00
J. Strickland 7s. 6d. Philip Cook 1 00
James McKee 7s. 6d. Leonard Teeple.- .' 2 00
Benjamin Jenning 7s. 6d. John M'Kane 3 co
James Brady 7s. fid. Reuben Kemper 2 00
Starking Stafford 1 00 William M'Lain 1 00
Thomas Williams 1 00 James M'Lain 1 00
Enos Potter 3 00 Elijah Davis 1 00
Thomas Cochran 4 00 Jonathan Davis 2 00
A. Andrew 1 00 Daniel Hole 1 00
Thomas Gibson 8 00 Richard Hoells 2 00
Love Marcelof 3 00 Daniel Ferrel 2 00
William M'Millan 8 00 John Mercer 1 00
Thomas Fream 2 00 David Bay 2 00
Samuel Williams 3 00 David Reeder 3 00
James Lowry 200 Jedediah Tingle 200
John M'Kane 1 00 Jabesh Phillips 2 00
Matthias Ross 4 00 Isiac Bates 3 00
Daniel M'Carry 1 00 Simeon Nott ; 1 00
Allyn Baker : . 5 00 Samuel Pierson 1 00
John DeHass 1 00
Total $430 00
The improvements were accordingly made, and the
entire four lots of the church, school, and graveyard dona-
tion, some say, were enclosed with a post and rail fence.
February 18, 1795, further progress was made in the
arrangements for public worship, by a meeting of the so-
ciety to consider the distribution of seats or pews among
the members, in accordance with a proposed plan. Two
additional trustees were chosen in the persons of David
E. Wade and William Bedell. It is said that entire com-
pletion of the house was not reached until 1799, about
seven years after it was begun, with so much difficulty
were means raised and public improvements effected in
those days.
Changes of pastors were about as frequent in the earli-
est years of this church as in some religious societies
nowadays. There was a tolerably rapid succession in the
First Presbyterian pulpit, of pastors or stated supplies.
Mr. Kemper remained pastor of the church, as before
stated, until October 7, 1796. Rev. Peter Wilson, after
an interval, served the church over two years, from about
the middle of 1797, until his death July 29, 1799. Then
came the Rev. Matthew G. Wallace, brother of Captain
Robert Wallace, of Covington, and of Mmes. Burnet,
Baum, and Green, of Cincinnati, who was installed pas-
tor October 7, 1800, after preaching to the church six or
seven months. October was a notable month to the pas-
torate in this society. Pie served, as pastor and supply,
until Aprii, 1804, from which time the church had no
settled pastor for three years, chiefly on account of diffi-
culties produced by the "New Light" doctrines. Among
the preachers of this period here, Rev. John Davies is
remembered. At last, in the early summer of 1808,
came the Rev. Joshua L. Wilson to the waiting people,
and staid a long time.
In 1807 the church was regularly incorporated by the
State legislature, under the title of the First Presbyterian
society. Ten years before this, December 28, 1797, it is
said that Judge Symmes conveyed the dedicated lots
regularly to the trustees, Messrs. McMillan, Ludlow,
Lyon, Wade, Reeder, Miller, and Thorpe. The next
year the numb-T of communicants was eighty, which was
doubled by July, 181 5.
The preachers of those early days gave full considera-
tion for their meagre salaries, at least in the particular
of length of sermon. Mr. L'Hommedieu, recalling the
reminiscences of 1810, says in his pioneer address of
1874: "Our preachers, in some cases, gave us sermons
from one and a half to two hours long, and sometimes
took an intermission of fifteen minutes and went on with
their discourse."
During the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Wilson, in 1812, a
movement was started for a better and more commodious
house of worship. It was agreed to raise another sub-
scription:
1. To erect an edifice for public worship in Cincin-
nati.
2. That each, by self or proxy, should have an op-
portunity to purchase a pew therein at public auction,
crediting his subscription and twenty per cent, of amount
paid in cash, but none of the money to be refunded.
3. The pews to be subject to an annual tax for sup-
poit of a minister in the congregation.
4. Pay to be in cash, material, produce, manufact-
ures, merchandise, or labor, as may be accepted by the
treasurer, under the direction of the trustees or the build-
ing committee, one-fourth in sixty days after public notice
in the Cincinnati newspapers, one-fourth in six months,
one-fourth in twelve months, one-fourth in eighteen
months, and complete the whole in one year and eight
months after the first public notice.
This subscription list should also be perpetuated, as
indicating, not only the great change which twenty years
had brought in the personnel of the community, but the
much greater ability to subscribe liberally. It is accord-
ingly copied here:
Jacob Burnet $500 00 J. Carpenter $100 00
Martin Baum 500 00 C. Park 200 00
Wm. Lytle, in land. . . . 1,000 00 Jos. Ruffner 300 00
Dan'l Symmes 400 00 Hezekiah Flint 100 00
David E. Wade 400 00 James Conn 100 00
Jesse Hunt 40000 Joseph Warner 75 00
Jacob Wheeler 200 00 Leonard Taylor 75 00
Lucy Ze.igler 40000 John P. Spinning 7500
James Ferguson 40000 Rob't Merrie 75 00
Joel Williams, in land. . . 400 00 Peter M'Nicol 75 00
iS°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
N. Longworth (on condi-
tion that a sum above
$12,000 be raised), cash,
$200 $25° °o
Sam'l Stitt 200 00
Francis Can* 200 00
Casper Hopple 200 00
Griffin Yeatman 200 00
Sam'l Lowry 200 00
W. Barr 2co 00
John Kidd 200 00
David Kilgour 200 00
Wm. Irwin 200 00
Jacob Williams 200 00
Wm. Woodward 300 00
Nathan'l Reeder 200 00
Jesse Reeder 20000
Wm. Betts 200 00
Elmore Williams 300 00
John S. Wallace 200 00
Pat Dickey 200 00
Sam'l Perry 200 00
A. Dunseth 200 00
John M'Intire 100 00
Sam '1 Newell 100 00
Elias J. Dayton 100 00
Wm. Ramsay roo 00
Joseph Prince 150 00
John S. Gano 100 00
Wm. Ruffin 100 00
John H. Piatt 100 00
J. Watson, painting work 50 00
Thomas Boal 100 00
Joseph M'Murray 100 00
James Dover 3000
Isaac Anderson, % cash,
% material or work 100 00
Jeremiah Reeder $ 75 00
A. Moore, painting and
glazing 10000
John Mahard. 50 00
John Cranmer 50 00
Zacheus Biggs 100 00
Davis Embree 75 00
Geo St. Clair, painting
and glazing 75 00
John Gibson, jr. 50 00
Robert Caldwell 150 00
Dan'l Mayo, Newport... 50 00
Joseph Jenkinson 100 00
John Andrews 50 00
Geo. P. Torrence 100 00
0. M. Spencer 100 00
Sam'l Ramsay 100 00
John Riddle 250 00
Ichabod Spinning 100 00
A. Hamilton 50 00
Isaac Bates 100 00
Clark Bates 100 00
Ez. Hutchinson 100 00
Wm. Stanley 300 00
Wm. Corry 100 00
Chas. L'Hommedieu. . . . ico 00
James Riddle 250 00
John B. Enniss 50 00
Dan'l Drake 75 00
Robert Allison 75 00
Francis West 50 00
1. N. Gluer 25 00
Jonah Martin 50 00
Arthur Ferguson 30 00
Nath. Edson, lime 50 00
Josiah Hally 5000
Andrew Mack 50 00
David Wade $ 50 00
Benj. Coop 30 00
Solomon Sisco 25 00
Arthur St. Clair, jr 125 00
W. Noble 150 00
Sam'l W. Davies 50 00
Alex. Johnston 30 00
W. C. Anderson 50 00
Wm. H. Hopkins 25 00
Jos. B. Robinson 100 00
Jeremiah Hunt 100 00
Oliver Ormsby 100 00
Sam'l Kidd 50 00
John Brown .... 25 00
Thomas Ashburn $100 00
H. Bechtle 100 00
John Jones 50 00
Jacob Baymiller 200 00
Thomas Graham 300 00
Andrew Hopple 5000
Sam'l Yonarsr carp, w'rk 100 00
Wm. Casey 50 00
Charles Marsh 25 00
Jabez C. Ferris 5000
John Armstrong 200 00
Henry Hafer 50 00
Stephen Butler 25 00
John Heighway 2500
Rob't Archibald 75 00
Thos. Sloo, jr 3000 Total $16,74500
This eventuated in the building of the celebrated
■'two-horned " church, so familiar a landmark here in the
early day, and sometimes mentioned in the narratives of
distinguished travellers. It was situated just in rear of
the old building, which continued to be occupied while
the construction of the new edifice went on. It was of
brick, but plain, with two square towers, crowned with
cupolas, flanking the front, which gave it the well-known
title. It is reputed to have cost $16,000, and not to
have been entirely finished until about 1815. The Cin-
cinnati Directory of 1819 thus describes it:
The church belonging to the First Presbyterinn Society stands upon
the public square fronting on Main street, and has two cupolas, one at
each corner of the front. It is a very spacious bricl. building, 85 by
68 feet. Its height from the ground to the eaves is 40, and to the top
of the cupolas 80 feet. In the rear of the building is an octagonal pro-
jection for a vestry. The inside is divided into 112 pews, and five
broad aisles.
THE CHURCH OF THE PIONEERS (FIRST PRESBYTERIAN).
The lower part of the turrets were used for staircases,
which were entered without passing into the house. The
design, although a great improvement on the old build-
ing, was not considered in very good taste. Dr. Drake,
giving a description of it in 1815, while saying the edifice
was "very spacious," also said that "the aspect of the
building is low and heavy " The pulpit and platform
were built into the projection in the rear 'of the church,
and the minister, before he was called to take part in the
services, sat on the rear of this platform, behind a purple
curtain.
When the old frame had outlived its usefulness to the
Presbyterians, it was purchased by the Rev. William
Burke, for use by an independent or Radical Methodist
church, and removed to the west side of Vine street,
about half way between Fourth and Fifth streets, where
the east end of the Emery Arcade now is. Here it stood,
commonly known as Burke's Church, until the spring of
1847, when it was broken up, and the timbers, most of
which were still perfectly sound, and other material, used
for framing five cottages at and near the northwest cor-
ner of Clark and Cutter streets, in the part of the city
then called "Texas." Three of these cottages are now
standing, or were at a very recent date. One sill was
retained by Mr. Burke and cut up into memorial canes
for himself and his pioneer friends.
The Rev. Joshua Lacy Wilson, D. D., under whose
ministrations the new structure was built and the church
interests otherwise greatly forwarded, was a native of
Bedford county, Virginia, born September 22, 1774. He
was taken with his father's family to Kentucky in 1781,
where in due time he undertook a course in theological
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
151
study and was ordained to the ministry by the Presbytery
of Transylvania. His first pastorate was over the Bards-
town and Big Spring Presbyterian churches in 1804,
when he was thirty years old. In June, 1808, he took
charge of the First Presbyterian church in Cincinnati and
remained pastor thereof during the long term of almost
thirty-eight years, or untilhis death March 14, 1846, in the
seventy-second year of his age and the forty-second of
his ministry. His remains rest in Spring Grove Ceme-
tery, and his memory is an abiding part of the annals of
religion in Cincinnati.
The Hon. E. D. Mansfield, in one of his publications,
bears the following testimony to the character of Dr.
Wilson :
The city he found a village of one thousand inhabitants, and left it,
at his death, with one hundred thousand. In this period Dr. Wilson
maintained throughout the same uniform character and the same in-
flexible firmness in principle. He was a man of ardent tempera-
ment, with great energy and decision of character. The principles he
once adopted he held with indomitable courage and unyielding tenac-
ity. He was not only a Presbyterian, but one of the strictest sect. It
is not strange, therefore, that he contended with earnestness for what
he thought the faith once delivered to the saints, and that in this he
sometimes appeared as much of the soldier as the saint. In conse-
quence of these characteristics, many persons supposed him a harsh or
bigoted man. But this was a mistake, unless to be in earnest is harsh-
ness, and to maintain one's principles bigotry. On the contrary, Dr.
Wilson was kind, charitable, and in those things he thought right,
liberal. Among these was the great cause of popular education. Of
this he was a most zealous advocate, but demanded that education
should be founded on religion, and the Bible should be a primary
element in all public education.
In 1827 the church was considerably remodeled and
improved. The next year was characterized by a very
great and notable revival, which had the honor of a day
of commemoration service a half century later, when
about fifty persons converted under its influences were
still living, and about half of these were present. In the
sermon preached on that occasion by the Rev. Dr. S. R.
Wilson, of Louisville, son of the pastor of 1808-46, who
was a boy of ten years at the time of the revival, and was
one of its converts, he presented the following interesting
reminiscences :
Let us represent to our minds some of the more striking features of
the city at that time and of this place, where occurred that mighty
work of the Spirit and Word of God. You must dismiss from your
mind all the magnificence of to-day ; reduce its population, and im-
agining this beautiful plateau covered to a large extent with trees,
dotted with houses and garden-plats, while the environment of hills is
covered with woods that form a beautiful background. The streets
were shaded, and the heat which we now feel from building and pave-
ment was not felt then. Take away this building and the surrounding
buildings, and place there (to the right) a large space surrounded by
tombs and tombstones, among which children played till the bell called
them into the church. The church building accommodated one thou-
sand two hundred persons on the lower floor ; five hundred or six hun-
dred more could be given room in the broad and long aisle, while the
gallery had sittings for one thousand two hundred or one thousand five
hundred. The pulpit was almost as high as the choir, and back of it
was a vestry-room for prayer-meetings and Sunday school.
During the winter of 1827-8 more than ordinary 'relig-
ious interest was manifest in the church assemblies, and
at a meeting of the Cincinnati Presbytery early in April
it was unanimously resolved :
jrjrst — That the members of this Presbytery will spend a portion of
time in special prayer between sunset and dark, every evening.
Second — That those who have not already engaged their people in
this agreement will use their best endeavors to do so.
Third — That twilight prayer shall have for its objects revivals of re-
ligion in our own hearts, in our families and churches through all this
country, and throughout the whole world, that the kingdoms of this
world may become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
Soon afterwards the assistance of two Tennessee cler-
gymen— the Rev. Messrs. James Gallaher and Frederick
A. Ross, who were doing successful evangelistic work in
Kentucky — was obtained, and they came about the mid-
dle of June. Both were effective preachers; but one of
them, as in the later days of Moody and Sankey, Whittle
and Bliss, and other pairs of lay-preachers, had a power-
ful auxiliary in a splendid voice for singing. What fol-
lowed is best told in the words of Mr. Ross, in a letter
which he wrote from Huntsville, Alabama, for the com-
memoration service, when he was in his eighty-second
year :
From Wednesday, when we began, until Monday, there was, seem-
ingly to us, not the slightest impression made, and, being totally dis-
couraged, we told Dr. Wilson Monday morning, after breakfast, we
had made up our minds to go back to Kentucky the next day, if the
meeting that night should be so thinly attended and so without life as
the previous ones had been. Dr. Wilson then suggested that the
" anxious seat " had never been tried in Ohio, and that he. had been
afraid of it. But he was now persuaded, from the prudent way we had
used it, to see what effect it would have that night. Accordingly,
after the sermon, he, I well remember, placed a chair in front of the
pulpit, stood on it, and simply said in substance that he had told us
that he had made up his mind to try the measure. Gallaher then gave
one of his rousing appeals, Twenty came. The spirit was in Cincin-
nati. He had heard the Macedonian cry and had come over the river.
The next morning there was an inquirers' meeting at nine o'clock, in
Dr. Wilson's house, when it was determined that at the night service
we would defer the appeal to the impenitent, and request Christians of
the church to come, who felt they had backslidden or were cold in duty.
Of course when the call was made the very best members were soon on
the bench — Mr. Wilson the first one. The effect, as expected, was
great and delightful. That huge building showed that night the interest
already felt.
We had to go Wednesday to Maysville, Kentucky, but engaged to ,
lecture on the Tuesday following. We did so, and the Wednesday
thereafter we began our work in Cincinnati in the moral certainty that
the city was moved. That Wednesday was the Fourth of July. But
God had ordered, and every soldier and all the patriotic gunpowder
rejoicings went boldly out of town, and it was calmer than any other
day, hardly a shop open, and every one free to hear the gospel under
conditions most favorable.
Suffice, the meeting, preaching, and inquiries went on with great
power. The church was filled, floors and galleries, and a little court,
leading from a side door into the street, was frequently so jammed 'twas
hard to get in or out.
On the next Sabbath one hundred and fifty were admitted to the
First church, and, I think, about the same number the next Sabbath in
the Second church.
I can not recall, for I write entirely from memory, how many weeks
we were in Cincinnati and the neighborhood, spending one series of
meetings in Dayton. But 'tis my impression, when we finally took our
leave, five hundred, or thereabouts, had made profession in Cincinnati
alone.
On Sunday, July 27th, fifteen persons had been re-
ceived into the First church by letter, eighty upon the
knowledge had of them as occasional communicants in
the church, and three hundred and thirty-three on pro-
fession of their faith — nearly or quite all as a result of
this revival. The congregations had frequently num-
bered three thousand, which was then one-seventh of the
entire population of the city. The church had now over
six hundred communicants.
The church building now occupied by this society on
Fourth street, a few doors west of Main, near but not
upon the site of its other churches, was built in 1853, at
*S2
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
a cost of sixty thousand dollars. Its most remarkable fea-
ture is a loity spire, two hundred and eighty-five feet high
— ten feet higher than that of Trinity church, New York —
surmounted by a huge gilt hand, pointing heavenward.
During 1880 the audience-room of this house was
thoroughly repaired and refitted.
The records of the Second Presbyterian church, of
Cincinnati, begin January 29, 1816, although its organi-
zation was not completed until the next year. It was at
first mainly a colony from the First church, and included
in the society, then or subsequently, some of the most
solid men in the city, as Judge Jacob Burnet, Martin
Baum, John H. Groesbeck, Timothy S. Goodman, John
T. Drake, Jonathan Bates, Nathaniel Wright, Henry
Starr, and the like. Of the first eleven members, how-
ever, only four were men. The society worshipped in
various places about the city, at private houses and school-
rooms, for about two years. In 181 7-18 a small frame
house was put up for the church near the northeast corner
of Walnut and Fifth streeK Modest and inexpensive as
was this building, its erection was not accomplished with-
out trouble and anxiety. Once the work stopped for
want of lumber, of which there was none in the city. At
a prayer-meeting soon after, the Loid's hilp to forward
the work was earnestly asked, and the next morning the
eyes of the brethren were gladdened with the sight of a
raft of lumber in the river, from which an ample supply
was obtained very cheaply. The purchase of a lot of
window-sash at half-piice, which the contractor for the
new court-house had upon his hands, also aided to get
the house up rapidly and at small cost.
The society was formally incorporated on the nth of
Februaiy, 1829, and laid the corner-stone of anew church
on the following 13th of May. A lot had been bought
on the south side of Fourth street, between Vine and
Race, from the Bank of the United States, for five
thousand dollars, and the building itself cost thirty
thousand dollars, which was raised with much difficulty.
Indeed, much of it was not raised for years after the
building was erected and occupied. Only one out of
four installments for the ground had been paid when the
last fell due, May 1, 183 1. The bank obtained judgment
in ejectment, but allowed the church to remain; and in
January, 1838, a deed was given by the society and note
and mortgage given for the balance due, then amounting
to four thousand three hundred and sixty-seven dollars.
The building, however, went up with reasonable speed,
was dedicated May 20, 1830, and occupied for forty-two
years, or until April 28, 1872, when, with fitting memo-
rial services, it was abandoned for the fine edifice now
used, on the southwest corner of Eighth and Elm streets.
Among the earliest preachers to this church were the
Revs. Samuel Robinson, William Arthur, and John
Thomson, father of Rev. Dr. W. M. Thomson, the dis-
tinguished S)rian missionary and writer upon the Floly
Land. The application of the church to the presbytery
for a minister to supply them, included the offer of a
salary of five hundred and fifty dollars a year.
Rev. David Root was the first settled pastor. He was
called September 4, 1819, but did not take up his work
here for more than a year, remaining then continuously
until the spring of 1830. He was paid, nominally, one
thousand dollars per year, but is not believed to have
realized more than two-thirds of that amount, at a coin
valuation. Dr. Lyman Beecher, president of Lane Semi-
nary, was the next pastor, and underwent his trial for
heresy, upon the prosecution of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, in
his own church building. During his pastorate of nearly
eleven years, five hundred and fort)' ptrsons were "admit-
ted to the church, two hundred and forty of them on
profession of faiih. Beecher was then in the prime of his
splendid powers — "original and somewhat peculiar," says
Mr. Wright in his Memorial Address, from v\hich we
abridge this narrathe, "both in manner and thought. In
preaching, his most striking passages seemed the inspira-
tion of the moment — when he raised his spectacles to his
forehead and his sparkling eyes to the audience, and
something came forth which struck us like electricity.
He was deeply reverential at heart, though sometimes
his strong, abrupt language seemed almost to belie it; as
on one occasion I remember he said in' prayer, 'O Lord,
keep us from despising our rulers, and keep them from
acting so that we can't help it.' "
. Later pastors were: The Revs. John P. Cleveland,
August 2, 1843, to December, 1845; Samuel W. Fisher,
April, 1847, to July, 1848,'when he resigned to take the
presidency of Hamilton College; M. L. P. Thompson,
March, 1859, to May, 1865; James L. Robertson, May,
1867, to November, 1870; and Thomas H. Skinner, D.
D., the present incumbent of the pastorate, who was
called July 12, 1871, and entered upon his duties with
the church in the ensuing November.
The additions to the church, from its beginnings until
April 1, 1872, were one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six, including eight hundred and forty-seven on
profession. Its benevolent contributions, for ten years
ending April 1, 1857, reached the large sum of seventy
thousand six hundred dollars, and for ten subsequent years .
seventy thousand and ninety dollars. In addition over
nine thousand dollars a year was raised, during part of
this time, for the regular expenses of the church. The
George street Presbyterian church, afterwards the Seventh
street, was colonized from this church in the spring of
1843. The church on Poplar street, near Freeman, is
the outgrowth of a mission school, established, with
several others, by the Voung Men's Home Missionary
society, which originated in the Second church in 1 848.
Mr. William H. Neff was its first president. Its labors
were then directed to the suppoit of a missionary in
Iowa; but when his work became self-supporting the
society devoted its energies to the founding of mission
schools in the city and other useful labors. The Ladies'
City Missionary society is of this church. The Young
Men's Bible society also originated with it; and the
Young Men's Christian Union, as well as other religious
and charitable enterprises in the city, has been greatly
aided by its members. The Sunday-school of the
church has been a strong arm from the beginning. It
numbered about three hundred when its first report was
i4d*yUHf€^>
4k
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
iS3
made to the Sunday-school Union fifty-three years ago
(1827). A second Sabbath- school, for afternoon ses-
sions, was organized in February, 1870. A German mis-
sion-school was established at the corner of Thirteenth
and Walnut streets in 1846, and numbered among its
early superintendents Messrs. E. S. Padgett and Peter R.
Neff, and Dr. W. H. Mussey. Other mission-school
enterprises have been successfully undertaken from time
to time, independent of those under the auspices of the
Young Men's Home Missionary society.
The Third Presbyterian church was an offshoot from
the First in the early part of 1829. The meeting of the
session of the First, to grant letters to such as wished to
join the new organization, was held January 2 2d, of that
year. Two elders and about forty others from that
church formed the colony which started the Third, which
erected a building on Second street.
\
The First Presbyterian Church on Walnut Hills was
founded in 1819. The Rev. Peter H. Kemper, a rela-
tive of James Kemper, the pioneer preacher in Cincin-
nati, was the first pastor, and for many years the pasto-
rate was held by members of the Kemper family. The
Lane Seminary Presbyterian church, organized in 1831,
was united with this January 6, 1879, by a committee of
Presbytery consisting of the Rev. Drs. J. G. Monfort and
Z. M. Humphrey, and the late Elder A. H. Hinkle. The
corner stone of the new edifice for this church was laid
September 13, 1880, on the northeast coiner of Gilbert
avenue and Locust street. The membership of the
church is about three hundred. Rev. George H. Fuller-
ton is the present pastor.
In June, 1845, the general assembly of the Presby-
terian church met in Cincinnati for its second meeting in
the west. About two hundred ministers and delegates
were present, "generally fine looking men," said Mr.
Cist in his Miscellany, "with much less of the rigorous
Scotch and Scotch-Irish cast of features than might be
expected from the great element of their descent.
METHODISM.*
As we have seen above, Presbyterianism was first of all
denominational religions on the ground in Cincinnati.
For about thirteen years thereafter no Methodist church
was organized in the village. But in 1798 one of the
vigorous, rugged pioneer preachers, the Rev. John Kob-
ler, presiding elder of a district in Kentucky, embracing
the Lexington, Danville, and Cumberland circuits, and
who had been sent by Bishop Asbury as a missionary to
the Northwest Territory, came riding out of the wilder-
ness, no one knew whence, to scout the field for Method-
ism on the site of Cincinnati. In a communication long
afterwards to the Western Historical society, he wrote:
I rode down the Miami river thirty-six miles to explore this region- of
country. I found settlements very sparse indeed, only now and then a
solitary family. About four o'clock in the afternoon I came to an old
garrison called Fort Washington, situated on the bank of the big river,
* Our principal authority for that part of this section dealing with the
beginnings of Methodism in Cincinnati, and its growth for fift years,
is Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism.
which bore very much the appearance of a declining, time-stricken,
God-forsaken place. Here are a few log buildings extra of the fortress,
and a few families residing together, with a small printing office just
put in operation, and a small store opened by a gentleman named
Snodgrass. This, I was told, was the great place of rendezvous of
olden time for the federal troops when going to war with the Indians.
Here, alas, General St. Clair made his last encampment with his troops
before he met his lamentable defeat; here I wished very much to
preach, but could find no opening or reception of any kind whatever.
I left the old garrison to pursue my enterprise, with a full intention to
visit it again, and make another effort with them on my next round;
but this I did not do for the following reasons, namely : When I had
gone a second round on my appointment, and further explored the set-
tlemenls and circumstances of the country, there were some places
where the opening prospects appeared much more promising than
what I had seen in Fort Washington; and I was eager to take every
advantage of time and things, by collecting what first was already ap-
parent, by forming societies and building up those already formed; so
that in-a few rounds I had nearly .lost sight of old Fort Washington,
and finally concluded that it would be most proper for me, under the
existing circumstances, at least for the present, to omit it altogether.
Judge McLean, in his biographical sketch of the Rev.
Philip Gatch, furnishes the following reminiscence of
this pioneer preacher:
I frequently heard him, and shall never forget his appearance and
manner. My curiosity to hear him was excited by the account given of
him by the son of Captain Davis, who was a few years older than I was.
His time was almost wholly taken up, as represented by young Davis,
in reading and praying; that, although he was kind in his manner and
sociable, yet a smile was seldom seen on his face, but he was often seen
to weep. I heard him often, and was always impressed much with his
discourse, and especially with his prayers. He was tall and well-pro-
portioned; his hair was black, and he wore it long, extending over the
cape of his coat. His dress was neat, with a straight-breasted coat,
and in every respect as became a Methodist preacher of that day. He
had a most impressive countenance. It showed no ordinary intellectual
development, united with sweetness of disposition, unconquerable firm-
ness, and uncommon devotion. His preaching never failed to attract
the deep attention of every hearer. . . His manner was
very deliberate at the commencement of a discourse; but as he pro-
gressed he became more animated and his words more powerful. He
awakened in himself and in his Christian audience a sublimated feeling
in the contemplation of Heaven, and in those who had a foreboding of
future ill unspeakable horrors. On these topics he was eloquent. In-
deed, his mind was well stored with information, and in every point of
view he was a most useful and excellent preacher. His aims were more
at the heart than the head. The Methodist preachers of that day be-
lieved if the heart were made right, it would influence the life and con-
duct of the individual.
The next year (1799) — traditions, not official minutes,
say — came Lewis Hunt to ride the Miami circuit, which,
with Scioto circuit, embraced the entire southern and
western parts of the present State of Ohio. He broke
down in the summer of that year, and Rev. H. Smith
was sent to take his place; but, meeting him on Mad
river, Smith found him so far recovered as to go on with
his work, and left him for the Scioto, to form a circuit
there. Hunt and another of the pioneer Methodists in
this region, Rev. Elisha Bowman, are known to have
preached at the fort occasionally, notwithstanding Kob-
ler's ill-success in getting even a temporary lodgment
there; also Rev. William Burke, who, as presiding elder
of the Ohio district, preached in the court house here in
1805, and over a year before that, soon after the Meth-
odist society was formed in the village, preached in the
dwelling of Mr. Newcome, one of the early Methodists,
on Sycamore street. He was still living in Cincinnati in
1854.
It is well known, at all events, that a Methodist class
was formed at Fort Washington at an early day, even be-
*54
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
fore the eighteenth century went out; but by whom has
not yet been discovered, although the inquiry has been
actively pushed in various directions. Methodism in
Cincinnati, however, is considered properly to date from
the visit to the village, about 1803, of John Collins, a
young and active farmer, residing far in the wilderness
on the East fork of the Little Miami. He had been
licensed in New Jersey, his old home, as a local preacher,
and exercised his gifts as such frequently after his arrival
in the' Miami country, making his own settlement partic-
ularly a stronghold of Methodism. Visiting Cincinnati
to buy salt, he found that Mr. Carter, in whose store he
had called, was a Methodist; and, after a joyful greeting,
it was arranged that young Collins should hold a preach-
ing service before he departed. The upper room of Mr.
Carter's house, on Front street between Walnut and Vine,
was provided with benches, and as wide notice as possi-
ble given of the appointment; but when the evening
came, only twelve were present, most of whom were
Methodists. To this handful Collins preached, it is be-
lieved, the first Methodist sermon ever spoken in Cincin-
nati, outside the stockade of the fort. A small class
formed "as the planting of a handful of corn on the
tops of the mountains, the increasing and ever multiply-
ing products of which were to shake with the fruitage of
Lebanon.'' He also organized the first classes in Colum-
bia and Dayton, was admitted to the itinerancy in 1807,
was appointed at once to the Miami circuit, then em-
bracing nearly all the region afterwards included in the
Cincinnati conference, and labored with great power, es-
pecially in the camp meetings, for more than a quarter of
century in southwestern Ohio. It was at one of his re-
vivals that John McLean, afterward one of the justices of
the Federal supreme court, and his brother, Colonel Mc-
Lean, were converted. Two years before he closed his
effective labors he was regularly stationed in Cincinnati,
his colleague then being the Rev. J. B. Finley.
The writer of A Sketch of the Life of Rev. John Col-
lins makes the following interesting reflections upon the
scene attending the preaching of the first Methodist ser-
mon in Cincinnati :
Will the reader linger a moment on that remarkable congregation of
twelve — not remarkable- for their positions in society, but as the first as-
semblage of Methodists, to hear a sermon by a Methodist preacher, in
a town which, in a few years, was to become noted for Methodism? In
the small apartment, lighted with one or two flickering candles, sat
the twelve. The preacher performed his duty most faithfully and affec-
tionately. Many tears were shed. Some wept under a conviction of
their sins, others from a joyful hope of the future. The speaker had a
word for each hearer, and it took effect. There were no dry eyes nor
unfeeling hearts in the congregation. How small and how feeble was
this beginning; and yet who can limit the consequences which follow-
ed it?
Mr. Carter took his text for this sermon from Mark
xvi, 15, 16:
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is babtised shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Mr. Carter was the only one of those present who was
able to entertain the preacher during his stay in the
village.
In 1804 the Rev. John Sale, who had been travelling
the Scioto circuit, was assigned to the Miami circuit,
with Rev. J. Oglesby. The Ohio district, the first in the
State, had been organized the previous year; Rev. Wil-
liam Burke, presiding elder. Sale soon visited Cincin-
nati, and preached to a congregation numbering thirty
or forty, in a house on Main street, between Front and
Second. Mr. Finley, in his Sketches, thus continues the
narrative :
After preaching, a proposition was made to organize a society in the
usual way, and according to the discipline of the church. Accordingly,
a chapter was read from the Bible; then followed singing, prayer, and
the reading of the General Rules of the society. All then who felt de-
sirous of becoming members of the society, and were willing to abide
by the General Rules as they had been read, came forward and gave in
their names. The number who presented themselves on that occasion
was only eight, consisting of the following, namely: Mr. and Mrs.
Carter, their son and daughter [the latter afterwards Mrs. Dennison,
mother of Governor Dennison, and long a resident of Cincinnati], Mr.
and Mrs. Gibson, and Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair. Mr. Gibson was ap-
pointed the reader.
A regular church being organized, arrangements were made to have
preaching regularly every two weeks by the circuit preachers. The so-
ciety received an accession in the ensuing spring by the arrival in town
of two Methodist families, namely, those of Messrs. Nelson and Hall,
and their families. . Meetings were held in the little old
log school-house below the hill, and not far from the old fort. The
location of this school-house was such as to accommodate the villagers;
and as its site was somewhere not far from the intersection of Lawrence
and Congress streets, it is presumed that this portion of the town was
the most thickly inhabited. Sometimes the rowdies would stone the
house; and on one occasion Ezekiel Hall, a zealous Methodist, and one
who was always present to lead the singing, was taken by the rowdies
after meeting, and carried to his home on Main street, where, after giving
him three hearty cheers for his zeal and fortitude, they left him. The
rioters were followed by two very strong young men, who were mem-
bers of the church, and had determined at all hazards to protect their
feeble brother. The young men were Benjamin Stewart, now [1854]
living near Carthage, in this county, and Robert Richardson, now living
on Broadway, in this city."
After serving through his first appointment on the
Miami circuit, and several years in the Kentucky and Ohio
districts, Mr. Sale was sent to the Miami district upon its
creation in 1808, again in 1815, and finally in 1819, end-
ing a useful life near Troy, Ohio, while on the Piqua cir-
cuit, January 15, 1827. He was a worthy man to be
among the founders of Methodism in the Queen City.
The next year (1805) the Rev. John Meek was ap-
pointed to this circuit, in place of Mr. Sale, who was re-
turned to the Lexington circuit in Kentucky.
The first love-feast the Methodists here enjoyed was at
a quarterly meeting this year, held in the court house,
under the direction of the Rev. William Burke, presiding
elder. Soon afterwards, in the same year, a large lot for
a church edifice and a cemetery, after the custom of
those times, was purchased on Fifth street, between Syca-
more and Broadway, the present site of Wesley chapeL
The erection of a stone church was promptly begun upon
the lot; and it was finished and dedicated in 1806. Mr.
Finley says :
From this point the society increased rapidly, and it was not long
till the native eloquence of the backwoods preachers and the zeal of the
membership attracted large congregations, and the church was too
small to hold the crowds that collected there to hear the word of life.
The building, however, was too small, only being about twenty feet
wide and forty long. To accommodate the increasing masses, who
crowded to the ' ' Old Stone, " the rear end was taken out and twenty
feet of brick added to it. Notwithstanding this enlargement, still
there was not a sufficient room, and it was resolved to make arrange-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i5S
ments for other enlargements. It was concluded to take out the sides
of the brick part, and extend the building out each way twenty feet,
this giving the church the form of a cross. After some time this last
improvement was made, and though the congregations still continued
gradually to increase with the ever-increasing population, yet it was
many years before any movement was contemplated to meet these
wants. At length, however, it was resolved to tear down and build on
the site of the "Old Stone" a mammoth church, which would not only
be the parent Methodist church in Cincinnati, but which would be suf-
ficiently large for all occasions.
Colonies had already gone out from the old parent church, and had
located preaching places in several parts of the city. One of these was
located on the northeast corner of Plum and Fourth streets. Here the
brethren erected a plain, substantial brick church, which in progress of
time was called the "Old Brick," to distinguish it from the "Old
Stone;" and it was also designated by a certain class as "Brimstone
Corner." . Another charge was formed in the northern por-
tion of the city, which was called Asbury, and also one in Fulton, de-
nominated McKendree Chapel.
The time had at length come for the erection of a large central church ;
and, the arrangements being made, the "Old Stone," with its brick ap-
pendages, was torn down, and from its ruins arose a mighty structure,
denominated Wesley Chapel. It was dedicated in 1831 ; at that time
the largest church in the place, and at the present time [1854] capable
of holding a larger congregation than any building in the city. On ac-
count of its capacity, as well as its location in the heart of the city, it
is selected on all great occasions. The address of the Hon. John
Quincy Adams, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the Astro-
nomical Observatory, was delivered here. Here the various large be-
nevolent societies hold their anniversaries. It was here, to listening
thousands, the eloquent Bascom delivered his lectures on the evidences
of Christianity ; and it was in this old cradle of Methodism the log-
ical and earnest Rice delivered his course on the subject of Roman-
ism.
The "Old Brick," of which we have already spoken, was built in
1822 ; but after several years, during which it became a place of hal-
lowed memories, on accQunt of the numerous conversions which had
been witnessed at its altars, it was necessary to enlarge the borders of
our Western Zion in this place, and hence preparations we're made to
erect a new church. In the meantime, however, a colony had gone out
from Fourth street, and had built a fine church edifice on Ninth street.
Instead of tearing down and rebuilding, it was determined to purchase
a lot on Western Row, between Fourth and Fifth streets. Here the
congregation built a very neat and commodious church, which was de-
nominated Morris Chapel, in honor of our beloved Western Bishop.
But Methodist enterprise did not stop here. Asbury Chapel,
in the northern part of the city, was consumed by fire ; but the zealous
brotherhood erected near its ruins a new and handsome edifice. Colo-
nies from Morris Chapel and Ninth street went out, having among
their number some of the most zealous and efficient of their member-
ship, and founded Christie Chapel and Salem, York Street and Park
Street Chapels, all having now energetic and active memberships. And
last, not least, in" that direction, from these, in their turn, was formed
Clinton Street Chapel, a young but vigorous branch of Methodism. In
the meantime Bethel Chapel was founded by a colony from old Wesley
and McKendree ; and the trustees are now [1854] engaged in erecting
a new and beautiful church on Ellen street. Nor do we stop here ; col-
onies from the different charges have founded societies and erected
churches on Walnut Hills, in the Mears neighborhood, and Mt. Auburn.
In addition to these was the Union Chapel society,
composed originally of a few members of various charges,
who wished their families to sit together, instead of sepa-
rating the sexes in the old way, as the discipline pre-
scribed; and so founded the first pewed Methodist church
in the city, buying for the purpose the Grace church edi-
fice, on Seventh street, till then owned by the Episco-
palians. On account of their new departure, this society
was long disowned by the annual conference, and was
compelled to employ local preachers and set up a pro-
visional government. At length the case was submitted
to the general conference, which struck out of the disci-
pline the old regulation — "Let the men and women sit
apart, without exception, in all our churches;" and then
Union Chapel was gladly admitted to full Methodist fel-
lowship. In 1854 it had the largest Sabbath-school in
the city, and pledged itself to support a missionary to
Rome, as soon as Papal toleration would permit it.
About this time Dr. Finley notes the Methodist Epis-
copal Church South as having in Cincinnati a large and
flourishing congregation; and the Protestant Methodist
church, on Sixth street, as "a large, intelligent and en-
terprising society, supporting one or two mission churches
in the city."
In 1836 the Cincinnati Methodists undertook a mis-
sion to the numerous and increasing German population
of the city, under the direction of Dr. William Nast, who
had been a student and Professor of Greek and Oriental
literature at Tubingen, in association with the celebrated
skeptical biographer of Christ, Dr. Strauss. In this coun-
try he became a professor at Kenyon college ; but, being
converted to Methodism, he came to Cincinnati to labor,
in the face of many difficulties and much persecution,
among his fellow-countrymen. He became editor of the
Christliche Apologete, a German religious journal of large
circulation, and otherwise engaged laboriously in the
formation of a German Methodist literature. Within
twenty years the influence of the mission had spread far
and wide. Says Mr. Finley, writing in 1854: "It went
back to the east; and the large cities and towns, as far as
Boston, had missionaries sent to them, and societies were
organized all over the land, from Maine to Louisiana.
From this mere handful of corn what a mighty harvest
has already been gathered! In Cincinnati there are four
churches, some quite large; and in almost every large
town where there are Germans, churches have been
erected. No mission was ever established since the days
of Pentecost that has been attended with greater suc-
cess." He considered this, down to that time, as "the.
crowning glory of Methodism in the city, if not in the en-
tire west."
Another Methodist enterprise, taking its start in 1840,
was the establishment of the Wesleyan Female college.
The story of this will be narrated elsewhere.
The following-named Methodist preachers were among
the itinerants of the early day on the Cincinnati circuit :
181 1. — Rev. William Young. One of his charges was
at North Bend, and while riding from Cincinnati to his
appointment there one extremely cold day in December,
he took a cold which resulted in consumption and ter-
minated his very promising life at the age of twenty-five.
1812. — Revs. William Burke and John Strange. The
former says in his Autobiography :
At the conference held at Chillicothe in the fall of 1811, I was ap-
pointed to Cincinnati station, it being the first station in the State of
Ohio. I organized the station, and many of the rules and regulations
that I established are still [1854] in use. We had but one church in the
city, and it went under the name of the Stone church. I preached
three times every Sunday, and on Wednesday night; and while sta-
tioned in that house my voice failed me. The Methodists being too
poor to buy a stove to warm the house in winter, and on Sunday morn-
ing it being generally crowded, their breath would condense on the
walls, and the water would run down and across the floor. The next
conference I did not attend, but was appointed supernumerary on the
Cincinnati circuit. . . I was the first married preacher in the
west who travelled after marrying.
Elder Burke preached for nearly sixty years, and his is
!56
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
a great and venerable name in the annals of western
Methodism. Mr. Strange was also an able and useful
laborer, but was called away when he had attained
scarcely half the years of his former colleague in Cincin-
nati.
1816-17. — Rev. Alexander Cummins. Rev. Russel
Bigelow, who had labored with Mr. Cummins on the
Miami circuit, bears testimony to "his zeal, piety, and
usefulness, . . his devotion, his fervor, his
diligence, his watchfulness, his anxiety, his pathetic ser-
mons, his fervent prayers." He afterwards became a
presiding elder in Kentucky, and died at his home in
Cincinnati September 27, 1823, aged only thirty-six
years.
A remarkable incident occurred during the session of
the western conference in Cincinnati, in 1813. It is thus
related by Mr. Finley:
There being no church on Sabbath large enough to hold the congre-
gation, or rather the vast crowds which attended upon the ministrations
of the occasion, we adjourned to the Lower Market space, on Lower
Market street, between Sycamore and Broadway. The services com-
menced at eleven o'clock. The Rev. Learner Blackman preached from
the third petition of the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come." He
was followed by brother Parker [presiding elder of a district embracing
the whole of the present States of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, and
a preacher of great eloquence and power] with a sermon on the fourth
petition of the same prayer, "Thy will be done." After he had con-
cluded, brother James Ward gave an exhortation, after the manner of
olden time. Then followed brother John Collins [he who preached the
pioneer sermon of 1803], who, from the same butcher's block whereon
the preachers had stood, commenced, with a soft and silvery voice, to
sell the shambles, as only John Collins could, in the market. These he
made emblematic of a full salvation, without money and without price.
It was not long till the vast assembly were in tears at the melting, mov-
ing strains of the eloquent preacher. On invitation a large number
came forward and kneeled down for an interest in the prayers of God's
people. We joined with them and other ministers who were present
heartily in the work; and before the meeting closed in the market-house
many souls were happily converted to God.
The tragic fate of one of the participants in this
memorable scene, the Rev. Learner Blackman, is also a
part of the history of Cincinnati. In the fall of 18 15,
having been re-appointed to the Cumberland district, in
Kentucky, and returning thither with his young wife, to
whom he had been but a short time married, from a visit
to his brother-in-law, Rev. John Collins, he took the ferry
boat at Cincinnati, to cross to Covington. It is described
as "a crazy craft, with sails and paddles;" and while
crossing, the hoisting of the sails by the ferryman so
frightened the horses attached to Mr. Blackman's vehicle
that, despite all his efforts, they plunged overboard, drag-
ging him with them. He was a good swimmer and a
strong, man; but must have become entangled in the
harness or under the carriage, or perhaps was struck and
stunned in the mad rush of the affrighted animals; for
he sank at once to rise no more. He was a young
preacher of uncommon energy and ability, and his loss
was deeply mourned by the denomination.
About 1822 Rev. John Flavel Wright was stationed in
Cincinnati, with Rev. Leroy Swormstedt as his colleague.
Upon his return to this station in 1827 occurred the mem-
orable secession from the church which resulted in the
organization of the Methodist Protestant church. There
was much excitement in the city, and many influential
families left their old societies and united with the new.
"Yet," says the memoir of Dr. Wright, read at the annual
conference of 1880, "so wisely and prudently did Mr.
Wright administer the affairs of Methodism in Cincinna-
ti, that, notwithstanding the large secession, he was able,
at the close of his two years' pastorate, to report an in-
crease of about two hundred members." He was elect-
ed agent of the Book Concern in Cincinnati in 1832,
and filled the place ably for twelve years, when he re-
sumed preaching in Wesley chapel, in the city. In the
first year of the Rebellion he served as chaplain of the
First Kentucky regiment, and was afterwards chaplain to
the military hospitals in Cincinnati. September 13, 1879,
in his eighty-third year, he went to his reward.
The Miami circuit first appears in the minutes of the
annual conference for 1800; but no preacher's name ap-
pears in connection with it, nor had the district (which is
not named, like all the districts of this year, and previous
to this time) any presiding elder in the minutes. The
next year the Scioto and Miami circuit, of the Kentucky
district, had the Rev. Henry Smith for its rider. Then,
1862, came Benjamin Young and Elisha W. Bowman to
the Scioto and Miami circuit of the Kentucky district,
Western conference (conferences were not before named
in the lists of appointments). The last named of these
preachers is mentioned alone for the Miami circuit in
1803; but John Sale and Joseph Oglesby were together
thereon the next year. John Meek and Abraham Amos
are colleagues on the "Miami and Mad River circuit"
in 1805.. In 1806 the one circuit becomes two; Elder
Benjamin Lakin and Joshua Riggin are sent to Miami,
and John Sale becomes presiding elder of the Ohio dis-
trict; the elder has John Collins for colleague the next
year; and in 1808 Samuel Parker and Hector Sandford
ride the still large circuit. The succeeding year sees the
division of the Ohio district into the Miami and Mus-
kingum districts, with John Sale and James Quinn as
presiding elders. " Cincinnati " is now the name of the
circuit, and thenceforth it appears regularly upon the
minutes. Elder William Houston and John Sinclair
are the first itinerants upon it; Elder Solomon Langdon
and Moses Crume the next, in 1810; and 181 1 returns.
Benjamin Lakin, with William Young as colleague; 1812
furnishes Elder William Burke*and John Strange; 1813
brought Elder Burke to Cincinnati alone, while Elder
Samuel Heliums takes a new circuit, called the "Little
Miami;" 18 14, Elder William Lambdin to Cincinnati,
Elder Burke and Ebenezer David to the Little Miami ;
1815, Elders Joseph Oglesby and John Waterman to
Cincinnati and Miami combined; 18 16, William Dixon
to the former, and Elder Alexander Cummins and Rus-
sel Bigelow to the latter; in 1817 Brother Cummins goes
to Cincinnati, and Elder Abbot Goddard and William P.
Finley go to Miami; 1818 finds Mr. Cummins still in
Cincinnati, the first preacher appointed for a second con-
secutive year, and Benjamin Lawrence at Miami; 18 19,
Elder Quinn comes from the Scioto district, where he has
long labored, to Cincinnati, and Miami has Samuel West
and Henry Mathews; and in 1820 the former gets El-
ders Quinn and Truman Bishop, and the latter Elder
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
iS7
William Dixon and Robert Delap. The Apostolic suc-
cession thenceforth to the Queen City is as follows:
1 82 1-2. — Elder John Collins, preacher of the first
Methodist sermon in Cincinnati. His labors here during
the two years were greatly blest. The next year he was
at Chillicothe, in 1824 was returned to the Cincinnati
district, and in 1834 was again on the Cincinnati station,
soon after which he was superannuated, and died August
22, 1845. He is buried at the Bethel meeting house,
near his old home. 1823. — Elders Leroy Swormstedt
and John F. Wright. 1824. — Elders Russell Bigelow
and Truman Bishop. 1825-6. — Elders William H. Ra-
per and John P. Durbin. 1827. — Elders Truman Bish-
op and George Hatch. 1828. — Elders John F. Wright
and John A. Baughman. 1829.— Elder John F. Wight
and Wesley Browning. 1830. — Messrs. Wesley Brown-
ing, James B. Finley, and William B. Christie. 1831. —
Messrs. James B.. Finley, Nathan Emery, Edmund W.
Sehon, and Samuel A. Latta. 1832. — Messrs. Nathan
Emery, Edmund W. Sehon, Thomas A. Morris, and Wil-
liam B. Christie. 1833. — Messrs. Thomas A. Morris,
G. W. Walker, and D. Whitcomb. 1834. — Messrs. John
Collins, J. B. Finley, J. M. Trimble, Joseph M. Mat-
thews, and T. F. Sargent, superannuated. 1835. —
Wesley chapel, Messrs. Zachanah Connel, L. L. Ham-
line; Fourth street chapel, Messrs. J. M. Trimble, E.
Thompson; Fulton and Columbia, Mr. R. Cheney.
1836. — Wesley chapel and African church, Messrs. W.
B. Christie, L. L. Hamline; Wesley charge, Messrs. A.
Eddy and T. A. G. Phillips; Fulton charge, Mr. G.
Moody; German missionary, Mr. W. Nast. (Mr. Nast
was appointed to this post, or as editor of the Christian
Apologist, thereafter). 1837. — Wesley and African,
Messrs. William H. Raper and Granville Moody; West-
ern, Messrs. E. W. Sehon and Cyrus Brooks; Fulton,
Mr. William I. Ellsworth. 1838. — Eastern charge, Messrs.
William H. Raper and Edward D. Roe; Western, Messrs.
E. W. Sehon and David Warnock; Fulton, Mr. Cyrus
Brooks. 1839. — Eastern, Messrs. John Ferree and Jo-
seph A. Waterman; Western, Messrs. William H. Raper
and Micah G. Perkizer; Fulton, Mr. Maxwell P. Gaddis.
1840. — Eastern, Messrs. E. W. Sehon and Maxwell P.
Gaddis (superannuated); Western, Messrs. William H.
Raper and John Miley; Asbury, Mr. John W. White;
Fulton, Mr. Andrew Carroll; German missionary, Mr.
Peter Schmucker. 1841. — Eastern, Messrs. E. W. Se-
hon, Isaac Ebbert, and Maxwell P. Gaddis (superannu-
ated); Western, Messrs. William Herrand James L. Gro-
ver; Asbury, Mr. White; Fulton, Edward D. Roe.
1842. — Wesley chapel, Mr. James L. Grover; Fourth
street, Mr. William Herr; Ninth street, Mr. George C.
Crum; Asbury, Mr. William H. Lawder; New street,
Mr. Jonathan F. Conrey; Fulton, Mr. Micah G. Perk-
iser; German missionary, Mr. Adam Miller. 1843. —
Wesley, Mr. James L. Grover; Fourth street, Mr. Wil-
liam Young; Ninth street, Mr. George C. Crum; Asbury,
Mr. William H. Lawder; New street, Mr. Oliver P. Wil-
liams; Fulton, Mr. Wesley Rowe; German missionary,
Mr. Adam Miller. 1844. — Wesley and New street, Mr.
George W. Walker; Fourth street, Mr. William Young;
Ninth street, Mr. Randolph S. Foster; Asbury, Mr. Da-
vid Reed; Fulton, Mr. Granville Moody; German,
Mr. William Ahrens. 1845. — Wesley, Mr. John F.
Wright; Morris chapel, Mr. George W. Walker; Ninth
street, Mr. William P. Strickland; Asbury, Mr. Asbury
Lowry; Fulton, Mr. Granville Moody; German,
Mr. William Ahrens; city missionary, Mr. George
W. Maley. 1846. — Wesley, Messrs. Joseph M. Trim-
ble and S. A. Latta (superannuated); Bethel chapel, Mr.
John W. White; Morris, Mr. George W. Walker;
Ninth street, Mr. William P. Strickland; Ebenezer, Mr.
Joseph A. Bruner; Asbury, Mr. Asbury Lowry; Fulton,
Mr. William H. Fyffe; city missionary, Mr. George W.
Maley; German, Mr. E. Riemenshneider.
The progress of Methodism has now been sufficiently
illustrated by the increase in the number of appoint-
ments. The yearly lists shortly become long and cum-
bersome; and we must close with that for 1846.
The hardships which the earlier preachers of Method-
ism suffered here through poverty and sickness, even so
lately as the middle years of Cincinnati history, are
plainly printed in passages of biography like the follow-
ing, which we cite from the Life of Bishop Morris, who
was stationed here, it will be remembered, in 1832-3:
Mr. Morris sent his household goods by wagon to Cincinnati, while
he with his family took Athens in their route, to visit his son, then a
student in the Ohio university. On their arrival finally at the Queen
City, they were doomed to meet an unexpected defeat of their previ-
ously determined mode of living. Having no suitable outfit for house-
keeping in the city, Mr. Morris had written from Columbus to one of
the stewards in Cincinnati to engage a suitable boarding-place for him-
self and family. To this reasonable request no attention was paid ;
and at the first official meeting the stewards signified that it was their
wish to have the parsonage occupied by the preacher in charge. He at
once moved into the old house thus designated, on Broadway, near
Fifth street, and furnished it as comfortably as his means would allow..
All this could have been borne cheerfully, if his allowance had been
adequate to meet his expenses ; but, in addition to the house, which
was poor and uncomfortable, his salary was four hundred and fifty dol-
lars, all told. The last fifty was added, he was informed, in view of
the fact that he would be expected to entertain "comers and goers" —
visiting brethren, lay and clerical.
Having but a limited supply of beds for the "comers and goers,"
Mr. Morris found it necessary to buy a cot, which he carried home on
his own shoulders. The first attempt to use it broke it down. He
carried it back for repairs, and, when mended, bore it along Fifth street
as before, for the third time. It was hard work, but saved the drayage.
His wife's health was very poor, and that of his daughter scarcely bet-
ter ; but to hire help without the means to pay for it was a thing not to
be thought of; and so, as the next best thing, he secured a washing
machine, which, together with his saw and axe, furnished him an abun-
dance of healthy exercise. His daughter had just strength to prepare
the clothes, change the water, and rinse them when clean, while he was
both able and willing — under the circumstances — to turn the machine,
by far the hardest part of the job. Meantime, however, the water
works were destroyed by fire, and "washing" became a more serious
as well as more expensive business, involving an outlay of twenty-five
cents a barrel for water, hauled from the river, for laundry purposes.
As for the ordinary daily supply for drinking and cooking purposes,
Mr. Morris carried that in buckets from Spencer's well, a square and a
half distant from the parsonage,
From time to time, however, the poverty stricken and
hard worked ministers had glorious compensations in the
visible results of their work. The following paragraphs
are also from Bishop Morris' Life :
The most remarkable demonstration of the Spirit took place in Wes-
ley chapel, at "a watch-night service on New Year's eve, when hundreds
were prostrate at the same time, pleading for mercy, the joyful shouts
158
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of new-born souls mingling with the earnest cries of the penitent. The
house was crowded above and below, and in every part of it the cry
arose, "What must I do to be saved ?" Not less than fifty were con-
verted, that evening, and fifty-six united with the church on probation.
Forty-seven were added to the Fourth street church the next night, and
seventeen at McKendree. From that time the revival was regarded as
general in all the congregations, and continued with very little abate-
ment for months. During this great work of grace the official business
of the church was not neglected. The class-meetings were held regu-
larly, and proved to be the most powerful auxiliary to the more public
services; society meetings were held often, to which none but members
and penitents were admitted. Much care was taken to instruct peni-
tents and watch over those who had been admitted on trial as seekers of
salvation; and, as a result of this judicious administration, they were
nearly all converted, and became living and useful members.
Early in the spring the pastors held a series of meetings in the several
charges, beginning on Friday and closing with a love-feast on Monday
night. At these meetings they concentrated all the Methodistic forces
in the city day and night, except Sabbath, and the result in every in-
stance was glorious. At the close of such an effort in Fulton, the very
foundations of wickedness seemed broken up. Wives who had long
prayed for their husbands, and mothers who had wept in secret for
their prodigal sons and worldly-minded daughters, saw them fall down
at the foot of the cross to plead for mercy, and heard them rejoice sub-
sequently in their glorious deliverance from the bondage of sin. The
reformation of morals in that part of the city was very striking, and the
church grew and multiplied.
Upon the whole, this was a memorable year in the history of Method-
ism in Cincinnati. While hundreds were made sorrowful by the loss of
dear friends, more still were permitted to rejoice over the salvation of
relatives and neighbors. The whole number of applicants for member-
ship on probation was thirteen hundred ; but as some of these were
transient persons, driven out of the city by want of employment, and
others were swept off by the wasting epidemic, the number enrolled by
the preachers, who were very careful not to admit improper persons,
was but one thousand.
The state of Methodism in Cincinnati, as exhibited by
statistics at the annual conference of 1880, is highly
prosperous. The Methodist Episcopal churches of the
city then were Wesley, Trinity, Asbury, St. Paul, St. John,
Christie, Finley, York-street, Pearl-street, M'Kendree,
McLean, Fairmount, Mount Auburn, Walnut Hills,
Cumminsville, Pendleton, and Columbia — seventeen in
all. These reported three thousand six hundred and
thirty-seven full members and one hundred and fifty-two
probationers; one hundred and thirty-nine children and
sixty-four adults baptized during the conference year;
twenty- six local preachers; church property valued at
four hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred dol-
lars; four parsonages, with a probable value of thirty-
nine thousand dollars; and about four thousand dollars
expended for building and repairs during the year. One
church (St. Paul's) reported a church edifice valued at
two hundred thousand dollars, and a parsonage worth
twenty thousand dollars; a membership of five hundred,
and seventeen probationers; paid minister two thousand
and sixty-nine dollars. The east Cincinnati district, which
includes a number of country churches, reported forty-
five Sunday-schools, with seven hundred and eleven offi-
cers and teachers, five thousand four hundred and forty
scholars, and an average attendance of three thousand
six hundred and thirty-one. West Cincinnati district:
forty-nine Sunday-schools; six hundred and eighty-nine
officers and teachers; five thousand eight hundred and
thirty-seven pupils, average attendance, four thousand
three hundred and ninety-eight.
The Methodist book concern and the Wesleyan Female
college will receive due notice in other chapters.
SWEDENBORGIANISM.
The next church in Cincinnati, after the organization
of the Methodists in 1804, was probably the New Jeru-
salem society, founded in 181 1 by the Rev. Adam
Hurdus, the father of Swedenborgianism in the north-
west. In 1 819 the society had between forty and fifty
members, and was about to build a church edifice of
forty by twenty-six feet. The denomination has since
fairly grown and prospered, and now has a congregation
of more than four hundred, worshipping in a fine build-
ing on the southwest corner of Fourth and John streets.
It maintains a good library of the works of Swedenborg
and other denominational writers, which is freely open
to the public.
THE FRIENDS
had one of the earliest meeting-houses in the city — a
plain wooden structure originally built for other purposes,
shown upon the old maps a little west of Western row,
between Fourth and Fifth streets, upon a small lot
bought with the building by the "Meeting." These people
were very few here before 1812, when several families came
in from the interior of the Miami country, from Virginia,
Nantucket, Massachusetts, and other points. The large
immigration of 1804-5, from the States south of Virginia,
had brought many Friends into this region, and on the
thirteenth of September, 1808, the "Miami Monthly
Meeting" had been formed at Waynesville, and under its
oversight a number of "indulged meetings" in care of
committees had been established, of which the meeting
at Cincinnati was probably one. In 1813, a "prepara-
tion meeting for discourse" was opened here, by order of
the Waynesville. body; and the next year the Cincinnati
society was itself made a regular monthly meeting.
About thirty-two families were in the meeting in 1815,
and four years thereafter about forty families and one
hundred and eighty individuals. There are now two
societies of Friends in the city — the Orthodox congrega-
tion, meeting at the corner of Eighth and Mound, and
the Hicksite congregation, on Fifth, between Central
avenue and John street.
THE BAPTISTS.
The first Baptist church of Cincinnati was formed in
1 8 13, by eleven members. They worshipped at first in
a log house on Front street, but soon in a spacious brick
building, still (1880) standing on the northeast corner of
Sixth street and Lodge alley, and used as a stable. In
1816 a division occurred in the church, resulting in sep-
aration, each party claiming to be the ''First Baptist
church." A council convened in March to settle the
differences, and adjudged the majority party to be the
church, as against the minority, consisting of the pastor
and six laymen. These contin tied an organization known
as the "Enon Baptist church," but had no associational
relations, and soon dissolved. The "Original and Regu-
lar First Baptist church," as it was officially known, also
disbanded in 1831, the few .remaining members going
into the Sixth (now Ninth) street church. Meanwhile,
January n, 1821, a colony of twenty-nine members was
sent off to form the "Enon Baptist church of Cincin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
iS9
nati," the other church of this name having ceased to
exist. The new society was incorporated September 27,
1821, and again February 7, 1832. March 5, 1838,
seven years after the dissolution of the original First, the
name of this church was legally changed to the "First
Baptist church of Cincinnati," by which it has since been
known.
September 5, i82i,alotwas purchased of N.Longworth
on the west side of Walnut, between Third and Fourth
streets, upon which a brick church, with sittings for seven
hundred, was dedicated March 16, 1822. A business
block, known as the "Church Building," now stands upon
the site. July 25, 1831, Mr. Longworth sold the society
a lot in the rear of this, where another house of worship
was opened the next year. The rear part of Van Ant-
werp, Bragg & Company's great publishing house stands
upon this lot. October 10, 1841, another church edifice
was dedicated on the southeast corner of Seventh and
Elm streets, which was sold in 1844, through the pres-
sure of indebtedness to the Fifth Presbyterian church, a
small meeting house and lot at the corner of Ninth and
Elm being received in part payment. This building, the
"Bethel church," had been erected in 1829 by some Bap-
tists who seceded from the Enon church four years be-
fore, to follow the Rev. John Boyd, who had been
excluded. It disbanded in about two years after occu-
pying this house. The First church worshipped in it for a
time, and then met in the Medical college on the north-
west corner of Court and Plum streets, while their pres-
ent building on Court street and Wesley avenue was
erecting. The corner stone of this was laid April 19,
1847; the lecture room was occupied July 25; and about
August 1, 1848, the church was dedicated. It has since
been improved by the addition of a clock, in 1850; a
baptistry, in 1852; a pipe organ, 1866; enlargement of
vestry and addition of sexton's house, 1870; more rooms
for sexton and Sabbath-school, 1875; and a total renova-
tion, with the addition of reflector lights, in 1877. No-
vember 11, 187 1, a dwelling adjoining the church was
bought for a parsonage, for ten thousand dollars. Sep-
tember 1, 1826, about three acres were bought for a cem-
etery, and used for many years. In 1848 it was offered
to the Cincinnati orphan asylum, almost as a gift; but
was declined. It was finally, May 1, 1867, mostly leased
to the Hamilton County Building association, with the
privilege of purchase.
Some notable revivals have occurred in the First
church — among them one in 1828, under the preaching
of Rev. Jeremiah Vardeman, of Kentucky, which added
one hundred and sixty-nine members by baptism, so en-
larging the society that a colony of one hundred and
eighteen was sent off to form the Sycamore street church.
This afterwards accepted the doctrines of Alexander
Campbell, and became what is now the "Central Chris-
tian Church," on Ninth street. In 1835, forty-five col-
ored members were dismissed to form the "African
Union Baptist Church." In December, 1846, another
colony formed the Walnut street Baptist church. In
1869, a union of the Second and First churches was ef-
fected, the name of the latter being retained. Three
Baptist societies of the city had their origin entirely in
this, and parts of several others. In 1849 its Sabbath-
school numbered four hundred and thirty-four, and was
considered the largest and most prosperous in the denom-
ination west of the Alleghanies.
The- following is the succession of pastors for sixty
years: Samuel Eastman, November, 182 1, to July 2,
1822; James Boyd, September, 1823, to March 24, 1825;
James Challen, October 1, 1825, to October 1, 1827;
James A. Ranaldson, November 30, 1827, to April 8,
1828; George Patterson, D. D., October 28, 1828, to his
death, December 23, 1831; J. B. Cook, 1834-7; William
A. Brisbane, 1838-41; T. R. Cressey, 1843-4; D. Shep-
ardson, April 4, 1845, t0 August 18, 1855; Nathaniel
Colver, March 22, 1856, to December 10, i860; E. G.
Taylor, March 22, .1861, to January 11, 1864; N. Judson
Clark, December 22, 1864, to July 2, 1865; Andrew C.
Hubbard, November 20, 1865, to October 30, 1868; S.
A. Collins, August 23, 1869, to March 4, 1872; Rev. S.
K. Leavitt, December 1, 1872, to this writing.
The total number received into the First church, to
September, 1879, was two thousand three hundred and
seventy-eight — by baptism, one thousand one hundred
and sixty; by letter, one thousand one hundred and
thirty-two; by experience, eighty-six.
THE PIONEER GERMAN CHURCH.
A German Christian (or German Lutheran and Re-
formed) church was started in 1814, under the Rev. Jo-
seph Zesline, who remained in charge of it until his
death in 18 18. The Rev. L. H. Myer was in charge of
it in 1826, when it was occupying a neat brick church on
the north side of Third street, between Broadway and
Ludlow, not far from where the Trollopean Bazaar was
afterwards built. Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his recollec-
tions of the churches of 1825 in Cincinnati, speaks of
this as a "small but earnest congregation."
WESLEYAN METHODIST.
This was incorporated in 1817. It was the Rev.
William Burke's church, occupying for many years the
old pioneer Presbyterian building, on Vine street, between
Fourth and Fifth.
EPISCOPACY.
The first Protestant Episcopal church in Cincinnati
was Christ church, so-called, probably, from the church
of that name in Hartford, Connecticut, to which had
ministered the Rev. Philander Chase (afterwards Bishop
Chase) through whose instrumentality the church in Cin-
cinnati organized. It was formed at the house of Dr.
Daniel Drake, on East Third street (still in existence
and occupied by Mr. F. Schultze), May 18, 181 7.
Among the original members of the parish (twenty-two in
all, though it is said there were but three communicants)
were General Harrison, Griffin -Yeatman, Arthur St.
Clair, jr., Jacob Baymiller, and other leading citizens of
that day. The little congregation met at first in a large
room of a cotton factory on Lodge alley, between Fifth
and Sixth streets; then in the old First Presbyterian
church; then, on and after March 23, 1818, in the Bap-
tist building on West Sixth street, which was afterwards
i6o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
bought by the church. The Rev. Samuel Johnston was
called as rector about this time, when not far from fifty
families were regularly attending the services. A burial
ground and site for church were bought in 1818, for
three thousand five hundred dollars. February 19, 1819,
steps were taken to purchase the first organ, which served
until the new church was built in 1835, when another
was bought at an expense of one thousand seven hun-
dred dollars. Twelve communicants were added this
year, which, with eight previously had, made a total of
twenty. The first Episcopal visitation was that of Bishop
Chase this year, in October, when he spent two Sundays
with this church. The first sale of pews in the Sixth
street church occurred April 4, 1820. Fifty out of fifty-
five were sold, for the total sum of eight hundred and
ninety-one dollars. The female benevolent society at-
tachea to the church was organized January 24, 1820.
May 17, i82r, the church was regularly incorporated,
under the legal title of the "Episcopal Society of Christ
Church, Cincinnati." In 1828 Rev. Mr. Johnston re-
signed, after a pastorate of ten years and three months,
but under circumstances which prompted him to lead off
a formidable secession from the society, to form the new
parish of St. Paul's, of which he became rector, reporting
fifty-five communicants the first year, while Christ church
reported but thirty-two. The Rev. B. P. Aydelott was
called to the latter from Grace church, Philadelphia, and
previous to his arrival the congregation was served for a
time by a Methodist clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Bishop, to
whom a very cordial vote of thanks, as also pecuniary
compensation, was tendered by the vestry. Mr. Aydelott
"began his service in early May, 1828. Building improve-
ments were made at a cost of two thousand six hundred
and twenty-seven dollars and eighty cents, and a salaried
organist, Mr. During, was obtained, for the sum of one
dollar per Sabbath. November 8, 1833, the lot now oc-
cupied by the church on the north side of Fourth street,
between Sycamore and Broadway, one hundred feet
'front by one hundred and thirty feet deep, was bought
for nine thousand dollars. The building committee sub-
mitted a plan of the famous old Stepney church, in Lon-
don, as that of a proposed edifice on this site, and it was
adopted. While the church was building the society
worshipped in the Mechanics' Institute hall. Dr. Ayde-
lott resigned from increasing infirmities, January 2, 1835,
and the Rev. J. T. Brook, of Georgetown, District of
Columbia, succeeded him in the fall of the same year.
In June, 1835, the diocesan convention met in the new
church, which was completed at a cost of fifty-five thou-
sand dollars. Rev. Thomas Howell, and then Rev. Al-
fred Blake, were employed as assistants to the rector.
Mr. Brook's rectorship extended over sixteen years — the
longest the church has had — and until August 15, 1847,
when he accepted a. professorship in the theological
seminary at Gambier. Bishop Mcllvaine served as rec-
tor pro tempore about two years, and Rev. Mr. Blake for
two years more, when the Rev. Dudley A. Tyng was
called and remained a little over a year. Then, in 1854,
came the Rev. C. M. Butler, D. D., of Washington city,
who was rector five years, and was followed for three
years by the Rev. Kingston Goddard, D. D., and he for
four years by Rev. John McCarty, an ex-chaplain in the
army. The rectors since have been Rev. W. A. Snively,
1867-70; Rev. T. S. Yocum, 1870-6; and the present
incumbent of the rectorship, the Rev. I. Newton Stan-
ger. In i860 the Episcopal burying-ground was sold to
the city for thirty-five thousand dollars, and now forms a
part of Washington park, opposite the music hall. Dur-
ing the sixty-one years of the existence of this church
1817-78, its aggregate contributions, for purely mis-
sionary and chatitable purposes, were not less than two
hundred thousand dollars. Nine persons have gone into
the ministry from the congregation. The benevolent
society, within the last twenty-five years, has collected
and expended nearly twenty-five thousand dollars, and
probably sixty thousand dollars from its beginning in
1820.
In 1878 a neat and clear Short History of Christ church
was published by the rector, Rev. Mr. Stanger, from
which the foregoing account has been abridged.
ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
The organization of. churches of the Catholic faith in
Cincinnati dates from 18 18. The first society had
about one hundred members in 1819. A frame church
had been built for it in the Northern Liberties; but no
priest was yet settled over it. In 1823 Dr. Fenwick was
appointed Bishop of Cincinnati, and dedicated a few
months afterwards a frame church erected on Sycamore
street, above Sixth, where so many Catholic buildings,
for worship and education, have since been erected. In
1826 a brick building was added, and a theological
seminary and college were in contemplation. There
were now a bishop and four priests in the city. Several
nuns of the order of " Poor Clares " had lately arrived
from Europe and opened a school with sixty pupils.
Arrangements were also in progress to open a boarding
school. The brick church, the old St. Peter's Cathedral,
was a neat example of Gothic architecture, planned by one
of the early architects here, Mr. Michael Scott. It was
one hundred and ten by fifty feet upon the ground, but
only thirty from the basement to the cornice. On each
side were four handsome windows, fifteen feet high. It
had eighty-eight pews on the first floor, with a large gal-
lery or orchestra. The principal decoration of the
church was a large painting by Verschoot, representing
the investiture of a religieuse; but there were a number
of other valuable paintings on the walls. The interior
was handsomely furnished, and was a spacious and ele-
gant room, seating about eight hundred persons.
The Athenaeum, now St. Xavier College, was estab-
lished in 1 83 1. The original building for it still stands
on Sycamore street, between Sixth and Seventh ; but is
now considerably overshadowed by the" splendid church
and college edifices near it.
The present St. Peter's Cathedral, on the southwest
corner of Eighth and Plum streets, is considered to be
the most elegant and interesting church edifice in the city.
It was commenced in 1839, and consecrated five years
afterwards. Mr. Cist's next volume thus speaks of it :
Not a drop of ardent spirits was consumed in the erection of the
M-4y^ .
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
161
Cathedral, and notwithstanding the unmanageable shape and size of
the materials, not an accident occurred in the whole progress of the
work. Every man employed about it was paid off every Saturday
night ; and, as the principal part of the labor was performed at a sea-
son of the year when working hands are not usually employed to their
advantage, much of the work was executed when labor and materials
were worth far lets than at present. The Dayton marble alone, at
current prices, would nearly treble its original cost. The heavy dis-
bursements have proved a seasonable and sensible benefit to the labor-
ing class. The entire cost of the building is one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars. .
It is in size two hundred by ninety-one feet, with a
remarkably graceful and symmetrical spire two hundred
and twenty-one feet high, springing from a colonnade of
eighteen freestone columns, thirty-three feet in height and
three and a half in diameter. The tower and spire alone
cost twenty-five thousand dollars. The altar is of Car-
rara marble, with two sculptured angels on each side,
from the chisel of Hiram Powers. A fine organ, with
forty-four stops and twenty-seven hundred pipes, occu-
pies the east end. Among the numerous fine paintings,
some of them by celebrated artists, which adorn it,
may be seen Murillo's " St. Peter Liberated by an
Angel," taken by the French from the Spaniards during
the Peninsular war, and presented to Bishop Fenwick by
Cardinal Fesch, uncle of the first Napoleon. St. Peter's
contains the only chime of bells in the city — a set of
eleven, which, with the great clock attached, was presented
to the church in 1850 by Mr. Reuben R. Springer, the
benefactor of the Music Hall.
One of the most useful of Cincinnati Catholics to the
denomination, it may be here remarked, has been this
venerable philanthropist, Mr. Springer, a member of St.
Peter's. While the cathedral for his church was building,
he gave ten thousand dollars toward it, and then five
thousand dollars to finish the tower and spire, five thou-
sand dollars for the clock and chimes, four thousand
eight hundred dollars for the heating apparatus, two thou-
sand two hundred dollars for four stained glass windows,
one thousand five hundred dollars for the grand central
altar, which he had made in Italy; and seven hundred
dollars toward the Episcopal residence, which cost five
thousand dollars. Mr. Springer thus gave nearly thirty
thousand dollars. To the Refuge of the Sisters of the
Good Shepherd, on Bank street, he gave five thousand
dollars toward the front building, and himself put up the
interior building at a cost of nine thousand dollars. He
afterwards gave one thousand dollars to replace a roof
blown off, and for the Girl's Protectory on Baum street,
managed by the same order, he. gave five thousand dol-
lars. He also gave the Sisters of Charity, for the Good
Samaritan hospital, five thousand dollars; and large sums
to the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's, the Orphan Asy-
lum at Cumminsville, and other institutions, besides
yearly benefactions to a very large amount.
In 1832 Bishop Fenwick died of cholera, and was suc-
ceeded by Bishop (Archbishop since 1850) Purcell, who
^has now served his church in the Valley of the Ohio for
more than half a century. He was born at Mallern, in
the south of Ireland, in 1800, and came to America at
the age of eighteen, entering a Methodist college at first,
but completing his preliminary education at the Seminary
of St. Mary's, near Emmettsburgh, Maryland. He then
studied for two years at St. Sulpice, near Paris, and there
received sacred orders. In 1827 he returned to America,
and until 1832 was Professor of Moral Philosophy and
officiating priest in the Mount St. Mary's Theological
Seminary near (now in) Cincinnati.
It would require a large volume to record in detail the
remarkable developments of Catholicism in this city. It
now claims here a Catholic population of one hundred
thousand, with about forty churches and a dozen or more
chapels, besides convents, colleges, academies and other
schools, hospitals, and other institutions, some of which
will be noticed in future.
About 185 1 the Archiepiscopal See of Cincinnati was
created, with Archbishop Purcell as its head, and suffra-
gans at Detroit, Cleveland, Louisville, Vincennes, Fort
Wayne, the Sault Ste. Marie and Covington. The
creation of the new See was justly regarded as an import-
ant event in western Catholicism.
The Confraternities of the church in Cincinnati, accord-
ing to Sadlier's directory, are: St. Peter's Cathedral —
The Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart of. Jesus; the Con-
fraternity of the Scapular and Rosary; the St. Peter's, St.
Patrick's and St. Joseph's Benevolent societies; the
Brotherhood of St. Michael; the Young Ladies' Sodality,
the Married Ladies' Sodality, the Young Men's Sodality,
and the Boys' Sodality; the Conferences of St. Vincent
de Paul, of the Immaculate Conception, and the Mary
and Martha society; the Guild of the Blessed Virgin;
St. James Total Abstinence society; Sodality of the
Sacred Heart; the Children of Mary. St. Xavier's — the
confraternities of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the
Immaculate Conception; the sodalities of the Holy
Maternity, the Holy Family, the Blessed Virgin, of St.
Aloysius', the Living Rosary, and the Scapular, and the
societies of the Holy Infancy and of the Apostleship of
Prayer. St. Philomena's — De Agonia societies, St. Charles
Borromeo, Helena, Christi, Sacred Heart, Laurentina,
Philomena, Sodality B. V. M. St. John's — the Archcon-
fraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; the confra-
ternity of the Scapular; Young Ladies' Sodality; St.
John's, St. Elizabeth's, St. Louis's, and St. Rose's
societies. St. Augustine's — St. Mary's, St. Aloysius's,
and St. Augustine's societies; the confraternity of Bona
Mors; the Sodality of the Children of Mary. St. Fran-
cis's— the confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;
the confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; the
Young Men's Sodality; St. Francis's, St. Clara's, St. An-
thony's, and Immaculate Conception societies. St.
Mary's — the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, and the confraternity of the Rosary. St. An-
thony's— St. Anthony's, St. Vincent's, St. Mary's, and St.
Clara's societies. St. Joseph's — St. Joseph's, St. Aloys-
ius's, St. Mary's and St. Clara's societies. St. Edward's —
St. Edward's, St. Vincent de Paul's, and Bona Mors so-
cieties; the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception. St.
Paul's — Young Ladies' "Sodality; the confraternity of the
Bona Mors; [the] confraternity of the Scapular; St.
Paul'S^St. Paula's, St. Raphael's, St. Mary's, and St.
162
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Vincent de Paul societies. Holy Trinity — the confrater-
nity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Pius's, St. Boniface's,
St. Mary's, and St. Catharine's societies. St. Patrick's —
Sodalities for men, for young ladies and for boys; St.
Vincent's, Rosary, and Sanctuary societies. All Saints' —
Sodality of the Immaculate Conception, society of the
Living Rosary, confraternity of the Sacred Heart, All
Hallows' School society. Holy Angels' — the confrater-
nity of the Scapular; the Altar society. St. Francis of
Sales' — the confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;
St. Francis's, and St. Mary's Altar societies. St. Bona-
ventura's, Fairmount — the confraternities of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and Mary. St. Aloysius's, Cummins-
ville — the Sodalities of the Immaculate Conception and
of the Most Blessed Sacrament; St. Patrick's R. C.
Benevolent society; St. Vincent de Paul society. St.
Michael's, Storrs — the confraternity of the Blessed Sacra-
ment. St. Ann's (colored) — the confraternity of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus; the B. Clavers School society.
When the report was made to Sadlier's directory for
1880, of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, including the
counties of Ohio south of the northern line of Mercer,
Allen* and Hardin, west of the eastern line of Marion,
Union, and Madison, and the Scioto river to the Ohio,
there were within that jurisdiction one hundred and
ninety-five churches, two churches building, eighteen
chapels, sixty stations, one hundred and sixty-eight
priests, one hundred and twenty students in theological
seminaries, seven male and eight female religious com-
munities, two theological seminaries, three colleges,
twelve literary institutes for girls, three orphan asylums,
one protectory for boys (Delhi), two hospitals, ten char-
itable institutions, one hundred and forty parochial
schools, and a Catholic population of two hundred thou-
sand.
JUDAISM.
The first Jew is said to have landed in Cincinnati in
March, 181 7. The people of his faith increased with the
years, however, and in 1835, w'tn some aid from others
in the community, they were able to build a synagogue.
In 1840 they formed three per cent, of the population;
and in 1850 there were three thousand three hundred
and forty-six Israelites in the city.
A Jewish congregation was in existence here as far
back as 1822. Four years thereafter its membership was
noted as steadily increasing. A frame building west of
Main, between Third and Fourth streets, was then used
as a synagogue.
In 1830 the Congregation of the Children of Israel,
Reformed, was organized. They now occupy a building,
erected in a modified Gothic style, finished at a cost of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and dedicated,
August 27, 1869 — the Mound street Temple, on the
corner of Eighth and Mound streets. The membership
of this synagogue includes over two hundred families.
The congregation of Benai-Jeshurun, or the Children
of Jeshurun, Reformed, dates from 1844. It is the strong-
est and wealthiest Jewish society in this city. It occu-
pies one of the most elegant, unique, and costly houses
of worship in the city — the Hebrew temple at the corner
of Eighth and Plum streets, a synagogue of a pure
Moorish order of architecture, and beautifully up-
holstered and decorated. It was built during the late
war at a cost of two hundred and seventy-five thousand
dollars, exclusive of the grounds, and was dedicated in
1866. In 1874 elegant fresco work was added to the
value of nine thousand dollars. It has sittings for fifteen
hundred and forty people, and its membership reaches
two hundred and forty families. The celebrated rabbi,
Isaac M. Wise, is in charge of this congregation, and is
also president of the Hebrew Union college.
The congregation of Sherith Israel was formed in
1856, and has now a membership of nearly one hundred
families, worshiping on Lodge street, between Sixth and
Seventh streets.
The congregation of Brotherly Love is wholly Ger-
man. It uses a brick synagogue on the corner of John
and Melancthon streets, dedicated by Rabbi Wise in
1867.
Other Jewish congregations are the K. K. Adath
Israel, corner of Walnut and Seventh; and the Orthodox
Polish, Eighth street and Central avenue, which profes-
ses a peculiar ancient creed.
The Jewish institutions in Cincinnati also include the
Hebrew Union college, of which account will be given
hereafter; the Hebrew General Relief association, which
disburses nearly ten thousand dollars a year in weekly
pensions to the poor, particularly to widows and persons
disabled from active employments, and including desti-
tute Jews, who may be temporarily here. The Jews
have also maintained a hospital since 1847. It was at
first on Betts street and Central avenue, but in 1863 oc-
cupied the building now used, on the corner of Third
and Baum streets. About thirty persons can be accom-
modated in the two wards — one for male and one for
female patients — besides a number in rooms provided
for pay patients. It is solely for the benefit of Jews.
THE PULPIT IN 1825.
About the year 1825, the churches of the city were the
First Presbyterian, the First Baptist, the Enon Baptist,
Christ and St. Paul's Episcopal churches, the Methodist
Episcopal, the Wesleyan Methodist, the German Luther-
an and Reformed, the Roman Catholic, the Jewish con-
gregation, and an African church occupying a frame
building east of Broadway and north of Sixth street.
The Universalists were about to organize, and would
build the next year. The Reformed Presbyterians also
organized in 1826, and were to put up a church the next
summer. Rev. C. B. McKee was their first pastor.
Notwithstanding the churches of that day were so few,
as compared with the present number, there were some
notable and strong men in the pulpit. Mr. E. D. Mans-
field, in his Personal Memories, after giving Dr. Joshua
L. Wilson a warm eulogy, in terms similar to those we
have quoted from another book of his, speaks of Bishop
Fenwick as an ecclesiastic who "was much respected in
his own church — a native of Maryland and member of
the order of St. Dominic." Father Burke was then post-
master, but occasionally preached in his church on Vine
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
163
street. He was a Southern man, retaining many of the
old Southern political and social prejudices. "He was,"
says Mr. Mansfield, "always chewing tobacco, and, being
postmaster, "was always a Democrat. He was a strict
Methodist and an amiable man." Dr. John P. Durbin,
of the Methodist Episcopal church, he says, "was one of
the very few whom I thought orators. He was not strik-
ing in either imagery or argument, and yet he carried his
audience involuntarily along with him by the fervor of his
thought and the grace of his manner. He would begin
with a very low voice and gradually ascend and warm
with his subject." The Rev. Dr. B. P. Aydelott was
then the rector of Christ church, and afterwards presi-
dent of Woodward college, and an author and philan-
thropist of repute, "in all situations adorning, by his life
and worth, the profession to which he belongs." Dr. Ay-
delott is probably the only representative of the Cincin-
nati pulpit of that day who survived till 1880, he dying
in Cincinnati, where he had lived and done good works
for nearly sixty years, only last year. Rev. Samuel
Johnston, of St. Paul's, was a man "highly esteemed by
the congregation, and whose name has since been held
in grateful remembrance." Mr. Mansfield adds that
"the city had more churches in proportion to its popula-
tion than it has now; but I don't think the standard of
religion was any higher."
BY EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE
the churches of the city had greatly multiplied. There
were six Presbyterian churches — one Reformed Presby-
terian and one Scotch Presbyterian church — two Episco-
pal churches, four Methodist Episcopal, one Independent
Methodist (Father Burke's), one Methodist Associate,
three Baptist, one Catholic, and one each of German
Lutheran Reformed, Swedenborgian, Welsh Methodist,
Calvinistic, United Brethren, Unitarian, African, and
Restorationist Christian, and one Jewish synagogue.
The benevolent societies of the churches, or connected
with the religious movements of the day, had become
numerous here by the close of 1833. The following are
enumerated in the directory of that year: The Female
Bible society of the Methodist Episcopal church; the
Female Benevolent society of the Methodist Episcopal
church; the Miami District Sunday-school Union of the
Methodist Episcopal church; the Female Missionary and
Tract society of the Methodist Episcopal church; the
Female Society of Industry and of Foreign Missions of
the Enon Baptist church; the Education society, and the
Sunday-school society of the First Presbyterian church;
the Female Association for Foreign Missions, the Home
Missionary society, the Sunday-school society, and the
Female Tract society, of the Second Presbyterian church;
the Baptist Young Men's Education society; the Female
Burman Education society of the Sixth street Baptist
church; the Cincinnati Bible society and the French
Bible Society; the Cincinnati Branch Tract society; the
Female Tract society, and the Female Missionary society,
of the Third Presbyterian church; the Female Mission-
ary society, and the Missionary society of the First Pres-
byterian church; the Cincinnati Sunday-school Union;
the Wesleyan Sunday-school society; the Methodist edu-
cation society; the Female Indian Mission society of the
Second Presbyterian church ; Christ church Female Be-
nevolent and Missionary societies; the Female Benevo-
lent society of the Methodist church ; the Female Tract
society of the Third Presbyterian society; and the Young
Men's Temperance society.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR
the Cincinnati churches were visited by the Rev. Drs.
Reed and Mathieson, two eastern clergymen who travel-
led together over a large part of the then settled parts of
the country, and afterwards embodied the results of their
inquiries in a book entitled A Visit to the American
Churches. From this the following paragraph, by one of
the authors, is extracted:
Before I quit this place, let me throw a few particulars together.
You may have concluded, from what I have said, that religion is in a low
state here. In. one sense it is; but when you consider the rapid increase
of the people and the character of that increase, it is a remarkably ad-
vanced state. The population has grown at about one thousand per
year, and this great influx has been nearly all of a worldly and un-
promising nature. Yet there are twenty-one places of worship, and
they are of good size and well attended.
RELIGION HERE IN 1 838.
An interesting paragraph, highly complimentary to
Cincinnati, appears in the Travels in North America of
Mr. Buckingham, an Englishman, in 1838. After insti-
tuting a comparison between several cities of England,
Scotland, and the United States, greatly to the advantage
of the last, in the respect of population, churches, min-
isters, and communicants, he sets off Cincinnati, with its
thirty thousand inhabitants, twenty-four churches, twenty-
two ministers, and eight thousand five hundred and fifty-
five communicants, against Nottingham, England, with
fifty thousand, twenty-three, twenty-tl.ree, and four thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty-four of these, respectively;
and adds:
The contest between each of these cities, taken in pairs, is most strik-
ing; but in none is it more striking than in the last two, in which it is
seen that Cincinnati, a city not yet fifty years old, and the site of which
was a dense forest in the memory of many of its inhabitants, has now,
with little more than half the population of Nottingham, as many min-
isters and churches, and nearly twice the number of communicants,
that are possessed by this opulent and long-established manufacturing
town of England.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY,
in the course of his extensive travels in this country, Mr.
Buckingham personally visited Cincinnati, and left on
record the following remarks concerning the state of
religion here :
Of the religious sects and their respective numbers at present in Cin-
cinnati, the following is the nearest approximation to an actual census
that I could obtain:
Roman Catholics 12,000
Presbyterians 6,000
Methodists 5,000
Baptists ■ 4,000
Episcopalians 2,000
Unitarians 1,000
Universalists 500
Dunkards 100
The Catholics are not only the most numerous, but said to be the
nlost active, most zealous, and most rapidly increasing; their unity
giving them great advantages in this respect. The Presbyterians are
divided into Old School and New School; the Methodists into Ortho-
dox and Radical; the Baptists into Calvinists and Free-will Baptists;
the Episcopalians into High Church and Low Church; but the preacher
who draws the largest crowds is a Mr. Maffit, a sort of pulpit actor as
164
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
well as orator, and who, though a Methodist, is a beau in his dress and
a great revivalist with young ladies.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE
there were in Cincinnati two Roman Catholic churches,
two Protestant Episcopal, seven Methodist Episcopal,
three "Old School General Assembly" Presbyterian, four
New School Presbyterian, three New Jerusalem, two
Friends, three Baptist, and one each of Disciple, Meth-
odist Protestant, Independent Methodist, Reformed,
Associate Reformed Protestant, Unitarian, Congrega-
tional, Universalist, Restorationist, United German,
United German Protestant, German Lutheran, United
Brethren in Christ, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, and
Welsh Congregational churches, besides the Bethel
chapel and two synagogues. Among the religious organ-
izations were also the Foreign Missionary society of the
Valley of the Mississippi, the Western Education society,
the Home Missionary society, the Young Men's Bible
society, the Catholic society for the diffusion of religious
knowledge, and the Cincinnati Bethel society. Among
the preachers of the city were able and strong men like
Bishop Purcell, Lyman Beecher, Thornton A. Mills,
Jonathan Blanchard, William H. Channing, James Chal-
len, and others of note.
UNITARIANISM.
The First Congregational church had its origin some-
time in 1829, in a meeting held in the city council cham-
ber to consider the establishment of a Unitarian society
in Cincinnati. A charter was obtained at the next ses-
sion of the legislature, and bears date January 21, 1830.
The corporators named therein are Elisha Brigham, Jesse
Smith, Nathan Guiliord, George Carlisle, and William
Greene.. Others who took an active interest were Mica-
jah T Williams, Charles Stetson, Timothy Flint, John C.
Vaughan, James H. Perkins, William Goodman, and
other leading citizens. The Rev. Charles Briggs, repre-
senting the American Unitarian association, preached to
the new society during a part of 1830, in the Universalist
and Swedenborgian churches and elsewhere. May 23d
of that year, a church building was dedicated to its use
on the southwest corner of Race and Fourth streets;
sermon by Rev. Bernard Whitman, of Waltham, Massa-
chusetts, poem by the Rev. John Pierpont, and hymn
for the occasion by Mr. Timothy Flint. In September
the first regular pastor was received — the Rev. E. B.
Hall, since of Providence, Rhode Island. May 20,
1832, Rev. Ephraim Peabody became his successor.
Besides his pulpit labors, he engaged in the publication
of the Western Messenger, a monthly magazine, to which
Mr. Perkins and others of his congregation made valu-
able contributions. Ill health compelled his resignation,
and among the somewhat transient supplies that followed
were the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, father of the historian
Bancroft; C. A Bartol, Samuel Osgood, and James
Freeman Clarke — all since greatly distinguished in litera-
ture and the church; Christopher P. Ctanch, the poet-
painter; and William Silsbee. In August, 1837, Rev.
B. Huntoon became pastor, but resigned the next year.
The Rev. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, then filled
the pulpit for six weeks, others following him until the
winter of 1838-9, when the eminent W. H. Channing
preached with so much acceptance that a call was ex-
tended to him in March, and May 10, 1839, his installa-
tion took place. He resigned in January, 1844, after a
brilliant pastorate; and James H. Perkins, a lay-member,
occupied the pulpit for a time. The Rev. C. J. Fenner
was pastor from June to November, 1846, and Mr. Per-
kins became regular pastor, remaining until his death, in
December, 1849. I'1 l85° Rev- A. A. Livermore became
pastor, and two years afterward the western Unitarian
conference was organized in this city. The Rev. Moncure
D. Conway came from Washington city to the pastorate
in 1856, under whose ministry a portion of the members
withdrew, to form a second Unitarian society, under the
name of the Church of the Redeemer. This secured a
building on the southwest corner of Mound and Sixth
streets, and was ministered to by a number of famous
divines — as H. W. Bellows, A. P. Peabody, Thomas
Hill, Dr. William G. Eliot, and others, and by the Hon.
Horace Mann. Rev. A. D. Mayo was its pastor from
1863 to 1872, and was succeeded by the Rev. Charles
Noyes.
Mr. Conway resigned in November, 1862. Rev. C. G.
Ames occupied the pulpit during the most of the next
year. February, 1864, the church building and site were
sold, and the society met for a time in the Library Hall,
on Vine street. Revs. Sidney H. Morse, David A. Was-
son, Edward C. Towne, and H. W. Brown from time to
time ministered here. September 19, 1865, authority for
the purchase of the lot on the northeast corner of Eighth
and Plum streets was given. Rev. Thomas Vickers, after-
wards librarian of the public library and now rector of
the university of Cincinnati, began his pastoral work with
the church January 6, 1867. For some years services
were -held in Hopkins Hall, corner of Elm and Fourth
streets; but on the sixth of November, 1870, the new
building on Plum and Eighth was dedicated with a ser-
mon by Rev. Robert Collyer, of Chicago, and dedicatory
prayer .by Rabbi Dr. Max Lilienthal, of the Hebrew con-
gregation of the children of Israel, reformed. Mr. Vick-
ers preached his farewell sermon April 5, 1874, to accept
his appointment in the public library, and was succeeded
January 19, 1876, by the present pastor, Rev. Charles
W. Wendte, from Chicago here. Meanwhile, December
29, 1875, the two Unitarian societies had been reunited
under the original name of the First Congregational
church of Cincinnati, and was meeting in the Mound
street temple. 1'he Plum street church was refitted in
1879, and on Easter Sunday of that year was re-dedi-
cated and has since been continuously occupied. Janu-
uary 21, 1880, a celebration was had of the fiftieth anni-
versary of the founding of the church. An historical
sketch was prepared for it by Mr. John D. Caldwell, sec-
retary of the Cincinnati Pioneer association and a mem-
ber of the society, from which the foregoing account has
been abridged.
Unitarianism has a powerful auxiliary in the Unity club,
"a society for stlf-culture, social entertainment, and help-
fulness," which meets in the church parlors on alternate
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
165
Wednesday evenings, and conducts every winter a series
of Sunday-afternoon lectures in Pike's opera house. For
this some of the best American and foreign speakers have
been secured by a nominal admission fee, and the surplus
devoted to benevolent objects. The Ladies' Aid associ-
ation, of which Mrs. Henry C. Whitman is president, and
the Missionary society, which has Judge Manning F.
Force for president and the Hon. Alphonso Taft and Mr.
George Thurston for vice-presidents, are also useful arms
of the work of this church.
CONGREGATIONALISM.
The first society of orthodox Congregationalists which
is still in existence, is the Lawrence street church,
which is also sometimes designated as the Welsh Con-
gregational church. It was founded in 1840, and has its
meeting house on the west side of Lawrence street, at the
East End, between Third and Fourth.
The Vine street Congregational church and society
were, in their origin, the direct outgrowth of the
anti-slavery agitation of half a century ago. Their
manual to this day bears the brief but emphatic
statement: "The cause which originated this church
movement was pulpit defense of 'American slavery,'
drawn from the Bible, and denunciation of those who
agitated the subject of emancipation." The move-
ment thus referred to was the application of several mem-
bers of the First Presbyterian church of this city, April
5, 1831, to the Cincinnati Presbytery, then in session, to
be organized as the Sixth Presbyterian church of Cincin-
nati. The request was promptly granted, and the organ-
ization effected in the meeting house of the First church,
four days thereafter. The original members were Amos
and Mary Blanchard, A. F. and Louisa Robinson, Rev.
Franklin T. and Catharine Vail, Rev. Ralph and Sophia
Cushman, Chancy P. and Lydia Barnes, William S. Mer-
rell, Daniel Chute, Thomas L. Paine, Betsey H. Wash-
burn, Lewis Bridgman, Harriet Treat, William Holyoke,
Horace L. Bainum, Daniel K. Leavitt, Osmond Cogs-
well. The pronounced anti-slavery position of the new
church brought into its work, if not into membership, a
considerable number of the students of Lane seminary,
who were about this time developing- an aggressive sort
of Abolitionism. A few years afterward, in 1838, it was
flatly
Resolved, That no candidate applying for admission to the fellow-
ship of this church will be received by the session, who either holds
slaves or openly avows his belief that the holding or using men as prop-
erty is agreeable to God.
When the church subsequently went into Congrega-
tionalism, this resolve was unanimously re-affirmed.
Long before the vote, the society had taken equally
positive action upon temperance. The following resolu-
tion is said to represent the very first act of the new
church :
Resolved, That all persons admitted to this church adopt the princi-
ple of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, except for medi-
cine.
Wing's school-house, where the Gazette building now
stands, was the first meeting place. Worship was subse-
quently attended in the Bazaar, the college building, the
Universalist church on Walnut, Burke's church (the old
First Presbyterian) on Vine, and the Mechanics' insti-
tute. At last, February 18, 1836, the church property
owned by the Baptists on Sixth street was bought for
eight thousand dollars, and here services were held for
more than twelve years, when they were transferred, Oc-
tober 22, 1848, to the lecture room of the fine edifice
built and still occupied by the society, on Vine street,
near Ninth.
The Rev. Asa Mahan, well known as a writer upon
logic and other topics, and since president of Adrian col-
lege, Michigan, was the first pastor, August 25, 1831, to
May 1, 1835.' His successors have been: H. Norton,
June 1, 1835, to October 24, 1837; Artimus Billiard,
about four months from December 1, 1837; Jonathan
Blanchard, March, 1838, to November 9, 1845; C. B.
Boynton, September, 1846, to March 27, 1856, Novem-
ber 18, i860, to March 1, 1865, and October, 1873, lP
February 11, 1877; Starr H. Nichols, June, 1865, to
January 1, 1867; H. D. Moore, April 17, 1867, to May,
1873; and C. H. Daniels, December 20, 1877, to this
writing.
November 10, 1846, a unanimous vote was had to
change to Congregationalism, and reorganize as the Sixth
street Congregational church of Cincinnati. A change
of name was soon afterwards made to the Vine street Con-
gregational church, under an act of the legislature. Un-
der its auspices mainly were organized the Western Free
Missionary society, now merged into the American Mis-
sionary association, and the Reform Book and Tract so-
ciety, now flourishing as the Western Tract society.
About fifteen hundred persons have been received into
its membership since the beginning, a number of whom
have entered the Chistian ministry. Revivals have oc-„
curred in 1834, 1838, 1840, 1842, 1853, 1858, 1863,
1870, and 1877, the first and third of which brought each
seventy-two into the church. Its discipline has been
practical and thorough, and many have been cut off from
its communion for transgressions scarcely noticed in some
other churches. In the words of its manual, "an un-
trammeled pulpit, and the application of the gospel to
every known sin, have been and still are fixed principles
of action' in the life of this church." And we cannot
better close this review than in the words of one of its
former pastors, in his historical discourse of January 7,
1877:
After so many years cf varied experiences, here stands Vine street
church to-day— not weaker, not stronger — not despised, but respected
for her firm defense of the right ; stronger than ever, incumbered with
no debt, and ready, if baptized with the Holy Ghost, for still nobler
work.
The George street Presbyterian church, which was col-
onized by thirty seven members from the Second Presby-
terian church in 1843, became the First Orthodox Con-
gregational in 1847. It subsequently took {he title of
the Seventh street Congregational church, and has kept
the right to the name since by remaining upon that street,
where its house of worship is, on the north side, between
Plum street and Central avenue. The corner-stone of
this building was laid July 16, 18,45, wltn principal ser-
vices by the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher. The basement
i66
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
was occupied the same year; but the whole was not ready
for dedication until May 10, 1849, when the appropriate
ceremonies took place.
The Columbia and Storrs churches, with the Presby-
. terian and other old churches in Columbia and Cum-
minsville, will be noticed in chapters which treat of the
suburbs or townships.
LUTHERAN.
The pioneer church of this faith has already been no-
ticed very briefly. The Germans who first came to Cin-
cinnati were mostly Lutherans and Presbyterians; and in
1814 they united in forming a German Lutheran society,
whose first pastor was the Rev. Joseph Zesline, from
Philadelphia. By the next year, although they had no
place of assembly of their own, they met regularly for
preaching in German and English every Sunday. By
this time some benefit was derived to the early churches
from sales of land in the twenty-ninth section in every
township of the Miami Purchase, which was granted by
the General Government for the support of religion
therein. The law of the State made it the duty of the
trustees of the school sections to sell the ministerial sec-
tions in leases of ninety-nine years, renewable forever,
and divide the annual rents among the regular Christian
churches, in amounts proportioned to their numbers of
members, respectively. In this way, and by the aid of
their fellow-Christians of other denominations, whose
habit it was in those days to lend aid liberally in build-
ing for each other, the German Lutherans presently got
means together for a church.
The German Evangelical church, of the Lutheran
faith, now has its house of worship on Race, between
Fifteenth and Liberty streets. The German Protestant
society (St. John's), also Lutheran, meets at the corner
of Elm and Twelfth streets. There is one more Luth-
eran church in the city, the well-known English Evangel-
ical, on Elm street, between Ninth and Court.*
The Lutherans are sometimes called "the children of
the Augsburg confession." The confession is justly
styled the mother-symbol of the Reformation. The late
Dr. D'Aubigne, historian of the Reformation, charac-
terizes it as "a production which will remain one of the
masterpieces of the human mind enlightened by the
spirit of God." The Lutheran is an old orthodox
church, the child of the Reformation. It is by far the
largest of all the Protestant churches, from forty to fifty
million souls being now under her spiritual care. In the
United States it numbers seven hundred and fifty thou-
sand members, holding about the third place in this
country with the other families of Protestantism. It has
here between three and four thousand ministers, some of
whom are among the most famous divines in the coun-
try, as the Rev. Professor C. P. Krauth, D. D., LL D.,
of Philadelphia, Provost of the University of Pennsyl-
vania ; Rev. John G. Morris, D. D., LL. D., of Balti-
more; Rev. Professor J. A. Brown, D. D., LL. D., of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Rev. Mosheim Rhodes, D.
D., of St. Louis, Missouri; and many others.
* The matter that follows under this head is contributed in substance
by the Rev. J. M. Straeffer, of Cottage Hill, Columbia.
Thirty-nine years ago (in 1841) the first successful ef-
fort was made towards founding the first English Evan-
gelican Lutheran church in Cincinnati. Fifty-six years
ago, a well-known Lutheran clergyman, the Rev. Jacob
Crigler, of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where he was
then pastor of six congregations, passed through Cincin-
nati on his way to Florence, Kentucky. He enquired
whether there was an English Lutheran church in Cin-
cinnati, and was answered that there was not. In 1834
he removed from Pennsylvania to the neighborhood of
Florence. He was still concerned about the formation
of a church in Cincinnati. The writer of this account,
some years before the founding of this church, wrote
several letters touching this matter, to the editor of the
Lutheran Observer, which was published in Baltimore.
An extract from one of those letters is: "Could there
not be an English Lutheran church established in this
large city? Ought there not to be one here? Will not
the brethren in the east do something in this matter? If
other denominations, without materials for a church, are
succeeding in planting their standard among us, why
cannot Lutherans do the same, when materials are al-
ready prepared to their hands?" The founding of an
English church of this creed was too long neglected, and
if it had not been neglected there might now have been
here more than one.
The Rev. Jacob Crigler was president of the Mission-
ary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the
west, which met in Indianapolis October 5, 1841. This
syrtbd united with the , Evangelical Lutheran synod of
Ohio to support for one year the pious Rev. Abraham
Reck, of Indianapolis, as the English Lutheran mission-
ary for Cincinnati. Accordingly Mr. Reck came to Cin-
cinnati December 8, 1841, and the next Sabbath morn-
ing preached his first sermon here, in the upper room of
the engine-house situated on the corner of Vine and
Canal streets. In the afternoon the late Rev. John
Krack preached. He came to the Lutherans from the
United Brethren church, and remained with them till
his death.
The organization of the first English Lutheran church
was afterwards effected in the old college building on
Walnut street, on Sabbath, February 20, 1842, by the
Rev. Mr. Reck, assisted by the late venerable Rev. Jacob
Crigler, who preached an encouraging sermon on that
occasion.
Michael Straeffer, J. M. Straeffer, Hon. Henry Kessler,
Samuel Startzman, (the first superintendent of the Sab-
bath-school), Thomas Heckwelder, Isaac Greenwald,
David Hawley, J. E. Jungeman, (musician), Mark
Dorney, Adam Epply, Thomas Walter, William Walter,
John Lilley, John Everding, John Meyers, George Meyers,
Andrew Erkenbrecker, (superintendent of the Sabbath-
school for awhile), Frederick Rammelsberg, Charles
Woellner, and Henry Stuckenberg, with their wives, were
some of the first members; and also the widows McLean,
Whegroff, Seiters, and Lowrie. Mr. Reck remained
pastor until November 30, 1845. A learned living di-
vine said that he "was one of the holiest men I ever
met." This faithful servant of God died at Lancaster,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
167
Ohio, May 18, 1869, at the age of seventy-eight years,
four mopths, and sixteen days. Quite a number of
prominent citizens became church members; such as
John Everhard, (a good singer, and for»some time super-
intendent of the Sabbath-school), Jacob Guelich, Herman
Schultz, Henry Schaeffer, Thomas Bowers, George
Fisher, Monroe Lowrie, Charles Whemer, Edward Lau-
ton, Mr. Reem, Mr. Man, and Alonzo Adams, (who was
for a long time chorister and superintendent of the Sab-
bath-school). A number of the early members are now
sleeping in the dust of the earth.
This church receives the Holy Bible as the word of
the living God, from first to last, from Genesis to Reve-
lation, with its prophecies, histories, commandments,
names, places, miracles, mysteries, invitations, threaten-
ings, exhortations, and promises.
The second pastor was the Rev. Dr. William H. Har-
rison. He assumed his pastoral labors April 18, 1846.
This was his first and only charge, which he held twenty
and a half years. He was stricken down in the meridian
of his days by cholera, November 3, 1866, at the age of
nearly forty-eight years. He was untiring in his calling.
The third pastor was the genial and impressive Rev.
Dr. Joel Swartz, one of the professors in Wittenberg col-
lege, Ohio. He remained about one year and a half.
The fourth pastor was the Rev. Dr. John B. Helwig,
now the efficient president of Wittemberg college. He
remained about four years and a half.
The fifth pastor was the Rev. Rufus W. Hufford. He
remained about a year and a half.
The sixth pastor was the meek and pleasant Rev.
Ephraim Miller. He took charge of this church March
1, 1875, and remained until October 1, 1878, a period of
three years and seven months.
The seventh and present incumbent is Rev. H. W.
McKnight, who is sometimes in his sermons flowery and
descriptive.
This church belongs to the Miami Synod of the Lu-
theran church, a district synod which is connected with
general synod of the Lutheran church in the United
States. There are several Sabbath-schools connected
with the church, which are in a prosperous condition.
The spiritual state of the church is good. The present
church edifice is situated on Elm, near Ninth street. It
is brick, with the front of Ohio freestone. It was built
in the year 185 1, and set apart to the worship of Almighty
God in 1854. Its people hold to the Paulinian doctrine,
which was rescued from oblivion and revived by the
Lutheran Reformation, which is justification by faith
alone. Articulus stantis vel cadentis ecdesiae.
THE DISCIPLES.
In 1826 the Rev. Alexander ' Campbell, then in the
prime of his spiritual energy and intellectual power, vis-
ited Cincinnati and preached his new doctrines at a series
of meetings with telling effect. As one result of his ar-
guments and eloquence, nearly the entire body of the
Sycamore Street Baptist church, a new and flourishing
congregation, was swept into the movement headed by
Mr. Campbell, and became a Disciple society, still under
the charge of its pastor, Elder James Challen, who after-
wards became through a long life, here and in Philadel-
phia, a shining light in the church of his adoption. The
Central Christian church, the first of the faith formed,
left Sycamore street and built on Walnut and Eighth in
1847, and in 1869 a superb building, costing one hun-
dred and forty-two thousand dollars, on Ninth street, be-
tween Central avenue and Plum, which they now occupy.
THE EARLY PREACHERS.
The Rev. Timothy Flint, who spent a winter in Cin-
cinnati nearly seventy years ago, and afterwards returned
and settled here, left this testimony in his interesting book
of Recollections:
Some of the ministers whom I heard preach here were men of con-
siderable talent and readiness. They were uniformly in the habit of
extemporaneous- preaching, a custom which, in my judgment, gives a
certain degree of effect even to ordinary matter. Their manner had
evidently been formed to the character of the people, and indicated their
prevailing taste, and had taken its coloring from the preponderance of
the Methodists and the more sensitive character of the people of the
South. They did not much affect discussion, but ran at once into the
declamatory. Sometimes these flights were elevated, but much oftener
not well sustained. For the speaking the whole was, for the most part,
moulded in one form. They commenced the paragraph in a moderate
tone, gradually elevating the voice with each period, and closing it with
the greatest exertion and the highest pitch of the voice. They then af-
fected, or it seemed like affectation, to let the voice down to the origi-
nal modulation, in order to run it up to the same pitch again.
And again :
What development the lapse of ten years may have given to the em-
bryo projects of humane institutions, which were now in discussion, I am
not informed to say. But the town has a character for seriousness,
good order, public spirit and Christian kindness, corresponding to its
improvement in other respects.
Mrs. Steele, author of A Summer Journey in the West,
in 1840, pays Cincinnati the following compliment in one
of her letters :
July 20th. — I am happy to inform you the state of religion and mor-
als in this place are such as would please every lover of Jesus and of
good order. One fact speaks for itself, there are here thirty churches.
There are also twelve public schools, and between two and three thou-
sand scholars, who are there educated. What a blessed thing is it to
see a city, instead of lavishing its surplus wealth upon theatres and
places of dissipation, erecting schools, and such respectable, nay, ele-
gant houses of public worship as we see in Cincinnati. The conse-
quences are seen in the circumstances and behavior of the people.
Here is no haunt of vice, no Faubourg St, Antoine, no Five Points;
the people keep the Sabbath, and are respectable and happy.
"MILLERISM."
In 1843-4 this delusion was propagated with great in-
dustry and zeal in Cincinnati by the Rev. Messrs. Hines,
Jacobs, and others. They began and carried on relig-
ious services for a time in the building of the Cincinnati
college, and finally, as their congregations and means in-
creased, they built a rough but convenient "tabernacle"
near Mill creek, a broad building of eighty feet square,
capable of seating two thousand hearers. They estab-
lished a newspaper organ called The Midnight Cry, and
succeeded in convincing a large number of persons in
the city and vicinity that the end of all things was at
hand. The close of 1843, tne twenty-third of March,
1844, and midnight of the twenty-second of October, of
the same year, were successively announced as the peri-
ods of the final winding-up of sublunary affairs. The
rest may be told in the pleasant words of Mr. Charles
i68
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Cist, who relates the story in the number of his Cincin-
nati Miscellany for November, 1844:
All these periods were referred to in succession in The Midnight Cry,
and so firmly was the faith of the Millerites fixed on the last calculation
that the number published for October 22d was solemnly announced to
be the last communication through that channel to the believers. In
this progress of things, both in the press and tabernacle, as might have
been expected, deeper exercises of mind among the Millerites was the
result, and within a few days of the twenty-second all the brethren had
divested themselves of their earthly cares, eating, drinking, and sleep-
ing only excepted. Chests of tools which cost forty dollars were gold
for three. A gold watch worth one hundred dollars was sacrificed for
one-fifth the value. Two brothers of the name of Hanselmann, who
owned a steamboat in company with Captain Collins, abandoned to
him their entire interest in it, alleging they had nothing farther to do
with earthly treasures. John Smith, an estimable man, once a distin-
guished member of the Baptist church and a man of considerable
property here, left it all to take care of itself. A distinguished leader
in this movement shut up his shop and placed a card on the door,
"Gone to meet the Lord" — which in a few hours were irreverently re-
placed by some of the neighbors with "Gone up."
One of the believers, the clerk of one of our courts, made up his bus-
iness papers to the twenty-second, and left later business to those who
were willing to attend to it. Another, a clerk in one of the city banks,
resigned his position in order to devote his entire attention to the sec-
ond advent preparations; and others settled up their worldly business,
paying their debts so far as was in their power, and asking forgiveness
of their unpaid creditors, when they were unable to discharge the ac-
count. Others, again, spent weeks in visiting relations and friends for
the last time, as they supposed. In short, after all these things, all
ranks and classes of the believers assembled at the tabernacle on the
nights of the twenty-second and twenty-third successively, to be ready
for the great evunt.
In the meantime considerable ill-feeling had been engendered among
the relatives of those who had become infatuated with these doctrines,
as they saw their wives or sisters or daughters led off by such delusions,
to the neglect of family duties, even to the preparing of ordinary meals
or attending to the common and everyday business of life. The spirit
of lynching was about to make its appearance. Crowds upon crowds,
increasing every evening, as the allotted day approached, aided to fill
the house or surround the doors of their building. A large share were
ready to commence mischief as soon as a fair opportunity should
present itself. On last Sabbath the first indications of popular dis-
pleasure broke out. Every species of annoyance was offered to the
Millerites at the doors of the tabernacle, and even within its walls, on
that and Monday evening — much of it 'highly discreditable to the ac-
tors. At the close of an exhortation or address, or even a prayer by
the members, the same tokens of "approbation, by clapping of hands and
stamping of feet, as are exhibited at a theatre or a public lecture, were
given here, interspersed with groans of "Oh Polk!" "Oh Clay!"
shouts of "Hurrah for Clay!" "Hurrah for Polk!" "Hurrah for Bir-
ney!" and loud calls of "move him," "you can't come it," varied oc-
casionally with distinct rounds of applause. A pigeon was let into the
tabernacle also, on Monday evening, to the general annoyance.
On Tuesday the crowds in and outside the building, still increasing,
and not less than twenty-five hundred persons being within the walls,
and nearly two thousand in the street adjacent, a general disturbance
was expected. But the mayor and police had been called on, and were
upon the ground and distributed through the crowd. The clear moon-
light rendered it difficult to commit any excess irresponsibly; and above
all, Father Reese, venerable for his age, erudition, and skill in theology,
and his magnificent beard, occupied the great mass outside the doors,
as a safety-valve to let off the superfluous excitement. At nine o'clock
the. Millerites adjourned — as it proved sine die — going home to watch
at their respective dwellings for the expected advent. They held no
tabernacle meeting on Wednesday evening, to the disappointment of
the crowd, which assembled as usual, and to which, by way of solace,
Reese again held forth. At nine o'clock the out-door assembly dis-
persed, also without day. Wednesday evening having dissipated the
last hopes and confounded all the calculations of the Adventists, they
have since, to a great extent, resumed that position in the community
which they previously held. The carpenter has again seized his jack-
plane, the mason his trowel, and the painter his brush. Eshelby has
tied on anew the leather apron, and Brother Jones again laid hold of
the cui rying-knife. The clerk in the bank, whose post was kept in
abeyance until he should recover from his delusion, is again at his desk,
and John the Baptist, by which well-known sobriquet one of the prin-
cipal leaders is designated, has gone back to his houses and his farms,
content to wait, as other Christians are waiting, for the day and hour
to come, as the chart has pointed it out.
A GREAT DEBATE
on theological questions was opened February 24, 1845,
in this tabernacle, between the Rev. Dr. N. L. Rice, of
the Central Presbyterian church, and Rev. E. M. Pin-
gree, of the Universalist faith, which was continued
through eight days. The house was thronged to over-
flowing, and large numbers climbed to the roof in immi-
nent danger of bringing it down and themselves with it.
Judge Coffin and Messrs. William Green and Henry
Starr, three prominent citizens of Cincinnati, were the
moderators, and all passed off quietly and in order.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE.
The Roman Catholics had twenty four .churches and
chapels in 1859, the Episcopalians seven churches, Old
School Presbyterians nine, New School just as many,
Reformed Presbyterians four, Baptists three, Disciples
four, Methodists twenty-one, Orthodox and Welsh Con-
gregationalists three, United Brethren in Christ three,
Lutheran eight, German Reformed three, Friends and
Universalists two each. The Hebrews had six syna-
gogues, and two congregations without synagogues.
There were one hundred and six Sabbath-schools (not
counting Roman Catholic or Jewish), with one thousand
nine hundred and eighteen teachers and thirteen thou-
sand eight hundred and ninety pupils, and forty thou-
sand nine hundred and twenty volumes in their libraries.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE.
Mr. James Parton, writing his article on Cincinnati for
the Atlantic Monthly, reckons the number of Jews in
the city at twelve thousand, with specially cultivated and
liberal rabbis in charge of the congregations. The other
churches were flourishing, but often changed their pas-
tors. "In .all Cincinnati," he writes, "there are but
three Protestant clergymen who have been there more
than three years."
The religious statistics of this year show a total of one
hundred and nineteen churches in the city — eleven
Baptist, twenty-three Catholic, sixteen Methodist, seven
Episcopal, six each of Old and New School Presbyteri-
ans, five Jewish, four each of German Evangelical
Union, Congregationalists, and Disciples, and three each
of German Reformed, German Methodist, Methodist
Protestant, Lutheran, United Presbyterians, Reformed
Presbyterians, United Brethren, and Unitarian, two of
Friends, and one each of the Christian, Independent
Methodist, Methodist Calvinistic, Colored Methodist,
New Jerusalem or Swedenborgian, Universalist, and
Union Bethel churches.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
At a meeting of the Presbyterian clergy of the city
held on Monday, November 29, 1880, the report of a
committee on religion in Cincinnati was presented, which
affords the latest bulletin on the subject to the time these
pages<are closed for the press. After recital of the inter-
esting and important fact that while the population of the
4-c^/t4<PZ)
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
169
city had increased greatly durirg the preceding five years,
the crime record had decreased by eleven per cent., the
committee uttered the following statements concerning
the condition of the church :
We begin our review twenty years ago, immediately after the great
revival of 1857 and 1858, when the church was greatly enlarged in num-
bers and quickened in all its activities. It is at a very prosperous
period, when Christian people were on the mountain top, and from
which point we might naturally expect a decline. There are several
lines of observation along which we can look to ascertain the condition
of the church at that time and at the present. We have only time to
follow out one line of observation — the membership of the church.
Of course by figures alone we cannot calculate the spiritual condition
of the church. We can not tabulate the works of the Spirit. But the
numerical condition indicates something of the spiritual sought to be
studied. It helps us to see whether we are making piogress or going
back.
The minutes of the two assemblies show that in i860 we had within
the corporation lines of the city ten Presbyterian churches, with a mem-
bership of two thousand and ninety-seven; in 1880 we have fifteen
churches, with a membership of three thousand seven hundred and
eighty-seven — a net gain in twenty years of one thousand six hundred
and ninety. During that time the population of the city has increased
from one hundred and sixty-one thousand and forty-four to two hun-
dred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and eight, showing that while
the city has increased in population fifty-eight per cent, the member-
ship of the churches has increased over eighty per cent. In some
years there has been a marked falling off in the rate of additions, but
the growth of our churches since i860 has been in advance of the growth
of the city.
Never before were our church-rolls more reliable than they are to-day,
having been subjected ta a more rigid revision than ever before. Some
may think that the progress in spiritual power has kept pace with the
growth in numbers, but all can see a growth that calls for our most pro-
found gratitude to God.
The membership of the Evangelical churches, as nearly as it can be
ascertained, is twenty-two thousand. We are not able to say in exact
figures what the membership was in i860, but we have ascertained
enough to say that the growth of the Protestant church has kept ahead
of the growth of the city.
We close this review of historic religion in Cincinnati
with some notices, necessarily brief, of religious societies
existing in the various periods of the city's life.
THE MIAMI BIBLE SOCIETY
Was organized in 1814, for the purpose of distributing
Bibles to the poor. The Rev. O. M. Spencer was first
president; Rev. Dr. Joshua L. Wilson, secretary; Mr.
William Burton, treasurer.
A Female Auxiliary Bible Society was formed in 18 16,
and had one hundred and thirty members three years
after. Mrs. H. Kinney was president; Mrs. C. C. Riske,
secretary; and Mrs. C. H. Davies, treasurer.
The Young Men's Bible Society, auxiliary to the Amer-
ican Bible Society, was formed in 1834, and answers the
usual purposes of a County Bible Society. All ministers
of the Gospel in Hamilton county are ex-officio honorary
members of the society. Anniversary meetings are held
every year— of late years on the third Tuesday evening
in October. At the annual meeting of 1880, the total
number of volumes sold and given away by the Society
to that date was reported as five hundred and eighty-five
thousand six hundred and fifteen. Branch societies had
been organized during the previous year at Cleves, Harri-
son and Wyoming, and societies were also existing at
Lockland and Reading, and at Whitewater. An exhibition
was made at the Industrial Exposition of the year, of
Bibles and Testaments in different languages, as kept for
sale at the depository of the Society. During the year
eight hundred and thirty-eight Bibles and nine hundred
and ninety Testaments were distributed gratuitously, not
only to families, but to the City Hospital, to station
houses, steamboats, hotels, the city workhouse, and other
institutions. The number of families visited was one
thousand six hundred and twenty-two, of whom three
hundred and eighty-seven were supplied with the Bible
by sale or donation, and only eighteen families found des-
titute of the Bible refused to receive it.
The following is a list of the officers of the Society
since its organization:
Presidents. — Salmon P. Chase, 1834-44; Edgar M.
Gregory, 1844-52; S. P. Bishop, 1852-60; W. H. Neff,
186069; J. P. Walker, 1870-72; C. W. Rowland, 1873-
75; J. Webb, jr., 1876-78; J. P. Walker, 1878-81.
Vice-Presidents. — Charles Shultz, 1834-39; John Ste-
vens, 1834-35; M. C. Doolittle, 1836; Isaac Colby, 1837;
John C. Vaughan, 1838-39; Carey A. Trimble, 1838-39;
Nathaniel Sawyer, 1840-44; Robert W. Burnet, 1844-48;
S. P. Bishop, 1848-52; J. P. Kilbreth, 1852-57; J. S. Per-
kins, 1858-60; David Judkins, 1860-64; J- R Walker,
1865-69; John H. Cheever, 1870; James M. Johnston,
187 1 ; C. W. Rowland, 1872; Joseph Richardson, 18734;
William J. Breed, 1874-5; John Webb, jr., 1875-6; Theo-
dore Baur, 1876-81.
Corresponding Secretaries. — Oliver M. Spencer, 1834-
36; Flamen Ball, 1837-48; R. W. Burnet, 1848; J. P.
Kilbreth, 1849-52; T. S. Pinneo, 1852-54; W. H. Neff,
1854-60; C. W. Rowland, 1860-64; A. L. Frazer, 1865-
68; Daniel Steele, 1869-73; George E. Stevens, 1873-75;
A. A. Clerke, 1876-78; William McAlpin, 1878-80; H.
B. Olmstead, 1880-81.
Recording Secretaries. — Flamen Ball, 1834-36; H. H.
Goodman, 1844; Timothy S. Pinneo, 1845-52; J. F.
Irwin, 1858-60; George E. Doughty, 1860-65; Theodore
Baur, 1866-68; Joseph Richardson, 1869-71; T. S. Peale,
1872-81.
Treasurers. — William T. Truman, 1834-41; John D.
Thorpe, 1841-68; Samuel Lovvry, 1869-81.
OTHER EARLY SOCIETIES.
In February, 181 7, that devoted Christian woman,
Charlotte Chambers, formerly wife of Colonel Ludlow,
and then the wife of Rev. Mr. Riske, led in the forma-
tion of an African association, for the benefit, especially
in a spiritual way, of the colored people. Its operations
were prosecuted energetically and resulted in much good.
An African school was organized by several leading Sun-
day-school superintendents of the city, in the north wing
of the Lane seminary building. Some of the pupils who
attended were over fifty years old. About seventy of
the colored people co-operated in the movement to edu-
cate their children for missionary labors and to sustain
schools for colored children in Cincinnati. This was the
first society of the kind in Ohio.
About the same time a number of Christian gentlemen
formed the Sunday-school Union society, in which the
payment of one dollar gave the contributor the right of
i7°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
membership. Any five members, co-operating with the
Sunday-school superintendent, could organize a branch
school, which was then furnished with necessary supplies
from the treasury of the society and taken into its frater-
nal care. The Cincinnati Sunday-school society, an-
other organization for similar purposes, was formed in
i8r8; the Wesley Sunday-school society the same year;
and the Sunday school society of the Episcopal church
in 1819.
A local tract society was formed in 1817, and the
Western Navigators' Bible and Tract society the next
year, for the dissemination of religious literature among
sailors and boatmen on the Western waters. About 1840
the American Tract society selected Cincinnati as a con-
venient point for the supply of its colporteurs in the west
and northwest, and the reshipment of books to them.
An agency was established at No. 28 West Fourth street,
which was then the local headquarters for the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the Amer-
ican and Foreign Christian union, the American Sunday-
school union, and the Young Men's Bible society. By
1850 the Tract society was distributing over fifty thou-
sand dollars' worth annually from this city.
In 1826 the chief religious and benevolent societies
'in the city were the Humane, the Miami Bible, the Fe-
male Auxiliary Bible, the Female association, the West-
ern Navigators' Bible and Tract, the Union Sunday-
school, and the Colonization societies — the latter an aux-
iliary to the American Colonization society.
In 1826 the chief religious and benevolent societies in
the city were the Humane, the Miami Bible, the Female
Auxiliary Bible, the Female association, the Wesfern
Navigators' Bible and Tract, the Union Sunday-school,
and the Colonization societies — the latter auxiliary to the
American Colonization society.
THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
This was the pioneer society of its name — now so
great and influential — in all North America. The pre-
liminary meeting was held October 8, 1848, by the male
teachers of the first mission Sabbath-school of the Cen-
tral Presbyterian church, at a meeting held "for the pur-
pose of taking into consideration the formation of a
society for mutual improvement in grace and religious
knowledge.'' On the fourteenth of the same month a
constitution was adopted, the preamble of which states
that they united "for the purpose of cultivating Christian
intercourse, of assisting each other in growth in grace
and knowledge, especially of enlarging our acquaintance
with the religious and educational condition of our coun-
try and the world, and fitting ourselves for rftore ex-
tended usefulness in the service of our Divine Re-
deemer." The name chosen was the " Young Men's
Society of Inquiry," which was shortly changed to "Cin-
cinnati Society of Religious Inquiry." The following
named seven were the original members of the society
signing the constitution: P. Garrett Rice, John Roberts,
William F. Mitchell, Samuel D. Mitchell, Joseph H.
Marshall, J. C. C. Holenshade and Moses A. Pollock.
Twenty-seven more were added during the first year, rep-
resenting five different denoninations. The first officers
elected were the following: P. Garret Rice, president;
Josiah Ramsey, vice-president; J. H. Hall, correspond-
ing secretary; M. A. Pollock, recording secretary; Wil-
liam F. Mitchell, treasurer. Regular meetings were held
twice a month, sometimes oftener, and two public meet-
ings for reports and addresses were held during the first
half year. Committees were early appointed to visit
Sunday-schools of the various denominations, to estab-
lish mission schools and visit the hospital and the or-
phan asylum. The first mission school was established
in April, 1849, on Cherry street, near Plum, and was
known as the First Mission. The following members of
the society were appointed officers: M. A. Pollock, su-
perintendent; George T. Cooke, assistant; W. F. Mitch-
ell, secretary. In August the Second Mission was organ-
ized, with Samuel Lowry, jr., as superintendent. Thir-
teen members were admitted, and twenty-two meetings
held in a room of the Third Presbyterian church, on
Fourth and John streets, during the second year. A
class of contributing members was constituted, giving
part privileges of membership to those who gave an-
nually two dollars or more to the Sabbath-school fund of
the society. A system of standing committees on in-
quiry and missions was adopted, . each committee to re-
port once a month. November 14, 1850, an amend-
ment to the constitution was adopted, requiring appli-
cants for membership to be "members in good standing
of an evangelical church." Twenty-five persons united
with the society during its third year. Steps were taken
to form a library, and a suite of rooms was leased in the
upper story of the building, No. 130 Walnut street, into
which the society entered January 9, 1851. They were
the first rooms of the kind in this country, and they were
in use nearly a year before the formation of any other as-
sociation. The Sabbath-school work of the society was
enlarged, and the Third and Fourth Mission schools
were established in neglected districts, at the East and
West ends. A change of location was made in the latter
part of January, 1852, to a new building, No. 28 West
Fourth street, a number associated with many religious
societies and enterprises.
In 1853 the name was changed to the cumbersome
title of "The Cincinnati Society of Religious Inquiry
and Young Men's Christian Union." In 1858 the former
half of this name was dropped; and in May, 1863, the
present name of Young Men's Christian Association was
adopted. For two or three years during the war, the as-
sociation exhibited little vitality and was practically dead.
On the eighteenth of July, 1865, however, it was revived
with a new constitution, which was amended on the sev-
enth of May, 1867. The earlier meetings of the revived
society were held in the Seventh street Congregational
church, until a room was leased at No. 54 West Fourth
street. This soon proved insufficient for the accommo-
dation of the society, and arrangements were made in
September, 1867, to remove to the building now occu-
pied, on the southeast corner of Sixth and Elm streets—
originally a hotel, known long, since as the Southgate
House. About 1866, a coffee and reading-room was
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
171
opened on John street, which soon became self-support-
ing. The drinking saloons in the vicinity lost much of
their custom, and four shut up altogether. After a time,
however, the association found it advisable to discontinue
this branch of effort.
In 1867 Mr. James Parton, in his article on Cincinna-
ti, written for the Atlantic Monthly, said:
The Young Men's Christian association is in great vigor at Cincin-
nati, tt provides a reading room, billiards, a gymnasium, bowling alleys,
and many other nice things for young men, at the charge of one dol-
lar per annum.
The association now engages in religious work at the
hospital, the workhouse, and the jail, and in numerous
open air meetings and cottage meetings at proper sea-
sons. At its own rooms it has social religious, deaf
and dumb social and religious, and gospel and song ser-
vices; Bible, Sunday-school teachers, primary Sunday-
school teachers, and normal Bible classes; the noon-day
prayer, the medical students' prayer, the strangers' prayer,
gospel temperance, and city missionary and Bible readers'
meetings; free concerts and lectures during the winter;
and some meetings of other societies not immediately
connected with its work. Boarding and employment
bureaus are maintained with much efficiency, and liter-
ary classes are formed under the most efficient teachers
in the city, who give their services without charge. The
reading rooms are kept amply supplied with current lit-
erature, and the library numbers about seven hundred
volumns.
The membership of the association November 1, 1880,
was one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight, making it
the fifth in numerical strength in the country. It had
twenty-three life, one hundred and eighty one sustaining,
one hundred and ninety-four associate, and seven hun-
dred and sixty active members. One hundred and twen-
ty members, in the different classes, had been added du-
ring the previous year. The attendance at religious meet-
ings in the hall during the year had aggregated forty thou-
sand seven hundred and twenty-two ; in the reading room
and library, forty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty.
Three hundred and nineteen had been directed to board-
ing-houses, and three hundred and thirteen situations ob-
tained by the employment bureau. Similar activity in
many other directions was shown by the reports.
THE GERMAN YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
This society was organized by a number of young
German Christians in the city, in February, 1873. The
objects of the association are —
1. The furtherance of Christian knowledge.
2. The application of this knowledge in daily life.
3. As varied an education as possible.
4. To foster sociability.
Its committees visit the German speaking inmates
of the hospital, the city infirmary, the county jail, and
the workhouse; and there is also a visiting and sick
committee for the members. Free lectures were delivered
in German from time to time, literary and musical enter-
tainments given, general debates held, and lessons in
book-keeping taught. A library contains about four hun-
dred well selected books in German, and the reading
rcom contains the city dailies and various religious
weeklies and monthlies. The principal event of the
short career of the association was the meeting with it,
in July of 1880, of the National convention of German
Young Men's Christian associations, when the "Bund"
was declared auxiliary to the American Young Men's
Christian association. The presidents of the association,
from the beginning, have been Rev. William Behrendt,
Rev. Dr. Lichtenstein, Rev Dr. Kuelling, Rev. John
Bachmann and Mr. Jacob Schwarz.
THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
was formed in 1868. Its first officers were: President
— Mrs. Dr." John Davis ; Vice Presidents — Mmes. S. S.
Fisher, A. D. Bullock, Alphonso Taft, W. W. Scar-
borough, J. T. Perry, D. E. Williams ; Recording Secre-
tary— Mrs. H. W. Sage ; Corresponding Secretary — -
Mrs. Robert Brown, jr.; Treasurer — Mrs. Dr. W. B.
Davis; Auditor — Miss A. C. Crossette ; Managers —
Mmes. D. W. Clark, A. F Perry, B. F. Brannan, C. J.
Acton, Jacob D. Cox, H. Thane Miller, Frank Whetstone,
A. J. Howe, C. O. Thompson, George W. McAlpin,
Elijah Dean, Murray Shipley, Mary J. Taylor, W. M.
Bush, and Misses Mary Fitz, Hester Smith, Mary H.
Sibley, and Julia Carpenter. We extract the following
notes from the Young Men's Christian Association
Reporter, a neat and otherwise very excellent quarterly
publication :
The work of the Association is divided into four different depart-
ments— the Business Women's Boarding House, 100 Broadway ; the
Bureau of Employment, at 267 West Fourih street ; the Mission
Work, with the services of a Bible reader ; and a Iyceum and boarding-
school for the colored people. The boarding-house is sustained for
the purpose of furnishing, at a moderate cost, a well regulated Christian
home for young women who wish its protection. It can accommodate
about forty boarders, and is presided over by alady well qualified for the .
trust reposed in her. A Bible-class is held there every Sabbath alter-
noon ; and daily after the evening meal, the family is gathered for the
reading of God's word and prayer.
The Employment Bureau, with its very competent secretary and
committee of twelve ladies, is year by year encouraged by the improved
class of woman and girls who seek situations. During the past year, of
the one thousand six hundred persons who have applied for situations,
places have been found for nearly eight hundred. Some one of the
ladies in this committee visits the office of the Bureau each day, and in
' many instances the homes of those seeking employment are also visited.
They have a small charity fund, by which to help those needing imme-
diate relief.
The Mission Committee carry on a large mothers' meeting, which
meets every Monday evening through the winter, in one of the rooms
kindly placed at its disposal at the Bethel. This meeting is for the
mothers of the very poor. The evening is spent in sewing on garments,
which they can purchase when finished for a small sum, and in listening
to reading and devotional exercises. All of the homes of these poor
women are visited by some of the ladies having, this work in charge.
The Bible-reader of the Association is under the immediate care of this
committee. Besides visiting the hospital and other public institutions,
she visits all these families frequently, and conducts a cottage prayer-
meeting and a children's meeting in the Reservoir Park throughout the
summer. Temporal as well as spiritual aid is given in her quiet, unos-
tentatious visits, and many a burdened heart is lightened by her timely
presence.
The work in behalf of the colored people includes a Iyceum (Lincoln
Lyceum it is named) and a sewing-school. They meet every Thursday
evening in the old Union Chapel, on Seventh street, Many of our
prominent citizens have given lectures of great interest before this body,
while our singers have kindly added the charm of sweet music.
A movement has been set on foot to establish a country home for
young women, in some convenient and accessible locality, where they
may take a vacation during the heated month? of summer. At the
172
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
suggestion of Mrs. Dr. Williams, one of the ladies long connected with
the association, an application was made to the trustees of the Camp
Meeting association at Loveland, for accommodation. They met the
request in the most cordial spirit of encouragement, promising to do-
nate an eligible site for the erection of a cottage, and even securing for
the ladies the plan of such cottage prepared by an accomplished archi-
tect, with the estimated cost of erection. The ladies hope that in an-
other year they may have the means to add this most needed feature to
the sum total of their association work.
At the twelfth anniversary meeting of the society, held
November 17, 1880, very favorable reports were received
in regard to the establishment of the summer boarding-
house for working-women. A lady of Mount Auburn
pledged two thousand dollars for it, and other subscrip-
tions were taken. The Broadway boarding-house had
cost for the year six thousand two hundred and forty-one
dollars, and was self-supporting at rates for board of
three to four dollars a week. The debt upon it had been
cleared, and it was generally full of boarders. The em-
ployment bureau had one thousand four hundred and
fifty-five applications during the year. The work of the
Bible-reader, the mothers' meeting, and the Lincoln ly-
ceum and sewing-circle for colored people, had been
steadily kept up. The association was free from debt,
and the Unity club during the year had paid its surplus
of five hundred and ten dollars into the treasury pf the
association. The officers of the previous year were re-
elected, and comprise most of those upon the board first
chosen twelve years before, including Mrs. John Davis
as president; Mrs. Sage, recording secretary; Mrs. A. J.
Howe, corresponding secretary; and Mrs. J. T. Perry,
treasurer.
CHAPTER XXI.
EDUCATION.
THE FIRST SCHOOL
in Cincinnati, as local tradition goes, was opened in
1792, with thirty pupils. It was probably kept in the
little log school-house which stood for a number of years
below the hill, about at the intersection of Congress and
Lawrence streets. Possibly this is the same building
mentioned somewhat mistakenly by one of the writers as
standing in the early time on the river bank, near Main
street, upon ground now covered by the public landing.
It will be observed that neither of these locations was
very far from the fort, and the former was quite near it,
so it is thought that the site (or sites) were determined not
only by the convenience of the population, but also by
the safety of the children against Indian attack. Judge
Burnet also mentions among his reminiscences of 1795,
that, "on the north side of Fourth street, opposite where
St. Paul's church now stands, there stood a frame school-
house, enclosed but unfinished, in which the children of
the village were instructed." This was, of course, upon
the public Square, where the Lancasterian seminary and
the public college afterwards stood. In the neighbor-
hood of the old Cincinnati, there was very early a school-
house at Columbia, which shall receive notice in due
time ; and Mr. E. D. Mansfield names a log school-house
which stood in 181 1 opposite the present site of the
bouse of refuge, and in which he attended school. He
was victor in a spelling match at the close of the first
quarter, after which the pupils were formed in line by the
schoolmaster, marched to a neighboring tavern, and
treated to "cherry bounce,'' which made some of their
little heads reel.
The germ of anything like a parochial or denomina-
tional school in the Cincinnati region appeared in April,
1794, in a resolution of the Presbytery of Transylvania,
within whose jurisdiction the first Presbyterian church of
Cincinnati then was, "to appoint a grammar school for
students whose genius and disposition promise useful-
ness in life." Persons from each congregation in the
presbytery were appointed — Moses Miller for Cincinnati
and Samuel Sarran (or Sering), for Columbia — to collect
from every head of a family not less than two shillings
and threepence, for a fund with which the tuition of chil-
dren of indigent parents was to be paid. We hear nothing
more of this scheme; but if it had been consummated,
the "grammar school" would in all probability have been
located in this place.
In March, 1800, a superior opportunity was offered to
the boys of the Miami country in a classical school then
opened at Newport by one Robert Stubbs, Philom., as he
delighted to write himself, where, besides the ordinary
branches, were taught the dead languages, geometry,
plane surveying, navigation, astronomy, mensuration,
logic, rhetoric, book-keeping, etc. — a truly surprising
curriculum for that time and place. The price of tuition
in elementary branches was eight dollars a year, in the
higher branches one pound per term, or two dollars and
sixty-esven cents a quarter.
In 181 1 Mr. Oliver C. B. Stewart announced himself
in Cincinnati as teacher of a Latin and English school.
In this year a day and night school was advertised
here by Mr. James White. About the same time Edward
Hannagan kept a school in Fort Washington, of which
the late Major Daniel Gano was a pupil.
The first school for young ladies in Cincinnati was
thus advertised in the Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette
for July, 1802 :
Mrs. Williams begs leave to inform the inhabitants of Cincinnati
that she intends opening a school in the house of Mr. Newman, sad-
dler, for young ladies, on the following terms: Reading, 250 cents;
reading and sewing, $3; reading, sewing, and writing, 350 cents per
quarter.
The first boarding-school between the Miamis was kept
in 1805 by an old couple named Carpenter, in a single
roomed log cabin, only fifteen feet square, on the prop-
erty of Colonel Sedam, in what is now Sedamsville.
Major Gano was also a pupil at this school.
The Hon. S. S. L'Hommedieu, whose Pioneer Ad-
dress is often referred to and drawn upon in the progress
of this work, furnishes the following pleasant recollec-
tions of the Cincinnati schools of that early day :
To show the advance made since 1830 in our common schools, it
may be stated that in 1830 the average number of teachers required was
twenty-two, at a cost of five thousand one hundred and ninety dollars
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
'73
per annum; in 1872, five hundred and ten teachers, at a cost of four
hundred and nineteen thousand seven hundred and thirteen dollars per
annum.
In the years 1810, 1811, and 1812, I recollect of but three or four
small schools. A Mr. Thomas H. Wright kept one in the second story
of a frame building on the southwest corner of Main and Sixth streets.
The stairs to the school-room were on the outside of the house, on
Sixth street. John Hilton had his school on the east side of Main,
between Fifth and Sixth streets, over a cabinet-maker's shop; David
Cathcart, on the west side of Walnut, near Fourth street. The schol-
ars at each school probably averaged about forty.
There was a custom in those early days, when the boys wanted a
holiday, to join in "barring out" the schoolmaster. Providing them-
selves with some provisions, they would take the opportunity, when
the schoolmaster was out at noon, to fasten the windows, and bolt and
doubly secure the door, so as to prevent Mr. Schoolmaster from obtain-
ing entrance.
In the years 1811 and 1812, my father lived nearly opposite the school
of Mr. Wright, and I remember, on one occasion, to have seen him on
his stairs, fretting, scolding, threatening the boys, and demanding
entrance; but to no purpose, except on their terms — namely, a dav's
holiday and a treat to apples, cider, and ginger-cakes. There are,
probably, ; those present who attended this school.
There was still another custom among Western school-boys in the
early days of Cincinnati. At that time every one who came from east
of the mountains was called a Yankee, whether from Maryland or New
England. The first appearance of the Yankee boy at school, and dur-
ing intermission, was the time for the Yankee to be whipped out of him.
When I first witnessed this operation, I was too small to be whipped;
but my elder brothers caught it. Not long afterwards I helped to whip
the Yankee out of the Hon. Caleb B. Smith and his Mothers, who came
from Boston.
THE LANCASTERIAN SCHOOL.
The intelligent men of Cincinnati were among the fiist
to see and understand the advantages of the improved
system of education introduced by Lancaster and Bell,
of England, and which soon found its way to this coun-
try. The Rev. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Daniel Drake be-
came the founders of the Lancasterian school in Cincin-
nati, and obtained the use of the school lots on Fourth
and Walnut streets upon which to erect a suitable build-
ing. It was erected in 1814, substantially upon a plan
prepared by Mr. Isaac Stagg — a rather extensive two-
story brick building, with two oblong wings, stretching
eighty-eight feet back from Fourth street. They were
connected by an apartment for staircases, eighteen by
thirty feet, out of which sprang a dome-shaped peristyle
by way of observatory. The front of this middle apart-
ment was decorated with a colonnade, forming a hand-
some portico thirty feet long and twelve deep, the front
. and each side being ornamented with a pediment and
Corinthian cornices. The aspect of the building is de-
scribed as light and airy, and would have been elegant,
had the doors been wider and the pediments longer, and
the building divested of disfiguring chimneys. As it was,
it was considered the finest public edifice at that time
west of the Alleghanies. One wing was for male and
one for female children ; and between the two there was
no passage except by the portico. The recitation and
study-rooms in the lower sto.ry had sittings for nine hun-
dred children, and the whole for fourteen hundred.
Each upper story, in the plan, was to have three apart-
ments two in the ends, each thirty feet square; and one
in the centre twenty-five feet square, with a skylight and
the appurtenances of a philosophical hall.
This was really a very respectable institution of learn-
ing, for the first on the larger scale in Cincinnati. It was
destined to a short-lived career, however, as a Lancaster-
ian school; for by the time the building and school
were well under way the ambition of its projectors had
grown, and Lancaster's scheme was altogether too nar-
row to meet them. In 181 5 the institution was chartered
as a college, with the powers of a university, and its his-
tory thenceforth is that of Cincinnati college, to come later
in this chapter.
In 1817 the city was visited by an observant English-
man, Mr. Henry Bradshaw Fearon, who gave education
in Cincinnati the following notice in his Sketches of
America :
The school-house, when the whole plan is completed, will be a fine
and extensive structure. In the first apartment, on the ground floor,
the Lancasterian plan is already in successful operation. I counted
one hundred and fifty scholars, among whom were children of the most
respectable persons in the town, or, to use an American phrase, "of the
first standing." This school-house is, like most establishments in this
country, a joint-stock concern. The terms for education, in the Lan-
casterian department, are to share-holders eleven shillings and three-
pence per quarter, others thirteen shillings and sixpence. There are
in the same building three other departments (not Lancasterian); two
for instruction in history, geography, and the classics, and the superior
departmc nt for teaching languages. Males and females are taught in
the same room, but sit on opposite sides. The terms for the historical,'
etc., department are, to shareholders, twenty-two shillings and six-
pence per quarter; others twenty-seven shillings. There were present
twenty-one males and nineteen females. In the department of lan-
guages the charge is, to shareholders, thirty-six shillings per quarter ;
others, forty-five shillings. Teachers are paid a yearly salary by the
company. These men are, I believe! New Englanders, as are the
schoolmasters in the western country generally.
I also visited a poor, half-starved, civil schoolmaster. He has two
miserable rooms, for which he pays twenty-two shillings and sixpence
per month; the number of scholars, both male and female, is twenty-
eight; terms for all branches thirteen shillings and sixpence per
quarter. He complains of great difficulty in getting paid, and also of
tbe untameable insubordination of his scholars. The superintendent of
the Lancasterian school informs me that they could not attempt to put
in practice the greater part of the punishments as directed by the
founder of that system.
"A View of the United States of America," published
in London in 1820, as an emigrants' directory, after an
appreciative notice of the public buildings of this city,
and especially the churches, says:
But the building in Cincinnati that most deserves the attention of
strangers, and which on review must excite the best feelings of human
nature, is the Lancaster school-house. This edifice consists of two
wings, one of which is appropriated to boys, the other to girls. In
less than two weeks after the school was opened upwards of four hun-
dred children were admitted, several of them belonging to some of the
most respectable families in the town. The building will accommodate
one thousand one hundred scholars. To the honor of the inhabi-
tants of Cincinnati, upwards of twelve thousand dollars were sub-
scribed by them towards defraying the expenses of this benevolent
undertaking. Amongst the many objects that must arrest the atten-
tion and claim the admiration of the traveller, there is none that can
deserve his regard more than this praiseworthy institution.
The winter of 1818-19 was prolific in educational pro-
jects for Cincinnati. The previous year John Kidd had
made his bequest of one thousand dollars per year, for
the education of poor children, which began to be pro-
ductive in 181 9. Among the charters granted by the
Legislature in the winter named, was one for the Cincin-
nati college, and one for the Medical college of Ohioj to
be also located in Cincinnati. Eight years afterwards,
the charter for the Woodward free grammar school of
Cincinnati was obtained.
174
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
In 1823, Dr. John Locke established the Cincinnati
female academy, which was a school of high class and
became very popular. Some years after this, much at-
tention was attracted to the subject of female education
by the lectures of Fanny Wright upon the subject, who
also awakened the attention of a different class of the
community by her diatribes against marriage. Her. inti-
mate friend, Mrs. Trollope, gave Dr. Locke's school the
following notice in her book on the Domestic Manners
of the Americans:
Cincinnati contains many schools, but of their rank or merit I had
little opportunity of judging. The only one I visited was kept by Dr.
Locke, a gentleman who appears to have liberal and enlarged opinions
on the subject of female education. . . I attended the
annual public exhibition of this school, and perceived, with some sur-
prise, that the higher branches of science were among the studies of the
pretty creatures I saw assembled there. One lovely girl of sixteen took
her degree in mathematics, and another was examined in moral philoso-
phy. They blushed so sweetly, and looked so beautifully puzzled and
confounded, that it might have been difficult for an abler judge than I
was to decide how far they merited the diploma they received.
In 1826, Dr. Locke's school was located in a new brick
building on Walnut street, between Third and Fourth.
Besides the principal, there were teachers of French,
music, painting, and needle-work, and an assistant in the
preparatory department. The methods of instruction
were on the plan of Pestalozzi, and the following caution-
ary remark was thrown out : "The idea entertained by
some persons, that the system of Pestalozzi tends to in-
fidelity, would seem to be unfounded : abstractly it appears
to have no immediate connection with the doctrines of
the Bible.'' An honorary degree was granted after four
years' study. Tuition was four to ten dollars a quarter,
exclusive of French and music. Twelve gentlemen had
been secured as a board of visitors, to examine the pupils,
and supervise the interests of the academy. It was noted
that, of several hundred pupils, who had attended the
school to that time, not one had died, and but few were
afflicted with disease.
At this time the leading schools of Cincinnati, besides
this, were the Medical college of Ohio, the Cincinnati
college, the Misses Bailey's boarding school, the Cincin-
nati Female college, Rev. C. B. McKee's classical acad-
emy, the private schools of Kinmont, Cathcart, Win-
right, Talbot, Chute, Morecraft, Wing, and others, in all
about fifty. The Cincinnati Female school was kept by
Albert and John W. Picket, from the State of New
York, and authors of the series of "American School
Class-books,'' which followed the analytic or inductive
system. Their school occupied a suite of rooms in the
south wing of the college building, where the ordinary
branches, together with Latin, Greek, French, music,
dancing, etc., were taught. Both were men of note,
but Albert became the more celebrated. Hon. E. D.
Mansfield, in his Memoir of Dr. Drake, pays the follow-
ing tribute to his memory:
Albert Picket, president of the College of Teachers, was a venerable,
gray-haired man, who had been for fifty years a practical teacher. He
had many years kept a select school or academy in New York, in which,
I gathered from his conversation, many of the most eminent literary
men of New York had received their early education. He removed to
Cincinnati a few years before the period of which I speak, and estab-
lished a select school for young ladies. He was a most thorough
teacher, and a man of clear head, and filled with zeal and devotion for
the profession of teaching. He was a simple-minded man, and I can
say of him that I never knew a man of more pure, disinterested zeal in
the cause of education. He presided in the college with great dignity,
and in all the petty controversies which arose poured oil on the troubled
waters.
Mr. Mansfield also gives generous eulogy to another
educational worthy of that era:
Alexander Kinmont might be called an apostle of classical learning.
If others considered the classics necessary to an education, he thought
them the one thing needful, the pillar and the foundation of solid learn-
ing. For this he contended with the zeal of martyrs for their creed ;
and it ever the classics received aid from the manner in which they were
handled, they received it from him. He was familiar with every pas-
sage of the great Greek and Roman authors, and eloquent in their
praise. When he spoke upon the subject of classical learning, he
seemed to be animated with the spirit of a mother defending her child.
He spoke with heart-warm fervor, and seemed to throw the wings of his
strong intellect around his subject.
Mr. Kinmont was a Scotchman, born near Montrose, Angusshire.
He very early evinced bright talents, and having but one arm, at about
twelve years of age was providentially compelled to pursue the real bent
of his taste and genius toward learning. In school and college he bore
off the first prizes, and advanced with rapid steps in the career of
knowledge. At the University of Edinburgh, which he had entered
while yet young, he became tainted with the skepticism then very prev-
alent. Removing soon after to America, he became principal of the
Bedford Academy, where he shone as a superior teacher. There also
he emerged from the gloom and darkness of skepticism to the faith and
fervor of the " New Church," as the church founded on the doctrines
of Swedenborg is called. His vivid imagination was well adapted to
receive their doctrines, and he adopted and advocated them with all
the fervor of his nature.
In 1827 he removed to Cincinnati, and established a select academy
for the instruction of boys in mathematical and classical learning. The
motto which he adopted was " Sit glories Dei, et vtilitate hominum "
— a motto which does honor to both his head and heart. . . In
1837-38 he delivered a course of lectures on the "Natural History of
Man," which was published as a posthumous work ; for in the midst of
its labor of preparation he died.
Kinmont made a profound impression upon those who knew him,
and to me he had the air and character of a man of superior genius,
and what is very rare, of one whose learning was equal to his genius.
The Rev. Mr. McKee's classical school was on Third
street, near the post-office. In the north wing of the
College building was the school of the Rev. Mr. Slack,
which was distinguished by a collection of valuable ap-
paratus and courses of lectures on various branches of
study. Sometime in the twenties, also, Mrs. Ryland, an
English lady of much culture, established a girl's school
in the city, and maintained it very successfully until near
1855-
In 1829 Mr. L. C. Levin had a private school on the
corner of Sixth and Vine streets — very likely in the same
house where Mr. Wing had taught — the site where the
splendid Gazette Building now stands. Mr. Levin's pu-
pils were out in the parade of the Fourth of July of that
year, with the fire department and other city organiza-
tions. In the historical number of the Daily Gazette, pub-
lished April 26, 1879, upon the occasion of the removal
of its establishment to the new building, the following
pleasant notice of the educational associations of the site
was made:
The very first building on this lot was a school house, built more
than fifty years ago. There are many men and women in Cincinnati
who have vivid recollections of Wing's school house, which stood
on the southeast corner of Sixth and Vine. It was a frame building,
a high story or story and a half. The entrance was on Sixth street,
and the floor was constructed like that of a theater, rising from the
south end of the building to the north. The teacher occupied a sort of
stage at the south end, and by this arrangement had before his eyes
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i75
every pupil. The boys occupied the east side, and the girls the west
side, next to Vine street. William Wing was the founder and builder
of this school. He died soon after this school was opened, and then
Edward Wing, his son, took up the work and kept the school going
for a long time. The house being well adapted to giving shows, or ex-
hibitions, as they were called, Mr. Wing frequently gave that sort of
amusement to his pupils and patrons. At one of these, Mr. W. P.
Hulbert, then a mere lad, played the part of William Tell's son, to the
late S. S. L'Hommedieu's William Tell, in the thrilling drama which
introduces the exciting scene of shooting the apple off the boy's head.
To the unerring aim of Master L'Hommedieu's arrow, and to the he-
roic bravery of Master Hulbert, who endured the ordeal without put-
ting himself in range of the anow, are we, perhaps, indebted for the
present Gazette Building.
This pioneer Wing school-house became one of the first school-
houses of the public or common-school system. George Graham, a
man who carries more knowledge of Cincinnati in his head than any
man living, was one' of the trustees of the common schools, and he
rented this school building for the use of the Second Ward school.
Here Mr. Graham appeared frequently as an examiner, for he was an
active man in those days, and knew how necessary it was to inaugurate
strict discipline. The common schools were new, and were not popu-
lar. The name "common" was distasteful. Mr. Grnham personally
examined every pupil in the schools. He popularized the system by
causing all the teachers and pupils to appear, once a year at least, in
procession through the streets, and soon had the pleasure of seeing the
common-school system regarded as one of the institutions deserving the
highest esteem.
The following Academies are enumerated in the Cin-
cinnati Directory for 1831, the first year of the last half
century of the city's existence: Academy of Medicine,
Longworth, near Race ; Dr. Locke's Female Academy,
Walnut, between Third and Fourth; A. Treusdell's, same
neighborhood; Pickets', corner Walnut and Fourth;
Kinmont's, Race, between Fifth and Longworth ;
McKee's, College edifice ; Nixon's Logierian Musical,
corner Main and Fourlh; Findley's Classical, College
edifice ; Nash's Musical, Fifth, between Main and Syca-
more.
Musical education already, it seems, had secured a firm
lodgment here. We shall deal with it at some length in
our chapter on Music in Cincinnati.
Some of the above-named schools, and two or three
schools not enumerated, had already received an appre-
ciative notice from Caleb Atw.iter, who took this place in
his tour of travel in 1829. He says in his book:
Great attention is bestowed on the education of children and youth
here— and the Cincinnati College, the Medical College of Ohio, the
Messrs. Pickets' Female Academy, the four public schools, one under
Mr. Holley, Mr. Hammond's school, and forty others, deserve the
hig'i reputation they enjoy. There is, too, a. branch, a medical one,
of the college at Oxford here located, and conducted by gentlemen of
genius, learning and science— whose reputation stands high with the
public.
The year 1833 was a notable period in the history of
education in Cincinnati. About this time the College of
Teachers was founded, to which a full notice will be due
presently. About the same year a popular female semi-
nary was kept on Third street, east of Broadway, by the
celebrated novelist, Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, and her
husband, a French gentleman of some culture and
ability. At this time was also maintained here the cele-
brated young ladies' school of Miss Catharine Beecher,
who had recently been principal of a successful seminary
in Hartford, Connecticut, but had come west with or
soon after her father, and established this school with
her sister Harriet, afterwards. Mrs. Stowe. Their Female
Academy was on the subsequent site of St. John's Hos-
pital, and was on a plan quite similar to that of later
institutions of the kind. After a few years' teaching
here they retired — -one to marry Professor Stowe, and
the other to become a missionary for female education
for the west. The school was then placed in charge of
Miss Mary Dutton, who had been an assistant of Miss
Beecher at Hartford, and then here. She had after a
time to give up the building for other purposes, and
thought best to abandon the school. She went to New
Hampshire, and there maintained a flourishing school
for many years.
Another distinguished personage comes to the front
in 1836, in the simple mention, in the Directory of that
year, of "O. M. Mitchel's Institute of Science and Lan-
guages, corner of Broadway and Third." The dis-
tinguished astronomer, orator and soldier was making
his humble beginnings then.
Shortly before this, in 1835, the city had been visited
by another remarkable person, an Englishwoman, then
in the fullness of her strong and brilliant energies, who
appears to have made the most of the opportunities
which Cincinnati afforded her for observations of things
in the great American Republic. She gave an elaborate
chapter in her subsequent book to Cincinnati ; and in
that occurs the following paragraphs, which are mostly
germane to our prese nt topic. They are the words of
Harriet Martineau:
The morning of the nineteenth shone brightly down on the festival of
the day. It was the anniversary of the opening of the common schools.
Some of the schools passed our windows in procession, fheir banners
dressed with garlands, and the children gay with flowers and ribands.
A lady who was sitting with me remarked, "this is our populace." I
thought of the expression months afterward, when the gentlemen of
Cincinnati met to pass resolutions on the subject of abolitionism, and
when one of the resolutions recommended mobbing as a retribution for
the discussion of the subject of slavery, the law affording no punish-
ment for free discussion. Among those who moved and seconded these
resolutions, and formed a deputation to threaten an advocate of free
discussion, weere some of the merchants who form the aristocracy of
the place; and the secretary of the meeting was the accomplished law-
yer whom I mentioned above, and who told me that the object of his
life is law-reform in Ohio! The "populace" of whom the lady was
justly proud have, in no case that I know of, been the law-breakers, and
in as fai as the "populace"' means not "the multitude," but the "vul-
gar," I do not agree with the lady that these children were the popu-
lace. Some of the patrons and prize-givers afterward proved them-
selves "the vulgar" of the city.
The children were neatly and tastefully dressed. A great improve-
ment has taken place in the costume of little boys in England within
my recollection; but I never saw such graceful children as the little
boys in America, at least in their summer dress. They are slight, ac-
tive and free. I remarked that several were barefoot, though in other
respects well clad ; and I found that many put off shoes and stockings
from choice during the three hot months. Others were barefoot from
poverty — children of recent settlers and of the poorest class of the
community.
We set out for the church as soon as the procession had passed, and
arrived before the doors were opened. A platform had been erected
below the pulpit, and on it were seated the mayor and principal gentle-
men of the city. The two thousand children then filed in. The report
was read, and proved very satisfactory. These schools were established
by a cordial union of various political and religious parties; and noth-
ing could be more promising than the prospects of the institution as to
funds, as to the satisfaction of the class benefited, and as to the con-
tinued union of their benefactors. Several boys then gave^specimens
of elocution, which were highly amusing. They seemed to suffer under
no false shame and to have 110 misgiving about the effect of the vehe-
ment action they had been taught to employ. I wondered how many
176
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of them would speak in Congress hereafter. It seems doubtful to me
whether the present generation of Americans are not out in their calcu-
lations about the value and influence of popular oratory. They ought
certainly to know best ; but I never saw an oration produce nearly so
much effect as books, newspapers, and conversation. I suspect there
is a stronger association in American minds than the times will justify
between republicanism and oratory; and that they overlook the fact of
the vast change introduced by the press, a revolution which has altered
men's tastes and habits of thought, as well as varied the method of
reaching minds. As to the style of oratory itself, reasoning is now
found to be much more impressing than declamation, certainly in Eng-
land, and I think also in the United States; and though, as every
American boy is more likely than not to act some part in public life, it
is desirable that all should be enabled to speak their minds clearly and
gracefully. I am inclined to think it a pernicious mistake to render de-
clamatory accomplishment so prominent a part of education as it now
is. I trust that the next generation will exclude whatever there is of in-
sincere and traditional in the practice of popular oratory, discern the
real value of the accomplishment, and redeem the reproach of bad
taste which the oratory of the present generation has brought upon the
people. While the Americans have the glory of every citizen being a
reader, and having books to read, they cannot have, and need not de-
sire, the glory of shining in popular oratory, the glory of an age gone by!
Many prizes of books were given by the gentlemen on the platform,
and the ceremony closed with an address from the pulpit which was
true and in some respects beautiful, but which did not appear alto-
getherjudicious to those who are familiar with children's minds. The
children were exhorted to trust their teachers entirely ; to be assured
that their friends would do by them what was kindest.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE
the city had besides, the public schools — which had ten
districts, with nine buildings, sixty teachers, and about
forty thousand children — the Cincinnati college, Wood-
ward college, Lane Theological seminary, the St. Francis
Xavier Theological seminary, the Cincinnati Law school,
and the Medical college of Ohio. In these were gath-
ered about four hundred students, while fifteen hundred
more were in the academies and seminaries, and five
thousand in the parochial and private schools — about
seven thousand in all not in the public schools. The
College of Teachers was still doing very able and hopeful
pedagogic work.
THE WESLEYAN FEMALE COLLEGE.
The original impulse which led to the organization of
this still excellent and flourishing institution, was received
from a series of articles in the Western Christian Advo-
cate, in the fall of 1840, by Dr. C. Elliott, descriptive of
his travels in the east, and calling the notice of the de-
nomination strongly to the need of female education.
From time to time, for many months, he continued to
press the theme, -until, on the fourth of May, 1842, a
special meeting of Methodist preachers in Cincinnati was
held at the office of the Advocate, to consult, as explained
by Dr. Elliott, "on the expediency of taking measures to
establish in this city a female institute of the highest pos-
sible grade." It was resolved that a public meeting
should be called to consider the practicability of estab-
lishing in Cincinnati such an institute; and a committee
of fourteen, headed by Dr. Elliott, was appointed to report
a plan for it to the general meeting. On the twentieth
of May the meeting was held in Wesley chapel. The
main points of the plan reported by the committee are as
follows :
The contemplated institution should embrace all the branches of fe-
male education, from the highest to the lowest ; to such a degree as not
to be exceeded, if possible, by any similar institution in the whole
world. It should comprehend the following departments ;
1. The common English department, embracing all those branches
comprised in a thorough course of primary instruction.
■d.. The collegiate department, which should comprise a good colle-
giate course of instruction adapted particularly for females.
3. The normal department, in which pupils will be prepared to be-
come efficient teachers for schools of every grade, particularly the com-
mon schools and female academies.
4. The department of extras, in which those various branches not
necessary for all, yet useful for some, should be taught.
A list of branches to be taught was recommended,
which was prepared on a very liberal and enlightened
scale for that day, embracing Hebrew and Greek among
the languages, a pretty full course in the natural sciences,
and an excellent range of Biblical studies. The plan
further prescribed :
The following are some of the general principles, or characters,
which should designate the institution :
It should be a Methodist institution to all intents and purposes, so
that the principles of Christianity, as taught by the Methodist Episco-
pal church, would be constantly inculcated, and a full course of sound
Biblical instruction should be learned by all; and all Methodist children
should, without exception, go through this course thoroughly, in view of
their becoming good Sabbath-school teachers after they leave the insti-
tution, and as far as their services are needed while they continue in it.
Yet children whose parents do not approve it need not commit our cat-
echisms nor receive our peculiar views; but they must conform to our
mode of worship and general regulations.
The ornamental branches, as music, painting, etc. , will be pursued
in reference to utility and the practical purposes of life, and in accord-
ance with just but enlightened views of the pure religion of Christ.
It will be desirable that the institution should furnish all the aid in its
power toward the education of poor female children and girls, both for
their individual benefit and the good of the public, in preparing them
to be efficient teachers.
The remaining paragraphs of the report affirm the
necessity of a boarding-house, while admitting the attend-
ance of children of the city as day pupils ; set forth the
advantages of Cincinnati for such a school; express a
feeling of reliance upon receipts for tuition for the pay-
ment of teachers, while provision should be made for
the education of poor girls; declare the necessity of such
ah institution to the Methodist church in Cincinnati, and
the pecuniary ability of its members to provide for it;
and call for a meeting of members and friends of the
church, to adopt "immediate measures toward the com-
plete and speedy establishment of a high female literary
institute."
This clear and intelligent report, in which the seeds of
so many excellent things in female education were con-
tained, was probably direct from the head, heart and
hand of the enthusiastic Dr. Elliott, although signed by
every member of the committee of fourteen. It was
promptly adopted, and a committee of twenty-three was
appointed, without the intervention of another meeting,
to establish the school. Bishop Morris was chairman of
the committee, and the following named gentlemen, in
part representing their several churches, were the remain-
ing members:
Wesley Chapel— J. L. Grover, W. Neff, J. Lawrence.
Fourth-street— W. Herr, J. G. Rust, H. DeCamp.
Ninth-street— G. C. Crum, W. Woodruff, A. Riddle.
Asbury— W. H. Lawder, S. Williams, G. W. Townley.
Fulton— M.G. Perkiser, Burton Hazen, M. Litherberry.
W. H. Raper, J. F. Wright, L. Swormstedt, C. Elliott,
L. L. Hamline, W. Nast, A. Miller.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
177
The
same year a small house on Ninth street was
rented from Mr. Woodruff, of the committee; but it soon
became too strait for the demands of the school, and the
next year a large and.beautiful building, the residence of
Mr. John Reeves, on Seventh street, was obtained for its
purposes, and another building was erected upon the
grounds for occupation by the pupils. The Rev. P.
B. Wilber, M. A., of Virginia, was engaged as principal;
his wife, Mrs. C. Wilber, as governess; Miss Mary De
Forest, assistant ; Miss Emeline Tompkins, assistant in
the primary department ; W. Nixon, professor of Music.
A thorough course of study was announced for prepara-
tory and classical departments, extending through six
years. The second session of the college, under these
auspices, began in the new buildings in February, 1843,
with a large increase of students, to whom many more
were added at the opening of the spring session. Mean-
while, during the winter, the State legislature had granted
the college a charter, with all the powers and privileges
necessary for an institution of the highest grade. Two
more assistants, Miss Stagg and Miss Harmon, were
added to the, teaching corps, and arrangements for the
purchase of philosophical and chemical apparatus were
made. The year closed with highly commendatory re-
ports from the examining committees, composed from
the leading citizens of Cincinnati. Their good words for
the infant college were published in the city papers, and
did much to popularize the institution, as did also a pub'
lished letter from Professor Merrick, in eulogy of the
school.
The college Continued to prosper. The year 1844-5
closed with especial brilliancy. Rev. Mr. Finley, in his
Sketches of Western Methodism, to which we owe the
materials of this preliminary sketch, says :
The commencement exercises of 1845 constituted a brilliant era in
the history of the institution. They were held in the Ninth Street
Methodist Episcopal Church, which was crowded in every part. B.
Storer, esq., delivered an eloquent address before the Young Ladies'
Lyceum, after which graduates read their compositions and received
their degrees as mistresses of English and classical literature. The
plan of the original proprietors [projectors?] was now no longer an ex-
periment, and the female college from this point started out on its
high and glorious career.
It was presently necessary to provide further accom-
modations for the large numbers of pupils that flocked in
from all parts of the country. A desirable property was
offered on Vine street, between Sixth and Seventh, ex-
tending through to College street — a large and already
tastefully ornamented ground, occupied as the residence
of Mr. Henry Starr. It was purchased, and a spacious
edifice erected thereon, sufficient for the reception of five
hundred pupils. (This was nearly the site of the fine
structure since erected and containing the public library.
It is now occupied by the printing department of the
Daily Enquirer!) In this the college took a new de-
parture of prosperity, and in a few years the need was
felt of still another building, which was put up and ad-
ditional grounds secured. In 1851 the "school had four
hundred and thirty-seven pupils, from nearly all parts of
the Union. Principal (then president) Wilber and Mrs.
Wilber were still in charge, with fifteen assistants in the
various departments of teaching.
The Hon. J. P. Foote, in his book on the Schools of
Cincinnati, published in 1855, thus bears testimony to
the worth of the young college:
It has had since its foundation a uniform course of prosperity and
usefulness, its greatest defect being caused by the high reputation
which it has acquired, which brings more pupils to seek admission than
can be accommodated, and, notwithstanding the want of room, the
desire to receive as many of those who are anxious to obtain the advajir
tages of the institution induces the managers and principals to receive
sometimes too many; and though the extent of the buildings has been
increased, the need of a further increase continues. Rev. and Mrs.
Wilber were still in charge of the school, which had now four hundred
and forty-two pupils.
The report of the committee on education, made to
the Cincinnati annual conference in September, 1880,
thus speaks of the college:
This institution has been in successful operation thirty-eight years. It
has educated a large number of influential ladies, who, by their success
in life, have reflected the highest honor upon the college. Some of
these have distinguished themselves in the field of literature, others in
the profession of teaching, and many more in useful departments of
home life. This oldest college for women still offers, as in the past,
every advantage for thorough and finished scholarship. The teachers
are experienced and accomplished. They reside in the college, and
devote their entire time to the care, culture, and improvement of the
pupils. Especial attention is given to the selection of instructors, not
only in regard to superior scholarship, but also to personal character
and adaptation to secure the love and confidence of the students.
■JOSEPH HERRON.
Among the noted teachers of the middle period of the
history of Cincinnati was he whose name heads this
section — the proprietor of a seminary for boys, which
enjoyed considerable celebrity here for many years. A
daughter of his, Mrs. Lucy Herron Parker, now a teacher
in Chillicothe, Ohio, kindly sends us the following notice
of her honored father:
J oseph Herron, A. M. , was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,,
in 1808, and came to Ohio with his father, who settled in Clermont
county in 1816. Having gone as far in his studies as the public schools
of that time could take him, he taught in that county from the' age of
seventeen to twenty-one, applying himself diligently all the while to
master the higher branches of learning. In 1829 he went to Cincinnati,
and taught in the public schools until 1837, when he was appointed
principal of the preparatory department of the old Cincinnati college,
whose building was destroyed ,by fire in 1845. He then opened a pri-
vate school for boys and young men — Herron's seminary, which aver-
aged two hundred pupils, and which he conducted successfully for
eighteen years, until the time of his death in 1863.
He was thus a leading educator of the youth of this city for thirty-
four years, and I doubt if any other instructor has rendered such long
service in that city. During this time hundreds of those who are now
prominent business men and influential citizens were his pupils, and
could testify to his ability and fidelity as a teacher, especially in the line
of moral education.
He was for -many years one of the directors of the Young Men's Bi-
ble society, for a long time secretary of the Relief Union, for ten years
superintendent of the old Bethel Sabbath-school; was one of the char-
ter trustees of the Wesleyan Female college, and continued to be a
trustee until his death. . In all these works he was associated with the
best citizens of Cincinnati, many of whom remember how-active and
useful he was in every enterprise which had for its object the real pros-
perity of the city and the highest welfare of the people.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY
it was estimated that there were probably fifty private
academies and schools in the city, with at least two thou-
sand five hundred pupils. The three colleges of the city
were the Cincinnati, the Woodward, and St. Xavier.
The medical schools were the Ohio, the Eclectic, the
Physio-Medical, and the College of Dental Surgery, with
33
i78
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
a total number of students amounting to about four hun-
dred and fifty. The sole law school was a depart-
ment of Cincinnati college, and had an average member-
ship of thirty. Five theological schools were regularly
established, and two of them in full operation — Lane
seminary (New School Presbyterian), and the Presbyter-
ian theological seminary (Old School). Three others —
the seminary of St. Francis Xavier (Catholic), another
Roman Catholic theological seminary, and a Baptist in-
stitution at Fairmount had been founded, but not yet
formed their classes. There were also four business
schools. The principal academies and private schools
were the Young Ladies' Literary Institute and Boarding
School, kept on Eighth street by the Sisters of Notre
Dame, and the Ursuline Academy, both Catholic; the
Wesleyan Female College, then on Vine street; the Cin-
cinnati Female Seminary, Herron's Seminary for Boys,
St. John's College (with college classes not yet formed),
Lyman Harding's and Mrs. Lloyd's Seminaries for Girls,
and the Classical Schools for Boys kept by E. S. Brooks
and Messrs. R. and H. H. Young. The Catholics had
also thirteen parochial schools, with an aggregate attend-
ance of four thousand four hundred and ninety-four, and
forty-eight teachers. The public schools numbered nine-
teen, with one hundred and thirty-eight teachers, and
twelve thousand two hundred and forty pupils; and there
were also three colored schools, with nine teachers and
three hundred and sixty pupils. The whole number of
schools of all kinds was reckoned at one hundred and
two; teachers, three hundred and fifty-seven; pupils,
twenty thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven. The
Central High School had been established shortly be-
fore. The cost of public instruction for the preceding
academic year was sixty-seven thousand eight hundred
and eighty-four dollars — four hundred and ninety-two
dollars per teacher, or five dollars and fifty cents a pupil.
THE CHICKERING INSTITUTE.
The Daily Gazette for September 17, 1877, contains
the following historical sketch of this renowned institu-
tion:
It is thirty-three years since the principal of the well-known Chicker-
ing Institute first commenced his career as principal of one of the gram-
mar schools of New England. Here he taught with marked success as
principal of grammar and high schools for eight years. At the expira-
tion of this time, on account of a generous offer made by Miles Green-
wood, esq., he was induced to come to Cincinnati. This was in the
autumn of 1852. After about eighteen months spent in private tutor-
ing, Mr. Chickering opened a pnvate school in the beautiful village of
Avondale. Inducements were offered for him to establish his school in
the city, and in September, 1855, " Chickering's Academy " was
opened in the George street engine house, commencing with an attend-
ance of thirty-seven, which, during the year, increased to fifty-one.
The second year the school record showed an attendance of seventy-six.
Each successive year the attendance continued to increase until the year
1859, when it was determined to build for the better accommodation
of pupils. The site of the present building was purchased by the
principal, and " Chickering's Academy" changed its name to " Chick-
ering's Institute, " with a full graded course of classical and scientific
studies. The first year in the new building the school numbered one
hundred and fifty-five, and within two years the numbers increased so
rapidly that it was found necessary to add another story to the building.
Ever since that time the school has had a most successful primary de-
partment for young boys. The whole twenty-five years of the school's
history has been one of remarkable success in every respect. During
the past sixteen years the catalogue has shown an average attendance
of two hundred and fifteen students per annum. It is not only one of
the largest (probably the very largest) private schools for boys in this
country, but it is also one of the best managed and conducted in every
particular.
The catalogue of 1880 showed an attendance of two
hundred and fifteen for the previous academic year.
Graduates since 1855, two hundred and twenty; awarded
diplomas since 1864 (when they were first given), one
hundred and seventy-one; entered Eastern colleges or
scientific schools since 1864, ninety-six; entered western
colleges, thirty-three. Fifteen teachers are employed,
among them Professor W. H. Venable the historian and
poet, Mrs. Kate Westendorf the elocutionist, and other
well-known persons. During the twenty-seven years of
the history of the institute, Mr. Chickering has expended
nearly four hundred thousand dollars upon its buildings,
cabinets, and current expenses — a remarkable financial
record, truly.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE
Miss Elizabeth H. Appleton, associated with Professor
Horatio Wood, a New Englander and graduate of Har-
vard, opened a private school for girls. ]$. was first on
Fourth street, between Elm and Plum; then on Elm, be-
tween Fourth and Fifth. The school was maintained
successfully until 1875, when Mr. Wood returned to New
England and became a writer for the magazines; and
Miss Appleton, after a European tour, became librarian
of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society, which
post she now holds.
The other principal schools for young women and
girls in the city were at this time Professor McLeod's,
which had been removed from Tennessee to Cincinnati
in 1853, upon the destruction by fire of the buildings it
occupied in that State; Harding's female seminary; the
Cincinnati female seminary, now in charge of T. A. Bur-
rowes, A. M., and in a building of its own; and the Ro-
man Catholic nunnery, which had been established for
many years, and acquired a very extensive reputation.
For boys there were Herron's seminary; St. John's
college, .formerly in charge of the Rev, Dr. Colton, but,
too ambitious in its aims, it had been reduced to an
academy, and was flourishing in charge of Charles Mat-
thews, formerly a professor in Woodward college; R. B.
Brooks' academy; J. B. Chickering's select school, now
the Chickering institute; Professor Lippitt's institute;
and several commercial colleges.
A Pestalozzian school for both sexes had just been
started by Dr. Cristin, formerly of the public schools,
and a graduate of the Miami Medical College.
The Mount Auburn young ladies' institute was found-
ed in 1856, and prospered for nearly twenty years, when
it closed for a time, re-opening hopefully in 1878. Its
president is the well-known Christian worker, Mr. H.
Thane Miller.
Miss Armstrong, from the school formerly kept in the
city by Mme. Fribel, also opened upon Mount Auburn a
successful family and day school.
Miss Clara E. Nourse's family and day school on West
Seventh street was established in i860, and has been
eminently successful.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
179
Professor Bartholomew's English and classical school,
at the corner of Fourth and John streets, dates from
about 1875.
KINDERGARTENS.
In Miss Nourse's school building, on Seventh street,
is the private kindergarten of Miss Helen e Goodman,
started in 1875. Other institutions of the kind are Miss
Lizzie Beaman's, Miss Katherine Dodd's, and Miss Ida
Stevens', which, with the free kindergartens and those
attached to the Wesleyan female college and the Cincin-
nati orphan asylum, number thirteen in all in the city.
The free kindergarten movement, so hopeful in its devel-
opment and present situation, deserves a history by itself,
and we take pleasure in extracting the following from the
last report of the secretary of the association :
The first meeting of the ladies interested in the establishment of a
charity Kindergarten was held on the thirteenth of December, 1879,
This meeting resulted in the appointment of two committees, one for
the nomination of officers and the other to draw up a constitution and
decide upon the name of the organization. The second meeting was
the following week, December 19th; the constitution and by-laws
adopted, the name of the society being the Cincinnati Kindergarten
association. The officers were then elected as follows: Mrs.- Alphonso
Taft, president; Mrs. Robert Hosea, treasurer; Mrs. J. D. Brannan,
secretary. Committees upon instruction, finance, and publication were
also appointed.
On the third of January, 1880, a lecture was given at College Hall
before the association by Professor Harris, of St. Louis, upon the
Kindergarten as established in that city.
During the months of January and February meetings were held
fortnightly, either at the Hughes or the Woodward High school build-
ings, all of which were well attended, and there was a constantly in-
creasing list of membership and a more active interest manifested in the
School soon to he opened. Subscriptions were obtained, and the chair-
man of the instruction committee was authorized to correspond with
Miss Blow, of St. Louis, in reference to a teacher for the Kindergar-
ten. This resulted in the engagement of Miss Shawk, for four months
from the first of March, and the decision was made to open the school
at that time.
After much search in various parts of the city, it was decided to rent
rooms in the Spencer house, Front and Broadway, and three new com-
mittees were appointed — a house committee to purchase school furni-
ture and apparatus, a decorative committee to ornament the rooms, and
a visiting committee to recruit the pupils. About this time also a com-
mittee was appointed to investigate the subject of kitchen-gardens, as
it had been suggested that a class in this work might be connected with
the association. On March 2d the school was opened, and an informa1
meeting was held the same afternoon, when Miss Shawk was introduced
to the members of the society. Six pupils were present at the opening
of the school, and the number increased to fifty during the first fort-
night of its existence. Early in April a reading was given by Mme.
Fredin and Mrs. Hollingshead for the benefit of the school, and at this
time the treasury contained about eight hundred dollars, thanks to the
efforts made by many friends. The May meeting was rendered especially
interesting by the presence of Miss Blow, who gave many details of her
experience.
On the twenty-eighth of May the children were given a picnic under
the supervision of some of the ladies of Clifton, assisted by Mrs. Taft
and pthers. During the month of June Miss Shawk was re-engaged for
the ensuing year, and it was decided to. close the school during July
and August. In September the rooms were re-opened with a large at-
tendance of pupils, and nearly the same assistant teachers.
In November it was found that the treasurer held only three hundred
or four hundred dollars, and further sums being necessary for the main-
tenance of the school, it was concluded to hold an entertainment in the
Music Hall during Thanksgiving week. This was successfully given
November 29th, by the children and teachers of the private kindergar-
tens, and secured for the school over four hundred dollars.
Another free kindergarten, to accommodate a more
remote part of the city, has just (March, 1881) been start-
ed in the Exposition buildings, on Elm street.
CINCINNATI COLLEGE.
In the year 1815, as we have seen, the Lancasterian
seminary was chartered as a college, with the privileges
of a university. By the contributions of a few citizens
it soon obtained an endowment which, sacredly preserv-
ed and judiciously invested, would have made the young
institution in time enormously wealthy. General Lytle
gave toward it ten thousand dollars' worth of land and a
considerable sum in cash; Judge Burnet pledged five
thousand dollars and other property to a large amount,
while about fifty others, including citizens of the promi-
nence of Ethan Stone, William Corry, Oliver M. Spencer,
General Findlay, David E. Wade, John H. Piatt, and
Andrew Mack, gave additional sums which carried the
endowment up to fifty thousand dollars — certainly a large
sum for those days and for a village not yet fairly out of
the woods. The organization of a faculty of arts was
effected, including a president, vice-president, professors
of languages and of natural philosophy, and tutors. A
liberal course of study, similar to that of other colleges
of the time, was marked out. The college, with its ele-
mentary or Lancasterian department, went into very
hopeful operation, and maintained itself well for a few
years. In the graduating classes were some young men
who afterwards became highly distinguished, and it is
said that young women also took their diplomas in some
of the classes. But the college had by and by its share
in the , financial troubles that came upon the city, had to
sacrifice all its property except the real estate it occupied,
and when the building burned many years afterwards (in
1845) nothing wag left to the institution but the bare
ground. For a number of years the college existed only
in name.
In 1836, when the medical and law departments of the
college were established, Dr. Drake and other public-
spirited citizens who were specially interested in those,
also sought a more thorough revival of the college by the
re-establishment of its literary branch, or faculty of arts.
This was successfully accomplished, with the following-
named gentlemen as the corps of instruction :
W. H. McGuffey, president, and professor of moral
and intellectual philosophy.
Ormsby M. Mitchel, professor of mathematics and
astronomy.
Asa Drury, professor of the ancient languages.
Charles L. Telford, professor of rhetoric and belles-
lettres.
Edward D. Mansfield, professor of constitutional law
and history.
Lyman Harding, principal of the preparatory depart-
ment.
Joseph Herron, principal of the primary department.
It was an exceedingly able faculty for the period, and
worked together in harmony and efficiency for a number
of years. Mr. Mansfield says of its head :
Mr. McGuffey entered Cincinnati college with the full knowledge
that it was an experimental career; but he came with an energy, a
determination, and a zeal in the cause of education and the pursuit of
high and noble duties which are larely met with, and are sure to com-
mand success in any pursuit. His mind is more purely metaphysical,
and therefore analytical and logical, than that of any one I have known
i8o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
or whose works I have read. In his discourses and lectures before
members of the college he disentangled difficulties, made mysteries
plain, and brought the obtuse and profound within the reach of com-
mon intellects. Hence his Sunday morning discourses in the col-
lege chapel were always numerously attended, and his manner of treat-
ing metaphysics was universally popular. I thought then, and think
now, that Dr. McGuffey was the only really ciear-headed metaphysician
of whom it had been my lot to know anything. In addition, he was a
practical teacher of great ability. In fine, he was naturally formed for
the chair of intellectual philosophy, arid in Cincinnati college put forth,
with zeal and fervor, those talents which were peculiarly his own.
A large number of students — at one time as many as
one hundred and sixty — gathered into the literary depart-
ment of the college from year to year. It had no en-
dowment, however — not even an available revenue from
its valuable property; indeed, it had no revenue what-
ever, except from tuition; and that was never enough, in
an institution of that class, to support a faculty of even
moderate size and pay the incidental expenses of the
school, which are apt to be large. Says Mr. Mansfield:
Had the college been only so far endowed as to furnish its material ap-
paratus of books and instruments, and also pay its incidental expenses,
I have no doubt it would have sustained itself and been, at this moment,
the most honorable testimony to the intellectual and literary progress
of the city. Such, however, was not its future. After lingering a few
years, its light went out; the professors separated; and the college
name attached to its walls alone attests that such an institution once
existed.
After the decease of the literary department of the
college, and the burning of the old building, an arrange-
ment was made with the legal representatives of the First
Presbyterian church, by which a title in fee-simple to the
college lot was obtained, and a large and, for the time,
elegant structure was erected thereon. This has since
undergone various modifications, through another fire
and the demands of business, but is still the property of
the college corporation, and is mainly devoted to the
purposes of literature and education. The lower store
is rented for stores and offices; the second is occupied
by the hall or audience-room of the building (formerly
used by the Chamber of Commerce), and the literary
and reading-room of the Young Men's Mercantile Li-
brary association, and the other two stories contain the
collections of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical
society, the School of Design of the University of Cin-
cinnati, and the Law school, and various smaller schools
and offices. The Law school is, and has been for many
years, all that remains of the college, as an agency for
formal instruction. It will receive due attention in a
coming chapter on the Bar of Cincinnati. The college
corporation is maintained, and receives and disburses the
revenues from rents in the building and from any other
source.
ST. XAVIER COLLEGE.
A parish school, about 182 1, was established in con-
nection with the first Roman Catholic church founded in
the city. It continued about ten years, and was then
merged, by Bishop Fenwick, into the "Athenaeum," a
school of a higher grade, which was opened October 17,
1 83 1. The three-story brick building erected for it, with
its old-fashioned architecture and its modest cupola, and
its Latin inscription, " Athenceum Religioni et Artibus
Sacrum," inscribed in large letters upon its front, was
quite inspiring in those days, but is now sadly dwarfed
by the splendid and stately Catholic structures which
neighbor it on either side. It stands an interesting relic
of the middle period ab urbe condita, on the west side of
Sycamore street, between Sixth and Seventh. Notwith-
standing the interest the institution attracted, however, it
did not prove a financial success, and in 1840 Bishop
Purcell placed the property in the possession of the
Jesuit Fathers, under whom it took another step up the
classic heights, and became St. Xavier college. This, in
1842, was regularly chartered by the State legislature,
and received the usual powers and privileges of a uni-
versity. At that time, and for several years, the college
maintained dormitories and a boarding department, receiv-
ing likewise day pupils from the city; but the former
were closed in 1854. Corporal punishment was retained
here with something like the old-time sternness; and this
feature, the college historians hold, "induced many
Protestants to prefer it to many of their own seminaries
for the education of their sons.''
In 1867 a beginning was made of a new college build-
ing, and the structure partly erected, now occupied on
the southwest corner of Sycamore and Seventh streets,
in the close neighborhood of the Athenasum. It is a
superb brick edifice, sixty feet on Sycamore by one hun-
dred and sixty-six on Seventh street. The centennial
volume on Education in Ohio says: "The entire build-
ing, completed according to the design, will be a struc-
ture of architectural beauty and of great size, quite
eclipsing the glory of the former Athenaeum, so honored
in its day. The motto over its door, ' Ad Major -em Dei
Gloriam,' grandly dedicates the whole." About one
hundred and thirty thousand dollars were contributed to
the expenses of this building by the savings from the
management of the college finances; ten thousand dol-
lars were given by one Catholic clergyman, and smaller
sums by other priests and laymen; and so the institution
was given a notable and worthy home.
The instruction in this school is mainly classical and
commercial. In the former course the classes common-
ly known in the colleges as freshman, sophomore,
junior and senior, are here designated respectively as
philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, and humanities classes.
The degree of Bachelor of Arts is conferred at gradu-
ation, and only after two years more in literary pursuits
or one year in the study of philosophy, is a graduate en-
titled to the degree of Master of Arts. The commercial
course is designed to equip students thoroughly with the
technicalities of a business career. The revenue from
tuition — sixty, dollars per annum for each student — con-
stitutes almost the sole income of the college, which is
enabled to exist comfortably upon it, since the professors
are paid no salaries, although supported in all respects by
the institution; About twenty teachers — nine scholastic
and eleven lay brethren — constitute the college faculty.
The number of pupils, year by year,, is not far from two
hundred and seventy in all departments; and the total
number of graduates to 1876 was two hundred and
thirty. The college library has about fifteen thousand
volumes, many of them rare and valuable. The
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
museum is well equipped for purposes of illustra-
tion in natural history, and a good apparatus for teaching
chemistry and physics is provided. Special teachers of
music and drawing, residing elsewhere in the city, are
employed by the college.
The theological department, attached to the college,
but having its home in a pleasant situation on Walnut
Hills, was in operation for a time, but then discontinued,
and a college class was substituted for it.
St. Joseph's college, at No. 269-71 West Eighth
street, is a flourishing institution, founded October 2,
1 87 1, chartered May 3, 1873, an(i maintained by the
priests and brothers of the congregation of the Holy
Cross. It is a Catholic school, but pupils of all denomi-
nations, or of none, are received.
THE CINCINNATI UNIVERSITY.
So long ago as 1806, an educational association was
formed in Cincinnati, and the next year was incorporated,
for the erection of a university. The procuring of an ad-
equate endowment was a harder matter, however. Only
small contributions could be obtained, and the legislature
was appealed to for authority to hold a lottery for the
benefit of the enterprise, after a custom then singularly
prevalent. The application was granted, although con-
trary to the settled policy of the State then and since.
Many tickets for the university lottery were sold ; but it
was never drawn. Money enough had been obtained,
however, to build a modest school-house; but this was
blown down in a tornado on Sunday, the twenty-eighth
of May, 1809, and with it vanished in air the hopes and
very existence of the first Cincinnati university.
The splendid institution of the same name now in pro-
cess of formation is founded upon the beneficence ot
Charles McMicken. Mr. McMfcken was a native of
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, born in 1782; removed to
Cincinnati in 1803, with his sole property in the clothes
he wore, and the horse, saddle, and bridle used upon his
journey; engaged in flatboating; became a merchant at
Bayou Sara, Louisiana, but kept a summer home in Cin-
cinnati; accumulated a fortune of probably more than a
million of dollars; and died in this city, of pneumonia,
March .30, 1858, in his seventy-sixth year. He was not
a man of liberal education, but prized it in others. A
few years before his death he subscribed ten thousand
dollars to endow a professorship of agricultural chemistry
in Farmers' college, at College hill. The crowning act
of his lile was the preparation of a will, two and a half
years before his death, under the provisions of which the
university has received by far its greatest endowment.
The sections of this elaborate document containing the
grant and its conditions are as follows:
XXXI. Having long cherished the desire to found an institution
where white girls and boys may be taught, not only by a knowledge of
their duties to their Creator and their fellow-men, but also receive the
benefit of a sound, thorough, and practical English education, and such
as might fit them for their active duties of, life, as well as instruction in
all the higher branches of knowledge, exce.pt Denominational theology,
to the extent that the same are now, or may hereafter be taught, in any
of the secular colleges or universities of the highest grade in the coun-
try, I feel grateful to God that through his kind Providence I have been
sufficiently favored to gratify the wish of my heart.
' I therefore give, devise, and bequeath to the City of Cincinnati,
and to its successors, for the purpose of building, establishing, and
maintaining, as soon as practicable after my decease, two Colleges for
the education of white Boys and Girls, all the following real and per-
sonal estate, in trust forever, to wit:
1. All that piece of land called the "Davenport Tract," and situated
in the Parish of East Baton Rouge, on the River Mississippi, about
fourteen miles below the town of Baton Rouge, in the State of Louis-
ana, being about fifteen arpens in front and eighty in depth, and con-
taining about twelve hundred acres.
2. Ah my property in the City of New Orleans, and Town and
Parish of Jefferson, in the State of Louisiana, which, as well as that
called the Davenport Tract, above devised, shall be sold by the said
City as soon as it may be deemed prudent, and upon the most advan-
tageous terms, at public or private sale; and the same, if sold at pub-
lic sale, shall be sold in the months of January or February, for which
purpose the said city is empowered to make the necessary conveyances.
The said lands shall be sold upon the usual credits of one to three
or four years, with a payment in cash, on account of the purchase-
money, of ten to twenty per cent. ; the balance of the purchase-money
shall bear interest from the day of sale at the highest rate of conven-
tional interest, which interest shall be secured in the Notes given, as a
part of the principal sum, and the Notes after becoming due shall con-
tinue to bear the same rate of interest. The whole balance of the pur-
chase-money shall be secured by a mortgage on the premises.
3. All the Tract of Land in Delhi Township, in the County of
Hamilton and State of Ohio, containing one hundred and twenty-four
acres and three-tenths of an acre. And I hereby authorize the said
City to lease or sell the same, and also to sell any other property here-
after acquired by me, in the County of Hamilton and State of Ohio,
or elsewhere, except — as hereinafter particularly stated — Real Estate in
the said City of Cincinnati.
4. All my real estate in the City of Cincinnati, subject, first, to the
payment of the legacies and annuities with which it is charged, which,
as I have directed, shall be paid out of the rents and profits derived from
the said estate.
5. All my real estate and personal property which I may acquire af-
ter the date of this my will,
6. All my Railroad Bonds and Railroad, Insurance, and other
Stocks. All Notes, secured by mortgage on property I may hereafter
sell. All moneys on deposit in any Bank, and dividends due at the
time of my decease. And all rents due at my decease from my Estate
devised to the said City.
7. All taxes, claims, etc., to which my Estate devised to the said
City may be subject at the time of my decease, shall be paid out of the
rents of the said Estate.
8. All surplus of funds at any time hereafter accruing beyond the
amount necessary to maintain the said Colleges, and all rents, divi-
dends, and interest accruing between the period of my decease and
that at which the said Institution shall go into operation, or any sur-
plus which may at any time hereafter accrue beyond the expenses and
requirements of the Institutions, shall be judiciously invested, for the
benefit of the said Institutions, in real estate or mortgage securities in
the said City, or in good Railroad or Bank Stocks, or Railroad Bonds.
9. All the residue of my real or personal estate, not hereinbefore de^
vised or given, as well as any legacy, etc., which from the death of any
legatee, etc., or failure of any condition on which the same is given,
may hereafter lapse.
XXXII. 1. None of the said Real Estate, in the said city of Cin-
cinnati, above devised to the said corporation, whether improved or un-
improved, or which I may hereafter acquire in the said city, or which
the said city may purchase for the benefit of the said colleges, shall at
anytime be sold; but any building or buildings thereon shall be kept in
repair from the revenues of my estate. And I hereby authorize the
corporate authorities of the said city, should they find it necessary or
expedient, from dilapidation, fire or other cause, or for the purpose of
securing the largest income, to take down any house or houses, and to
rebuild the same out of the income of my estate. And I further em-
power the said authorities to build upon any vacant lot, lots, or grounds
I may possess, or which they may under the authority of my Will here-
after purchase; and as there will be a considerable space upon the east-
ern boundary of the grounds devoted to the College for the Boys, it
would be a suitable and convenient place for erecting Boarding-houses
for the accommodation of students, from which a rental might be de-
rived.
■z. The College Building shall be erected out of the rents and in-
come of my real and personal estate, and on the premises on which I
now. reside, in the city of Cincinnati — by me purchased from the ad-
i8z
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ministrator of Luman Watson, deceased — and which shall be plain,
but neat and substantial in their character, and so constructed that, in
conformity with their architectural design, they, from time to time, may
be enlarged, as the rents of the estates devised will allow, and the ends
of the Institution may require.
The said buildings shall be erected on different parts of the said
grounds, to-wit: That for the Boys on the north, and that for the Girls
on the south of the road lately cut through said grounds.
And I direct that the plot of ground on which the College for the
Boys shall be built, shall comprise not less than from five to six acres;
and that on which- the College for the Girls shall be built shall comprise
all below the said road, which plot may, I suppose, contain about three
acres. Should additional grounds be required for the buildings con-
nected with the College for the Girls, I would refer to lot No. 32, in the
subdivision made by Jacob Madeira, adjoining the last described prem-
ises on the west, which may be found a suitable place for the erection of
dwellings for Boarding-houses for the female students, and from which
a revenue might accrue for Homes for Female Orphans, when required.
And I would recommend, for the purpose of enlarging the College
grounds and for the general benefit of the Institutions, that the said
city should, if they deem it advantageous and are enabled to do so
upon equitable terms, purchase the property on the west side of my said
grounds, by which the said city will have the opportunity, if they see
fit, of erecting a portion of the College Buildings for the Boys to the
westward of the location I have assigned them.
XXXIII. I hereby authorize the said city, if they believe it expedi-
ent, to lay out into lots any unimproved property I may possess, and
to lease the same for building purposes upon ground-rents renewable at a
re-valuation, but no lease shall be made for a longer period than fifteen
years as aforesaid ; or the said city, instead of leasing, may build upon
thesameas already empowered; and no lease of improved property shall
be made for a longer period than ten years. The revenue therefrom shall
be appropriated to the use of the said colleges.
XXXIV. The Holy Bible of the Protestant version, as contained
in the Old and New Testaments, shall be used as a Book of Instruction
in the said Colleges.
XXXV. The preference in all applications for admission to be
given to any and all of my relations and their descendants, to any and
all of the within-named Legatees and their descendants, and to Wirtz
McMicken and his descendants.
XXXVI. 1. If, after the full and complete organization and estab-
lishment of the said Institutions, and the admission of as many pupils
as in the discretion of the said city should, for the purposes of educa-
tion, be received, there shall remain a sufficient surplus of funds, the
same shall be applied in making suitable additional buildings, and to
the support of poor white male and female orphans, neither of whose
parents are living, and who are without any means of support, and who
may be admitted as pupils, if not younger than five nor older than
twelve years, the preference always to be given to the youngest appli-
cant, except in the case of my own relations and collateral descendants,
who shall be received, whether such applicant shall have lost either or
both parents or whatever may be the age of said minors.
2. The said Orphans shall receive a sound English education, and
where the talents of the child shall afford encouragement, he or she
shall be transferred to the respective colleges and shall be educated to
the extent that I have provided by the thirty-first item of my will. It
is my desire also that the moral instruction of all the children admitted
into the said Institution shall form a prominent part of their education,
and that, as far as human means may allow, they shall be made not
useful citizens only, but good citizens deeply impressed with a knowl-
edge of their duties to their God and to their fellow-men, and with a
love for their country and its united republican institutions, in the bles-
sed and peaceful enjoyment of which, it is my fervent prayer, they and
their descendants may continue to live.
3. No orphan shall be received until their Guardians, or those in
whose custody they are, shall have first entirely relinquished theit con-
trol of them to the said city, in order that they may not be capriciously
withdrawn from the benefits of the said Institutions.
4. Those orphans who may have remained until they have reached
any age between fourteen and eighteen years, shall be bound out bv
the said city to some proper art, trade, occupation, or employment.
The taste and inclinations of the orphans, in the selection of an
occupation, to be, as far as practicable and advantageous, always
consulted.
5. This direction as to binding-out I do not intend should be ap-
plied to those who, having displayed superior talents and received
instruction in the higher branches of knowledge as aforesaid, shall, if
they see proper, be permitted to pursue the study of the learned pro-
fessions.
6. Those male orphans who may intermarry with the female
orphans shall, if found deserving, in order to their establishment in
business, be entitled to receive from any surplus revenues in hand, at
an interest of six per cent, per annum, a loan not exceeding five hun-
dred dollars, which shall be made under such regulations and refunded
at such time as the said corporate authorities may stipulate and direct.
XXXVII. The establishment of the regulations necessary to carry
out the objects of my endowment, I leave to the wisdom and discretion
of the corporate authorities of the City of Cincinnati, who shall have
power to appoint directors of said Institutions.
XXXVIII. The conditions on which the above devise and bequest
to the said City of Cincinnati, in trust, are made, are as follows:
That the accounts of the said Institutions shall be kept entirely
distinct from all other accounts whatever. That the rents, issues, and
forfeits of the estate devised shall be used for no other purposes than
those directed by this my will, the provisions of which shall be faith-
fully complied with. And that the said City shall annually remit to the
Legislature, and also publish a statement containing an account of the
amount of funds received and disbursed during the year, the number
of pupils receiving instruction and under charge, and a representation
of the general condition of the Institutions; and also that no charge
whatever shall be made by the said City for the education of the pupils
admitted into the said Colleges, or for the support and education of
any orphans received.
Much of Mr. McMicken's gift to the city, for the pur-
poses of the university, was lost in i860 by a decision of
the Louisiana supreme court, which broke that part of
his will relating to his lands in that State, at the suit of
one or more of the heirs-at-law. The value of the dona-
tion was also much impaired for a time by the fact that
most of the Cincinnati property devised is situated upon
or near Main street, and suffered from the general depre-
ciation of property in that quarter by reason of the move-
ment of business westward. The buildings upon it, fur-
thermore, were old and considerably dilapidated, requir-
ing almost a general rebuilding. The fluctuation of rents
also lessened the receipts for some years; and the trus-
tees were hampered by Mr. McMicken's conditions that
none of the property in the city should be sold, nor should
any of the improved property be leased for a term of
more than ten years. Sundry legacies and annuities were,
too, a permanent charge upon the fund; and from all
these it resulted that for a number of years the average
revenue to the university from this source was but six-
teen thousand dollars per year, and in one year there was
no income from it.
The directors were furthermore much embarrassed by
the requirement of Mr. McMicken's will, that there should
be separate colleges for boys and girls, as greatly increas-
ing the expenses of maintaining the university, and as
conflicting with the judgment of many experienced and
judicious men, that it would be wise to allow the students
of both sexes to meet at the lectures and recitations, and
partake alike of the opportunities and advantages of all
the branches of study open to their choice. It was
doubtful, too, whether the boys' college, to be erected on
the hill, as required by the bequest, would not be too far
from the bulk of the population of the city for its high-
est usefulness. However, it would not answer to "look
a gift horse in the mouth too closely''; and the munifi-
cent benefaction was gladly accepted and has been care-
fully used for its legitimate purposes by the authorities
and people of the city in which he thus won immortal
renown and ever-recurring blessings.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i83
During the year after the death of Mr. McMicken, the
city council passed an ordinance establishing the "Mc-
Micken university," and elected a board of six directors
for the same — Messrs. George B. Hollister, Henry F.
Handy, Rufus King, Miles Greenwood, Cornelius G.
Comegys, and James Wilson — whose periods of service,
in the first instance, were determined by lot at the initial
meeting, in the order of their mention, to be one year,
two, three, four, five, and six years. This meeting was
held in the council chamber December 30, 1859, Mayor
Bishop also present, when the board effected an organi-
zation by the election of Rufus King president, and the
adoption of a code of by-laws, rules, and regulations.
The office was opened in one of the Micken buildings,
on Main street, below Fourth, and the possession and
control of the estate devised was fully assumed, except of
the mansion-house and grounds of the testator, which
were left by the testator to the occupancy for five years of
his nephew and niece, and the Louisiana property, all of
which was lost, by the decisions of the courts, before the
creation of the board. During the succeeding year no
progress could be made toward establishing and main-
taining the university on account of a suit to set aside
the entire devise to the city for this purpose, and because
the decayed and ruinous condition of most of the prop-
erty made it inadvisable to proceed until a general re-
building of the estate could be effected. Repairs and
rebuilding commenced, however, and the way was further
cleared for the founding of the university by the favora-
ble decision of the supreme court of the United States,
February 25, 1861, in the suit of Franklin Perrin against
the city, to break the will. But during this year, which
was the first year of the war of the Rebellion, the total
income of the property was actually less than the expend-
itures for annuities, legacies, taxes, and expenses of the
trust; and of course no progress could be reported.
Only ten thousand eight hundred and fourteen dollars
and eighty-four cents were received this year from rents,
against nearly twice that amount for previous years. The
next year and the following there was an improvement in
this respect; and in 1864 the cash balance in the hands
of the directors was four thousand four hundred and nine
dollars and eighty-two cents, with ten thousand dollars
for investment in city bonds as a means of additional
revenue. The property was now in pretty good repair,
and a successful effort had been made to secure the re-
lease of the real and personal property of the estate from
taxation.
The same year the ladies of the Cincinnati Academy
of Fine Arts presented their entire collection of paintings
to the embryo university. It was gratefully accepted by
the directors on behalf of the city, as a nucleus of a fine-
art gallery to be, and a means of encouraging and de-
veloping art-education in the coming university. A tem-
porary place was secured for the gift in a large room of
one of the McMicken buildings, on the northeast corner
of Main and Fourth streets, where it was made accessible
to artists and art-students, and to the public generally.
In 1865 the sum of twelve thousand one hundred and
fifty-one dollars and twenty cents was invested by the
directors in United States bonds, bearing seven and
three-tenths per cent, interest. Three new stores were
built with the fund the next year, and income was thus
materially increased. The directors now reported that
it would not be expedient to begin the erection of build-
ings for the university until the revenues from the estate
amounted to thirty thousand dollars a year, free of all
incumbrance. By the year 1868 that aggregate of
yearly income had been reached, and the prospect of
university buildings was brightening.
On the first Monday in January, 1869, a beginning
was made of instruction in the University by the
opening of the McMicken School of Art and Design, in
charge of Mr. Thomas S. Noble, an artist and teacher
from New York city, who is still in charge, and is now
assisted by seven teachers. One hundred and twenty
pupils were in attendance the first year; now between
three and four hundred are annually registered. The
school is kept in the fourth story of the old College
Building, on Walnut street, and has an ample equipment
of models, plaster casts, and books of reference.
The same year the erection of four stores was con-
tracted for, on the McMicken property on Main street,
south of Fourth, which mainly completed the plan
of putting the trust estate in order, to which the funds
had so far been directed.
April 16, 1870, an act was passed by the Legislature,
which enabled the city to become a trustee for any per-
son or body corporate holding an estate or funds in trust
for the promotion of education or any of the arts and
sciences. Under this a University Board was appointed
in January, 187 1, and to it was promptly transferred the
estate left in trust for the city by Mr. McMicken. The
name of the institution was changed from McMicken
University to Cincinnati University. The rebuilding
and repair of the property were completed, and the
estate began to yield twenty thousand to thirty thousand
dollars a year to the treasury of the university. To this time
the total sum of two hundred and thirty thousand two hun-
dred and thirty-six dollars and nine cents had been re-
ceived, of which one hundred and seventy-two thousand
one hundred and thirty-four dollars and fifty-six cents had
been expended in new buildings, twenty-five thousand and
seventy-two dollars and eleven cents in repairs, twenty
thousand four hundred and twenty dollars and sixty-nine
cents in taxes from 1861 to 1865, when the University
property was relieved from taxation, and sixty-five thou-
sand five hundred dollars in annuities and legacies.
In 1873 a temporary arrangement was made for open-
ing an Academic Department in the Woodward High
School, with Principal George Harper, of that school, in
charge, and to supervise or conduct classes in language,
mathematics, chemistry, and physics, beyond the courses
then pursued in the High School. Fifty-eight students
were admitted, forty of them ladies; some to study
French and German only. A class in wood-carving,
taught by Benn Pitman, was added to the School 'of
Art and Design, which was this year removed to the
College Building from that previously occupied on the
corner of Third and Main streets.
1 84
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The next year the Academic Department was fully
organized, with three courses of study — for the degrees
of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, arid Civil
Engineer, respectively. H. J. Eddy was appointed
Professor of Mathematics, Astronomy, and Civil Engin-
eering ; F. D. Allen of Ancient Languages and Compara-
tive Philology; E. A. Guetin Instructor in French; and
F. Van Rossum Instructor in German. The Depart-
ment was removed to the intermediate school-house on
Liberty street, near Sycamore. After considerable dis- :
cussion as to the site the lower College Building to be
erected was located near Clifton avenue, between the
upper and lower sites designated by Mr. McMicken, on
his home grounds of ten or twelve acres, upon the old
Hamilton road, west of Vine street and close to the Clif-
ton Inclined Plane. The students in the Art School
this year numbered four hundred and five, of whom
sixty-nine were in the wood-carving classes.
In 1875 tne Cincinnati Observatory was added to the
University as an Astronomical Department. Its history
will be outlined in our chapter on Science and Art.
In 1876 the Art Department received a gift from
Joseph Longworth, Esq., of fifty-nine thousand five
hundred dollars, upon condition that the University
should add ten thousand dollars, which was promptly done,
and the Art School thus placed upon a liberal and per-
manent pecuniary foundation. The school had an
exhibit this year at the Centennial Exposition, and
this, with the compliment paid it by the Jury on House-
hold Art, won for it a high and wide reputation. Assist-
ant professors were appointed in the Academic Depart-
ment, and provision made for a professorship in
Natural History and Geology; also for a thoroughly
equipped laboratory, and apparatus for the classes in Civil
Engineering. The Rev. Samuel J Browne left a bequest,
which yielded the sum of eighteen thousand seven hun-
dred and eighty-two dollars and seventy-seven cents, for
the use of the university.
The first degrees were conferred in 1877— one B. A,
upon Frank McFarlan; two M. A, upon Herbert A
Howe and Winslow Upton, post-graduate students at the
Observatory. The School of Design this year (1876-7)
had four hundred and thirty-two pupils; in 1877-8,
three hundred and sixty-five, of whom twenty-one
were in sculpture (against twenty-three the year be-
fore), and one hundred and three in wood carving.
Rev. Thomas A. Vickers, librarian of the public library,
was appointed rector of the university in December, 1877.
The first regular public commencement of the univer-
sity was held at Pike's opera house June 20, 1878. An
oration was delivered by the Hon. George H. Pendleton
and academic degrees conferred upon five young men of
Cincinnati and one from Brazil, and one young lady from
Newport. The students of the year in this department
had numbered eighty-nine.
The next year there were six graduates, including three
from Brazil. The baccalaureate address was delivered by
the Hon. Aaron F. Perry. Attendance in all depart-
ments 1878-9, four hundred and sixty-nine. An unsuc-
cessful proposal was made this year to unite the city
normal'schooTwith the university. The standard of ad-
mission to the academic department and the correspond-
ing courses in the high schools had been so' raised" that
only three other' institutions in the country could claim
standards so high. Many valuable donations were made
to the scientific collections of the university, and liberal
gifts had also been received from Messrs Julius Dexter,
John Kilgour, the heirs of Nicholas Longworth, and the
Cincinnati Astronomical society, the total endowment
fund from these sources, with the Browne bequest,
amounting to one hundred and thirty-nine thousand two
hundred and eighty-two dollars and seventy-seven cents.
The third annual commencement was held at ' Pike's
Friday evening, June 18, 1886. Address by the chair-
man of the board of directors, Hon. Samuel F. Hunt,
and baccalaureate by Judge J. B. Stallo. Degrees were
conferred in the academic department of A. B. upon two
young men, C. E. upon another, and B. S. upon one
young lady, daughter of Judge Stallo; one M. A. and two
M. S., one normal diploma, and one bachelor of letters.
One M. A. was also granted in the astronomical depart-
ment.
During the year 1879, the income to the University
from rentals was twenty thousand two hundred and twelve
dollars and thirty cents, and from all the sources forty-
one thousand four hundred and seventy-three dollars and
ninety cents, making a total of sixty-one thousand six
hundred and eighty-six dollars and twenty cents. The
institution is thus on a firm financial footing, in its new
building, and giving the happiest promise for the future.
The Cincinnati people are naturally very proud of it.
Superintendent Peaslee, of the public schools, says in his
report for 1878-9.:
As stated in a previous report, Cincinnati enjoys the most complete
system of public school education of any city in the world ; for the
pupils of both sexes have not only open to them the advantages of the
District, Intermediate, and High Schools, but possess the privilege of
attending, free of charge, the University of Cincinnati. The course of
instruction given in this long extended curriculum is of a very high
character. From school to school the student passes, till he goes out
into the world from the University, with that broad teaching which will
enable him to hold his own proudly in the stirring times in whicn we
live. There are but three educational institutions in this country —
Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Michigan Universities— whose matricula-
tion examinations are equal to ours, and whose standard for admission
to degrees is correspondingly high. During the past year the course
of study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts has been strength-
ened by requiring the students to devote three out of the four years of
the college curriculum to the study of Latin and Greek ; while, to meet
the requirements of those who do not wish to take up a full classical
course, a degree of Bachelor of Letters has been established.
LANE SEMINARY.*
It is no stretch of credulity to say that this institution
was a child of Providence. The time had come, in the
providence of God, when the foundations were to be
laid of that remarkable constellation of institutions which
was to shed light, we may hope for all time, through this
great central west.
The seed from which this institution sprang was really
sown earlier than at the date usually given. It is among
the records of the family that as early as 18 19 Elnathan
* This account is abridged from the semi-centenary address of the
Rev. G. M. Maxwell, D. D., December "18, 1879.
J3vew.eia.-t C->v j3v^^m^w^
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i»5
Kemper and Peter H. Kemper devoted eight acres of
land on Walnut Hills, at the earnest request of their
father, for the support of the Walnut Hills academy, that
year established by Rev. James Kemper, sr., on the man-
ual labor principle. In this school, in addition to the or-
dinary branches of education, the Latin and Greek lan-
guages were taught, till, at the close of the year 1825,
the failing health of Mr. Kemper compelled him to sus-
pend it. Yet this school had a connection with what
followed, for, when subsequently Walnut Hills was nom-
inated as the site for the seminary the general assembly
was proposing to establish in the west, it could be said in
favor of the location: "On one of the sites we would
propose there is a well-finished academy, with a good
frame dwelling-house by it." — [Letter of Rev. James
Kemper, sr., to Dr. Ely.]
In the summer of 1828 occurred what led to the first
decisive steps towards the foundation of this seminary.
Mr. E. Lane and brother, merchants of New Orleans,
Baptists, moved with a desire to bring the means of edu-
cation within the reach of "pious but indigent young
men," offered assistance thereto to their Baptist brethren
in Cincinnati. The Baptists declined the offer. It was
then proposed that it should be a joint affair — the Bap-
tists and Presbyterians uniting. This partnership the
Presbyterians declined to go into. The offer was then
made to the Presbyterians alone, and by them enter-
tained, and the first meeting was convened in the First
Presbyterian church, September 27, 1828, to deliberate
on the subject. To this meeting a paper was presented
exhibiting a plan of the institution and containing the
proposition of the Messrs. Lane. It was resolved to act
upon it, and committees were appointed to wait on the
Messrs. Lane, draft a constitution, and prepare a circular
for appeal to the public. So the first decisive blow was
struck. September 27, 1828.
The first offer of land for a site was made by Mr.
Samuel Caldwell, of Carthage, (October 28, 1828). He
offered to give twenty-five to thirty acres near that village.
Mr. Elnathan Kemper (November 15, 1828) offered to
sell to the board one hundred acres on Walnut Hills for
seven thousand five hundred dollars. December 15,
1828, Mr. William Cary offered a farm on the pike be-
tween College Hill and Mount Pleasant, a part of which
he would donate and a part sell, for one thousand six
hundred and fifty dollars. But, pending these offers,
Mr. Kemper, on January 1, 1829, proposed to donate
sixty acres from the north end of his farm, and sell forty
more at four thousand dollars. Here comes to view in
our history one of the names ever to be held in grateful
remembrance, ever to be honored. In the graceful cus-
tom of the east, we should rise up and pronounce him
"blessed'' at every mention. Mr. Elnathan Kemper
never held any official relation to the board or the semi-
nary. But he will stand perpetually in a relation most
honorable and dear — honorable to his generous heart;
honorable to his far-sightedness ; honorable to the pur-
pose which governed his life, in the glory of his Master.
In dividing his estate, and laying one portion at the feet
of that Master, he gave, what some might say would now
be a princely fortune to his descendants, were it in their
possession, but what has written his name among the
benefactors of the church. Several of the Kempei s par-
ticipated in the gift.
The offer of Mr. Kemper the board gladly accepted,
and thus the site was fixed here, where the value of the
land has contributed to place the institution on a solid
financial basis. At either of the other locations pro-
posed, the land would still have only a value for farming
purposes, in addition to the disadvantage of distance
from the city. It was no exaggeration, then, when the
corresponding secretary, Dr. Warren, wrote to Mr. Lane,
after the selection of this site: "The seminary will be
delightfully located for health and pleasantness."
The act of the legislature incorporating the institution
was passed February n, 1829.
Remembering how new and unsupplied was everything
here fifty years ago, it is not to be wondered at that our
fathers should grasp at the supply of everything at once;
so an institution was planned which should be prepara-
tory, collegiate, and theological, all in one. Such a re-
port was presented January 5, 1829; and the board
entered upon the adoption of it by beginning at the bot-
tom, and nominating a tutor for the preparatory depart-
ment. By action of the board, July 6, 1829, the theo-
logical course was extendi d to three years. The pre-
paratory department was opened November 15, 1829;
and a faithful effort was made to get the whole extensive
machine into operation, but it was too heavy, too ex-
pensive. As early as March 22, 1833, an earnest dis-
cussion was had on the motion to reduce the institution
to a theological seminary, with a limited literary depart-
ment for pious young men. This discussion continued
at intervals for a year, till, at the annual meeting, October
30, 1834, the following was adopted:
Whereas, It appears to this board, after the experience they have
had, and the best counsel they can obtain on the subject, that a pre-
paratory of literary department in the seminary is not favorable to its
best interests ; therefore,
Resolved, That from the present time the preparatory department be
discontinued.
Thenceforward, therefore, the theological department,
which had gone into operation with the inauguration of
Drs. Beecher and Biggs, December 26, 1832, had exclu-
sive possession.
The first financial act of the board was to order the
treasurer to borrow fifty dollars. Their credit appears to
have been able to endure the strain. Agents were ap-
pointed east, west, and south, to raise funds to organize
the new institution,. and commence the erection of build-
ings. Little success was met with except in this vicinity,
where some fifteen thousand dollars appear to have been
subscribed. The collection of this appears subsequently
to have been attended with considerable difficulty, owing
to causes which need not here be described. A part of
the local subscription was never realized. Efforts were
made in the east, also, to secure endowments of profes-
sorships. Mr. Arthur Tappan, of New York, agreed to
give twenty thousand dollars to endow the professorship
of didactic theology, provided Dr. Beerher could be ob-
tained, The professorship of church history and church
»4
1 86
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
polity was begun and well advanced in Philadelphia ;
while Mr. John Tappan, of Boston, subscribed ten thous-
and dollars; Daniel Waldo and sisters, of Worcester,
Massachusetts, four thousand more toward the professor-
ship of sacred rhetoric. These generous offers opened a
door of hope, and the board felt authorized to go for-
ward in the complete manning of the institution.
It must be that what was known as the "Kemper
school-house" was used at first for the preparatory de-
partment, or "Walnut Hills school," as it was designated;
yet this nowhere appears in the minutes. The first
building erected was the boarding-house, the contract for
which was made April 12, 1830, with W. H. Pierce, for
three thousand five hundred dollars. This building was
so damaged by fire, April 18, 1868, that it was replaced
by the present boarding-hall during the following summer.
The next structure undertaken was the dormitory,
which was begun in 1832. The money for this building
appears to have been raised in Cincinnati — a meeting
having been held for that purpose in the vestry-room of
the Second Presbyterian church, about New Year's, at
which a subscription was started, and subsequently in-
creased to near twelve thousand dollars.
The chapel began to receive attention in the fall of
1834. For a good part of a year they labored on the
design and the location. The architectural outcome of
so much labor seems hardly adequate. Finally this
minute appears: "A new plan for a chapel was sub-
mitted which would place the end toward the street, and
having six brick pillars in front, which was considered;
and, on motion, it was resolved the plan be adopted, pro-
vided the expense of the chapel shall not exceed eleven
thousand dollars; and J. C. Tunis was requested to call
on Mr. Walters, the master builder, and obtain an esti-
mate of the cost of the building on the above plan."
May 25, 1835.
From various records it would appear that the chapel
was finished during the year 1836.
After inquiries and correspondence, the appointment
of professor was tendered to Rev. George C. Beckwith,
then of Lowell, Massachusetts, April 13, 1829. He ac-
cepted August 26, 1829, and appears to have arrived on
the ground about the first of November, for on the sec-
ond day he is present at a meeting of the board; he is
then charged with all the theological instruction, and is
directed to make out a course of study for the institution.
It is not known that Professor Beckwith ever gave any
instruction in the seminary. Temporary teachers were
provided for the preparatory school.
February 24, 1830, he was appointed agent to solicit
funds in the east; and, proceeding thither, he labored
there without success, and September 20, 1830, resigned.
October 22, 1830, Dr. Beecher was appointed Presi-
dent and Professor of Didactic Theology, and corres-
pondence was opened with him. January 17, i83r, Dr.
Biggs, then of Frankford, Pennsylvania, was appointed
Professor of Christian History, on condition his profes-
sorship be completed in Philadelphia,
January 23, 1832, Dr. Beecher's appointment was re-
newed, and Dr. Biggs' acceptance was received.
August 9, 1832, Dr. Beecher's acceptance was re-
ceived, and at the same date Dr. Stowe was appointed
Professor of Biblical Exegesis.
December 26, 1832, Drs. Beecher and Biggs were in-
augurated, and the work of theological instruction fairly
commenced.
Some things characteristic of the early times we may
profitably bring to mind. What would we think now,
for example, of the following proposition to board stu-
dents: "We will board not less than ten, nor more than
twenty-five, orderly, well-behaved boys or young men,
from the tenth instant to the first of May next, in the fol-
lowing ways: Their table must be plain, consisting of a
change in bread, vegetables, meats and soups. Their
principal lodging-room must be in the third story, and is
forty feet long by thirteen wide, is well plastered, and is
commonly called the garret, lighted by four small win-
dows. We will furnish one large room with a fireplace,
which must be common to all our boarders, and at the
same time our dining-room, which room the students
must warm at their own expense. This grade of fare we
will furnish for one dollar and twelve and a half cents
per week (neither candles or bedding here)." November
2, 1829.
December 23, 1829: "Resolved, that the students in
the Lane Seminary be required to labor three hours daily
until further directed." But, then, they were impartial
in their requirements, for October 1, 1832, it was "re-
solved, that every teacher in the Lane Seminary be re-
quired to labor as regularly as possible, and, when prac-
ticable, daily;" and a committee of four, with Rev.
James Gallaher as chairman, was appointed to confer
with the teachers on this subject. It does not appear
what measures were taken for the health of the trustees.
March 4, 1833. Some students petition for the com-
fort of coffee in the boarding-house, but it was resolved
"that it is inexpedient at this time to make any change
in the fare."
November 30, 1832. "Resolved, that the smoking of
segars will, in no case, be allowed in any building of the
Seminary," and I nowhere find any repeal of this. Nor
of this: "June 25, 1834. Resolved, that it is inexpe-
dient for students, during their continuance in this insti-
tution, to form connections by marriage, and that form-
ing such connection is a sufficient ground for dismission
from the Seminary.''
It would be hard, I think, to prove that such rules are
so antiquated as to have lost all their "sweet reasonable-
ness."
If any have found it difficult to understand why the
trustees should have laid out a cemetery on their land, it
may be a relief to hear the last of many reasons given by
a committee appointed to draw up a report on the sub-
ject. Among other reasons this appears: "Inasmuch
as those who are studying for the ministry need time and
opportunity for meditation and self-examination, a ceme-
tery in proximity to the institution will afford a favorable
retirement for that purpose."
The Life of Thomas Morris, formerly Senator of the
United States from Ohio, contains the following inter-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
187
esting note of an old-time episode at the Seminary, which
was briefly noticed in our annals of the Fifth Decade :
The Trustees of Lane Seminary, in 1834, prohibited the formation of
an anti-slavery society, and declared that all discussion on the subject
was improper. This action, so contrary to the genius of Christianity
and of free institutions, compelled the students to leave the institution
and go where free discussion was tolerated. The institution itself was
threatened with an attack from a mob, if there was not a suppression
of the Anti-Slavery Society. The venerable president of the institu-
tion, Dr. Lyman Beecher, whose family have, by their genius and writ-
ings, given to the anti-slavery sentiment of the nation and the world an
extraordinary extension and power, said to the students: "Boys, you
are right in your views, but most impracticable in your measures.
Mining and quiet strategy are ordinarily better as well as safer methods
of taking a city, than to do it by storm. It is not always wise to take
a bull by the horns. You are right ; but in your way you can't succeed.
If you should succeed, I will be with you, and swing my hat and shout
huzza !" Leading literary magazines and newspapers of Cincinnati
combined to disband this Anti-Slavery Society of Lane Seminary, de-
claring it "discreditable to the institution, and calculated to inflict a
deep wound on the great interests of education ; and the indignation of
the public will put it down. ''
The following extract from the historical note prefixed
to the catalogue of 1879-80, brings the history rapidly
but sufficiently down to the present time:
Among those who have served the Seminary since its organization,
the name of D. Howe Allen, D. D., is especially conspicuous. He was
Professor of Sacred Rhetoric from 1840 to 1851; and from that date till
1867, when he resigned, the Professor in Systematic Theology. Like
Dr. Beecher, he continned to be Professor Emeritus till his death, which
occurred in 1870. George E. Day, D. D., now of Yale Theological
Seminary, was Professor of Biblical Literature from 1851 to 1866.
Henry A. Nelson, D. D., now of Geneva, New York, was Professor of
Theology from 1867 to 1874; and Thomas E. Thomas, D. D., Profes-
sor of New Testament Literature from 1871 to his death in 1875. Jona-
than B. Condit, D. D., and Elisha Ballantine, D. D., have served the
Seminary for shorter periods. Henry Smith, D. D., LL. D., who died
on the fourteenth of January, 1879, was Professor of Sacred Rhetoric
from 1855 to 1861. In 1865 he returned to the same department of in-
struction, and remained in the discharge of his duties, with the addi-
tion of Pastoral Theology, till his decease. He also gave instruction
for some years in Church History, and, during the illness of Dr. Allen,
in the Department of Theology.
The whole number of alumni is about seven hundred, of whom five
hundred are still living. The large majority of the brethren have been
or are still engaged in the missionary work of the Presbyterian church,
in the region between the Alleghanies and the outlying territories of the
west. They are distributed in seventeen States and territories. More
than thirty have gone into the foreign field. Many of them have sig-
nalized themselves as capable and effective preachers, and as earnest
and practical laborers in every department of ministerial service. In
the two States of Ohio and Indiana more than one-fifth of the actual
working force of our church are graduates of Lane.
In this year (1879-80) the faculty of the seminary
numbered five professors, and the students numbered
thirty-four — thirteen juniors, thirteen of the middle class,
six seniors, and two resident ministers — representing
thirteen States.
The Smith Library hall -was erected in 1863, and
named from its principal benefactor, Mr. Preserved
Smith, of Dayton, who also contributed half the expense
(ten thousand dollars) of a beautiful Seminary hall for
chapel, gymnasium, etc., dedicated December 18, 1879.
THE CINCINNATI THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
was an organization started by the Old School Presby-
terians, to whom the theology of Lane seminary was not
acceptable, in May, 1850. The professors were pastors of
churches in the city — the Rev. James Hoge, D. D., in
the chair of church polity and ecclesiastical history, and
Rev. N. L. Rice, D. D., in that of didactic or polemic
theology. Teachers of Greek and Hebrew, and of ori-
ental and Biblical literature, were also in the original
plan. It was remarked as a novel feature that the
school had no building, dormitories or lecture-rooms,
except the church lecture-rooms of the pastors, where
they met their students. There were but twelve of these
during the first session — that of 1850-1 — and it soon be-
came evident that the patronage of the school was not
such as would justify its permanent maintenance. It
was consequently short-lived.
mount st. mary's theological seminary
is a Roman Catholic institution, occupying a command-
ing site on Price's Hill, west of the Mill Creek valley, on
the highest ground in the immediate neighborhood of
Cincinnati. It was founded about 1852, and has had a
very eminent career as a preparatory school for the
Catholic priesthood. Its library is a superb collection of
more than fifteen thousand volumes, including one hun-
dred editions of the Bible and many rarities in the shape
of old Bibles, manuscripts, and other literary and ecclesi-
astical curiosities.
West of this institution and near the city limits, on the
Warsaw turnpike, is the Young Ladies' Academy of St.
Vincent de Paul, a Catholic school for girls, upon a spa-
cious tract, formerly the residence of Mr. Alderson, a
brother-in-law of Mary Howitt, the celebrated English
authoress. The dwelling there was formerly called tha
" Cedars,'' and from it were written, many years ago, the
charming letters embodied by the sister abroad in a lit-
tle volume entitled "Our Cousins in Ohio," from which
we give extracts elsewhere. It was bought by the Sisters
of Charity March 10, 1851, and made the mother-house
of the order. Twenty more acres adjoining the
"Cedars" tract were purchased in 1853, and in 1858 a
new building was put up for the use of the order and
the school.
THE HEBREW UNION COLLEGE
is under the presidency of the renowned Rabbi Wise, of
the congregation of Benai-Jeshurun. It was established
in 1875, by the union of American-Hebrew congrega-
tions, and has been maintained prosperously for several
years. The departments are preparatory and collegiate,
of four years each. The bourse of study includes Jewish
history, literature, and theology, Semitic philology, and
special preparation for professorships in the last named
branch and for the Israelite pulpits. Pupils in the colle-
giate course, if they enter for the degree of rabbi, must
attend the undergraduate course at the university of Cin-
cinnati. The attendance in the year 1878-9 was twenty-
three regular students and twelve extra hearers.
THE MEDICAL AND LAW SCHOOLS
have a history of their own in this city, and shall receive
due notice in our chapter on the Bar and on Medicine in
Cincinnati.
BUSINESS EDUCATION.*
To the west belongs the credit of originating the Amer-
* This section, for the most part, has been kindly contributed by Mr.
Richard Nelson, president of Nelson's Business college, at the south-
east corner of Fourth and Vine streets, and author of the well-known
Cincinnati book on Suburban Homes.
i88
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ican business college, and the pioneer in the enterprise
was the venerable R. M. Bartlett, of Cincinnati. A citi-
zen of the east, Mr. Bartlett first attempted to establish a
school in Philadelphia, and afterward at Pittsburgh; but
those cities were not ripe for the experiment, and in 1838
he removed to Cincinnati and opened an institution under
the name of Bartlett's commercial college. Contrary to
his expectations, Mr. Bartlett's school was looked upon
with disfavor by the professional merchants of that time
and their book-keepers; but there was a class of traders
for whom it was specially adapted — the rising traders,
who were generally men of limited means and education.
These attended the college during the evenings, and soon
were joined by clerks and broken tradesmen, the latter
attending day and evening, to fit themselves for positions
of responsibility in the houses of their more fortunate
brethren.
The system of teaching adopted by Mr. Bartlett was
well fitted to meet the wants of his patrons. They all
had more or less experience in business, knew something
of clerking, and more of selling goods. They wanted
only a knowledge of book-keeping, and that by double
entry.
At that time text-books on book-keeping were not nu-
merous or well suited for the use of the school room.
The principal were Bennett's and Jackson's; the latter
an English work. These were written with little regard
to a progressive course of study, and contained few exer-
cises for teaching the theory and art of journalizing, post-
ing, and closing books. Discarding their use, Mr.
Bartlett introduced numerous diminutive sets of books,
each complete in itself, so that the student, in every set,
had to go through all the operations of opening, journal-
izing, posting, and balancing books. These exercises
gave him plenty of employment, and familiarized him
with the various rules.
In the course of time the college attracted to its rooms
young mechanics and farmers, who pursued their studies
during the day, and soon made the day sessions more
important than those of the evening. Additional branches
were added to the curriculum. Penmanship, taught by a
professional teacher, was an important branch, and busi-
ness arithmetic was another. .Lectures were also deliv-
ered on mercantile law by prominent members of the
bar.
Mr. Bartlett's success was attended with the usual re-
sult— competition. Mr. John Gundry, a professional
penman, opened what he termed a Mercantile college,
and associated with him one or two others, until he met
a Mr. Bacon, a pupil of Mr. Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett com-
plained that his former pupil, Bacon, was making use of
his manuscript sets of book-keeping, and gave the part-
ners some trouble. Messrs. Gundry and Bacon soon
separated, each opening a college, called respectively
Gundry's Mercantile College and B.icon's Mercantile
College, the former on the northwest corner of Fifth and
Walnut, and the latter on the corresponding corner of
Walnut and Sixth streets. These proving successful,
still more colleges of the kind were called into existence,
till at one time there were six or seven.
The new colleges added little, if anything, to the effi-
ciency of the course of study. On the contrary, the
character of the instruction degenerated, till the colleges
lost the respect and confidence of the public, and espe-
cially of business men. Boys and young men were gradu-
ated as book-keepers, when many of them could not make
out a bill from dictation or draw a receipt for a given
purpose. The day for obtaining the patronage of the
business community had passed, and no change was made
in the curriculum to adapt it to the wants of the young
mechanics and farmers who then made up their patrons.
In 1856 another teacher, Mr. Richard Nelson, ap-
peared in the community, whose attention was directed
to the defects of the popular system of instruction, and
he at once proceeded to remedy them. For this purpose
he organized the school as a business community, and
thus placed every student under the necessity, not only
of making out bills, but of giving and receiving all the
vouchers necessary for the safe transaction of business.
It was thus that the actual business method of teaching
had its origin, and Nelson's Business College, of Cincin-
nati, has the credit of originating it. The following is a
description of the course of study:
At certain hours of the day, the students, assembled in the College
hall, are an organized business community. The hall has suitable fur-
niture for carrying on banking, insurance and transportation business,
besides desks for the business of each student and firm. Students are
instructed how to buy, sell, and collect, in accordance with law and
usage. A bank of issue supplies them with currency. They keep bank
accounts, issue notes of hand, checks, etc., and conduct a correspond
ence, buy and sell and exchange ; — in short, act as any community ot
merchants, bankers, etc., which they really are. Their merchandise is
represented by printed cards, their business forms are printed neatly
and in mercantile style. Immediately on entering, the beginner has
advanced to him a sum of money and is commissioned to buy for his
principal. He is shown how to enter the check and how to make his
deposit ; learns the condition of the market, buys to the best of his
knowledge and skill, delivers his goods and invoices, and, when his
funds run low, renders a statement and draws upon his principal for
more money.
When he has made enough in this way, and his books have been kept
satisfactorily, he is allowed to do business on his own account. He
then buys from first hands ; and, being unrestricted as to persons, sells
to whom he pleases and on the best terms he can make. He is thus led
to depend upon his own resources, and compelled to consult his best
judgment in all his business affairs. If he has maturing obligations, he
must hold himself prepared to honpr them, as neglect would impair his
credit, and that would retard his progress in study, because without
capital he could not do business on his own account,
Doing business, as each student is, with every other student, there is
a continual check on his records. Besides this, at short intervals, the
books, papers, etc., are examined by the President, who points out
errors, if any, and suggests improvements.
Having an efficient secretary and treasurer to manage the concerns
of the office, the president is enabled to give his personal attention
to every student. Besides this, he is the head of the miniature city and
has business relations with every student of every grade. A corps of
clerks assist him in this capacity.
He is also a legal adviser, and is consulted as such on frequent
occasions; and every set of books written by students has to pass a
rigid examination, and the writers a further examination, so that
principles will not be overlooked in the interest attached to doing
business.
This personal supervision, it will be conceded, adds materially to
the efficiency of the college. In its absence actual business is only a
sham.
Doing business as merchants, clerks, tellers, etc., students become
perfectly familiar with the use of vouchers, and acquire great dexterity
in drawing them.
Besides this, drill exercises are daily given in business calculations
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
189
from simple addition up to foreign exchange, in which the students of
each section engage in vigorous competition. Nelson's mercantile
arithmetic was pub ished to aid the teachers in giving instruction in
the most concise methods of footing long columns, extending, com-
puting interest, commission, etc.
Owing to the hurried manner in which children are forced through
the first rules of arithmetic and the limited knowledge of the majority
of teachers regarding the wants of business, we seldom find a student
of any literary school or college who is either rapid or accurate in
figures. Instead of drilling children in expeditious methods, teachers
occupy their time in working out by mental processes problems that
will never be called into use in after life and are of comparatively little
value for culture.
Another defect in teaching arithmetic is that of confining the atten-
tion of learners to questions based upon tables of weights and meas-
ures that were never used in this country. For instance, children are
taught to calculate the cost of goods as bought and sold by the ell
English, Flemish, and French, and groceries by the ton, hundred, quar-
ter, pound, ounce, and dram as a single weight !
Still another defect is in practicing crude methods of solution.
Instead of teaching children to use the fewest number of figures com-
bined with the least mental effort, teachers pride themselves on the
variety of ways by which the required result can be obtained; and the
most operose methods are the most likely to be adopted because they
happen to be governed by elaborate rules. In most arithmetics the
method of computing interest and discount is taught by many different
rules, not one of which is used by expert clerks. That there is a great
wrong being practiced on the rising generation in regard to the study
of arithmetic, every business man must know. How to rectify it, may
soon be a popular question. As taught in this institution, arithmetic
is one of the most interesting branches of study. Rules are discarded,
principles demonstrated and applied, and vigorous drill exercises con-
ducted daily.
The curriculum is further made up of mercantile law,
correspondence, lectures on business habits, business
morals or ethics, success in business, etc., and other kin-
dred topics, and, generally, the young people are trained
rather than taught. They learn by study and observation
and the demonstration of principles, rather than by rule,
and are thus prepared to take their places beside experi-
enced clerks and book-keepers.
This new departure (if we may still call it new), at-
tracted the attention of many of the leading educators of
the country, not a few of whom availed themselves of the
advantages the college afforded for learning business.
At one time no less than six of Cincinnati's most promi-
nent teachers were attending the institution, and the
college register shows the name of a professor of mathe-
matics from Andover.
At first the new system was ridiculed, then seriously
proscribed, then copied, or, we should say, counterfeited,
and to-day "The Actual Business Method" of teaching
is advertised as the leading feature of every school that
makes any pretensions as a business educator.
Mr. Nelson retired from the profession in 1872, having
little competition when he left. In 1877 he resumed,
to find active rivalry, and numerous colleges competing
for the patronage of the city and the surrounding
country. But the number .of colleges is now again re-
duced to two. Mr. Bartlett, having resumed, to test the
practicability of what he considers an improved method
of teaching, has re-opened Bartlett's Commercial Col-
lege; and Mr. Fabor, a graduate of Nelson's college, has
opened the Queen City Commercial College.
In claiming for Cincinnati the credit of originating the
American business college, we may remark that Mr. Jona-
than Jones, the pioneer commercial teacher of St. Louis,
is a graduate of Bartlett's college, and Mr. Packard,
who owns the most prominent business college in New
York city, made his first appearance in the commercial
world as teacher of penmanship in Bartlett's college. A
similar remark may be made of Mr. W. A. Miller, his
chief teacher, who, after teaching for Mr. Bartlett, was in
i860 associated with Mr. Nelson.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to enumerate
all the various schools that have from time to time made
their appearance in Cincinnati. The first, as we have
shown, was Bartlett's, which continued under his man-
agement till about 1862, when Mr. J. M. Watters took
its management and control for about six years. Then
there were Head's, Gundry's, Bacon's, Smith's, the Ohio
Commercial College, the Catholic Institute, Bryant,
Stratton & De Han's, Granger's, Herold's, the Cincinnati
Business College, the National Business College, and
others of less note.
In the early winter of 1 880-1 a business college for
women was opened under Mr. Nelson's presidency, and
in immediate charge of Miss Ella Nelson, his daughter,
in the Glenn building. The methods pursued are pre-
cisely those practiced in the older college, the students
being organized as a business community, and also taught
practical arithmetic and phonography. The new school
opened under very hopeful auspices.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.*
The public school system of Cincinnati is now in the
fifty-third year of its existence; but as the city, on the
twelfth day of February, 1829, was then, comparatively
speaking, in its cradle, it is difficult to give more than a
rapid retrospect of the early history of the public educa-
tion of the masses of the children.
First, in order of time, John Kidd, in 1818, devised
one thousand dollars per annum, charged upon the
ground-rents of his estate* to be expended for the educa-
tion of the poor children and youth of Cincinnati. This
devise was unfortunately frustrated by the title to his es-
tate, which proved defective; but in 1824 Thomas
Hughes, an Englishman, who had long made his home
here, left a tract of land yielding a perpetual ground-rent
of two thousand dollars, "to be appropriated and applied
to the maintenance and support of a school or schools in
the city of Cincinnati, for the education of destitute
children whose parents and guardians were unable to pay
for their schooling," -and Mr. Woodward's bequest fol-
lowed some years afterward. These were the founda-
tions of our High schools.
The law of 1825 simply provided for State educa-
tion. It was soon evident that the action of the legislature
would be, if not inoperative, at least incapable of pro-
ducing the desired fruits. The plan of the law was in
itself defective, and the tax it authorized insufficient
for the purpose. The schools were, moreover, opposed
not only by the heavy_ tax-payers and the proprietors of
private academies, but also neglected by the people for
whose benefit they were set on foot, upon the ground that
♦Abridged, chiefly, from J. Haughton's sketch in the Annual School
Reports.
190
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
they were "charity" or "poor schools. These advantages
soon became so obvious that, in February, 1829, the
friends of education, taking advantage of amendments
to be made in the city charter, secured the passage of a
statute giving an independent organization to the schools
of Cincinnati and empowering the city council to levy
special taxes for building school-houses and supporting
schools. The terms of this act required the city council
to divide the city into ten districts, in each of which
within ten years they were to purchase a lot and erect a
substantial building of brick or stone, to be two stories
high, and containing two school rooms, all of the same
size and dimensions. For the cost they were author-
ized to levy a tax of one mill on the dollar, and another
mill for the expenses of the teachers.
The board of education was composed of one mem-
ber from each ward, elected annually by the people.
Their duties were to appoint teachers and superintend
their work, to select a board of examiners, examine and
report every three months, and file the necessary certifi-
cates. Unfortunately their means were stinted, and close
economy prevented the expansion and complete useful-
ness of that system conferred by the act of 1829. Even
so late as 183 1, some of the schools were in the base-
ments of houses, amid stagnant water, and subject to
the inconveniences of a disregard of all the most vital
principles of hygiene. It is not to be wondered at,
therefore, that during the early years of the system, the
people, in great measure, refused to avail themselves of
the opportunities it offered.
Even then, too, in that very civic inauguration of the
march of education, another grievous evil arose. The
keen compilers of educational manuals perceived their
chance, and a war of spelling books and dictionaries and
geographies arose. The result was the resignation of
the trustees, and the consequent injury of the schools.
At length in 1833 a resolution was adopted to bring
the real advantages of public education more vividly be-
fore the eyes of the public. In pursuance of this, an-
nual examinations of the pupils were set on foot. Teach-
ers from other States, public men, members of the press,
and friends and relatives of those whose progress was to
be tested, were invited. The city caught and acted upon
the spirit of the affair, and the memorable procession of
boys and girls in 1833, through the streets of the city at
the close of the examinations, marks an epoch in the
history of our schools. It was also at about this time
that another great impetus was given to the good cause
by the first annual meeting held by the Western College
of Teachers in Cincinnati; and with the view of permit-
ting the city teachers to reap every possible benefit from
the association, the whole general school work was. sus-
pended during their sittings.
But time was passing, and but little progress had been
made in the erection of the ten substantial school-houses
provided for by the act of 18291 In 1833, however, a
model school-house was finally built upon Race street,
near Fourth. It was of brick and stone, in accordance
with the law, and within two years afterwards its leading
features had been copied in the remaining nine districts.
This "model school-house" is still standing, just opposite
the west end of the Emery Arcade, though partially con-
cealed by a low row of business structures in front of it.
The total cost of the lots and buildings was ninety-six
thousand, one hundred and fifty-nine dollars and forty-
four cents, most of which was raised by five per cent,
city bonds. All were of neat proportions and substan-
tial construction, having two rooms in each story, divided
by passages, with a separate entrance for boys and girls.
The rooms were thirty-six in number, each thirty-six by
thirty-eight feet in dimensions, and every house had
separate play-grounds for boys and girls. These were
our earliest schools built under the law, the fundamental
principles of which still animate our system; and, insuf-
ficient as they may now appear to be, they were a boon
extraordinarily great to the rising generation.
No uniformity of grading or classification had yet been
reached, but. by 1836 two thousand, four hundred pupils
were assembled in daily attendance, under the superin-
tendence of forty-three teachers. The large majority
were males, and the salaries varied from five hundred
dollars for principals to three hundred dollars for assist-
ants. The female principals then received only two hun-
dred and fifty dollars, and the assistants two hundred
dollars a year.
In 1836 the city teachers formed a faculty association,
and met twice a month to prepare plans for the improve-
ment of the schools, and a short time afterwards quar-
terly conferences were regularly held between the trustees
and the teachers. During the same year the trustees of
the Woodward high school offered to receive for the
same year, for gratuitous instruction, ten boys from the
common schools, to be selected by the school board.
These vigorous steps resulted in the improvement of
the school board in 1837, which thenceforth was to con-
sist of two members instead of one from each ward; and
by the united efforts of managers and teachers, and the
decided improvement manifest in the pupils, the schools
rapidly grew in numbers and popularity.
In 1839 the board adopted the plan of providing
schools for orphan asylums; and in 1840 an important
step was taken in providing for instruction in the German
language. The necessary powers were given by an act
of the legislature on the nineteenth of March, 1840, es-
tablishing in certain district schools a German depart-
ment, where children were taught the German language,
simultaneously pursuing the ordinary studies in English.
The department was divided into two grades, the jun-
ior comprising all who were in the primary grades in
English, and placed under the joint care of an English
and German teacher, while in the senior grade were
classed all pupils who had attained to the higher grades
in English. These attended once or twice a day in the
German teacher's room, for the rest of the school hours
remaining under the supervision of the English masters.
In 1842 night schools, authorized by the same law
which had provided for the German schools, were opened
and sustained during the winter months until 1857, when,
in consequence of the paucity and irregularity of the
scholars, they were suspended, and their success has not
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
191
been strongly pronounced until, comparatively speaking,
a very recent date. It was also about 1840 that special
professors of penmanship were first added to the general
staff, and their influence for good in bringing about prac-
tical success in subsequent commercial and professional
life has been so clearly demonstrated that, with a few in-
termissions, owing to enforced economy, they have since
been maintained upon the roll of teachers.
In 1842 a delicate question which, in one respect or
another, has since that period been debated with the
greatest and most unnecessary acrimony, first threatened
the harmony of our public schools. It was stated by the
president of the board that the Catholic bishop of the
diocese objected to the text-books in use in the schools,
and also to the books in circulation in the public libraries,
upon the ground that they contained matter repugnant to
the faith of Catholics, and also that the children were
positively required to read the Protestant Bible. The
board promptly directed that, in the event of any objec-
tion by parent or guardian, the children should not be
required to read the King James version of the Bible
or permitted to borrow books from the libraries, and
teachers were prohibited, in general terms, from dwelling
in a hortatory form upon any notes or comments, or in
any way insisting upon anything approaching even to a
sectarian explanation of the text.
In October, 1845, another stride in advance was made.
Mr. Symmes, of the school board, proposed the estab-
lishment of a central school for the instruction of the
more advanced pupils of both sexes. On the eleventh
of February, 1846, the school board was authorized by
the legislature to provide for such other grades of schools,
in addition to those already on foot, as might seem
necessary and expedient, and also to contract with any
persons or institutions "in relation to any funds for
school purposes that might be at their disposal." This
directly referred to a contract with the trustees of the
Hughes fund, which as yet was without any connection
with the public schools.
A contract, to which brief reference only can be made,
was subsequently concluded for the establishment of a
Female academy, free for the admission of girls upon
terms and with instruction similar to those already af-
forded to boys of the Woodward High school; but it was
defeated by an injunction issued from the court of com-
mon pleas, sued out by members of the council. The
interposition, at first sight so ill-judged, turned out most
fortunate. In 1847 the school board established the
central school, and on the eighth of November of the
same year it was opened with one hundred and three
pupils, selected by examination from all the schools. It
continued in successful operation until 185 1, when it was
merged into the present constitution of the High schools.
This arrangement, by a fortunate union of the funds
given by Woodward and Hughes with the system of com-
mon schools, resulted in our present High schools, ac-
complishing all the benefactors could have hoped, and
preserving inviolate the trusts created under their wills.
These High schools were thenceforward to be controlled
by a union board of thirteen members — five Woodward
trustees, two Hughes trustees, and six delegates from the
school board.
In 1849 an act of the legislature authorized the estab-
lishment of separate schools for colored people; but, ow-
ing to legal obstacles, they soon passed under the control
of the school board. The success of the school system
as a whole had been already fully proved, and in 1850
there was a total attendance of five thousand three hun-
dred and sixty-two scholars, with one hundred and
thirty-eight teachers, meeting and working in fourteen
school-houses.
By an act dated the twenty-third of March, 1850, the
election of a general superintendent by popular vote
was authorized, but in 1853 it was wisely modified by
providing for a choice by the school board. In Novem-
ber, 1854, a very important change was introduced into
the organization of the schools, by the creation of the in-
termediate schools. The motive was primarily one of
economy. The schools had been uniformly classified
into six grades, each pursuing strictly one course of
study and text-books; and, it being a rule that
each teacher should have an average attendance of
forty-five pupils, it had been observed that in the
two highest grades necessarily requiring teachers of
the most experience and the highest qualifications, the
daily attendance did not exceed thirty-five and in many
schools thirty pupils to the teacher. It was therefore de-
cided to concentrate the two upper grades of all the dis-
trict schools into four schools, to be called intermediate;
and in this way it was expected that the same pupils
might be instructed by a much smaller number of teach-
ers, and thus a great improvement be gained in the man-
agement of the over-crowded grades of the primary
schools. The plan was gradually carried into effect, but
not without opposition, and the result rapidly proved the
wisdom of the scheme.
In 1857, a difficulty began to be felt in supplying the
demand for experienced teachers, then numbering a corps
of three hundred, and to remedy this defect a normal
school was founded for the training of teachers, upon a
scientific plan, in accordance with the advanced require-
ments of the age. A separate sketch of this will be
given.
From 1857 till the present time, the great work of prog-
ress and improvement has gone on. There were lapses
and delays, caused by the war and other causes; but,
overcoming all and rising superior to all obstacles, the
genius of the American desire for progress and enlight-
enment has won its way with a step sometimes tempora-
rily checked, but ever resolute in its aim and march.
In 1869 the same question which, under a partially
different aspect, seemed so dangerous in 1842, again
cropped But. An active movement was set on foot to
exclude the Bible from the schools. The contest was
strenuous and vigorous. The case, after many public
meetings, held for and against the object at stake, came
up before the courts, and eventually, in appeal, the doc-
trine was laid down that the board had cognizance of the
admission of all books and subjects of study, the Bible
included, and the exclusion was consequently maintained.
192
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
It is useless to recapitulate the arguments or to analyze
the decision. They have been printed in a separate vol-
ume as a report of what is known as one of the causes cel-
ebres of the West.
On the first of May, 1873, an act was passed by the
State legislature, entitled, "An Act for the reorganization
and maintenance of common schools,'' in which, with a
few trifling amendments upon points of detail and read in
connection with the city charter, will be found all the
present provisions regulating our schools. Section 50,
which may now be called the magna charta of Ohio free
public education, enacts that "each board of education
shall establish a sufficient number of schools to provide
for the free education of youth of school age within the
district, at such places as will be most convenient for the
attendance of the largest number of such youth, and
also may establish one or more schools of higher grade
than the primary schools, whenever they deem the estab-
lishment of such school or schools proper or necessary
for the convenience or progress in studies of the pupils
attending the same, or for the conduct and welfare of the
educational interest of such districts; and the board
shall continue each and every school established by them,
for not less than twenty-four nor more than forty four
weeks, in each school year; provided that each township
board of education shall establish at least one primary
school in each sub-district of their township." The sec-
tion contains many other provisos, but these essential
elements, recognizing the right of the public tax-payers
to demand adequate provisions for the due training of
their children, are the elements underlying the whole
frame of our modern system.
The colored schools, under the same act, were placed
under the control of the board of education, and in 1875
were reorganized by the superintendent.
When it was decided to represent the Cincinnati schools
at the Centennial exhibition, the school board appropri-
ated one thousand six hundred and twenty dollars, and
the union board of high schools one hundred dollars for
the purpose — one hundred and twenty dollars of the
joint fund to pay for histories of the schools, and the
remainder for the preparation of an exhibit. Ninety vol-
umns of examination manuscripts, from the various grades,
were prepared, beautifully bound in full Russia, and ex-
hibited to thousands of admiring citizens before they were
shipped to Philadelphia. All the schools and grades, in-
cluding the normal, were represented; and some parts
of the display, as the volume of specimens of teachers'
penmanship and that containing work from the colored
schools, were unlike anything else in that department
of the exhibition. The result was a triumphant success.
The universal expression, on the part of visitors inspect-
ing it, was one of enthusiastic admiration. Many com-
plimentary notices were given in the school and other
journals; and the drawing was mentioned with special
commendation.
Among the foreign visitors whose attention was attract
ed by the Cincinnati exhibit was M. Rauber, director of
public education for the French Republic, who wrote
for fuller information. When the exposition of 1878 in
Paris was preparing, Superintendent Philbrick of Boston,
who had charge of the educational displays from this
country, requested that the entire Centennial collection
from the Cincinnati schools might be included. The
board instead decided to prepare new work, and voted a
grant of two thousand dollars for it. Eighty-four vol-
umes were prepared as before, under the regulations of
General Eaton, Federal superintendent of education.
Only about three weeks were given the schools for their
part of the preparation ; but a superb and most attrac-
tive exhibit was made. Mr. Philbrick afterwards stated
at a meeting of the National Educational association ;
"No other exhibition of scholars' work equal to that of
Cincinnati was ever made in the known world." Gold-
medal and silver-medal diplomas — the two highest of
the five grades of honor allotted to this section — were
awarded by the International jury to the schools of this
city, and Superintendent Peaslee, among other honors, re-
ceived in consequence a diploma of membership from
the Royal industrial museum at Turin.
The last annual report of the Superintendent, bearing
date August 31, 1880, represents the total number of dis-
trict schools for white children in the city as twenty-eight;
for colored, six; intermediate, white, four; colored, two;
high-schools for whites, two, and one colored high school.
There were also intermediate departments in sixteen dis-
trict schools. Number of school buildings in use, fifty-
four; school-rooms in use, five hundred and sixty-two;
not in use, seventeen. The different female teachers
employed numbered five hundred and thirty-three; males,
one hundred and twenty-eight; total, six hundred and
sixty-one; averages on duty, respectively, five hundred
and five, one hundred and twenty-three, six hundred and
twenty-eight. Pupils enrolled : In the district schools —
white, twenty-eight thousand three hundred and eighty;
colored, one thousand one hundred and two; total, twen-
ty-nine thousand four hundred and twenty-eight. Inter-
mediate— white, two thousand six hundred and ninety;
colored, one hundred and twenty-nine; total, two thou-
sand eight hundred and nineteen. High — white, one
thousand one hundred and sixteen; colored, sixty-four;
total, one thousand two hundred and twenty-five. Nor-
mal school, eighty. School for deaf-mutes, forty-eight.
Night schools, two thousand and ninety. Grand total,
thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty. Different
pupils enrolled, exclusive of night schools, thirty-two
thousand one hundred and ten. The average age of
white pupils in the district schools was nine years; of
colored, ten and five-tenths years. In the intermediate
schools, thirteen and two-tenths, and fifteen and three-
tenths. High schools, fifteen and eight-tenths years and
seventeen and three-tenths. The average number of
pupils belonging to the schools was twenty-five thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-two white and nine hun-
dred and ninety-five colored; total, twenty-six thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty-seven. Average daily at-
tendance, twenty-five thousand and ninety-five white,
nine hundred and fifty-four colored; twenty-six thousand
and forty-nine in all. Percentages of attendance on en-
rollment—district schools, seventy-six and seven-tenths;
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
193
intermediate, eighty and two-tenths; high, eighty-five
and four-tenths ; normal, ninety-five; deaf-mute, eighty-
three and three-tenths: total, seventy-seven and four-
tenths. Average enrollment to each teacher: District
schools, sixty-three and seven-tenths; intermediate, fifty-
four and two-tenths; high, fifty-nine and two-tenths. Av-
erage belonging to each, fifty and four-tenths, forty-four
and eight-tenths, fifty-one and seven-tenths. Average in
daily attendance, forty-eight and nine-tenths, forty-three
and five-tenths, and fifty and five-tenths. In the district
and intermediate schools, fifty is the maximum of daily
attendance allowed by the board of education. The in-
crease during the year, in enrollment of pupils, was one
thousand and eighty-six; in the number belonging, nine
hundred and forty-four; in daily attendance, nine hun-
dred and sixty-five, against corresponding numbers for
the previous year of two hundred and ninety-two, thirty-
seven, and fifty-one.
The amount paid for tuition during the year 1879-80
was five hundred and two thousand three hundred and
sixty-seven dollars and twenty-four cents, exclusive of
music, nine thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine
dollars and ninety-nine cents; penmanship, five thousand
nine hundred and eighty-four dollars and fifty-one cents;
and drawing, three thousand six hundred and seventy-
eight dollars and eighty-seven cents; — making a grand
total of five hundred and twenty-two thousand and thirty
dollars and sixty-one cents. The average cost of the
special teachers, per pupil, of those actually belonging to
the schools, was thirty-seven cents for music, twenty-two
cents for drawing, and thirteen and eight-tenths penman-
ship. Average tuitionary cost, on the average number be-
longing, excluding special teachers — district schools, six-
teen dollars and sixty-two cents per pupil; intermediate,
twenty-nine dollars and eighty cents; high, thirty-seven
dollars and eighty-one cents; all the schools, eighteen dol-
lars and twenty-nine cents. This is ninety-four cents less
than the average tuitionary cost of the previous year,
which reduced that of the year 1877-8 by forty-five
cents. It may here be remarked that the board gen-
erously fixes the rate of tuition for non-resident pupils in
the district schools at only sixteen dollars per year, and
in the intermediate but twenty dollars, which is less in
each case than the actual cost, and in the latter case nine
dollars and eighty cents less.
Seven night-schools— five for white and two for colored
pupils — Were maintained during five months of the year.
Twenty-eight male and twenty female teachers were em-
ployed, with an average number of pupils enrolled to
each teacher of fifty-one; average attendance, twenty-
two. Average ages — white pupils, fifteen and one-half
years; colored, twenty-four years. Thirty-six pupils grad-
uated from the high school in this department.
The grand total of persons of school age in the city, as
ascertained September, 1879, was eighty-seven thousand
six hundred and eighteen. In the public schools there
were different pupils, thirty-two thousand one hundred
and ten; in church schools, fourteen thousand one hun-
dred and ninety^five ; private schools, one thousand six
hundred and forty; night schools, two thousand four
hundred and sixty-seven; in charitable and reformatory
institutions (estimated), six hundred; — making a total of
fifty-one thousand and twelve, or nearly sixty per cent, of
the entire number of persons of school age, of whom many
are apprentices or otherwise engaged in business, or are
married, and some are under private tutors. Others are
in business colleges or higher institutions of learning.
Superintendent Peaslee's figures leave but fifteen thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty seven, out of sixty-two thou-
sand one hundred and fifty-one children between the
ages of six and fourteen, who do not attend any school.
An annual institute is held for the benefit of the teach-
ers, during the week next preceding the opening of the
public schools; and the First German Assistants', and
other pedagogic associations hold monthly meetings
during the year, in the interests of their respective lines
of work.
In his report for 1879-80, the Superintendent mentions
with approbation the instruction of the year in object-
lessons and in gems of literature. His system in the
latter branch had had time to be tested, and to take firm
hold upon the regards of both teachers and pupils. We
make the following extract, in partial illustration of the
method :
One hour per week is the time now devoted to this subject in the
district and intermediate schools. A part of this time is usually taken
from that assigned to morning exercises and a part from Friday after-
noon. However, that is left — judiciously, I think — to the discretion of
the teacher. I have recommended eight lines as a fair amount for each
week's work. At this rate the pupils, in passing through the district
and intermediate schools, would commit two thousand five hundred
and sixty lines, and in passing through the district, intermediate, and
high schools, three thousand eight hundred and forty lines ; which is
equivalent in amount to one hundred and twenty-eight pages of Mc-
Guffey's Third Reader. It is not enough that the selections be
simply memorized ; each one of them should be made the subject of a
lesson, to be given by the teacher. The teacher should not only see
that the pupils thoroughly understand the meaning of each word and
sentence, that they give the substance of each passage in their own
language, and make the proper application of the same before requiring
them to commit it to memory ; but she should also endeavor, by
appropriate talks, to impress upon the minds of her pupils the ideas
intended to be conveyed, and to enthuse them, if possible, with the
spirit of the extract. . . . After the selection has been mem-
orized thoroughly, the attention of the teacher should be given to the
elocution — to the beautiful delivery of the same. This can be done
well by concert drill. The concert should be supplemented by indi-
vidual recitation.
Good results were also reported upon the celebrations
of authorial birthdays (Whittier's, Longfellow's, and in
the Woodward High School Emerson's) in the schools
during the year. The progressive methods adopted in
certain of the ordinary branches, as history, and instruc-
tion in general information, also show to excellent
advantage in the lucid pages of Superintendent Peaslee.
This summary of his last report, albeit too brief, and nec-
essarily making important omissions, is a fitting close to
the history of elementary public education in the Queen
City.
THE HIGH SCHOOLS.
The "Central High School," opened July 27, 1847,
in the basement of the German Lutheran church on
Walnut street, was the first public high school in the
city. The names of the committee of the Board of
Education, on whose report the school was founded, have
194
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
been preserved,- and should ever be held in honor.
They were Bellamy Storer, Dr. John A. Warder, Charles
S. Bryant, William Goodwin, and D. R. Cady. H. H.
Barney, afterwards State Commissioner of Common
Schools, was its first principal. Its course of study in-
cluded reading, etymology, penmanship, ancient and
modern history and languages, belles-lettres, botany,
chemistry, natural philosophy, anatomy and physiology,
moral and political science, book-keeping, vocal music,
composition, and declamation — a very excellent curric-
ulum for that day. Fifty-eight girls and thirty-nine
boys, ninety-seven pupils in all, attended at the opening;
but the school rapidly grew in numbers, and four years
after its organization it was broken into two others,
the famous Woodward and Hughes High Schools. The
following sketch of the history of these institutions, pre-
pared by Colonel D. F. DeWolf, at present State School
Commissioner, for the Centennial volume on Education
in Ohio, is quite sufficient for the purposes of this book:
William Woodward was an upright farmer, of frugal habits and sim-
ple tastes, a good, true, and humane Christian man. Long before his
death he found himself possessed of wealth by the approach of the
corporate limits of Cincinnati to a farm which he owned, and to which
he had moved from Connecticut when Cincinnati was a hamlet. He
and his friend Samuel Lewis had consulted together regarding the edu-
cation of youth and its relation to human happiness, and especially to
the welfare of his country. He had no hesitation in determining that
it was his duty to render actual assistance, then much needed, in fur-
nishing educational facilities for youth who could not procure them for
themselves. He transferred to trustees that part of his farm lying
nearest to the city as an endowment for the establishment and mainte-
nance of schools — providing in his deed of trust that orphans and the
children of widows should have the preference of admission tothe school.
Mr. Lewis being the chief manager of the trust, the revenues were well
husbanded, and a successful school was kept up for some time. The State
.common-school system was afterwards inaugurated, and rendered this,
as a lower-grade school, superfluous. On the advice of Mr. Lewis, the
conditions of the trust were so modified,by Mr. Woodward as to allow
of the establishment of the "Woodward College or High School." On
the union of the high schools and the common schools, the original
Woodward High School building was taken down, and the present
beautiful building were erected, which is a monument to his memory and
creditable to the taste and judgment of the board of education.
Mr. Woodward lived to witness the full success of his scheme and to
enjoy the heartfelt gratitude and ever-increasing esteem of his fellow-
citizens and countrymen.
The farm of Thomas Hughes, an Englishman by birth and a practi-
cal shoemaker until his death, joined that of Mr. Woodward. The lat-
ter had little difficulty in directing the mind of Mr. Hughes into his
own channel of thought. As a result he bequeathed his land to Wil-
liam Woodward, William Greene, Nathan Guilford, Elisha Hotchkiss,
and Jacob Williams, in trust. The land was leased on a perpetual
ground-rent, and the accumulation of a fund awaited, sufficient to erect
a building for a school to be supported by the future revenues. Losses
and delays were occasioned by failures and consequent lawsuits on the
part of parties to whom the interest in these leases had been sold.
Matters were finally adjusted, and the city was put in possession of the
annual revenues.
In 1852 these two funds were united and merged in the city school
fund — the Hughes fund amounting to twelve thousand or thirteen thou-
sand dollars. The Hughes High School building was erected at a cost
of twenty-three thousand dollars. The reports now [1876] show the
annual receipts from the two funds to be from eleven thousand to twelve
thousand dollars.
These funds greatly facilitated the supply of early educational ad-
vantages to the youth of Cincinnati, and now afford the means for se-
curing special conveniences or special instruction without buideningthe
taxpayers. Hon. H. H. Barney became principal of the Hughes
High School, and Dr. Joseph Ray principal of the Woodward High
School, in 1852. Under these eminent teachers the schools at once as-
sumed a position of great dignity among the educational institutions of
the country. They did much to attract the attention of educated and
influential citizens of the State to the subject of high-school education.
It was now no longer doubtful that the public high schools, supported
by appropriations of the public funds sufficient to secure the services of
the most accomplished educators of the land, must possess facilities for
imparting thorough culture unknown to any other schools, and under
such relations to the family and other social privileges as are congenial
to every intelligent parent. The warm and hearty support of these
schools, with the active co-o.peration of such men of culture as William
Goodman, Dr. James La Roy, Rev. James H. Perkins, Hon. Samuel
Lewis, Nathan Guilford, William Greene, the Hon. Bellamy Storer, E.
D. Mansfield, E. S. Brooks, and others of the highest social position,
did much to overcome the prejudices of more common minds, and to
place the public schools of .the State on the highest plane of respecta-
bility. The best families patronized the schools. They were visited
from all parts of the State. The cities that had not secured public
high schools feltan additional impulse to act in this direction, and "the
people's schools" were regarded as in all respects the most desirable in-
stitutions to foster. All that had been claimed for them in the earlier
discussions of their merits was realized.
The principals of the Hughes High School have been H. H. Barney,
Cyrus Knowlton, J. L. Thornton, and E. W. Coy. The principals of
the Woodward High School have been Dr. Joseph Ray, D. Shepardson,
M. Woolson and George W. Harper.
THE CITY NORMAL SCHOOL.
The following sketch of the history of this institution
was also written for the Centennial volume, in an admi-
rable chapter on the Normal Schools of the State, by
Miss Delia A. Lathrop, now wife of Professor Williams,
of the Ohio Wesleyan university, but then and for a
number of years the accomplished and successful prin-
cipal of the school :
The City Normal school of Cincinnati was organized September,
1868. It originated in a felt need of better teachers in the lower grades
of the city schools. As vacancies in teachers' positions occurred in the
higher grades, promotions were made from the lower, the time of the
children being considered more valuable with advancing years. The
vacancies constantly made in the lower grades by these promotions
were filled with inexperienced girls, and so these grades came to serve
the purpose of training-schools for teachers for the upper grades.
For several years the superintendent of schools, and some of the
most progressive members of the board of education, had felt that some
measures must be adopted to prevent the great waste of time and labor
in primary schools, through inexperience and lack of professional
knowledge. Accordingly, in the summer of 1868, the board voted to
open a school for the training of candidates for teachers' positions in
the primary grades of the Cincinnati schools.
Notable among the men whose influence gave impulse and character
to the movement, were John Hancock, superintendent of schools, H.
L. Wehmer, and J. B. Powell, esq., members of the board of education.
The action of the board was unanimous in favor of its establishment.
The school was located in the Eighth district school-house, where it
is still in operation. At its opening, two ordinary school-rooms were
set apart for its use — one for normal school instruction, and one for
practice with children. The second year three rooms were occupied,
and now seven school-rooms are devoted to the Normal school work —
two for normal instruction and five for practice in teaching.
The expenses of the school are paid from the common-school fund of
the city. TuitioH is tree to all candidates who state it is their intention
to enter the Cincinnati public schools as teachers ; to others it is sixty
dollars per annum.
Pupils, to be admitted to the school, must be graduates of the Cin-
cinnati high schools, or of some school of similar standing, or hold a
teacher's certificate from the Cincinnati board of examiners of teachers,
or have passed an equivalent examination before the normal school
committee. The subjects upon which an examination is instituted for
a teacher's certificate are mental and practical arithmetic, English
grammar, geography, United States history and general history, read-
ing, spelling, natural philosophy, anatomy and physiology, music,
drawing, and penmanship. No certificate is issued to an applicant
whose average of correct answers in grammar, geography, or written
arithmetic is less than seventy per cent., or whose average on the whole
number of marks is less than seventy per cent. This is the lowest
standard of admission to the Normal school.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
i95
There is but one course of study pursued at option in German or
English , for German or English positions respectively. The peculiari-
ties of this course are : First, it is planned with reference to a definite
purpose — the management and instruction of the lower grades of the
Cincinnati public schools ; second, it is broad in that it aims to discuss
principles of education and deduce methods from them, instead of
teaching them empirically ; third, it is entirely professional. It consists
of methods of teaching all the subjects pursued in the lower grades of
the Cincinnati public schools, together with the history of education,
school-management, mental philosophy, and the philosophy of educa-
tion. Special attention is given to penmanship, music, and drawing.
This study is supplemented by practice, each pupil spending about
ten weeks — the time varying somewhat with the size of the classes — in
the management and instruction cf one of the ordinary lower-grade
city schools. This time is spent consecutively, and is designed to
familiarize the pupil-teacher with the everyday routine of school work
in all its phases, as far as this can be done in the time allowed. Critic-
teachers have constant oversight of the work of the pupil-teachers, and
make daily criticisms and corrections. The pupil-teachers are marked
weekly in a register, open to all, upon the following items : Punctu-
ality, promptness, personal bearing, neatness (in person and work),
correct use of language, improvement of time, ability to control, ability
to instruct, ability to criticise, and ability to profit by criticism.
A diploma from the school secures to its holder the preference over
an inexperienced teacher in appointment to a position, there being a
rule of the board of education that no such person shall be employed
while a graduate of the Normal school awaits appointment. It also
secures one hundred dollars per annum additional salary until the maxi-
mum salary is reached. If the graduate teach seven years — the time
required to arrive at the maximum salary — she will have received five
hundred and fifty dollars more for services than if she had received the
position without a normal school diploma.
The first principal of the school was Miss Sara Dugane, called to this
position from the city training school of Boston. She resigned at the
expiration of the first year, and was succeeded by the present incum-
bent, (1876), Miss Delia A. Lathrop, then principal of the city normal
school of Worcester, Massachusetts.
The number of pupils in the school for the year 1874-5 was seventy-
eight — sixty English and eighteen German. The number enrolled in the
practice school was three hundred and fifty-five. There were forty-one
graduates of the normal school — thirty-five English and six German.
Since the organization of the school there have been two hundred and
forty graduates.
Professor John Mickleborough is now the principal of
the Normal school.
CITY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS.
Although the Queen City had graded schools more
than fifty years ago (1829), she had no local superintend-
ent until 1850, three years after the public schools of
Columbus, and two years after those of Sandusky and
Massillon, had superintendents. Under a special law
passed by the Assembly, March 23d of that year, the
Hon. Nathan Guilford, formerly a Senator in that body
from Cincinnati, was elected City School Superintendent
by popular vote — a plan then or since permitted nowhere
else in the State. He was re-elected and served in all
two years, upon the munificent salary of five hundred
dollars a year. In his last annual report he made a vig-
orous appeal for the education and Americanization of
foreign immigrants to this country, and a protest against
the memoriter plan of recitations, then lately adopted in
the Central High School. Upon the expiration of Mr.
Guilford's term the popular suffrage chose to the office
Dr. Merrell, who held it but a short time, however, re-
signing before the close of his year.
The general act of 1853, providing for City and Town
Superintendents of Schools, abolished the feature of elec-
tion by the people, and vested the power of appointment
in the City Board of Education. The first to be chosen
under the new arrangement, and the first real superin-
tendent of public schools for Cincinnati, as the office is
now almost universally accounted, was Professor Andrew
J. Rickoff, who was already well and favorably known in
southern Ohio as an able and energetic educator. He had
removed with his family from Portsmouth, at the mouth
of the Scioto, to become a teacher in the public schools
of Cincinnati. He served one year as assistant in the
sixth district school, and on the retirement of the princi-
pal, Mr. Rufus Hubbard, who had been appointed to take
charge of the new house of refuge, he was appointed as
his successor. Here he remained about two years and a
half, when he resigned his position to go into other busi-
ness, as he supposed, permanently. In April, 1854, he
received the appointment of city superintendent from the
board of education. The first attention of the new super-
intendent was directed to the existing organization and
classification of the schools, which had been the result of
accident rather than design. In a report made to the
board of education in June, he recommended the estab-
lishment of the present intermediate school system. Nat-
urally the proposition met with determined opposition,
both in and out of the board of education. It was
adopted, however, in October, just before the completion
of the new school house, on Baymiller street, and when
that school was opened the next month, the Baymiller
school became the first intermediate school of the city
and still retains the title. The whole theory of the new
organization may be explained by saying that this school,
instead of gathering up all grades of pupils from the im-
mediate neighborhood, received only the two higher
classes of the three large schools there, and we believe
is still known as the eighth, eleventh and twelfth district
schools.
This new school became a competitor to the feeble
higher grades of the ten or twelve remaining district
schools. Its classification was more thorough, better
methods of instruction were made possible, teachers were
inspired with greater zest for the work, and the old or-
ganization had to go down before it. It was not long
before arrangements had been completed for extending
the system to all parts of the city.
In the year following the first detailed course of study,
prescribing exact conditions of promotion from grade to
grade, was recommended to the board of education and
adopted with great unanimity. In the same year the
principal of each large school was made in fact, as he
had formerly been in name, a local superintendent, and
thus an assistant to the general superintendent. This
plan has since become almost universal in the schools of
all the larger cities. In the discussion of a proposition
to make a like change in the office and duty of the mas-
ters of the Boston schools, the plan was called the Cin-
cinnati plan. It is probable that the plan originated there.
The methods pursued in every grade and department
ofjnstruction received, the closest attention, as they cer-
tainly needed to. Young women, fresh from the high
school, were generally employed as teachers; without
having given so much as an hour's attention, to the work
that lay before them. They had to be not only instructed
196
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
in the method of doing, but they had to be shown what
was to be done. Meetings of teachers, of one grade or
another, at first voluntary, but, when the movement had
gathered force, authoritatively called, were held almost
every Saturday. Here object lessons, methods of teach-
ing, reading, writing, arithmetic, modes of government,
etc., etc., were fully discussed. The result was a revival
which was felt for many years after.
Before the time of the municipal elections in the spring
of 1859, Superintendent Rickoff publicly announced his
intention to decline a reappointment to the superinten-
dency, and in the following September he opened a
school of his own, which was maintained with gratifying
success for nine years and until he left the city to take
up his residence in Cleveland.
Mr. Rickoff was elected to the office of school exam-
iner in 1855. This he continued to hold some years
after he ceased to be superintendent. In 1864 he was
elected from the first ward for the board of education,
and the year following that he was elected as president
of the board on the retirement of the Hon. Rufus King,
who had held the presidency for nearly fifteen years.
Before the end of his term he removed to Mt. Harrison,
and became ineligible for a second term. For one year
Mr. Rickoff's relation to the public schools of Cincin-
nati was entirely severed, but in the summer of 1867,
during his absence from the city, he was again elected to
the superintendency of the school. This appointment
he felt obliged to decline, but at a better salary accepted
a similar position in Cleveland a few weeks afterward.
His present term of office and fifteenth year of service in
Cleveland will expire in September, 1882.
Superintendent Hancock, one of Mr. Rickoff's succes-
sors, says of the administration of the pioneer superin-
tendent:
He, by his display of organizing and general executive power, at
once placed himself in the front rank of educators. Under his admin-
istration was introduced that thorough grading of schools which has
been productive of such excellent results, and has been followed more
or less closely by all the cities and towns of the State. He was also
the first to make a general use of written examinations for ascer-
taining the comparative value of the work done in the several schools of
an educational system. At an early period of Mr. Rickoff's
administration in Cincinnati, the principals of schools were relieved of
the charge of a room of pupils, and were put at supervisory work,
under such a rule that they were required, in all except some of the
smaller schools, to give their whole time to it.
Mr. Rickoff was succeeded for a single year by Mr.
Isaac J. Allen, and he by Professor Lyman Harding,
who had been long and favorably known in the work of
academic education in the city. He was superintend-
ent from 1 86 1 to 1867. His successor was John Han-
cock, Ph. D., one of the very foremost men in educational
work in the country. Dr. Hancock was superintendent of
the Cincinnati schools for seven years. He is a reformer
in education, with conservative tendencies, no novel
schemes and methods of education shaking his regard
for solid attainments as the essential thing in any system
of education. Here he promoted the establishment of
the city normal school, and placed the special teaching
of penmanship and drawing on an enduring and system-
atic basis. The course in object lessons, as now incor-
porated in the course of study, was adopted during his
term; and, in the higher ranges of study, a constant
pressure was kept up in the direction of "the humani-
ties." It was a notable era for the city schools. Dr. Han-
cock has since been superintendent of. the schools of
Dayton, Ohio, a member of the State board of examiners,
and president of the National educational association for
one year. No voice from Ohio is heard with more respect
and honor throughout the country, in the discussion of
educational topics, than his.
John B. Peaslee, the present incumbent of the super-
intendency, is a native of Plaistow, New Hampshire,
born September 3, 1842. His father was a graduate of
Dartmouth college, a member of some distinction in the
State legislature, and also prominent in the convention
which formed the State constitution. His mother, whose
maiden name was Harriet A. Willits, was of a famous
Quaker family, and a graduate of the New York City
public schools. On both sides he is thus of cultured an-
cestry, and to his home training, mainly, he owes a very
thorough preparation for the higher education. This he
took in the academy at Gilmanton and the college at
Dartmouth, graduating from the latter in 1863. Upon
the recommendation of President Lord, of that institu-
tion, he was appointed, the same year, to the principal-
ship of the grammar school at Columbus, in this State,
in which he served so ably as to secure promotion the
next year as first assistant of the third district school in
Cincinnati, from which, three years afterwards, he was
advanced to the post of principal of the fifth district
school. Serving two years in this capacity, he was then
passed to the principalship of the second intermediate
school; and finally, in 1874, being then but in his thirty-
second year, he succeeded Mr. Hancock as city superin-
tendent of public schools, to which post he has since
been regularly re-elected.
Already, while only a first assistant, Mr. Peaslee had
begun the introduction of the neat and accurate slate
work, which, as fully developed under his superintend-
ency, has done much to make the Cincinnati schools
famous, and as carried over to the preparation of books
of examination papers, attracted very marked attention
at the expositions of the world's industry, where they
were shown. Some other features of his reformatory
work have been already exhibited in these pages — as the
memorizing and recitation of gems of literature, a new
method in elementary arithmetic, and the commemora-
tion of the birthdays of celebrated authors, of which he
is unmistakably the originator. The first and last, par-
ticularly the last, have been widely copied, and Superin-
tendent Peaslee is often called upon to explain his
methods to bodies of educators, near and remote. He
is now in the prime of his powers, and doing daily a sur-
prising amount of work.
With all his busy activities he found time to study law,
and was admitted to the Hamilton county bar in 1865.
For some years he was president of the State board of
examiners. In the summer of 1880 he received the
honorary degree of doctor of philosophy from one of
the Ohio universities.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
197
THE PRESIDENTS
of the board of education since its regular organization
have been: Peyton S. Symmes, 1833-8; Elam P. Lang-
don, 1839-41; Edward D. Mansfield (acting), 1842;
James H. Perkins, 1843; Joseph Rav> 1843-6; William
Hooper, 1847-8; Bellamy Storer, 1848-52; Rufus King;
1853-65; Andrew J. RickofF, 1865-6; Samuel S. Fisher,
1866-8; Francis Ferry, 1868-9 and 1870-1; Henry L.
Wehmer, 1869-70; Jabez M. Waters, 187 1-2 ; L. W. Goss,
1872-5; W. J. O'Neil, 1875-7 ; Alexander C. Sands, 1877-
8; William H. Mussey, 1878-80; J. W. Underhill, 1880.
STATISTICS.
The following comparative statement exhibits, in part,
the remarkable growth of the public school interests in
the city, and the increase of expense from year to
year during the middle period of the history of Cin-
cinnati: In 1826, there were collected for school pur-
poses, $1,578.69; in 1827, $1,846.15; 1828, $1,869.35;
1830, $11,263.11 (almost exactly asmuch as for all other
purposes in the city that year); 1831, $12,661.29; l832>
$16,127.46; 1833, $16,466.93; 1834, $16,401.80; 1835,
$19,166.38; 1836, $21,137.73; 1837, $21,137.73; 1838,
$26,917,73; 1839, $19,686.77; 1840, $18,497.20; 1841,
$15,107.13; 1842, $20,965.15; 1843, $20,965.15; l844,
$20,835.84, 1845, $20,602.62.
The following table shows the number of teachers em-
ployed, and the amount annually paid for their services,
from the opening of the common schools in Cincinnati in
1829, to the close of the year ending June, 1878:
AVERAGE AVERAGE
NUMBEER OF PAID
TEACHERS. TEACHERS.
For the year ending June, 1830 22 $5, 196 51
1831 23 7.936 57
1832 28 7,911 13
1833 29 6,408 26
1834 30 8,371 09
1835 43 8,64843
1836 44 11,43048
1837 47 IS.846 37
1838 " S3 J5.846 37
1839 64 19,901 10
1840 63 19,60435
1841 59 18,594 82
1842 70 18,555 12
1843 76 20,091 70
•1844 78 20,979 62
1845 86 23,92782
1846 95 25,020 50
1847 97 26,499 5°
1848 127 35.378 35
1849 137 38,46296
1850 148 46,83423
1851 157 S0.856 5i
1852 160 57.356 94
1853 193 64,025 96
1854 222 86,151 78
1855 225 96,945 78
1856 222 98,821 75
1857 240 103,707 44
1858 252 133.284 54
1859 282 i39.5oi 04
i860 317 147.437 45
1861 341 156,231 54
1862 348 146.703 5°
1863 35s 159.566 16
1864 373 186,271 06
1865 373 ' 216,165 3°
AVERAGE AVERAGE
NUMBER OF PAID
TEACHERS. TEACHERS.
1866 384 240,798 26
1867 396 290,027 42
1868 418 3ir,435 96
1869 439 336,53622
1870 450 368,312 33
1871 507 418,229 81
1872 510 419,713 18
1873 513 420,225 36
1874 510 437.891 26
l875 545 470,844 35
1876 579 476,053 56
1877 587 509.307 7i
1878 604 523.735 67
THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.
The educational institutions in the city, in charge of
the Roman Catholic church, aside from the parochial
schools, are the theological seminary at Mount St. Mary's
of the west; St. Xavier's college; the Passionist Monas-
tery on Mount Adams ; the Catholic Gymnasium of St.
Francis Assisium, conducted by the Franciscan Fathers;
St. Joseph's academy, on Eighth street, near Central '
avenue ; the Young Ladies' Literary institute, in charge
of the Sisters of Notre Dame, on Sixth street; Mount
St. Vincent's academy, for young ladies, at Cedar Grove,
in the extreme western part of the city; and the St.
Mary's academy of the Sisters of Notre Dame, on Court
and Mound streets. They have also the academy of the
Ladies of the Sacred Heart, located at Clifton, near the
city.
The parochial schools include that attached to St.
Peter's, with fourteen divisions and about fourteen hun-
dred pupils; St. Francis Xaviers, twenty-two divisions,
two thousand two hundred pupils; St. Paul's, ten divis-
ions, one thousand one hundred pupils; St. Mary's, ten
divisions, one thousand three hundred pupils; St. John's,
nine divisions, one thousand pupils; St. Augustine's,
nine divisions, one thousand two hundred pupils; St.
Francis', eight divisions, one thousand pupils; St. Jo-
seph's, eight divisions, eight hundred and twenty pupils;
St. Anthony's, six divisions, nine hundred pupils; St.
Edward's, three divisions, two hundred pupils; All Saints',
three divisions, three hundred pupils; St. Ann's (colored),
two divisions, one hundred pupils; St. Patrick's, nine
hundred pupils; Holy Trinity, eight hundred pupils; St.
Philomena's, seven hundred pupils; Holy Angels', one
hundred and thirty-four pupils; St. Rosa's, two hundred
pupils; Immaculate Conception, two hundred pupils. It
will thus be seen that the Catholic parochial schools are a
very important element in Cincinnati education. There
are also two other Catholic schools, which are not pa-
rochial.
OTHER SCHOOLS.
In February, 1881, Colonel Carson, chief of police,
caused a list of the private schools of the city to be pre-
pared, at the request of the census bureau, which gave
the following results, believed to be approximately accu-
rate: Medical schools, four; business colleges, three;
art schools, eight; music schools, twelve; kindergartens,
thirteen.
198
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS.
Roman Catholic parochial schools, thirty-six; other
Catholic schools, two; other denominational schools,
fourteen; miscellaneous schools, fourteen.
PROFESSIONAL CULTURE.
The means of preparation for their work, now freely
supplied to the teachers of Cincinnati and candidates
for teaching therein, by the city institute, the Normal
school, and the chair of pedagogy in the university, have
been presented. Other means of professional training
may fitly be mentioned here. They have not been want-
in Cincinnati for nearly sixty years. The second associa-
tion of teachers for professional improvement that was
formed in the United States is believed to have been
organized in this city in 1822. It had but fourteen mem-
bers, and more than half of these going out of the city or
the profession in a short time, the society soon became
extinct. One of the most notable organizations of the
kind that ever existed anywhere took its rise here seven
years afterwards, at the instance of a score of teachers,
who in 1829 formed "The Western Academic Institute
and Board of Education." It was organized "to promote
mutual improvement, harmony, and energy amongst
teachers, co-operation in parents, ambition and applica-
tion amongst scholars, and, finally, to adopt and bring
into universal operation the most approved and efficient
modes of education." Elijah Slack was president; Caleb
Kemper, first vice-president; John Easterbrook, second
vice-president; C. B. McKee, recording secretary; M. C.
Williams, corresponding secretary; Alexander Kinmont,
treasurer; Stephen W. Wheeler, librarian; and the coun-
sellors were Albert Picket, Nathaniel Holley, Josiah Fin-
ley, D. Davenport, Timothy Hammond, John Hilton,
Moses Graves. The society was certainly very well made
up, and would have honored any stage of Cincinnati's
history, if these were, as one may well suppose, the rep-
resentative men of the organization. It held the first
annual meeting with some eclat the next year, and the
next (1831) grew into the institution by which its found-
ers and promoters became widely known and honored,
"The Western Literary Institute and College of Profes-
sional Teachers." The objects of this were "to promote
the cause of education, to foster a spirit of intellectual cul-
ture and professional skill among its members, which
will fit them for enlarged usefulness to themselves and
their fellow-men, and to establish the name and character
of a liberal profession. " Its scope of operations, like its
name and membership, was a wide one. Its prospectus,
in part, was as follows:
It is contemplated by the college to form district associations or
school institutes throughout the country, and to have delivered in them
courses of lectures by persons appointed for the purpose, embracing
subjects of a literary and practical nature, with appropriate illustrations
of the most successful modes of teaching, and to lay before school com-
mittees, parents, and teachers, all the important information that can
be collected from any source.
The Centennial volume on Education in Ohio, in its
chapter upon Teachers' Institutes, thus gives some re-
sults :
It did not succeed in establishing "a school institute" in any county
except Hamilton, in which an association was formed that met quarter-
ly or oftener for many years, but, by its discussions and the publication
of the addresses delivered at its annual meetings, it created a wide-
spread sentiment in favor of liberal culture, and aroused public atten-
tion to the necessity of universal education in a republic. It was not a
teachers' institute, as that term is now applied, but, as it showed the
benefits and advantages that might be derived from combined action,
and awakened an interest in professional education among teachers in
various sections of the State, a history of teachers' institutes would be
incomplete without a statement of the character and aim of the organi-
zation and an allusion to the earnest eftorts of those belonging to it to
create and maintain an esprit de corps among the members of the pro-
fession in the west.
In the same volume the Hon. E. E. White's chapter
on Teachers' Associations contains the following:
The society held annual meetings until 1845. The sessions opened
on Monday and continued through the week, and the largest churches
in the city were required to accommodate the audiences. It was at-
tended by the leading teachers and friends of education in the Missis-
sippi valley, but it was chiefly directed by Albert Picket, Alexander
Kinmont, Milo G. Williams, W. H. McGuffey, Samuel Lewis, Dr.
Joseph Ray, Nathan Guilford, Professor Calvin E. Stowe, and other
Ohio members.
The College of Teachers contributed largely to the advancement of
education in Ohio and the west generally. In the fourteen years of its
existence over three hundred addresses and reports were made before
it, discussing education in all its phases and grades. The seven
volumes of "Transactions" published contain an amount of educa-
tional experience and information not found in the same compass in any
other early publications.
It also instituted measures and agencies for the improvement of
schools. As early as 1833 it recommended the organization of teachers'
associations, and it early contributed to the development of what is
now known as the Teachers' institute. It advocated the grading of
schools and the importance of a supervision, especially urging the cre-
ation of the office of State superintendent of public instruction. In
1835 it secured the passage of a resolution by the general assembly of
Ohio, appropriating five hundred dollars to enable Professor Calvin E.
Stowe, of Lane seminary, Cincinnati, who was about to visit Europe,
to make an examination of the elementary school systems of Prussia
and other European nations. Professor Stowe submitted the results of
his observations and enquiries in an able report, which exerted a wide
and beneficial result on American schools.
At the annual meeting in 1835, a resolution was adopted recom-
mending that meetings of teachers and other friends of education be
held at the seat of government of the several States during the sittings
of the legislatures. This action resulted in the holding of conventions
in Ohio, as shown hereafter, and in other States, and important legisla-
tion was secured.
The College of Teachers suspended in 1845, but the cause is not
known to the writer.
The meetings of the Academic institute were monthly,
and were generally well attended. Two notable addresses
were delivered before the institute and board at its anni-
versary meeting in June, 1831, which were published,
with other transactions upon this occasion, in a neat
pamphlet. They were by Mr. McKee, who appealed
for the co-operation of parents and other citizens in the
education of the young; and by the Rev. R. H. Bishop,
D.D., president of the Miami university, who proclaimed
the advantages of the common schools and called for
their grading and the employment of competent teachers.
This meeting was the spring whence the College of
Teachers took its rise. Mr. Williams moved a resolution
for correspondence with prominent western and southern
teachers concerning a proposed call for a convention of
educators and the friends of education, at some point
which might be settled upon by a majority of the corres-
pondents. It was adopted, and Mr. Williams, being
also corresponding secretary of the institute, wrote to the
persons contemplated by his resolution. There was cor-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
199
dial approval on the part of those addressed, and the
general voice designated Cincinnati as the place of meet-
ing. The convention was called for a four-days' session,
beginning October 2, 1832. On that day, on motion of
Mr. John L. Talbot, a committee — Messrs. M. Butler
and H. Bascom, of Kentucky, M. A. H. Niles and M.
M. Bingham, of Indiana, and Albert Picket and Milo G.
Williams, of Cincinnati — was appointed to consider the
expediency of forming a Western society of teachers, and
if it was thought expedient to report a constitution as its
organic act. The committee made a favorable report the
next day, with the draft of a constitution appended, which
was adopted, after some unimportant amendments. This
instrument made a declaration of objects similar to those
previously indicated, but in somewhat different language,
viz. : "To promote, by all laudable means, the diffusion
of knowledge in regard to education, and especially by
aiming at the elevation of instructors who shall have
adopted instruction as their regular profession." Officers
were elected as follows: Thomas J. Matthews, president;
Milo G. Williams, corresponding secretary; David L.
Talbot, recording secretary; Timothy Hammond, treas-
urer. The subsequent history of the college has been
already outlined.
The Hon. E. D. Mansfield, the first and only commis-
sioner of statistics in this State, in his third annual re-
port, that for 1859, shows in a very interesting way the
connection of this institution with one of the most im-
portant steps in school legislation ever taken by our gen-
eral assembly. He had just mentioned the law of 1825,
by which the county commissioners were directed to levy
halt a mill on the dollar for the use of common schools;
and goes on to say :
The next most important act of legislation (that of March, 1838) was
due mainly to a popular impulse arising from the discussions of the col-
lege of teachers. An institution called the "Academic institute" held
regular meetings in Cincinnati for the discussion of educational ques-
tions. The leaders in this movement were Albert Picket and Alex-
ander Kinmont, both teachers. In consequence of the interest taken
in this subject, they called a general convention of the friends of edu-
cation in the Mississippi valley, in June, 1831. From this arose the
" Western College of Teachers, " which continued for fourteen years,
till 1845, carrying on the most fresh and animated discussions on all the
controverted and interesting points of education, till it finally accom-
plished, in the excitement of popular feeling and the liberal acts of leg-
islation, all the ends for which it was instituted. Among the first ob-
jects of interest were the inefficiency of the school system, and the ig-
norance of teachers. These points were debated until the principles
necessary to action and improvement were determined. Looking to an
efficient school law, the college of teachers passed a resolution that it
would greatly advance the interests of education in the west, for teach-
ers and friends of education to hold periodical conventions at the seats
of government in the different States during the session of the general
assembly. In pursuance of this resolution a convention of teachers and
friends of education was held at Columbus, assembling on the thir-
teenth of January, 1836. Of this convention Governor Lucas was
president, Dr. Hoge vice president, and Milo G. Williams secretary.
Prior to this time, in the then administration of Governor Vance, Pro-
fessor Calvin E. Stowe had been appointed an agent of the State to
visit Prussia and obtain information on the Prussian system of instruc-
tion. He had now just returned, and was a member of the conven-
tion. The Prussian schools were discussed, lectures delivered, and de-
bates held. The subject of common schools was referred to a commit-
tee, and, on the fifteenth of January, the committee reported by E. D.
Mansfield, pointing out the defects of the school law and recommend-
ing amendments, chiefly in relation to the appointment of a superin-
tendent of common schools, the requisition of higher qualifications on
the part of teachers, the greater responsibility and additional duties of
the examiners, and the establishment of school libraries and the collec-
tion of school statistics by means of reports. This report was adopted
in the form of a memorial to the legislature, and all its recommenda-
tions have since been embodied in the school laws, although the office
of superintendent and the establishment of school libraries have met
with a vigorous opposition.
Mr. Mansfield says elsewhere of the college that it
"was an institution of great utility and wide influence.
A large array of distinguished persons took
part in its proceedings, and I doubt whether in one asso-
ciation and in an equal space of time there was ever con-
centrated in this country a larger measure of talent, of
information, and of zeal. Among those who either spoke
or wrote for it were Albert Picket, the president and for
half a century an able teacher, Dr. Drake, the Hon.
Thomas Smith Grimke, the Rev. Joshua L. Wilson,
Alexander Kinmont, James H. Perkins, Professor Stowe,
Dr. Beecher, Dr. Alexander Campbell, Archbishop Pur-
cell, President McGuffey, Dr. Aydelott, Mrs. Lydia H.
Sigourney, and Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz. With these
were numerous professors, teachers, and citizens, zealous
for the cause of education, most of whom contributed
more or less to the transactions of the college. . . It
was a means of great intellectual development, and I am
well convinced, for that purpose, the best Cincinnati has
ever had. In its meetings I have heard such discussions
as I have neither heard nor read of elsewhere."
The public school teachers of the city, besides their
annual institute, for which the board of education liber-
ally provides, had for a number of years a principals' asso-
ciation and a lady teachers' society, both meeting at
stated intervals. They were united in the summer of
1880, under the title of the Pedagogical Association, the
first regular meeting of which was held at the Hughes
high school building in January of the next year.
SAMUEL LEWIS.*
It is fitting that this name should fill a leading place
among the early educators of Ohio. Among the first
in point of time, he also ranked among the first in the
eloquence, the persistency, and the rare disinterested-
ness with which he advocated the right of the poor
and ignorant to a common school education. "* He was
born in Massachusetts March 17, -1799. In 1813
the entire family, of which Samuel was one of nine
children, began their journey westward. For father and
sons that meant a journey on foot as far as Pittsburgh,
whence, a flat-boat being purchased, they floated down
to Cincinnati. At fifteen he is working on a farm for
seven dollars a month, and giving his entire wages to his
father. Having learned a trade afterward, he pays his
father fifty dollars a year for his time. At twenty he re-
solved to study law. In 1824 he was licensed as a local
preacher in the Methodist church. In 1837 he became
State superintendent of schools. In his crusade against
ignorance, he rivaled a medieval knight. The first year
he traveled more than fifteen thousand miles, chiefly on
horseback, quickening school officers, teachers, and par-
ents. In his first report he seems to have been gifted
* These biographies have been extracted, with some abridgement,
from the centennial volume on Education in Ohio.
200
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
with prescience. It gave shape and consistency to the
school law passed by the general assembly, and many of
his suggestions have stood well the test of time, and are,
to-day, in active operation. In 1839 he resigned his
place because of failing health. The temperance and
anti-slavery causes both received a large ' share of his
time in the latter years of his life. His death occurred
in 1854.
NATHAN GUILFORD.
In the winter of 182 1-2, the Ohio house of represent-
atives of the general assembly appointed a committee on
schools and school lands. In their report the appoint-
ment of seven commissioners was recommended, who
should devise and report upon a common school system.
The report having been accepted, Governor Trimble ap-
pointed seven men, one of whom was Nathan Guilford.
Mr. Guilford declined to co-operate with the other 'com-
missioners, however, claiming that their proposed plans
were inadequate for the needs of the State. He pub-
lished a letter on free education, in which he urged a
general county ad valorem tax, but the assembly was: not
wise enough to risk advanced school legislation. An ap-
peal to the people resulted in the election of wiser men,
among whom was Nathan Guilford as senator from Cin-
cinnati. Having been made chairman of a joint com-
mittee on school legislation, he made an able report, ac-
companied by a bill which required a tax of one-half
mill on the dollar for school purposes; which bill passed
both houses without amendment.
In 1850 Mr. Guilford was elected superintendent of
the Cincinnati public schools.
CALVIN E. STOWE.
Professor Stowe was born at Natick, Massachusetts, in
1802. Like many New England boys, his early life had
a record of many and continued struggles to satisfy an
overpowering thirst for knowledge. He finally graduated
at Bowdoin college, Maine, in 1824. Succeeding this,
he finished a theological course at Andover, and after-
ward filled the chair of professor of languages at Dart-
mouth. In 1833 he became professor of Biblical litera-
ture in Lane theological seminary; and here his connection
with Cincinnati begins. In common with Samuel Lewis,
Dr. McGuffey, and other public-spirited citizens, he set him-
self to work to advance the cause of the common schools.
In 1836, while on a visit to Europe on business connected
with the seminary, he received an official appointment by
the legislature to examine into the system and manage-
ment of European schools, particularly those of Prussia.
On his return he submitted his noted report on element-
ary education in Europe. A copy was sent to every
school district in the State, and it was republished and
circulated by the legislatures of other States. In this re-
port he urged freedom from routine and from slavish sub-
servience to text books. At the State educational con-
vention of 1838 he delivered an able address upon the
training or normal schools. He was a valued member of
the Western college of teachers. In 1850 he returned
to Andover, Massachusets, where the greater part of his
life has since been passed.
DR. WILLIAM H. M GUFFEY.
Dr. McGuffey, the well known author of the Eclectic
series of readers, was born in 1800, in Trumbull county,
Ohio. By most severe and unrelenting toil he succeeded
in graduating from Washington college, Pennsylvania, in
1825. Soon after he became professor of ancient lan-
guages in Miami university, and remained until 1836,
when he was called to the presidency of Cincinnati col-
lege. Three years after this time he accepted a similar
position in the Ohio university. In 1845 he removed to
the university of Virginia, where he remained till his
death, which occurred in 1873. During his life he was
always active in the cause of popular education, render-
ing efficient aid in teachers' conventions, both by his
presence arfd pen.
Dr. Joseph Ray. — The name of Dr. Ray is held in
grateful remembrance by many for his mathematical
works, which made simple and attractive what had been
only a terror to the young beginner. He was born in
Ohio. county, Virginia, in November, 1807. From early
youth he showed a great fondness for study. Supporting
himself by teaching at intervals, he passed some months
at Washington college, Pennsylvania, but left without
taking a degree. Devoting his attention finally to medi-
cine, he became a graduate of the Ohio Medical College
at, Cincinnati; but in October of the same year began
teaching and continued through life. He was first pro-
fessor and then president of the Woodward college, af-
terward Woodward high school, which position he held
till the time of his death in April, 1856. He was promi-
nently identified with the leading teachers of the State,
and became president of the State Association in 1852.
Rufus King was born in 181 7. His father, Edward
King, coming to Ohio at an early day, became a leading
lawyer at Chillicothe, and then at Cincinnati. His grand-
father's name, also Rufus King, is found among those of
eminent statesmen and earnest patriots of the revolution-
ary times. The subject of our sketch graduated at Har-
vard university, and has for many years been a leading
lawyer in Cincinnati. For fifteen years Mr. King was a
member of the board of education of this city, and for
twelve was its president. He gave material aid in the re-
organization of the public schools, and also in the forma-
tion of a great central .school library. He was for some
time president of the board of trustees of the Cincinnati
university, which has under its care the McMicken fund,
the school of art and design, and the Cincinnati observa-
tory.
Albert Picket began in New York City, early in 181 1,
a periodical called the Juvenile Monitor, or Educational
Magazine. It is thought to have been the first periodical
of the kind published in the United States.
Through the exertions of Mr. Picket and Alexander
Kinmont, there was organized in Cincinnati, in the year
1829, the western academic institute and board of edu-
cation, before spoken of, from which originated the
famous western literary institute and college of professional
teachers. Before the latter, in 1834, he delivered the
opening address. He afterwards delivered addresses on
such subjects as Education, Parents, Teachers, and
-■'■<■' -.._•■:
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Schools, Formation of Character in Individuals, Reforms
in Education, Qualifications of Teachers, and the Want
of Education. He was at one time president of the Cin-
cinnati Female seminary; afterward he became a resident
of Delaware, Ohio. The following is found in The Ohio
School Journal of September, 1848, edited in Columbus,
Ohio, by Dr. Lord:
Albert Picket, sen., for many years principal of the Manhattan school
in this city [New York], one of the most efficient and enterprising
teachers of our country, is still at Delaware, in Ohio. This gentleman,
now in his seventy-ninth year, taught half a century, and was always
twenty years in advance of the profession. He is still quickening and
comforting those who labor for the cause of education. — [Teachers'
Advocate, New York].
We rejoice to meet, from the scene of his former toils, this just trib-
ute to a veteran teacher. It has been our privilege, in addition to oc-
casional correspondence, to enjoy the privilege of seveial cheering in-
terviews with Father Picket, as he is affectionately and reverently
styled here in Ohio, and, last autumn, to labor with him for a week in
the instruction of a class of some hundred teachers.
Let others wear laurels and receive the plaudits of mankind, but give
me the retrospect of the famous teacher.
John L. Talbot was born October 20, 1800, near
Winchester, Frederic county, Virginia. With, his parents
he emigrated to the Redstone settlement, in Washington
county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, from which place he re-
moved to Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, in
1 8 16. Three years after he descended the Ohio river on
a raft and took up his permanent abode in Cincinnati.
During his residence in Pennsylvania he usually attended
school one quarter each year, studying mainly spelling
and arithmetic. In Cincinnati he attended a night-school
while serving an apprenticeship to the carpenter's and
joiner's trade. H£re he studied arithmetic, trigonometry,
surveying, and navigation. Subsequently he became an
assistant teacher in the school which was taught by Cor-
nelius King. In 1822, having made his school furniture,
he opened a school of his own, which was largely at-
tended, and not a few of his pupils in subsequent years
rilled honorable and important public positions. In 1823
he aided in forming a society for the elevation of teach-
ing as a profession, and in 1828 in founding the Ohio
Mechanics' institute. About the same time he took ac-
tive part in the establishment of the Academy of Fine
Arts and the Academy of Natural Sciences. In all
these organizations Mr. Talbot was an active member,
and, much of the time, an officer. From 1829 to 1845
he was a member of the Academic institute and its suc-
cessor, the College of Professional Teachers. Mr. Tal-
bot was the author of an arithmetic, with the title, The
Western Practical Arithmetic. He long since retired
fom the teacher's life.
Milo G. Williams was born in Cincinnati April 10,
1804. His career as a teacher began in 1820, and ended
in 1870. His early education was limited to the merest
elements of learning. His first efforts at teaching were
made in the village school where he had been a pupil. At
this early period he began to think earnestly on the prac-
tical education of the people at large. Here, too, he be-
came conscious of his own deficiencies. In his nine-
teenth year Mr. Williams began a private school in Cin-
cinnati, which grew to be such a success that he finally
graded his classes, organized four departments, and pro-
26
cured assistant teachers. The study of constitutional
law was successfully introduced into his school. In 1833
he accepted the position of general supervisor of a man-
ual-labor institution at Dayton. At the end of the sec-
ond year it was deemed expedient to close this school,
and Mr. Williams became principal of the Springfield
High school. About 1840 he was made principal of a
school in Cincinnati, opened by the friends of the New
Jerusalem church (Swedenborgian). Subsequent to this
time he was successively professor in the Cincinnati col-
lege, principal of the Dayton academy, and president of
the faculty of Urbana college, filling at the same time the
chair of science. In 1829 Mr. Williams aided in organiz-
ing the Academic institute, which became, mainly through
his effort, the College of Professional Teachers. For
ten years he was corresponding secretary, and took an
active part in its proceedings. He was prominent also
at the educational conventions held at Columbus, begin-
ning in 1836, up to 1852, when his duties at the Urbana
university made regular attendance impracticable. He is
still a resident of Urbana.
STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.
It seems not to be forgotten that Cincinnati furnished
the State with two of its earliest and ablest chief superin-
tendents of education. Mr. Samuel Lewis, of the city bar
and also a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal
church, a speaker of no ordinary force, had evinced a
very active interest in popular education, several times
addressed the Western College of Teachers, and was
mainly instrumental in securing from Mr. Woodward the
large pecuniary foundation of Woodward college, now
part of the consolidated fund supporting the Woodward
and Hughes high schools. Such was the confidence re-
posed in him as a practical educator that although not a
teacher or even a "liberally educated man," his education
in the schools having ceased when he was ten years old,
he was elected by the legislature as the first superintendent
of common schools in Ohio, when that office was created
in 1837. He began with a salary of five hundred dollars
per annum, which was presently increased to one thou-
sand two hundred dollars, but at this rate no more than
paid his official expenses. Hon. John Hancock, in his
lucid and instructive chapter on school supervision, in
the Centennial volume we so often cite, gives this testi-
mony to Mr. Lewis' service :
His work was severe enough. Almost all his journeying was done on
horseback, most of it on bad roads and through a sparsely settled
country. After averaging twenty-six miles per day of travel, he spent,
as he tells us in one of his letters, three or four hours a day in conversa-
tion on school matters, and frequently spoke, in addition to all this, at
night. Much of his work, too, was done with the drawback of im-
paired health. Everywhere, as he says, men agreed with him, ap-
plauded his speeches, but did nothing. The first year of his
superintendency he traveled more than one thousand five hundred
miles, and visited three hundred schools and forty country seats. Much
time and zeal were also devoted to the organization of associations of
teachers.
In reading over his reports, one is surprised at the breadth and com-
prehensiveness of the views entertained by this pioneer in western edu-
cation. Nothing seemed to escape his attention ; and almost all the
plans for the improvement of common schools since advocated were
distinctly enunciated by him.
Mr. Lewis' sympathies were always with the poor, and he heartily en-
listed in the scheme of establishing a system of schools which should
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
give these children a fair chance in life with the children of the rich.
He was utterly opposed to the idea of having one kind of education for
those favored by fortune and another kind for those who earn their
bread by the sweat of the brow. He labored not only to make the
schools entirely free, but to make them good enough for all ; "for,"
said he, "a school not good enough for the rich will never excite much
interest with the poor. They will receive its benefits, if at all, with jeal-
ousy, and the effect will be to build still higher the wall that separates
the sympathies of different classes of society.''
Like Horace Mann, Mr. Lewis placed high amqng the functions of
the common school the duty'of instructing youth in sound principles of
Christian morality. He seemed, too, to have little faith in the final
success of the schools, unless teaching was made a profession.
He advocated such an education for women ' ' as would be adapted
to their sphere in life, and be likely to elevate their views, refine their
tastes, and cultivate that delicacy of sentiment and propriety of con-
duct which the good of the country, no. less than their own happiness,
requires." He recommended the appointment of county superintend-
ents to look after school property, to visit all the districts, examine
teachers, and settle controversies. He recognized also the value of
libraries as instrumentalities for educating the people, and recom-
mended the establishment of a free library in every township, the State
giving a certain amount on condition that the township should raise an
equal sum. He pointed out, too, the advantages of union graded
schools for towns and cities, years before anything of the kind had
been attempted in the State outside of Cincinnati; and township high
schools were one of his favorite measures for promoting educational
progress.
His eye seemed to cover the whole field. He was not satisfied to
restrict his attention to the organization of a school system and the
furnishing of the necessary means for carrying it into operation. Meth-
ods of instruction did not escape his animadversion. He condemned
most forcibly that exclusive reliance on the memory, to the neglect of
the cultivation of the reasoning powers, then almost universal with
teachers in all classes of schools.
Finally, Mr. Lewis still further exhibited the breadth and compre-
hension of his educational views by his advocacy of a State university
and a State normal school.
Mr. Lewis left the office with high honor. By his investigations of
the management of school lands he had saved enough money to the
State to pay his salary many times over — indeed, his friends claimed
that sixty thousand dollars had been thus secured. The number of
schools during his three years of service had risen from four thousand
three hundred and thirty-six to seven thousand two hundred and ninety-
five; the number of scholars from one hundred and fifty thousand four
hundred and two to two hundred and fifty-four thousand six hundred
and twelve; the amount paid for tuition from three hundred and seven-
teen thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars to seven hundred and
one thousand and ninety-one dollars; and the cost of school-houses
from sixty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety to two hundred and
six thousand four hundred and forty-five.
When the office held fourteen to sixteen years before
by Mr. Lewis was revived by the legislature, under the
present title of State school commissioner, and made
elective by the people, Professor H. H. Barney, first
principal of the old Central High school in Cincinnati,
was placed in nomination and elected the ensuing fall,
and served until 1856. Says Mr. Hancock:
Mr. Barney was largely occupied during his administration in execu-
tive work and in explaining for the benefit of school officers the mean-
ing of the new law and the best methods of executing it, giving special
consideration to those features of the law which differed from those of
preceding acts. Of these district school libraries were the most import-
ant and gave most care. The distribution of good books over the
whole State is an object of importance as an educational agency second
only to the schools themselves. That district school libraries did much
good cannot be questioned; but had the law provided for- township
libraries instead, as recommended by Samuel Lewis, there can be but
little doubt that the results would have been far more satisfactory, and
the permanency of the law have been secured. No adequate provision
was made under the law for taking care of the books, and the few that
came to the rural sub-districts one year were scattered and gone by the
time the next year's supply came to hand. This arose from the diffi-
culty of finding a suitable place in each sub-district for a library and a
qualified person to take charge of it. In addition to this many of the
books were never called for at the office of the county auditors, and
others remained unused in the hands of the township clerks. The fate
of this feature of the law, with all these defects and difficulties hanging
about it, notwithstanding its excellent design, was pre-ordained. Mr.
Barney decided, at an early period in his administration, that the books
for cities might be collected into one library, instead of being scattered
among the several districts. Boards acting on this wise decision then
formed collections of books, that have been the foundation for those
notable institutions in cities called public libraries, and which are doing
so much for the culture of the people.
Not long after Mr. Barney had entered upon the duties of his office,
decided hostility began to exhibit itself in the legislature against many
of the most valuable features of the new law, the commissionership
among them. He was indefatigable in his efforts to prevent the pas-
sage of any amendment that would embarrass the. successful working
of the act. In these efforts, with the aid of educators and the petitions
of the people from all parts of the State that the law should be left un-
touched, he was completely successful.
By the time Mr. Barney had fairly established himself in his new
position, he had so far secured the confidence of educators in his
ability and prudence that the agent of the State Teachers' association
was withdrawn from the field, as being no longer necessary to the
interests of the schools.
CHAPTER XXII.
PUBLIC CHARITIE .
The institutions supported by the city first claim at-
tention under this head.
THE CITY INFIRMARY.
This institution was built in 185 1-2, and was opened
for the reception of inmates in 1852. Before that the
paupers of the city were provided for, under the law of
January 22, 1821, at the old Commercial hospital, and
by a costly system of out-door relief. In the financial
year 1849-50, the cost of provisions, medicine and
medical attendance furnished the poor was $10,197.60,
and of firewood $11,124,75, making a total of $21,-
322.35. In 185 1-2, while the new plan under
directors had not yet come into operation, the sev-
eral sums, corresponding to the above, were $10,-
486.12, $11,115.40 and $21,601.52. Under the new
system, introduced the next year, and directed to the
same objects and the same class of persons, they were
respectively but $3,920.58, $2,815.34, and $6,735.95.
The original board of directors, in their first annual re-
port, make an equally economical showing, in a com-
parison between the old and new systems of in-door
relief. For the two years designated, the expenses of
the hospital, including provisions, medicines ($1,483.13
for wines and liquors under this head), dry goods, fuel,
groceries, and oil, but excluding cost of pest house,
orphan asylum, interments, salaries, and other wages, were
severally, $24,411.31, and $20,432.70. For the next
year the cost of the city infirmary, including, also, sums
paid to the Commercial hospital, and expenses of con-
veyance to infirmary, furnishing it with stoves, iron bed-
steads, bell, etc., (these items alone amounting to $4,-
785.66), was but $13,271.71. Thus auspiciously, in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
203
point of economical management, at least, did the first
board of directors open their work under the new ar-
rangements.
The old system had secured, by taxation and duties
imposed upon auctioneers, the following amounts for a
series of years, for use in relieving the poor of Cincin-
nati: In 1844-5, $29>965-27; l84S-6. $3°>6o9-8°;
1846-7, $33,422.60; 1847^8, $39,174.02; 1848-9, $61,-
998.14; 1849-50, $61,074.09; 1850-1, $65,570. In the
year 1852-3, when the new plans were in full operation,
the entire expenses of in-door and out-door relief, at
both the hospital and the infirmary, excluding cost of
permanent improvements, were but $25,892.57.
For a number of years the Cincinnati orphan asylum,
mentioned in the above statistics, had received, annually,
a liberal grant from the poor fund of the city, although
the charter of that institution was silent concerning such
subsidies, from and after the year 1840. The tenor of
the charter, as explained by the 'infirmary directors, was
"that said institution should maintain itself, like similar
institutions, by private enterprise and benevolence." In
1849-50 the orphan asylum drew $2,214.21 from the
poor fund of the city, and $1,498.64 from the auction
duties, the next year $3,80^44, and $^832.03 from
these sources, respectively. The claim of the asylum to
a share of the funds continued to be set up after the in-
firmary directors came into office, but was not allowed by
those authorities, for the reason given above — the ab-
sence of legal authority in the asylum to make the de-
mand.
The infirmary board of directors came in under an act
of the general assembly, dated March 23, 1850, entitled
"An Act to authorize the City of Cincinnati to erect a
Poor-house, and for other purposes." Their duties were
further prescribed by the law of March n, 1853, "to
provide for the organization of cities and incorporated vil-
lages," which abolished in such corporations the offices
of township trustees and township clerk. January 14,
1857, the city council passed an ordinance "to regulate the
management of the City Infirmary, Commercial Hos-
pital, Pest-house, City Burying-ground, and the granting
of out-door relief to the poor." It prescribed that the
directors of the infirmary should be elected in conformity
with the legislative acts before mentioned; that they
should give bonds, in the sum of five thousand dollars
each, for the faithful performance of their duties; that
they should have charge of the charities specified in the
title of the ordinance; and made sundry other provisions
in regard to their duties — among them that they should
appoint the officers of these institutions and others deem-
ed necessary, subject to the approval of the city council.
April 15, 1864, a similar ordinance, but restricting the
authority of the directors to the management of the city
infirmary, city burying-ground, and the granting of out-
door relief to the poor, was passed by the council. Un-
der such enactment by-laws and regulations were adopted
by the board for the government of the institutions under
their charge and the grant of out-door relief.
In the regulations of 1852-3, each ward of the city was
made a district for providing victuals for the poor, and
one grocer from whom provisions were to be purchased
for that purpose was contracted with in each ward. He
was to be paid the usual prices charged to his regular
cash customers. For medicinal purposes the city was
divided into six districts, each comprising two or more
physicians appointed therein for visitation of the sick
poor, one of whom must be a German. Each was to re-
ceive twenty-five cents for every necessary professional
visit. Two or more apothecaries in each district were
also to be contracted with, prescriptions to be paid for at
two-thirds the usual rates. Two medical districts consti-
tuted one directorial district, to be under the especial
care of one of the infirmary directors, who were three in
number. Each of these districts should have an under-
taker, for the burial of the pauper dead; and the prices
of the undertakers were to be uniform in all the districts.
The regulations of 1857, under the ordinance of that
year, were identically the same, as regards this scheme of
organization. Those of 1864 divided the city into seven
districts, each with one overseer of the poor, who must
devote all his time to the duties of his office, and was not
allowed to prosecute any other business; one district
physician — if practicable, a man who could, speak both
English and German, and he must speak both if a major-
ity of the population in his district speak the German
language; also as many apothecaries as were willing to
comply with the rates regulating the furnishing of medi-
cine for the out-door poor. From the seven districts
were formed three directorial districts, in each of which,
if possible, one undertaker for the burial of the dead
poor was to be secured. In these regulations provision
was made for a soup-house, to "be kept in operation as
long as economy and circumstances warrant it." A soup-
house was opened by the board in 1861, by virtue of a
resolution of the council May 29th of the same year, and
supplied within eight months three thousand and forty-
nine- families with wholesome food, to the amiount of six
hundred and thirty-one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three rations, at an expense of about one and a
half cents per ration, or ten thousand seven hundred and
eighteen dollars and eighty-one cents for the whole.
The number of overseers' districts ultimately became
twelve, with the growth of the city; but in 1880 it was
reduced to six, the first district comprising the First, Sec-
ond, Third, and Fourth wards, and being in charge of
Mr. H. H. Goesling as overseer; the Second, being the
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh wards, in charge of
Frank Rhein; Third— the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Thir-
teenth, and Eighteenth wards — J. F. Leuchtenburg, over-
seer; Fourth — the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and
Nineteenth wards — F. W. Ferris, overseer; Fifth — the
Fourteenth and Twentieth to Twenty-third wards, inclu-
sive— William C. Hill, overseer ; Sixth — Twelfth, Twenty-
fourth, and Twenty-fifth wards — Charles Nordeck, over-
seer. But one undertaker— John B. Habig, No. 183
West Sixth street — has been provided for some years for
the whole city.
Having thus, in a rapid way, brought down the history
of out-door relief to the present day, we return to a
204
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
sketch of the infirmary proper. This institution is located
near Hartwell, a village on the Cincinnati, Hamilton, &
Dayton and the Dayton Short Line Railroads, about
eight miles from Fountain Square, in the city. It is re-
moved by only little over a mile from the county infir-
mary, near Carthage. The city infirmary farm com-
prises a quarter-section of land, in the form of a paral-
lelogram, west of the Carthage turnpike, and fronting on
the Springfield pike, half a mile from Mill creek. In
former days it wasthe property of Major Daniel Gano.
The labor upon the farm is performed by the inmates of
the infirmary, and it is made to produce a large part of
the supplies needed by the institution for the table. The
latest report we have seen of the storekeeper of the infir-
mary, that of 1879, exhibits the produce of the farm for
that year as amounting in value to seven thousand two
hundred and thirty-eight dollars and sixty-seven cents,
and of the garden to three thousand eight hundred and
forty-one dollars and eighty-eight cents — a total of eleven
thousand and eighty dollars and fifty-five cents. In ad
dition, a large number of articles, as brooms, mops, etc.,
were made by the inmates, and six thousand six hundred
and twenty-seven articles of clothing, being almost all
that is required by the institution. The farm stock
comprised eighty-four animals, with a full equipment of
farm tools and necessaries for the dairy. In 1869, the
County Agricultural society awarded premiums to the in-
firmary farm for one bull and for the best farm team.
The building constructed in 1851 is thus described in
the annual report of the superintendent of the infirmary,
for the year ending March 1, 1856:
The house is constructed of gray limestone. It is situated seven
miles north of Cincinnati, upon a slight eminence, near the Carthage
and Hamilton turnpike, and when viewed from this point presents a
very beautiful and substantial architectural appearance. The centre
and ends of the building are four stories high, while the main or con-
necting part is but three. The whole presents a front of three hundred
and four and one-third feet in length, with a depth of forty-seven feet.
It has a wing extending back from the centre a distance of one hundred
and thirty-three feet. This part is only two stories high, and is thirty-
two feet in width.
The entire building is divided into one hundred and fifty-five rooms,
which are used for the following purposes, viz. : The centre for the
officers' apartments, offices, apothecary shop, store-rooms, etc. ; the first
story of north and south wings are the male and female sick wards; the
second and third stories of the same are the dormitories for the male
and female inmates not under medical treatment; the fourth story of the
end building is occupied as a basket shop and for store-rooms for the
finished baskets; the first story of the rear building is used for the male
and female dining-rooms, kitchen, and wash-house; the second story
for school-room and chapel, children's dormitories, nursery, ironing
and drying rooms. A hall, nine feet in width, runs through the entire
length of the front building, in all the stories, dividing the rooms, which
are well lighted and ventilated. In connection with the main building
we have an ice-house built with brick, thirty feet square and fifteen
feet deep, which is well adapted to the uses for which it was erected.
Over the ice-house we have a fine, large room for storing and keeping
our fresh meats in summer.
The water supply was at first derived from two wells,
about fifty^ barrels per day, and six cisterns, holding to-
gether about six thousand gallons. This supply soon
proved insufficient, and has been increased and made
permanent by the construction of water works,, including,
in 1867, a reservoir on the hillside, capable of containing
two thousand gallons, and of supplying water to the high-
est part of the building. Gas works were added in 1859,
and minor improvements have been made from time to
time pretty nearly as needed, including a nursery for the
children, built in 1867-8. Certain important depart-
ments of the household service remained deficient, how-
ever; and in 1880 Mayor Jacob remarked of the infirmary
in his message: "It is the only public building under
the control of the city not provided with the latest im-
provements for heating and washing.'' This defect has
since been partially removed by the introduction of wash-
ing machines.
In 1855, the religious opportunities of the infirmary
were increased by a donation from the Young Men's Bi-
ble society of Cincinnati, of fifty English Testaments and
twenty-five English and twelve German Bibles.
An infirmary school was started early after the opening
of the institution, and was regularly maintained until No-
vember, 1877. For a time it was under the charge of
the "board of trustees and visitors of the common schools
of Cincinnati," but was generally controlled by the board
of directors.
In 1858 an arrangement was made with the authorities
of the Catholic orphan asylum at Cumminsville, to
take under their charge the eighteen children in the in-
firmary from Catholic families, with the promise that they
would thereafter take and support all that were of that
faith.
When the infirmary was turned over to the directors,
in 1852, and opened for the reception of inmates, it had
accommodations for only about fifty paupers. These
were speedily increased by the supply of iron bedsteads
and of bedding sufficient for two hundred and seventy-
five persons, and it was calculated that seven hundred
inmates could be provided for in the institution. At
times, however, .of late years, over two hundred more
than that number have been crowded within its walls, as
many as five or six being compelled to occupy one room
in numerous cases; and an addition to the main building
was repeatedly and loudly called for by the directors. In
their report of 1872 they pressed it with especial force
upon the attention of the city authorities; and a grant
was made of the credit of the city, and in bonded in-
debtedness, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, which
enabled the directors, within a year or two thereafter, to
add two wings to the main building, make an alteration
of the upper story, repair the roof of the old farm build-
ing, which had been in use for many years for colored
paupers, and make other needed improvements, together
costing about twenty-six thousand dollars. The institu-
tion has now abundant accommodations for all present
demands.
Under a legislative act of May 17, 1878, passed during
one of the spasms of " re-organization " that so often af-
flict the general assembly, the control of the infirmary
was turned over to the police commissioners of the city
to whom, after a protest on behalf of the directors, the
books and papers of the institution were delivered. The
commissioners appointed Mr. John E. McGranahan gen-
eral superintendent of the department, and made a
thorough change in the official corps of the infirmary.
Their reign was short-lived, and March 15, 1880, the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
205
board of directors was returned to authority, under an-
other act of assembly. While the commissioners were
in power, however, the infirmary was cleared of debt,
with which it had been hampered for a number of years
(one year the debt amounted to sixty thousand dollars),
and a surplus was accumulated for future use.
The poor authorities of the city and county have
always been much embarrassed by the influx of non-
resident paupers, natural to a large commercial city and
favorably situated county. Especially were unfortunate
girls, about to experience the shame and pains of illegiti-
mate child-birth, liable to be inflicted upon the public
charities of this region, some of them being sent long
distances for the purpose, even from Missouri and New
York. From New York city numbers of indigent immi-
grants were, it is alleged, regularly forwarded to Cincin-
nati. In some cases, where betrayed ones were sent to
the city with the early prospect of illicit offspring, the
responsible parties, being within the State, were prose-
cuted by the directors with success, made to pay dama-
ges to the city and provide security for the maintenance
of their ill-begotten children. In the official year of
1851-2, the total number of non-resident poor relieved
at the Commercial Hospital was one thousand nine hun-
dred and seventy-nine — nearly seven times as many as
the resident paupers relieved, who numbered but two
hundred and ninety-five. Under the new administra-
tion, in 1852 and subsequently, the directors considera-
bly reduced abuses, and the number of non-residents
and unknown persons who received indoor relief during
the year 1852-3 was but two hundred and eighty-seven,
against four hundred and sixty-five residents; while out-
door relief was extended to four hundred and seventy-
one non-residents and two thousand and forty-six resi-
dent paupers. The city council had no power, under
the charter, to levy taxes for the benefit of poor not
belonging to the city; but nevertheless allowed the
directors to grant such relief in cases of severe sickness.
March 14, 1853, the county commissioners were em-
powered by the legislature to levy a sufficient tax for the
relief of this class of beneficiaries, leaving the city coun-
cil still no care of non-resident paupers.
The following are the numbers received into the in-
firmary from year to year since its opening: 1852-3,
581; 1853-4, 465; i8S4-S. 660; 1855-6, 595; .1856-7,
360; 1857-8, 285; 1858-9, 380; 1859-60, 444; 1860-1,
464; 1861-2, 228; 1862-3, 159; 1863-4, 210; 1864-5,
282; 1865-6, 370; 1866-7, 297; 1867-8, 323; 1868-9,
290; 1869-70, 257; 1870-1, 245; 1871-2,228; 1872
(ten months), 179; 1873,330; 1874,459; 1875, 311;
1876, 362; 1877, 245; 1878, 373; 1879, 429. At the
close of the last named year there were five hundred and
eighty-seven remaining in the institution. The total
number of names upon the register for the year was one
thousand and thirty-five; discharged during the year,
three hundred and forty-seven; died, one hundred and
one; daily average for the year, five hundred and
seventy-six. At the close of 1879, one inmate was re-
maining for each of the years 1852, 1855, 1856, 1858,
1859, i860, 1861, as the several dates of their admis-
sion into the infirmary. Out-door relief had been
extended during the year to the amount of fifteen thou-
sand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars and eighty-
nine cents — provision account, six thousand and seven
dollars and eighty-two cents; fuel, eight thousand two
hundred and fifty-five dollars and thirty-two cents;
wages, four hundred and fifty dollars; transportation,
twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents; coffins and inter-
ments, one thousand one hundred and forty-eight dollars
and twenty cents. Relief had been extended to nearly a
thousand more applicants than in any previous year.
The institution was out of debt and had a balance to its
credit sufficient to meet its running expenses for 1880.
The directors of the city infirmary, from its establish-
ment to 1880, have been, at various times, Charles Ross,
Gottfried Koehler, Henry Roedter (the first board),
Adam Hornung, Jacob Gossin, William Crossman,
Arthur Hill, George A. Peter, Joseph Draper, Jacob B.
Wyman, George Lindemann, James Ayres, L. L. Arm-
strong, M. B. Masson, M. Straub, Henry Weist, Ira
Wood, John Martin, W. H. Watters, Charles Zielinski,
Henry Zopfi, Jacob Ernst (died in office), John Kirch-
ner, Robert Buchanan, George H. Schoonmaker, M.
Lichtendahl, George F. Feid, William Ohmann; police
commissioners, 1878 — C. Kinsinger, J. P. Carbery, Dan-
iel Weber, W. W. Sutton, John Dorsch; 1879, S. S.
Davis, H. C. Young, Ephraim Morgan, A. R. Von Mar-
tels, John Dorsch; 1880, Arthur Hill, George F. Feid,
William Ohmann.
Clerks of the Board — William Swift Gossin, Adam S.
Hornung, jr., Thomas Winter, Abijah Watson, James
F. Irwin (died in office), A. H. Andress, R. M. Court-
ney, O. T. Shepard, Charles H. Moorman.
The following named gentlemen have been superin-
tendents of the infirmary. It is difficult to fix, in all
cases, exactly the year in which each entered upon
service, but these dates are believed to be approximately
correct, as gathered from the annual reports. Each of
the incumbents served until his immediate successor was
appointed: 1852, Dr. Nathan B. Marsh; 1855, James
McCord; 1856, John Young; 1857, Colonel A M.
Robinson; i860, Stephen S. Ayres; 1862, Colonel A. M.
Robinson; 1865, S. P. Coleman; 1867, Abijah Watson;
1870, Arthur Hill; 1874, Captain Robinson Whitney;
1877, John P. Decker; 1879, S. W. Bell and Arthur
Hill; 1880, John P. Decker.
The periods of the matrons correspond to those of the
superintendents: Mrs. Mary Young, Mrs. Mary Robin-
son, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayres, Mrs. Angelina Coleman, Mrs.
Phebe S. Watson, Mrs. Matilda Hill, Mrs. Nancy Whit-
ney, Mrs. Elizabeth Decker, Mrs. S. W. Bell.
Physicians — Professor James Graham, H. C. Lassing,
D. S. Young, T. L. Neal, N. S. Armstrong, A. P. Essel-
born, W. H. Bunker, G. W. Highlands, F. L. Emmert.
Teachers — Misses Hannah P. Eaton, Ellen F. Ken-
dall, Mollie E. Cox, Sally F. Wyman, Mollie Hoyt,
Clara B. Carnes, and Sallie Clarke; Mr. F. W. Hess;
Misses Louisa Emery, Katie Whitney, Anna G. Curtis,
Mollie Burnett.
While the last named lady was teaching, about the
206
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
middle of November, 1877, all the children of the in-
firmary were transferred to the Children's Home, in Cin-
cinnati, and the school was closed. The school-room
has since been used for holding religious services.
Store-keepers — Charles H. Giller, Albert Denerlich,
John C. Hill, Alexander Jacoby, Isaac B. Stevens, F. A.
Herbolsheimer, Charles 0. Spiegel, William Spiegel, Le-
Maire Knotzer.
THE COMMERCIAL HOSPITAL.
This was the creation, on paper, of an act of the legis-
lature, bearing date January 22, 1821, and entitled "An
act establishing a commercial hospital and lunatic asy-
lum for the State of Ohio," its scope then being as stated
in the title.
Governor Brown, in his annual message, had recom-
mended to the legislature the chartering of such an insti-
tution in Cincinnati. Dr. Daniel Drake suggested to the
trustees of the township, who were to be in charge of the
hospital, the advisability of uniting the State and local
funds, and establishing an infirmary for the poor and
likewise for the deceased boatmen of Ohio and of such
other western States as might similarly afford Ohio boat-
men relief. His plan was adopted, and the doctor was
made the bearer of an accordant petition to the legisla-
ture, in pursuance of which and of the governor's recom-
mendation the charter was obtained. Upon Dr. Drake's
sole petition, it is said, the proviso for a lunatic depart-
ment was added. Besides the ten thousand dollars
granted, one-half the auction dues collected in the city
were appropriated to the use of the asylum. The finan-
cial provisions of the act at once effected a signal reduc-
tion in the amount of city taxation for the benefit of the
poor.
Very soon after the act of incorporation was obtained,
a suitable tract for the site of the hospital was purchased,
in the then outskirts of the city, now in its very heart — a
tract of four acres, being that upon which the great Cin-
cinnati hospital, in part, now stands. Some delay was
experienced in putting a building upon it; but in 1823 a
brick edifice was erected, of fifty-three feet front by forty-
two feet depth, and three stories in height, with a tenanta-
ble basement. Ten thousand dollars had been appro-
priated by the general assembly toward its erection;
which, although received in depreciated bank notes,
yielding in specie but thirty-five hundred dollars, was a
material and welcome aid to the building fund. In all
but seven thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven dol-
lars were expended at the time upon the buildings and
ward furniture and the improvement of the grounds —
about one-hundredth part of the total cost of the mag-
nificent institution established upon its site forty-five
years later.
Besides the regular wards, the upper story, originally
designed for the residence of the superintendent, was re-
modeled for a lecture-room, with seats for nearly one
hundred students. This was lighted by front windows
and rough dormer windows set in a rather pointed roof.
An additional building was erected upon the grounds
in 1827, forty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and
two stories high. It was designed rather as a place of
confinement than a hospital for the cure of the insane.
The lower story was for male lunatics, the upper for
females. Each was partitioned into eleven rooms or cells.
An addition was made to the main hospital building a
few years afterwards, with a capacity for one hundred and
fifty patients. The basement was turned into a poor-
house, and was also to some extent an orphan asylum.
Still another building was connected with the hospital ;
and, being used for contagious diseases, and especially
small-pox, it was situated some distance from it, in an
isolated spot six or seven long squares west of the hos-
pital, in the northwest corner of the then "potter's field,"
now the beautiful Lincoln park. This was destroyed
after a time, and the patients afflicted with infectious dis-
eases were treated in a building nearer the hospital,
which presently became too small for the purpose, and,
after a debate among the hospital authorities, whether
patients of this class might not be safely admitted to the
main building, the decision was against the proposal, and
the late Dr. Wright was made a committee to select a
site for another pest-house. His mission became known
to the community, and was not received with signal favor
in localities eligible for such location. After one excur-
sion to the hills to examine sites, he received the follow-
ing note:
"Dr. Wright: — If you are again seen prowling about our hillsides,
you may prepare to have a ball sent through your skull. "
The hospital was relieved of its poor-house feature
when the county infirmary was established, and by and
by the founding of an orphan asylum in the city, mainly
by the efforts of a few benevolent ladies, relieved it also
of the few destitute orphans it contained.
From the beginning, the Commercial hospital and the
Medical College of Ohio were substantially identical.
The officers of the one were the officers of the other,
and the -same "building was occupied for both purposes.
One important departure taken by the law of 1861, for
the establishment of the Cincinnati hospital, was the
statutory separation of the two institutions. Instead of
appointing physicians to the hospital altogether from the
staff of the medical college, they are selected at large by
the trustees of the institution, without special reference
to their connection with the college.
On the twentieth of June, 1855, the board of direct-
ors effected an arrangement with the Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States, by which sick and dis-
abled boatmen could be cared for in the hospital, at
the rate of five dollars per week, for board and medical
attendance. This arrangement yielded a small revenue
the first year; but afterwards the receipts from this source
were quite large, one year (1860-61) amounting to eight
thousand, five hundred and twenty-two dollars and two
cents.
About the same time an arrangement was entered into
with the faculty of the Ohio medical college, whereby
the directors were allowed to dispose of "hospital tick-
ets," or permits for clinical practice, to students of other
medical schools, on equal terms with those enjoyed by
the students of that college. A fund of some size was
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
207
obtained from this source, also, and turned into the city
treasury, for the benefit of the infirmary department.
March 11, 1861, another law of the legislature pro-
vided that the public infirmary established in the hos-
pital by the law of 182 1 should be thereafter called
simply "the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati," to re-
main upon the hospital lot before occupied, and to be
"used for the reception and care of such sick persons as
may by law be entitled to admission therein for treatment
as patients." The control of the hospital was transferred
from the board of infirmary directors to a board of seven
trustees, of which, however, the infirmary directors, to-
gether with the mayor of the city, were ex-officio mem-
bers. The faculty of the Medical College of Ohio were
to attend patients in the hospital without compensation,
except in the privilege to introduce their pupils into the
hospital, to witness the medical and surgical treatment
of patients.
THE CINCINNATI HOSPITAL.
In 1 86 1, soon after the appointment of a new board of
trustees; some preparations were made for the erection of
a fine new building, to displace the old Commercial
hospital, which had become somewhat dilapidated and
unsafe, and was no longer adequate to the wants of the
great city. Plans had been prepared a year or two be-
fore by the most noted firm of architects in the city, and
steps had been taken to secure the necessary funds; but
the outbreak of the war at once destroyed the hope of
consummating the scheme at that time. The old build-
ing had long been condemned as unfit for its purposes;
but there seemed no choice but to use it while it re-
mained upright; so the most urgent repairs were made
upon it, and its occupation continued a few years longer.
In this year (1861) gas was introduced into the hospital.
By 1864 many cases of sick and destitute persons had
to be turned away. March 1st of that year, the hospital
was permanently divorced from the city infirmary. The
next year, in accordance with a unanimous vote of the
city council, supported by the trustees and medical staff
of the hospital and other influential citizens, the legisla-
ture passed an act authorizing the creation of a munici-
pal debt for a new hospital, if the people should approve
it by vote. In March, 1865, a branch 'hospital for female
patients was opened on Elm street, above Twelfth, and
was soon crowded. About this time the pest-house was
removed from the tract now Lincoln park, to Roh's hill,
west of the Bellevue house.
On the twelfth of December, 1866, the necessary
funds having been voted by the people, the hospital com-
missioners notified the trustees of the Commercial hos-
pital to vacate that lot and buildings, preparatory to the
construction of new edifices. Temporary quarters were
secured at the corner of Third and Plum streets, and the
demolition of the old structures and erection of the new
proceeded rapidly. In 1868, a popular vote authorized
the raising of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
for the hospital, by the issue 0/ bonds. April 3d of that
year, the name of the institution was changed by an act of
the legislature to Cincinnati hospital. It was occupied
in January, 1869. The fame of this great public charity,
as one of the finest institutions of the kind in the world,
warrants our use here of the entire description of the
hospital, as published annually in its reports :
This institution completely fulfills all the conditions of a general hos-
pital to a large city. It is emphatically a city hospital, accessible to all
on accommodating terms. Strangers or other persons of means, over-
taken by illness, and wishing to avail themselves of the best appoint-
ments for proper care, can here find refuge without the sacrifice of any
of their liberties. They can not only obtain appropriate private rooms
and trained nurses, but they can choose their own medical attendants
without being restricted to the medical staff of the hospital. This, to
many persons, is an estimable privilege ; for, however well chosen the
staff of a hospital may be, and distinguished as the visiting physicians
and surgeons of most of our hospitals usually are, for superior skill,
notwithstanding, many persons so much prefer choosing for themselves
as to make the denial of this privilege an inseparable objection to
hospital patronage.
The Cincinnati hospital occupies the square bounded by Twelfth
street, Central avenue, Ann and Plum streets, being four hundred and
forty-eight feet front from north to south, and three hundred and forty
from east to west.
The structure consists of eight distinct buildings, placed en echelon,
and connected by corridors, surrounding an extensive centre yard or
court.
The central portion and main entrance are situated on Twelfth street,
midway between Central avenue and Plum street, and are termed the
Administrative Department. This contains offices, superintendent's
and officers' apartments, kitchen, and dining-rooms.
There are six pavilions three stories in height. Three of the pavil-
ions are on the eastern or Plum street side, and three on the western or
Central avenue side. Each pavilion contains three wards, one on each
floor, of which those in the central pavilions contain thirty-six beds
, each, and the rest twenty-four each, allowing eighteen hundred feet of '
space in the wards to each bed. The pavilions contain also thirty-six
private rooms.
At one end of the wards are situated the nurses' rooms, diet kitchen,
dining-rooms for convalescents, closets for bedding and clothing, dumb
waiters, and elevators for patients. At the other end are located the
bath-rooms, water-closets, and reading-rooms. In the basement of the
pavilions are store-rooms, baggage-rooms, heating-chambers, etc., and
a passage-way around the entire establishment.
In the central building on Ann street is situated the Amphitheatre,
with a capacity for five hundred students, pathological museum, mortu-
ary, etc., conveniently arranged in proximity to each other, and isolated
from all other departments of the house. In the same building is the
accident ward, convenient of access, and completely equipped for cases
of accident or emergency, at all hours of the day and night.
South of this building and at the north end of the court, is the Do-
mestic Department, containing the main kitchen, laundry, domestics'
dormitories, dining-room, etc. Connected with the Domestic Depart-
ment are the engine- and boiler-rooms, gas-works, and storage for fuel.
The establishment is heated throughout by steam. Heat for. the
wards is supplied from coils of steam-pipe, placed in chambers in ihe
basement. From these chambers pure air warmed to the proper tem-
perature passes into the wards, while the halls and other rooms of the
institution are heated by direct radiation from the steam-coils placed
therein. In the wards are also open fire-grates for ventilation and heat-
ing when required.
Portions of the buildings are ventilated by a downward draught into
a large airduct under the pavilions, which terminates in a large chim-
ney of the engine-room. The remaining portions are ventilated
through ventilating chambers in the towers and attics.
The walls of the entire building are composed of brick, with free-
stone finishing around the angles, etc. The upper stories are finished
in French style, with Mansard roof of slate of variegated colors. The
administrative department is surmounted by a dome and spire that
reaches one hundred and ten feet from the pavement, and each ofthe
outer ends of the pavilion is surmounted by turrets that serve as orna-
ments as well as promoters of ventilation.
The wards of the hospital are divided into surgical, medical, obstetri-
cal, opthalmological, and venereal ; and in attendance upom them are
four surgeons, six physicians, two obstetricians, two opthalmologists,
and two pathologists. One half of this number are on duty at the
same time, and alternate every four months.
Clinical lectures are delivered in the amphitheatre two hours each
working day, commencing in October and ending with February. All
208
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
medical students are entitled to admission to the clinical lectures by
the payment of a fee of five dollars. The fund thus created is applied
to the purchase of books, instruments, and the enlargement of the
cabinet.
In aid of the staff, seven undergraduates are selected, after a compet-
itive examination, whose designations are " resident physicians. '' En-
tering upon duty, they are distributed to different wards, where they
remain two months ; they then exchange places, so that each one, dur-
ing the year, has an opportunity of witnessing the practice of the en-
tire hospital. They accompany the staff in their daily visits to the
sick, receive their orders, keep a record of the cases and their treat-
ment, report all violations of medical discipline, and have a general
supervision over their respective wards.
For the accommodation of persons visiting Cincinnati in search of
medical or surgical aid, and those who may not receive necessary atten-
tion in hotels and boarding houses, a pay department has been estab-
lished, consisting of thirty rooms, all comfortably and neatly furnished.
Regular nurses are engaged by the hospital to attend the sick in this
department, but each patient is at liberty to employ any physician he
or she may choose.
Every part of the hospital is in direct telegraphic communication with
the superintendent's apartment in the central building. In a moment
the messages are sent to and fro, thus saving the annoyance and delay
of foot messengers. The hospital is connected by telephone with the
police stations throughout the city, and with the branch hospital, more
than five miles distant. A message is received from one of the stations:
"Send your ambulance." And speedily the ambulance is sent. An-;
other is transmitted through the wire: "How is the small pox patient,
Smith?" And in a moment the answer comes back: "Better" — "worse"
— "ready to leave" — "dead."
The hospital is managed by a board of trustees, seven in number.
Two are appointed by the superior court, two by the common pleas '
court, and one by the governor of the State. The mayor of Cincinnati,
and a director of the city infirmary, eldest in office, are ex officio mem-
bers of the board.
The hospital is supported by a tax, annually levied by the city coun-
cil upon the whole taxable property of the city — not exceeding forty-
eight hundredths of a mill.
The cost of the buildings, including the purchase of
some additional ground, was about three-quarters of a
million. The gas made in the institution costs only one
dollar per thousand, less than half the usual charge of
the city gas and coke company. The hospital also com-
pounds its own drugs, thus effecting a saving of about
fifty per cent.
In 1879 a new hospital for contagious diseases, or
"pest house," a branch of the Cincinnati hospital, was
built upon an isolated tract in the Lick Run valley, near
the potters' field, and the older branch building on Roh's
hill was abandoned and sold. The new buildings are
on the pavilion plan, arranged and fitted up according to
the best ideas of hospital equipment, and will accommodate
about one hundred patients. The grounds they occupy
are elevated and broad and command fine views. Much
of the time no patient occupies them.
During 1879 tne number of patients admitted to the
hospital was four thousand one hundred and twenty,
against three thousand four hundred and thirty-seven the
year before. Of those admitted two hundred and seventy-
six died, and three thousand seven hundred were dis-
charged during the year.
During the year 1880 three thousand six hundred and
nineteen patients were admitted, of whom three thousand
five hundred and eighty-two were discharged, three hun-
dred and thirty-two died, and three hundred and fifty-one
were remaining at the close of the year. The total num-
ber of patients treated was four thousand two hundred
and sixty-five; daily average of patients, three hundred and
seventy and one-half; average time in hospital, thirty-
three days; private patients, three hundred and eight.
None were in the branch or small-pox hospital. The ex-
penditures of the year were seventy-six thousand one
hundred and seventy-three dollars and thirty cents. Re-
ceipts— from the city treasury, eighty thousand three
hundred and eighty-two dollars and thirty-five cents; pay
patients, six thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars
and sixty-seven cents; sale of refuse matter, sixty-one
dollars and ninety-five cents; total, eighty-seven thousand
three hundred and fifteen dollars and ninety-seven cents.
The average cost of maintenance of each patient per day
was forty-seven and thirty-seven hundredths cents. The
gas used (one million eight hundred and seventy-six thou-
sand three hundred and forty-eight feet) was made in the
institution at a cost, exclusive of labor, of thirty-six and
one-half cents per thousand.
The following named gentlemen have served the hos-
pital as trustees since its organization :
By appointment of the superior court — David Judkins,
M. D., 1861 to date; F. J. Mayer, 1861-70 and 1871 to
date; John Ballance, 1870-71.
By the court of common pleas — J. J. Quinn, M. D.,
1861-9; w- B. Dayis, M. D., 1869-72; Abner L. Frazier,
1872-4; A. L. Dandridge, M. D., 1874—; Hon. Alexan-
der Long, 1 86 1-2; B. F. Brannan, 1862-73; Colonel L.
A. Harris, 1873 — .
By the governor — N. W. Thomas, 1861-4; M. D. Pot-
ter, 1864-5; Jonn Carlisle, 1865-75; M. B. Hagans,
1875-80; B. F. Brannan, 1880 — .
The superintendent of the hospital is H. M. Jones;
matron, Mrs. Agnes Rose; clerk, T. E. H. McLean.
ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL.
This extensive institution is in charge of the Sisters of
the Poor of St. Francis, a Catholic order; but its benefi-
cence is not confined to the poor and suffering of its own
faith, and it is especially useful in caring for those who
are non-residents, and who are debarred thereby from
admission to other charitable institutions. Six sisters of
this order came to America in September, 1838, upon the
invitation of Archbishop Purcell, and fixed upon Cin-
cinnati as their field. At first they occupied as a hospital
the Boys' Orphan asylum on Fourth street, which was in
charge of a German Catholic society, and very soon had
forty patients on their hands. In March, 1859, they pur-
chased the ground on the corner of Betts and Linn
streets, upon which their institution was founded. The
corner-stone was laid May 10th, of the same year, and it
was ready for occupation by Christmas next ensuing,
when it was consecrated by the archbishop. It is a spa-
cious building, ninety by sixty feet, and four stories high,
divided into two parts by a large chapel. In the second
story rooms were provided during the first year for patients
afflicted with contagious diseases; but their occupation
in this way was not afterwards allowed by the authorities.
After a few years the accommodations were enlarged, and
about five hundred charity patients can now be received,,
besides a number of pay patients. From time to time,
by fairs, lotteries, subscriptions, etc., the hospital has re-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO
209
ceived liberal donations, by which it lias been enabled to
extend its grounds and buildings. In the fall of 1875 a
new building was consecrated by Archbishop Purcell.
It is built in admirable form for its purposes, and heated
throughout by steam. The chapel, upon the lower floor,
is in the Gothic style, and has sittings for three hundred
persons. It is now one of the largest and best-ordered
institutions of the kind in the country, and represents a
cost of ninety thousand dollars. During 1879 it had
one thousand one hundred and forty-nine patients under
treatment, of whom eight hundred and sixty-six were dis-
charged and one hundred and fourteen died. The Cath-
olic patients numbered nine hundred and nineteen;
non-Catholics, two hundred and thirty. Germans, four
hundred and eighty-seven; Americans, three hundred
and fifty; Irish, two hundred and fifty; other nationali-
ties, sixty-two. The two Charles S. Muscrofts, senior
and junior, are surgeons to the hospital; J. H. Buckner,
oculist and aurist; George C. .Werner, gynaecologist;
William H. Weming and J. C. McMechan, physicians.
THE JEWISH HOSPITAL
has been noticed in our chapter on religion. It can
hardly be called a public charity, though an admirable
and most beneficent institution for the suffering of the
Hebrew faith.
DISPENSARIES.
An out-door dispensary was established by the Cincin-
nati hospital October 1, 1871; and in ten months its
physicians treated four thousand and eighty-four cases,
without expense to the patients or to the city.
The Ohio Medical College dispensary is justly reck-
oned one of the great charities of the city. The faculty
of the college devote a portion of their time to it every
day of the year, in the gratuitous treatment of applicants
and the free dispensing of medicines. From six to eight
thousand persons are treated every year.
The Miami Medical College dispensary does a work of
similar magnitude and beneficence. An hour every
morning is given to eye and ear diseases, and an hour in
the afternoon to all other ailments.
The Homoeopathic Free dispensary, corner of Seventh
and Mound streets, has three departments— the medical,
that of surgery and diseases of women, and the eye and
ear. The lady physicians of the same practice have a
free dispensary for the treatment of female and children's
diseases open daily at 306 Linn street. It was organized
May 14, 1879, with a membership of thirty-five, and the
dispensary was opened four weeks thereafter. The mem-
bership now numbers about one hundred and fifty. Dur-
ing the first year eight hundred and sixty-five patients
were treated and three thousand six hundred and seventy-
two prescriptions given.
The Ohio College of Dental Surgery, on College street,
near the public library, affords in its clinical lectures and
practice ample opportunities^for the free treatment of
dental diseases and effects.
THE UNION BETHEL.
This institution was organized, so far at least as its
. mission work is concerned, in January, 1839, and had their
headquarters in old "Commercial Row," near the river
bank. It was started under the patronage of the Western
Seamen's Friend society. The Boatmen's Bethel society
was formed soon afterwards, and the school of the
Bethel was removed to East Front street, near Pike, to a
building known as the old Museum; but returned to the
former place in about three years. A meeting of citizens
was held in February, 1865, to consider the expediency
of organizing an independent Bethel society for the city;
which was done, and an act of incorporation secured,
with the full accord of the Seaman's Friend society, which
readily surrendered all its rights in the institution. A
Bethel church was organized in the fore part of 1867;
and in May of the same year the Newsboy's home was
transferred from its place on Longworth street, near Cen-
tral avenue, to the Bethel building, and placed in charge
of the Bethel society with certain specified conditions.
Under its management a most excellent work has been
done for the newsboys and bootblacks of the city. They
receive meals at the lowest possible prices, say ten cents
a meal, and are charged nothing for lodgings; while they
have the privileges of the bath roon and such instruction
and opportunities for reading and moral culture as the
institution affords.
In February, 1871, the "Old Museum" building went
up in smoke and flame. A committee solicited sub-
scriptions for a new building; a great fair realized forty
thousand and thirty-five dollars for the same purpose;
and in March, 1874, a splendid new building was occu-
pied by the Bethel at Nos. 30 to 36 Public Landing, east
of Sycamore street. The main building cost thirty-five
thousand dollars, and the whole property one hundred
and thirty-four thousand dollars. Mr. David Sinton, 'the
well known philanthropic millionaire, has proved a great
benefactor to the Bethel, giving it one hundred thousand
dollars as an endowment fund in 1874, when it was labor-
ing under great pecuniary embarrassment, and other gifts,
amounting to more than one hundred and thirteen thou-
sand dollars. Another fair netted for it a profit of more
than thirty thousand dollars. The institution is mainly
supported by contributions and subscriptions.
The following extracts from its constitution indicate
the purpose and some features of the organization :
The object shall be to provide for the spiritual and temporal welfare
of river-men and their fam'lies, and all others who may be unreached
by regular church organizations ; to gather in and furnish religious in-
structions and material aid to the poor and neglected children of Cin-
cinnati and vicinity ; and to make such provisions as may be deemed
best for their social elevation ; also to provide homes and employment
for the destitute.
Any person paying into the treasury of the corporation the sum of
ten dollars, shall be a member for one year, and of fifty dollars a mem-
ber for life.
The various arms of the work of the Union Bethel are
the river mission among boatmen and others; systematic
visitation of families; the Bethel church and Sabbath
school; the relief department; a sewing school ; the young
men's home, including free reading-room and cheap din-
ing hall and lodging rooms; and the newsboys' home.
The Sabbath-school is the largest in the world, except,
perhaps, that at Stockport, England. The average dur-
ing six months of 1879-80 was three thousand one hun-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
dred and fifty-four, and on one Sabbath, December 21,
1879, the attendance was four thousand two hundred and
eighty. The expenditures during the year ending March
31, 1880, were eight thousand nine hundred and forty-
two dollars and seventy-nine cents. Seven thousand
dollars were derived from the avails of the Sinton fund,
and eight hundred and twenty-two dollars and fourteen
cents were received in the dining room. There had been
given free during the year to deserving applicants, two
thousand seven hundred and eighty-five meals, three
thousand seven hundred and fifty-six lodgings, six thou-
sand eight hundred and ten loaves of bread, thirty-five
pounds of sugar, twelve of coffee, and eight of tea, and a
very large number of articles had been distributed through
the relief department proper. An average of ten home-
less boys per day had been cared for during the year.
The Bethel church edifice, in rear of the main building,
was built in r869, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars.
A regular church organization, but undenominational, is
maintained here, and with great success. It has a member-
ship of more than six hundred. The ladies' Bethel aid
society has maintained its work in conjunction with the
Union Bethel for twenty-one years, and its managers con-
duct much of the general relief work, which provides
meals and beds for the worthy poor, and confers many
other benefactions.
The Rev. Thomas Lee has been superintendent of the
Bethel for nearly thirteen years; and to his efficiency and
executive ability are due much of its success and signal
beneficence. He has been identified with the Bethel
work in Cincinnati for sixteen years.
THE WIDOW'S HOME.
A few public-spirited citizens of Cincinnati, during the
severe winter of 1850-1, had their sympathies strongly
drawn out by the forlorn condition of old, infirm, and in-
digent women in the city, and their claims upon the
charities of the public. Two years before this, a similar
feeling had resulted in the formation of an association,
and a subscription of one thousand five hundred dollars
for a lot upon which to place an asylum for this class of
the poor; but now a philanthropic banker, Mr. Wesley
Smead, taking vigorous hold of the project, and making
it his business for a month, secured contributions to the
amount of sixteen thousand dollars, which assured the
erection of "The Widows' Home and Asylum for Aged
and Indigent Females." A sufficient lot on Mount Au-
burn, worth four thousand dollars or more, in the square
now bounded by Bellevue, Stetson, Highland, and
Market streets, was presented by Messrs. Burnet, McLain,
Shillito, and Reader, and a building one hundred and
thirty by fifty feet, three stories high in the main building
and two stories in each wing, with a neat Grecian front,
was soon in progress, and was occupied in 185 1. Mr.
Smead himself gave six thousand dollars, which, with the
one thousand five hundred dollars previously raised, were
invested at annual interest of ten per cent, as an endow-
ment fund for the institution. Four hundred annual
subscribers, at three dollars each, yielded a further reve-
nue of one thousand two hundred dollars; and an act of
incorporation, obtained in 1851 from the State legisla-
ture, required the trustees of Cincinnati township to pay
annually five hundred dollars into the treasury of the
home. Under present regulations, widows of good char-
acter, over sixty years of age, and indigent, are admitted
for life upon the payment of one hundred dollars. Some
of the inmates have given all their possessions to the
home. There were in 1879 forty-six inmates,- one of
them ninety-seven years old; and a number had been
there twenty-five years. The home is controlled and
managed by a board of ladies as trustees, with some gen-
tlemen as counsellors. Its property, before the removal
to Walnut Hills, was valued at seventy-five thousand
dollars.
In 1879 an arrangement was made with the trustees of
the Old Men's Home, also on Mount Auburn, by which
a single new building was erected on Walnut Hills,
McMillan street, near Park avenue, for joint use by both
institutions — one wing being occupied by the Widow's
Home, and the other by the Old Men's Home. The
corner-stone of the building — two hundred and thirty-
seven by one hundred and eighty-one feet, three stories
high, and to cost about eighty thousand dollars — was
laid July 2, 1879, and the building was completed and
occupied in the fall of the next year.
old men's home.
The pecuniary foundation of this was a bequest of ten
thousand dollars, left by Mr. A. Taylor, of New Jersey,
to found an asylum for aged and indigent men in Cin-
cinnati, conditioned upon the raising of fifty thousand
dollars more for the same purpose. Mr. Edward Sargent
generously took upon himself almost the entire work of
raising this fund, in which he finally succeeded, through
the subscriptions of business men of the city ; an organi-
zation was effected, suitable grounds or Mount Auburn
procured, and a building erected, which was occupied
until the union with the Widows' Home was effected,
and both institutions were removed to Walnut Hills.
The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order, who
have their novitiate on the Montgomery road, also devote
themselves, in large part, to the care of destitute old peo-
ple, and meet the wants of about two hundred on an
average.
By the will of the late Mr. John T. Crawford, the
avails of all his property are to be devoted to the found-
ing of a home for the aged and indigent colored people
of Cincinnati, upon a tract of eighteen and a half acres
near College Hill, which he directed to be reserved for
the purpose.
children's home.
In i860 Mr. Murray Shipley took the first steps to-
ward the founding of this institution. It was first located
in a basement room on Mill street, below Third, where the
Penn Mission Sabbath-school was held. All the room
would hold, about seventy, were here accommodated af-
ter a fashion — the children of the rudest and roughest
classes of the community, and many of them waifs from
other places. In November, 1863, the home was re-
moved to a building on Third street, near Park. In
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
211
December of the next year an act of incorporation was
obtained; a superintendent and matron were regularly em-
ployed; and funds were ultimately obtained for the fine
building and spacious grounds now used on West Ninth
street, which cost one hundred and forty thousand dol-
lars. In January, 1868, a branch was established on East
Sixth street. In the spring of the year before a farm of
seventy-five acres was purchased on College Hill, for the
uses of the institution, and entitled, "The Children's
Home School Farm." The home was formerly in the
care of the Young Men's Christian Association; but has
now its own governing board. It is supported by volun-
tary contributions and subscriptions, and issues a neat
little monthly paper, called The Children's Home Record.
Nearly four thousand neglected and homeless children
have been received into it, of whom five to six hundred
have been placed in Christian family homes in the
country. About one hundred are usually in the home at
one time. A fair held for its benefit April 15-19, 1876,
netted, the handsome sum of twenty-seven thousand dol-
lars.
Within a few months a handsome benefaction has
been made to the home by Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Pat-
terson, of Cincinnati, in the shape of a country-seat at
Remington, on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad,
worth twenty-five thousand dollars, and a life-insurance
policy of five thousand dollars from Mr. Patterson.
HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS.
This was incorporated in i860, under the cumbrous title
of the Protestant Home for the Friendless and Female
Guardian society, which was afterwards much simplified.
Its object is the reclamation of fallen women and the
temporary care of abandoned infants, and a board of
Christian women, representing various sects in the city,
control its interests. A building was erected for it on
Court street, South Side, between Central avenue and
John street, where about five hundred women, young
girls committed by the police court and too old to go to
the House of Refuge, and infants, are cared for during
the year. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid in
September, 1868, and it was occupied in April of the
next year. It has four stories and a capacity for one
hundred and fifty inmates.
ORPHAN~ASYLUMS.
The city had three orphan asylums by 1841 — St.
Peter's, on Thirteenth and Plum streets, with fifty-one
inmates, controlled by the Sisters of Charity; St.
Aloysius' Orphan House, north of Sixth street, opposite
John, managed by the St. Aloysius society; and the Cin-
cinnati Orphan Asylum, on Elm street, north of Thir-
teenth. The last named had its origin about 1830, in a
fund placed in the hands of the Female Bible society,
for the benefit of the poor. A meeting of ladies was
held, at which it was resolved to apply a small residue of
the sum for the relief of orphans. The asylum was
chartered in 1833, a house and lot were given, and the
institution opened. It was speedily crowded to overflow-
ing by the orphaned of the cholera years, 1832-3, and a
removal was made to larger accommodations on Elm
street, where the asylum remained for thirty years. The
building here erected was four stories high, sixty-four by
fifty-four on the ground, and was very well adapted in
its internal arrangements for its purposes. It cost about
eighteen thousand dollars, an'd accommodated sixty chil-
dren, though sixty-seven were inmates in 1841.
This property was sold for one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars, and in 1861 the present building was
erected. It is situated on the corner of Sycamore and*
Summit streets, Mount Auburn, in a healthful and
beautiful location — a spacious three-story edifice, with
basement and towers, commanding a superb view of the
western districts of the city, the Ohio river, and the high-
lands. It is supported by private beneficence, and ac-
commodates a general average of two hundred children
at one time.
The German Protestant Orphan asylum is also on
Mount Auburn, on Highland avenue, opposite the former
Widows' home. It was projected by a German Protestant
association during the cholera year of 1849, which left
many orphans upon the hands of the charitable. A
charter was obtained in December of that year, and
funds were raised to erect a large three-story brick build-
ing, with basement, and grounds of seven acres about it.
A large addition was made in 1868, at a cost of thirty
thousand dollars, and the institution can now receive two
hundred orphans. A large dining-hall, separate from the
main building, is used every May and October for a
festival of the Germans, which is sometimes attended by
twenty thousand people. Each of the visitors making
a contribution, the sums realized are very handsome,
in one instance reaching ten thousand dollars. The asy-
lum authorities co-operate with the Ladies' Protestant
Orphan association, which provides clothing for the chil-
dren. These are placed, as opportunities offer, in good
families, where they are expected to remain until of age,
when the boys receive two hundred dollars apiece, and
the girls each one hundred dollars, for a start in the
world. The asylum is managed by a board of trustees
representing the German Protestant denominations of
the city. The average of inmates is about one hundred
Branches have been established in Covington and New-
port.
The Roman Catholics have two orphan asylums, one
a very large affair, at Cumminsville, accommodating
about four hundred children, in care of the St. Peter's,
St. Joseph's, and St. Xavier's Orphan associations, and
under the immediate charge of twenty Sisters of Charity.
Another of these beneficent institutions is situated on the
Reading road.
The colored orphan asylum was incorporated in 1845.
For twenty years it occupied an old building on Ninth
street, between Elm and Plum, where sixty or seventy
children were crowded in, but were placed in families as
rapidly as possible. About 1865 the society in charge
bought four acres in an eligible situation in Avondale,
north of the city, and there founded the present asylum.
It differs from most other orphan asylums in receiving
children who cannot be retained at home by their
parents; but for the care of these a small compensation
212
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
is required. Thirty to forty inmates is the usual average.
THE RELIEF UNION.
This is one of the oldest and worthiest of the great
charities of the city. Its object is systematic and general
organization of the charitable for the relief of the poor,
in grants of provisions, clothing, and occasionally money.
It was established in 1848, and has had a highly honor-
■ able and useful career, though now its glory is dimmed
somewhat by the recent organization of the Associated
Charities, with similar intents. The annual report at the
meeting of November 13, 1880, made the following ex-
hibit of the work of the year:
Groceries furnished by the managers of respective wards, $2,763.37;
shoes, $1,153.72; dry goods, $865.83; fuel, $166.06; cash, necessitous
Cases, $224.41; rent, necessitous cases, $161.23; transportation and
removals. $96; funeral expenses, $65.82; bread, $107.34; meals and
lodgings, transient persons, $75. 45; medicines, $24.25; school-books,
$22; assistance in redeeming working tools and wearing apparel, $27.
Amount of relief as per cash payment of bills, $5,752.48.
Voluntary contributions, mainly from business men of
the city, keep the treasury supplied. Two managers of
the union in each ward are the chief almoners of the
society.
THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES.
This is a charitable guild of late formation; and, as it
has some original features, and is mentioned by the sec-
retary of the State board of charities, in his annual
report, "as a practical method of solving the difficulties
of our present system of out-door relief, and of other
not less important questions involved in the dispensation
of charity, whether public or private,'' it seems well
worth while to present here its terse and pointed consti-
tution in full:
ARTICLE I— TITLE.
The title of this society shall be "The Associated Charities of Cin-
cinnati-"
ARTICLE II— OBJECTS.
Its object shall be the improvement of the condition of the poor. It
will aim:
1. To secure the proper relief of all deserving cases of destitution.
2. To protect the community from imposture and fraudulent beg-
ging-
3. To prevent indiscriminate and duplicate giving.
4. To make employment the basis of relief, when practicable.
5. "To reduce vagrancy and pauperism, and ascertain their true
causes.
ARTICLE III — METHODS.
The objects of this society shall be attained as follows:
1. By bringing into harmonious co-operation with each other and
with the municipal charities the various benevolent societies, churches,
and individuals in the city.
2. By providing that the case of every applicant for relief shall be
thoroughly investigated.
3. By placing the results of such investigation at the disposal of
the overseers of the poor, of charitable societies and agencies, and of
private persons of benevolence.
4. By obtaining help for every deserving applicant, as far as possi-
ble, from the public authorities, from the proper charitable societies,
or from benevolent individuals, or, failing in this, by furnishing relief
from its own funds.
5. By exerting all its influence for the prevention of begging, the
diminution of pauperism, and the encouragement of habits of thrift
and self-dependence, and better and more sanitary modes of living
among the poor.
6. By insisting on the complete severance of charitable relief from
all questions of religion, politics or nationality.
ARTICLE IV— ORGANIZATION.
i. The society shall consist of the members of the twelve district
associations hereinafter provided for, and such other persons as shall
have contributed not less than five dollars to the funds of the society in
the current fiscal year.
*. The officers of this society shall be as follows: The mayor of
the city shall be ex officio president; the presidents of its district asso-
ciations shall be ex officio vice-presidents, and the general secretary and
treasurer, chosen by its central board, shall be the corresponding offi-
cers of the society.
3. Stated meetings of the society shall be held annually, on the
third Tuesday in November, and special meetings may be held at the
call of its central board.
The twelve district associations provided for cover the
whole city in their scope. Committees are appointed on
district organization, visitation, employment, means of
promoting provident habits, medical charities, care of the
defective classes, hygienic and sanitary measures and the
dwellings of the poor, penal and reform institutions and
their methods, legislation and the legislative protection
of the poor, vagabondage and its causes, etc. It has
gone into operation under very hopeful auspices. At the
annual meeting of the Relief Union, above noticed, the
Rev. Charles VV. Wendte, president of the new associa-
tion, in answer to a call, said among other things: "It is
an ideal plan, but is in active operation in many eastern
cities. We have districts organized in this city, and are
about to organize three more. The expense has been
small — only eight hundred dollars — and this includes
money spent in preparing for the work, in buying books,
etc., and in paying office rent. We pay the superintend-
ent of one district one dollar a day, and his office rent
is but nine dollars per month. In another district we
pay the superintendent but three dollars and fifty cents
per week; office rent perhaps eight dollars per month.
We have seventy-five directors all engaged in this work,
and their wives and daughters assist them. Our mem-
bers now aggregate about six hundred. Our plan is go-
ing all over the country like wildfire, because it com-
mends itself to the good sense of the charitable."
THE FLOWER MISSIONS.
One of these is an organization of ladies of the city
and suburbs who send flowers weekly to the Young
Men's Christian Association building, corner of Sixth
and Elm streets, where they are arranged by a committee
of the society, and distributed to the patients in the hos-
pitals, and to other sick poor. Although thoroughly
modest and quiet in its workings, it is accounted one of
the most delightful and useful of the local charities.
The Episcopal ladies' flower mission undertakes simi-
lar duties in the distribution of fruit and flowers to the
sick of the hospitals. It meets every Saturday morning,
in the warm season, at St. John's church, corner of Sev-
enth and Plum streets, to engage in this beneficent work.
HISTORICAL NOTES.
In 18 1 2 it was the habit of a few ladies of the First
Presbyterian church to meet regularly for prayer and re-
ligious conversation. Two years thereafter they regu-
larly associated themselves for other and kindred objects,
and adopted a constitution, giving their organization the
name of the Cincinnati female society for charitable pur-
poses. It consisted of fifty members — quite as many, in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
213
proportion to the population of the village, as its sister
societies nowadays comprise. Ample funds were raised
through a system of annual subscriptions, contributions,
and charitable sermons preached quarterly. In the year
1814-15 moneys were spared for a mission enterprise in
Louisiana, the theological seminary at Princeton, and for
Bible distribution. Careful attention was also paid to
the relief of indigent women in the village. Mrs. S. M.
Wilson was first president; Mrs. J. Wheeler, secretary; ■
Miss Yeatman, treasurer.
In the First Baptist church there was a very early so-
ciety of both sexes for the support of foreign mission-
aries, chiefly in India. October n, 1814, the Cincinnati
Miami Bible society was formed by members of all the
religious sects in town, to distribute the Scriptures among
the poor of the Miami country, particularly on the fron-
tiers. It began its operations early in 1815. The Rev.
O. M. Spencer was its first president.
In 1814 the Cincinnati Benevolent society was con-
stituted, to aid newly arrived and needy persons, who,
under the law, might not be entitled to public relief.
The erection of a charity workhouse was a part of its
plan. When the village was divided into wards, two
managers were appointed in each, to disburse the funds
of the society. It was well supported, for a time at least,
by voluntary contributions.
In 1816 a few ladies and gentlemen organized the Dor-
cas society. John H. Piatt subscribed two hundred dol-
lars to it annually, and others contributed freely. It met
with some opposition, but had the general support of the
community. In March, 1818, the board of managers
appointed a committee of ladies to hold regular services
in the county jail. Mrs. Colonel Ludllow, then Mrs.
Riske, records in her journal that "the prisoners, from
quarreling, rioting, and gambling, became orderly, read-
ing the Scriptures, and frequently expressing their sense
of our kindness. " Mrs. H. Kinney was the first direct-
ress of the society; Mrs. S. R. Strong, secretary; Mrs.
Zeigler, treasurer.
The same year the Female Auxiliary Bible society
(auxiliary to the Miami Bible society), was founded.
The next year the Female association for the benefit of
the Africans, before noticed, was organized; also the
Cincinnati Union Sunday-school society. The Navi-
gators' Bible and Tract society dates from 18 18.
In 1819 an association was formed by leading citizens
of the place, in which a very lively interest was mani-
fested—the Humane society, for the resuscitation of
drowned persons. It subsisted for a number of years,
and had three hundred members in 1826. It owned a
good set of apparatus, including three boats, with four
sets of drags for each; a movable bed, and stove for heating
it; a pair of bellows with nozzles of different sizes; and
various other contrivances. These were kept at three
separate houses convenient to the river-bank, and always
ready on occasions of need. Galvanism was sometimes
applied in efforts to restore the apparently drowned.
General William Lytle was the first president of the
society. Judge Jacob Burnet, Dr. Daniel Drake, and
Rev. William Burke, vice presidents; and Benjamin
Drake, secretary; Peyton S. Symmes, treasurer. These
were the representative men of the society, which was
composed of the very best elements in the place.
In 1826 a local Colonization society was formed, aux-
iliary to the American Colonization society; but its
funds were to be specially applied to promote the emi-
gration to Africa of free blacks from Cincinnati who
expressed a willingness to go. About one hundred
members formed the society.
In 1827 Dr. Drake opened an eye infirmary as a public
charity, to which over one hundred citizens became
annual subscribers. An applicant for relief was obliged
to go to a visitor and give evidence of poverty; if
approved, Dr. Drake gave the case gratuitous treatment.
Rev. Joshua L. Wilson was president of the infirmary;
Davis B. Lawler, secretary; William W. Walker, treas-
urer: Rev. William Burke, Martin Baum, Peyton S.
Symmes, and John P. Foote, visitors. The institution
was maintained with much usefulness until a multiplicity
of other duties compelled Dr. Drake to abandon it.
Nearly half a century ago, by the close of the year
1833, the benevolence of the city had blossomed out in
quite numerous organizations. Among these were the
Erin Benevolent society, for the relief of distressed
Irishmen, of which John McCormick was president,
Robert Buchanan vice president, John Beggs treasurer;
the Scots' Benevolent society — Peter McNicol president,
Arthur Harvie vice president, Thomas McGechin treas-
urer, and John Douglas secretary; the Franklin Benevo-
lent society; the House of Employment for female
poor — Mrs. Dr. Lyman Beecher first directress, Mrs.
Finley second directress; the Miami and the Cincinnati
Colonization societies; the Caledonian society, Lafay-
ette Benefit society, St. George's society, and the various
philanthropic enterprises connected with the churches of
the city or the great religious movements of the day,
which are properly noticed in another chapter.
In 1840, the House of Employment for the female
poor was still maintained, and was on the west side of
Vine street, between Second and Third. The charity
intelligence office was also on Vine street, between
Third and Baker. By this time the Cincinnati Total
Abstinence society, which founded the Western Tem-
perance Journal, was in existence; also the Anti-Slavery
society, and the Typographical association.
CHAPTER XXIII.
BENEVOLENT AND OTHER SOCIETIES.
Under this head will be noticed some representative
organizations for charitable and other purposes, which
can hardly be called public in their character, since their
benefits are open to but limited classes of the community.
Many which have special objects, as scientific, musical,
and the like, will be noticed in subsequent chapters.
214
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION.
This a secret society, with objects mainly political,
and directed against the principles and policy of the Ro-
man Catholic church, so far at least as they trench upon
affairs of state. There are said to be fifteen to twenty
lodges and encampments in Cincinnati, with a member-
ship of about three thousand.
THE B'NAI B'RITH
is a beneficiary order, composed, as the name indicates,
altogether of believers in the Hebrew faith. It is a pow-
erful organization, extending through many States, and is
the founder and benefactor of the splendid Jewish or-
phan asylum in Cleveland, upon which large sums have
been expended. It provides benefits to the sick to the
amount of four dollars a week, with an endowment in-
surance of one thousand dollars, payable to heirs after
death. These features are obligatory; but an additional
one, providing two thousand dollars life insurance, is not.
In case of a death, an assessment is made of seventy-
five cents upon each member ; and regular dues are also
payable, but not exceeding twenty-five dollars a year.
THE HEBREW GENERAL RELIEF ASSOCIATION
is another organization of Israelites, whose average an-
nual donations during the decade 1867-77 were ten
thousand, raised altogether from private contributions.
The directors meet every Sunday morning on the corner
of Central avenue and Fifth street, to apportion grants to
the poor, especially to indigent widows and disabled
workmen, and the transient poor from other places. The
operations of the society are so efficient that it is a very
rare sight to see^a Jew begging upon the streets of Cin-
cinnati. The association also looks to the support of the
Jewish hospital.
The Young Men's Hebrew Association is a kind of
club, occupying handsome rooms on the corner of Eighth
street and Central avenue, where it has a library and
reading-room. It gives occasional literary and musical
entertainments, and aids in securing employment for its
rhembers. ^
THE NATIONALITIES,
as well as religion, are represented in somewhat numer-
ous societies, most of which present social as well as
beneficiary features. Among them are the Caledonian
society, incorporated February 6, 1832, composed of a
limited number of leading Scotchmen in the city; the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, which has several divisions
in the city, and also a county organization, the first of
the kind in the country; the Friendly Sons of St. Pat-
rick, of somewhat similar character; the Bohemian Be-
nevolent Association, which has one hundred and fifty to
two hundred members; and numerous German societies,
among which is conspicuous the Turnverein, a society to
promote athletic exercises, formed in 1848, and now hav-
ing over five hundred members. This body owns the
fine Turner hall, 513-9 Walnut street, built in 1859, and
costing thirty-five thousand dollars, in which is the Ger-
man or Stadt theatre.
The Cincinnati Hibernian Society was incorporated in
1828, to provide for the relief of cases of distress from
sickness and disease, and for the relief of widows of those
deceased members who may be left in indigent circum-
stances. George Lee was president ; Peter Britt, vice-
president ; John Tuttle, treasurer; Philip Skinner, secre-
tary.
THE SECRET BENEVOLENT ORDERS,
of course, muster very strong in Cincinnati. Masonry
got in very early, the Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge,
No. 2, being formed December 27, 1794. A charter was
obtained for it August 8, 1791, from the grand lodge of
New Jersey ; but, owing mainly to the absence of Dr.
Burnet, who procured the charter, its organization was
delayed till the time first named. Dr. William Burnet,
Master;. John S. Ludlow, S. W.; Dr. Calvin Morrell, J.
W., were the officers named in the charter. The first
officers-elect were Edward Day, M.; Dr. Morrell, S. W.;
General John S. Gano, J. W. This society still flourishes
in great strength and prosperity. In 1804 it received lot
one hundred and thirty-five, upon the old town site, by
will from a prominent member, Judge William McMillan.
It was esteemed of little value, and was allowed to be
sold for taxes; but was afterwards redeemed, and is now
the site of the splendid Masonic temple, on the north-
east corner of Third and Walnut streets, erected at a
cost of two hundred thousand dollars. Two Masonic
halls previously stood there; one erected in 18 18, the
other in 1846. A monument in honor of Mr. McMillan's
memory has been erected by this lodge. He is ac-
counted to have been the foremost benefactor of Ma-
sonry in the west. In 1879 the members of the order in
this city, according to Mr. King's admirable pocket-
book of Cincinnati, from which we derive invaluable aid
in the preparation of these chapters, were estimated at
three thousand. There were then sixteen lodges of
Master Masons, including three colored lodges, and a
number of chapters, councils, commanderies, etc. Lafa-
yette Lodge No. 81, was instituted May 16, 1825, in view
of General Lafayette's visit to Cincinnati that year, dur-
ing which he was made an honorary member and person-
ally signed its by-laws May 19.
The first lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows in the State (Ohio Lodge No. 1) was instituted
in Cincinnati December 23, 1830, under a charter from
the grand lodge of the United States. The order spread
rapidly, and had 1,420 members in the State by 1841.
There were then four lodges in this city, and the grand
lodge (incorporated by the legislature February 4, 1839)
met here regularly on the first Saturdays of September,
December, March, and June.
The semi-centennial of the foundation of this lodge
was duly and handsomely celebrated December 23, 1880,
in the lodge hall, within a square of the room where the
lodge of 1830 was formed. On this occasion one of the
original members was present, and the following interest-
ing account of the genesis of the lodge was given by Mr.
A. B. Champion:
Fifty years ago, in the month of June, of the year 1830, after weary
travel from New Orleans, Jacob W. Holt, a. member of Washington
lodge, Philadelphia, landed in this city. By accident he selected as a
boarding place a respectable house on Vine street, near the river, kept
by a gentleman named Hiram Fraser. In course of conversation be-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
215
tween the two, Mr. Fraser one day spoke of a letter he had received
from his brother in Philadelphia, advising him to become an Odd Fel-
low if a lodge of that order existed in Cincinnati. None did exist, but
Mr. Holt informed him he was a member of the same in good standing,
and upon inquiry no doubt enough members could be found in the city
to institute a lodge.
Energetic search was made by both the gentlemen, and resulted in
finding but two others — James W. Brice and_Nathaniel Estling. A meet-
ing of the three members was held at Mr. Fraser' s, and they determined
to prosecute with vigor a search for other members. Accordingly written
notices were posted by Messrs. Estling and Holt at the post office, a
porter-house corner Third and Walnut streets, and several other points
in the town, asking all members in good standing then in the place to
assemble in a room over that saloon at a certain time therein named.
On the evening appointed a number of brothers assembled, of whom
the names are known of Nathaniel Estling, C. Haskin, J. Brice, J. W.
Holt, Thomas S. Bedford, and J. Gill.
After considerable discussion it was deemed advisable to establish a
lodge of Odd Fellows in this city, and after many names therefor sug-
gested and rejected, that of Ohio was chosen, and, it being the first in
the State, .was No. 1. The before-named brothers immediately made
out and signed the necessary petition and papers, and the same were at
once forwarded to the Grand lodge of the United States, then always
convening at Baltimore. September 25th of the same year a special
session of the Grand lodge convened in that city for the express pur-
pose of eonsidering the petition for establishing a lodge to be named
"Ohio, No. 1." This petition showed that five of the six petitioners
were members of lodges in Pennsylvania, and the grand secretary was
directed to obtain their standing from the Grand lodge of that State,
and, should this report be favorable, to appoint District Deputy Grand
Master James Paul, of Mechanics' lodge, No. 9, Pittsburgh, as repre-
sentative of Pennsylvania in the Grand lodge of the United States.
November 2, 1830, Samuel Pryor, grand secretary of Pennsylvania,
wrote to John Boyd, who was proxy representative from that State, to
the United States Grand lodge, saying: "October 31, 1830, the
Grand lodge of the United States was again convened for the special
purpose of again considering the petition from Cincinnati for the estab-
lishing of a lodge. A favorable report of the petitioners was made
from the Grand lodge of Pennsylvania, and after full consideration a
charter was granted." The credentials of Deputy Grand Master Paul,
of Pittsburgh, to the Grand lodge, being found to be correct, Grand
Sir Wildey announced his appointment to institute Ohio lodge, No. x,
at Cincinnati, and he was authorized to draw upon the petitioners for
the lodge to reimburse him for his expenses. The Grand lodge, find-
ing it more blessed to give than to receive, had conferred upon Brother
Paul a post and work of honor without his knowledge, and it was only
after lengthy consideration he concluded to accept; for a journey from
Pittsburgh to Cincinnati was the work of several days, the expenses
would not be light, 'and the brethren there were poor.
A messenger conveyed the necessary papers and charter from the
Grand lodge to Brother Paul at Wheeling, and from thence he journeyed
"down the river, Sown the Ohio," to Cincinnati, where he was kindly
received by the expectant brothers. After much anxious inquiry and
solicitations, and many emphatic refusals, (for the order as well as the
brothers were both almost unknown), a room for meeting purposes was
rented in the second story of the old Johnson row, on Fifth street, be-
tween Walnut and Vine — recently supplanted by the beautiful Johnston
building— the necessary paraphernalia and furniture of the plainest de-
scription and scantiest quantity were purchased.
The organizers of the project in all these months of waiting had not
been idle, and they had found a number of other Odd Fellows in the
city, who were anxious to unite with the new lodge. Accordingly, on
the night of December 23, 1830, within a block of this room, the
brethren assembled to meet Brother Paul, and then and there was in-
stituted Ohio lodge, No. 1.
The story goes that when the cards of the brothers present were de-
manded at the meeting, the respected chairman of the meeting
solemnly presented his, which, upon examination, turned out to be the
Declaration of Independence. This document, splendid as it is, hardly
answered the purpose, and the lodge kindly waited until a trip could
be made to his home by Brother Thomas and the needed card pro-
cured.
The Knights of Pythias have fifteen lodges and one
uniformed division in the city, and a membership of fif-
teen hundred. Cincinnati leads the great cities of the
west in the local strength of this order.
The Ancient Order of Good Fellows, established in
Cincinnati about 1859, has also about fifteen lodges, with
a membership of eleven to twelve hundred, mostly Ger-
mans. The sick benefit of this order is five dollars a week.
The Sons of Temperance had recently five divisions,
and the Order of Good Templars six lodges in the city.
The Templars of Honor are also represented. There are
a number of open temperance societies, chief among
which is the Woman's Christian Temperance union,
which has public meetings every Sunday afternoon, at its
hall on Sixth street.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen has about
twenty-five lodges in Cincinnati. It is a mutual benefit
and life insurance association. The Workingmen's Be-
nevolent association, like this, includes members of all
trades, and was organized here in 1857.
The Independent Order of Foresters is an organiza-
tion of similar character; but its benefits are not confined
to workingmen. It had seven courts (or lodges) here in
1879.
The Druids meet in "Groves," of which at least six
have been founded in the city. It is also a mutual ben-
efit secret order.
The United and Improved Orders of Red Men, and
many other societies of the kind, are also amply repre-
sented here. Most of them are beneficiary organizations.
MORAL REFORM SOCIETIES.
The principal of these, besides the temperance socie-
ties, is the Ohio State Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children and Animals, which was organized in
Cincinnati May, 1873, and has since had headquarters
here. It was re-organized in 1875, under the new State
law to prevent cruelty to animals and children. Over
two thousand cases of cruelty have been investigated by
it, and more than four thousand dollars collected in fines.
In the year 1880 six hundred and sixty-three cases of
cruelty to animals were investigated, and nearly as many
arrests were made. In the matter of cruelty to children,
two hundred and forty complaints were received, all of
which were investigated; forty-two cases were prosecuted,
and thirty convictions secured; one hundred and sixty-
six children were placed in the Home or other institu-
tions, and forty-five were returned to their parents.
Receipts of the year, one thousand four hundred and
thirty dollars and ninety-seven cents; expenditures, one
thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and
twenty-eight cents. No salaries are paid, except to the
officer who does the police work of the society. Dr. A.
T. Keckeler is its president. The society publishes a
monthly paper called the Humane Appeal.
The Western Society for the Suppression of Vice has
also an office in Cincinnati. Its object, says Mr. King,
is "the enforcement of all laws for the suppression of the
trade in and circulation of obscene printed matter and
pictures and articles of indecent and immoral use."
THE OHIO HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
This is wholly a Cincinnati society, and its collections
represent much history and little philosophy, notwith-
standing its comprehensive geographical and other des-
2l6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ignation. A Cincinnati Historical society was organized
in 1844, with Rev. James H. Perkins as president, and
E. D. Mansfield and many other leading citizens as
members. Five years after, it was consolidated with the
first named organization, which was formed at Columbus
in 1831, incorporated February 11, of the same year,
and met annually with good results for eighteen years.
It was before this society at Columbus that General Har-
rison delivered his famous address on the Aborigines in
the Valley of the Ohio, which was published in several
forms. In 1849 it was removed to Cincinnati, where it
flourished for several years, made valuable collections of
books and relics, and published some volumes of Trans-
actions. It fell into neglect, however, for several years,
and much of its property became dispersed and lost. • In
May, 1868, steps were taken towards its revival; and it
was re-organized in December of that year. The remains
of its collection were removed from the Public library to
the Literary club rooms in the Apollo building, at the
northwest corner of Vine and Fifth streets; but the. cost
of removal and other expenses brought the society, which
then had less than fifty members, about two hundred
and fifty dollars in debt. This was cleared presently,
however; and in two or three years it had one thousand
dollars invested in bank stock. In 187 1 another removal
was made — this time to the fourth story of the College
building on Walnut street, where it has since remained.
March 31, 1871, the library and other collections were
there opened to the public, to which their use has been free-
tendered for all legitimate purposes. Its materials have
been found invaluable in the preparation of this History,
several hundred books, pamphlets, etc., having been con-
sulted in the compilation of these pages. It has a library
of about seven thousand volumes, and thirty thousand
pamphlets, besides an interesting museum of historical
curiosities. Its early presidents were : Benjamin Tappan,
1831-6; Ebenezer Lane, 1836-8; Jacob Burnet, 1838-
40; John C. Wright, 1841-4. General M. F. Force has
been president since the re-organization; Julius Dexter,
first librarian, and now secretary; Miss Elizabeth H.
Appleton has been librarian since 1874. Among the pub-
lications of the society, besides its early volumes of Trans-
actions, are Dr. S. P. Hildreth's two books on Pioneer
History and Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the
Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio; also Judge Burnet's large
volume of Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-
western Territory. Some years ago Mr. George T. Wil-
liamson presented to it Lord Kingsborough's massive and
costly work on Mexican Antiquities; and when the New
England society was disbanded its literary collection
went to the shelves of the Historical society. After it
ceased to publish volumes of Transactions, its proceed-
ings were published for several years in the Cincinnatus,
a monthly periodical issued at College Hill, and which
was selected as the organ of the society.
THE CINCINNATI PIONEER ASSOCIATION.
This society was organized on the twenty-third day of
November, 1856, at the Dennison house, by a consider-
able number of representatives of the old families of the
city and county — "men and women,'' as they have been
described in an address by one of them, "of worth and
service in building up business and manufactures." Its
object was "to promote a social feeling favorable to the
early emigrants," and to perpetuate the memories of the
past. Persons who were in this State prior to Indepen-
dence day, 181 2, were" entitled to become members sim-
ply on the payment of one dollar. This provision was
subsequently modified so as to admit those who were in
Ohio before July 4, 1815, on payment of two dollars.
The society, for many years, observed annually, in a so-
cial way, and with fitting sentiments and speeches, the
; twenty-eighth day of December, as the birthday of the city;
I the seventh of April, the birthday of the State; and the
Fourth of July, as the birthday of the Federal union.
• Some other pleasant reminiscences were given by Mr.
John D. Caldwell, secretary of the association, at its cel-
bration, in 1874, of the eighty-sixth anniversary of the
! settlement of the Northwest territory:
; We had an excursion to Columbus, at the dedication of the new
1 State-house, to Cleveland by facilities furnished by the railroads, and
a formal reception and entertainment by the Forest City municipal au-
thorities. Through the courtesies of Messrs. Sherwood and Pierce, the
association was conveyed on the magnificent steamer United States,
and were most hospitably feted at Louisville, Kentucky, by its citizens
and council. We were, by the courtesy of our public-spirited ci izen,
Hon. George H. Pendleton, in control of the Kentucky Central railroad,
conveyed to Lexington, Kentucky, where true Southern hospitality was
extended to us. We were royally provided for in a railroad excursion
to Marietta, the pilgrim home of the buckeye pioneers, and there we
renewed our earnest devotion to the memory of the brave and good of
auld lang syne days, who made Washington county a brilliant example
as the pioneer county of the territory and State. Courtesies were ex-
tended to the association in a visit to the State fair, at Springfield; and
the trip we made to the Soldiers' home, near Dayton, will long be
remembered as the reunion of the Montgomery, Butler, and Hamilton
county pioneers.
On our lists of the living or dead are names of the worthiest in war or
peace — Territorial, State, and National — who have been identified with
the Miami valley. We buried the daughter of John Cleves Symmes,
the patentee of the whole Miami purchase, and wife of General William
Henry Harrison, whose name as defender of the homes of the West is
dearer to us than even his national fame as President of the United
States. We still have on our rolls the name of Hon. John Scott Har-
rison, son of these sainted worthies.
The name of the father of General Grant is inscribed on the roll of
our deceased members. Our list included those of the family of Ben-
jamin Stites, also of General John Stites Gano, who were pioneer set-
tlers and proprietors of Columbia ; and of the Pattersons and Israel
Ludlow, proprietors of the town-site of Cincinnati. We had enrolled
with us the names of Governor Tod, Governor Thomas Corwin, Gov-
ernor Brownlow, of Tennessee, and some of the families of Governors
Tiffin, Trimble, Looker, Brown and Dennison.
Governors Hayes and Noyes have been hearty cc-operators with us
in several meetings, and only imperative public business prevented Gov-
ernor William Allen from being with us to-day.
The early newspapers have all been represented ; the first paper in the
Northwest Territory, the Centinel, by the son of William Maxwell ; by
Joseph Carpenter, of the Spy and Freeman's Journal ; Samuel J.
Browne, of the old Liberty Hall, also of the Emporium; William J.
Ferris, S. S. L'Hommedien, Sacket Reynolds, William B. Stratton, E.
D. Mansfield, and William D. Gallagher, of the Cincinnati Gazette;
and S. S. Smith, of the Independent Press.
Of the five hundred and forty members enrolled, one-third have
passed away ; three hundred and sixty survive, many of them aged and
feeble. The kindest remembrances and cordial sympathies are extended
to those unable to be present.
Six of the presidents of this association are numbered with the one
hundred and eighty members dead, namely : William Perry, Nicholas
Longworth, Colonel John Johnston (a pioneer Indian factor and agent,
one of the noble in fidelity of public men), Stephen Wheeler, Samuel J.
Browne, and Daniel Gano.
-&Iy?2m_ABi&iCftie
At
L~£^fy/<
<L
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
217
Ten of our past presiding officers still survive, — the venerable John
Whetstone, very feeble ; William B. Dodson, blind for several years,
Jacob Hoffner, Eden B. Reeder, John Ludlow, Robert Buchanan,
Thomas Henry Yeatman, Joseph S. Ross, Rees E. Price, Judge D. K.
Este.
The Hon. Stephen S. L'Hommedieu, who died thir-
teen months thereafter (in May, 1875), was president of
the association at this reunion. He was succeeded by
the Hon. Edward D. Mansfield, who had for his associ-
ate officers Isaac McFarland, vice president; Adolphus
Carnes, treasurer; J. M. Clark, corresponding secretary;
John D. Caldwell, recording secretary; William Moody,
sergeant-at-arms; executive committee, W. B. Dennis, J.
K. Coolidge, Hiram DeCamp, J. M. Clark, H. M. Bates.
The society has not manifested much vitality of late, and
for some years almost ceased to hold reunions or other
meetings. Its recording secretary, Mr. Caldwell, pub-
lished in 1873-75 several numbers of an interesting and
valuable periodical called the American Pioneer; but
was not encouraged pecuniarily to continue it, and it
presently ceased to exist.
January 23, 1858, Mr. Joseph Coppin, "one of the old-
est pioneers in the association, moved a resolution for a
committee to confer with the trustees of Spring Grove
cemetery, in order to secure a lot therein for the burial
of members of the society. The result was the gift of a
beautiful lot, oval in shape, its diameters being sixty and
ninety feet, respectively, with a gravelled walk around it,
and in plain view of Spring Grove avenue and the Cin-
cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. Here it is pro-
posed to erect a pioneer monument, which has been de-
signed by Mr. Coppin, with appropriate emblems and stat-
ues thereon. The model for this monument was exhib-
ited by Mr. Coppin at the industrial exposition of 1880.
Its construction and erection await the raising of an ade-
quate subscription and final adoption by the society.
The presidents of the society, of late years, have been
David K. Este, Isaac McFarland, Jeremiah M. Clark,
Nicholas Goshorn, Joseph Coppin, and James F. Cun-
ningham (present incumbent.)
THE GERMAN PIONEER ASSOCIATION.
May n and 12, 1868, a notice appeared in the Cin-
cinnati papers, calling for a meeting of the Germans at
Geyer's assembly-room, to organize a pioneer society.
The meeting was held May 12th, and an organization
effected, with Dr. Joseph H. Pulte, founder of the medi-
cal college bearing his name, for president; Joseph Sie-
fert, vice-president ; Christopher von Leggern, secretary.
The committee on constitution were Messrs. F. H.
Rowekamp, Joseph A. Hermann, Dr. J. H. Pulte, Joseph
Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and Nicholas Hoeffer. Their report
was received and adopted May 26. A committee was
appointed to nominate officers, upon whose report, June
2d, the nominees were elected: President, C. F. Hansel-
mann; vice-president, Joseph Darr; secretary, F. X.
Dengler; treasurer, George Klotter; executive commit-
tee, General Augustus Moor, Nicholas Hoeffer, Joseph
Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and John Geyer. About a year later
the publication of Der Deutsch Pionier (the German Pio-
neer) was begun; and twelve noble volumes of that
28
magazine are now in print. It is devoted to the history
and biography of the German pioneers, not only in
Cincinnati, but in all North America; and has been
mainly under the editorial care of Herr H. A. Ratter-
mann, the accomplished secretary of the German Ameri-
can insurance company, and one of the best local histo-
rians in Cincinnati. The periodical is a financial as well
as literary success, and the society is every way in good
condition. It meets monthly, and observes the twenty-
sixth day of May as the anniversary of its formation.
Through its efforts much valuable matter relating to the
Teutonic element in Cincinnati has been rescued from
oblivion, and permanently preserved in the pages of the
Pionier.
THE CINCINNATI HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
A meeting of persons interested in horticulture and
kindred subjects was held at the house of Robert Bu-
chanan, in Cincinnati, February 14, 1843, with reference
to the formation of a society to promote these interests.
There were present at this meeting Mr. Buchanan,
Messrs. A. H. Ernst, M. Flagg, S. C. Parkhurst, J. B.
Russell, Henry Probasco, George Graham, John Locke,
V. C. Marshall, and Thomas Winter. Mr. Ernst was
made chairman of the meeting, Mr. Russell secretary,
and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg and Russell a committee
to draft a constitution and by-laws. The report of this
committee, at a meeting shortly after, was accepted and
adopted; and under it the following named gentlemen
were elected officers or committeemen :
President, Robert Buchanan ; first vice-president, Dr.
Melzer Flagg; second vice-president, Andrew H. Ernst;
third vice-president, L. G. Brigham; treasurer, S. C.
Parkhurst; corresponding secretary, John B. Russell;
recording secretary, J. G. Anthony; council, Elisha
Brigham, George Graham, George W. Neff, Jacob Hoff-
ner, Thomas Winter, William Smith, John Sayers.
Standing Committees: On the character of fruits, and
their synonyms — Messrs. Ernst, Flagg, Smith, Sayers,
and Stephen Mosher. On Flowers — Messrs. Buchanan,
Hoffner, Gabriel Sleath and S. S. Jackson. Vegetables —
Messrs. Neff, Russell, E. B. Reeder, Charles W. Elliott,
and John Frazer. Entomology, as connected with in-
sect depredations on fruit and shade trees — John P.
Foote, J. A. Warder, Charles Cheney, Charles W. Elliot,
E. J. Hooper, Daniel Gano, William Price, James H.
Perkins, Dr. N. B. Shaler, and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg,
Anthony and Graham. A committee on library was
afterwards added.
It will be seen from the composition of the commit-
tees, by those who remember the several residences of
these gentlemen at that time, that, while the society, in
its name and the residence of those who held the orig-
inal meeting, seemed to be local in its character, it com-
prised, to some extent, the county of Hamilton in its
scene of operations. This idea has since been embodied
in various ways; so that the association, although still re-
taining a local name, is to most intents and purposes a
county society.
During the remainder of 1843, the year of organiza-
tion, the new society met on Saturdays, with occasional
2l8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
interruptions, in a lower room on Third street, between
Vine and Walnut, once occupied as the post office. The
interest in the organization continued and deepened;
and a charter was presently (February 27, 1845) obtained
from the general assembly, which named Messrs. Bu-
chanan, Neff, Frazer, Samuel Medary, Parkhurst, Ewing,
Governor Reuben Wood, Ernst, Flagg, S. S. Smith, Hoff-
ner, Graham, Jackson, Sayers, Russell and Elliott, with
their associates and successors, as corporators of the
"Cincinnati Horticultural Society, for the purpose of en-
couraging and improving the science and practice of
horticulture and promoting the amelioration of the vari-
ous species of trees, 'fruits, plants, and vegetables, and
the introduction of new species and varieties, and for no
other purpose whatever." The society was authorized to
purchase and hold any property that might be suitable
to its purposes; and might use any of its real estate for a
cemetery or for the erection of tombs or monuments.
Mr. Charles Cist, writing in 1851, says of the society:
The number of its members increased very fast, and a great interest
in its objects was created. A correspondence was opened with distin-
guished horticulturalists in different parts of the Union; new fruits were
thus brought to light, and seeds and scions of superior varieties were
exchanged and disseminated. The exhibitions of flowers in the
spring, and of fruits, vegetables, and American wine in the autumn,
were crowded with visitors, and a great impulse thus given to the cul-
ture of fruits and flowers.
From this humble beginning it has prospered beyond the fondest an-
ticipations of its most ardent friends, and now, in the eighth year,
numbers near seven hundred members. Its receipts for the past year
were over one thousand nine hundred dollars, and expenditures near
one thousand eight hundred dollars, about one thousand two hundred
dollars being paid out in premiums for fruit and flowers, and horticul-
tural designs and decorations.
That the society has been productive of much good, there can be no
doubt; the great improvement in our fruit and flower market, which we
notice every year, is the strongest evidence of- its utility, while the
growing taste for the beautiful and innocent pursuits of horticulture
gives pleasing occupation and a delightful hobby to the leisure hours
of many an amateur in our city and vicinity, affording at the same time
an extensive and liberal market for the nurseryman and florist.
The semi-annual exhibitions of this society, particularly the autumnal,
have been rich and varied, and highly creditable to our infant western
institutions. Gentlemen from the east have acknowledged that our
exhibitions compare favorably with the best of those across the moun-
tains, and in many fruits even excel them.
Strong efforts are now being made to erect a horticultural hall upon
so enlarged a scale and in a style which shall be a credit to the society
and an ornament to the city; and from the liberal encouragement
already met with, the object will, no doubt, be accomplished. Long
may our citizens continue to cultivate a taste for those useful and en-
nobling pursuits, so eminently calculated to mend the manners and
improve the heart.
One interesting practical result of the society's opera-
tions was early noticed in the improvement of the straw-
berry, especially in size. Specimens of five to five and
one-quarter inches in circumference were frequently ex-
hibited by its members, and in one or two cases berries
were shown that measured five and three-quarters.
Notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which the society
was organized and maintained for a time, the interest in
it finally fell off; and for about fifteen years it was com-
paratively quiescent. Meetings were resumed in 1869,
and the society was reorganized January 18, 1879.
The standing committees are now but two — one on
fruits, flowers, and vegetables, of seven members, and
one on forestry, of three members. Membership is open
to any person, on payment of one dollar; but honorary
and corresponding members are elected only from non-
residents of Cincinnati, who are distinguished for their
practical skill and attainments in horticulture. The
officers for 1880 were: Dr. A. E. Heighway, president;
Stanley Hatch, vice-president; Frederick P. Wolcott,
recording secretary and treasurer; Mortimer Whitehead,
corresponding secretary; Miss Lemmie Wolf, librarian;
George W. Trowbridge, M. Whitehead, J. T. Harrison,
council; G. W. Trowbridge, S. S. Jackson, S. Hatch,
Francis Pentland, E. C. Ellis, W. T. Keller, Lewis
Finch, fruit, flower, and vegetable committee; Dr. John
A. Warder, Professor Leue, Hermann Haerlin, forestry
committee.
The society has not yet built a horticultural hall of its
own, but has one in hopeful prospect. Its meetings are
held weekly, on Saturdays, in the office of the Grange
Bulletin, No. 148 West Fourth street. A library of
about five hundred volumes has been collected.
The Young Men's Gymnastic association was formed
in the summer of 1853, by a number of members of
Barrett's gymnasium, then on Third street, near Broad-
way. They secured rooms in the Apollo building, on
the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, supplied them
abundantly with apparatus, and awakened much enthu-
siasm in the local public, especially among the boys and
young men, in the success of their enterprise. Two
years after organization a system of free bathing was in-
troduced, and five years thereafter, in May, i860, the
society moved its gymnasium into better rooms in a new
structure called the Commercial building, on the corner
of Fourth and Race streets. The membership largely
increased, and the depression of the war years, so fatal
to many other societies, was safely passed by this associa-
tion. Indeed,* in 1864 subscriptions were obtained for
nearly the entire amount necessary to erect a building
purposely for the gymnasium. The plan was abandoned,
however; but disappointment was relieved a few years
after by removal to the elegant edifice on Fourth street,
between Vine and Race, called the Lawrence building,
admirably suited for the purposes of the association. A
satisfactory lease was negotiated, and in March, 1869,
the rooms were opened with much eclat and a large in-
crease in membership. There the society has since re-
mained, constituting one of the notable institutions of
the city.
Thje Cincinnati Society of ex-Army and Navy officers
had its preliminary meeting September 2, 1874. A call
was issued for another meeting October 2, when the so-
ciety was fully organized, with Colonel Stanley Matthews
for president, General A. Hickenlooper and Colonel L.
M. Dayton, vice-presidents; Major Frank J. Jones, sec-
retary ; Major William M. Este, treasurer. The first re-
union was held in October, 1875, at the Burnet House,
at which place annual reunions have since been had.
Visits have also been made by the society, in a body, to
the Soldiers' Home at Dayton.
CLUBS.
The spirit of association and associated effort, which
the reader by this time will conclude has been rife in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
219
Cincinnati, almost from its earliest day, has in no other
way shown itself more remarkably than in the formation
of clubs. Some scores of these are now in existence;
several hundred have undoubtedly risen, flourished, and
fallen during the ninety-one years of Cincinnati. A
large number of the earlier clubs, and some of the later,
were simply literary societies, with the customary objects
of such institutions. The century had advanced but a
little way when, in 1806, an excellent debating society
was formed, which was attended by the most talented
and brilliant young men of Cincinnati. It was eulogized
by Dr. Drake, many years afterwards, in the warmest
manner.
Seven years after the founding of this society another
was instituted, which took the pretentious title of the
School of Literature and Arts. It seems, however, to
have been worthy of its name. It was formed consider-
ably of young men, and its first president was Josiah
Meigs, then surveyor-general of the United States and in
1815 commissioner of the general land office. The ex-
ercises at each meeting were : A lecture from the presi-
dent, an essay by one member, and a poetical recitation
by another. An excellent report was made of the so-
ciety at its first anniversary, November 23, 1814; and
high commendation is given it by Dr. Drake, which is
embodied in an address of his, quoted by his son, in
the biography of Dr. Drake, prefixed to his volume of
letters concerning Pioneer Life in Kentucky. Says Mr.
Charles D. Drake: '
That there should have been a School of Literature and Arts organ-
ized in Cincinnati in 1813, when its population could not probably have
exceeded four thousand, and it was still in the Far West, will be re-
garded as a fact of interest by those who have known that place only as
a central object in a region inhabited by millions, among whom knowl-
edge and intelligence are well nigh universally diffused.
It is curious to know what, in that early period, the School of
Literature and the Arts did. It appears from this address that during
the first year of its existence it had assembled more than twenty times
for literary exercises. He [Dr. Drake] says:
"The essays of the members equalled all reasonable expectation.
Some of them consisted chiefly of. original matter, while others mani-
fested a degree of research which is honorable to their authors and aus-
picious to the school. It would be amusing to review their contents ;
but, being restricted to limits too narrow for the undertaking, I will
substitute a catalogue of their titles, that by a single glance we can see
the number and diversity of the subjects to which our attention has
been directed. I shall enumerate them in the order of their delivery:
"1, An Essay on Education; 2, On the Earthquakes of 1811, 1812,
1813; 3, On Light; 4, On Carbon; 5, On Air; 6, On the Mind; 7,
On Agriculture ; 8, On Caloric; 9. On Gravitation; 10, On Instinct;
n, Notices of the Aurora Borealis of the 17th of April and nth of
September, 1814; 12, An Essay on Water, considered chemically and
hydrostatically; 13, On Common Sense; 14, On Heat; 15, On the Me-
chanical Powers; 16, On the Theory of Earthquakes; 17, On Enthu-
siasm; 18, On the Geology of Cincinnati and its vicinity, illustrated
with mineral specimens and a vertical map; 19, On the Internal Com-
merce of the United States; 20, On Hydrogen; 21, On Rural Econ-
omy; 22, On the Geology of some parts of New York; 23, On Gen-
eral Commerce.
1 ' The third and subordinate portion of our exercises, poetical recita-
tions, has been strictly performed, and our album of poetry already
exhibits specimens indicative of a cultivated taste. The proposition to
connect with the pieces recited such critical remarks as they may sug-
gest, has received some attention, and promises to give to this branch
an interest and dignity which were not originally anticipated. "
A number of clubs, and societies in the nature of
clubs, were undoubtedly organized during the next fifteen
years; but not until about 1829 do we come upon the
traces of the Cincinnati Angling club, which seems to
have been a rather fine affair in its way. It had but
twenty-five members, of whom four were living forty
years after — Messrs. George Graham and Robert Buchan-
an, of Cincinnati; A. L. Moore, of Washington city;
and William Green, of Rhode Island — and one of these,
Mr. George Graham, died so lately as March, 1881.
Mr. Buchanan was the first secretary of the club, and
long remained in that position.
The Cincinnati Lyceum was an association for scien-
tific and literary improvement, with the founding of a
public library among its objects. It was formed in Oc-
tober, 1830, and incorporated the succeeding winter,
during which a course of lectures was delivered by vari-
ous members, in the hall of the Mechanics' institute.
Its officers at the time were all well and honorably known
in the affairs of the city, and several of them came after-
wards to wear State and national honors. Morgan
Neville was president ; Timothy Flint, William Greene,
Henry Starr, were vice-presidents ; and Salmon P. Chase,
Timothy Walker, H. H. Goodman, Nathan Guilford, J.
W. Gazlay, John Locke, M, G. Williams, and Calvin
Fletcher, composed the executive committee.
The Inquisition was one of the literary features in the
early part of the '30's. It was a society for the public
discussion of questions, orally and through papers sub-
mitted. The members presided in alphabetical succes-
sion at the weekly meetings. The more permanent offi-
cers were a secretary (Mr. Ellwood Fisher in 1833-4), and
a committee of questors, consisting of W. M. Corry and
Timothy Walker, esqs.
A little later, perhaps, came what was doubtless the
most interesting and remarkable literary society during
' the midmost era.tad urbe- condita — the Semi-colon club.
In the Memoir of Samuel E. Foote, a resident here in
those days, by his brother, the well-known John P.
Foote, some pleasant reminiscences of this coterie are re:
called, which we cannot refrain. from quoting at length:
The elegant mansion, built by Mr. Foote, on the corner of Vine and
Third streets, was for many years, and until the fatal upmmercial crisis
of 1837, the seat of a liberal hospitality, where the visits of relatives and
friends formed a prominent portion of the enjoyments of social life.
Those pleasant reunions, established under the title of the Semi-colon
club, held their sessions there, and alternately at the adjoining resi-
dences of Charles Stetson and William Green. At these meetings a
number of persons of both sexes, of the highest order of intellect and
cultivation, assembled for the enjoyment of evenings of social relaxa-
tion and rational amusement. Their mode of proceeding was to read
such literary contributions as were sent in for the purpose by the mem-
bers of the club, after which such discussions ensued as might be
elicited by what had been read or by any other literary matter of intei est
at the time ;' music, sometimes alternated with readings and discus-
sions, generally closed the sessions.
Among the founders of the club were the Rev. E. B. Hall and his
highly accomplished lady, who had jointly and severally contributed
valuable aid to the educational literature of our time; and also Judge
Timothy Walker, whose^ contributions to educational, mathematical,
and legal science contrasted strongly with his humorous contributions to
the literature of the club. His death, in the prime of a most useful
and laborious life, disappointed high hopes of future usefulness, and
was considered, like that of James H. Perkins a few years afterwards,
a public calamity. Nathan Guilford, also the distinguished advocate
of popular education whose exertions in the cause of the public-school
system obtained for him the designation of the father of that system.
Other contributors included names of high eminence, among them Har-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
net Beecher, afterwards Stowe, whose papers have since been published
in a volume entitled The May Flower, and dedicated to the club.
Judge James Hall, whose reputation was already established as an au-
thor of high and varied talents. His articles were published in the
magazine of which he was at that time the editor. Miss Catharine
Beecher, whose fame and literary works have been widely disseminated
before and since, some of whose contributions to the Semi-colons have
been published in annuals and magazines. Professor Hentz, an accom-
plished naturalist, and his wife, Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, who became
a very popular novelist; Rev. Professor Stowe, already established as one
of the most learned scholars of our country; E. P. Cranch and U. T.
Howe, some of whose very amusing articles were published in a news-
paper which they conducted, but the best and wittiest of which are still
inedited— some of them had their attractions increased by exquisitely
humorous illustrations from the pencil of the former; Professor O. M.
Mitchel, now of world-wide celebrity as an astronomer; Charles W.
Elliott, historian of New England, and author of various other works of
merit; Dr. Daniel Drake, of extensive and established fame as a med-
ical author and professor; Benjamin Drake, his brother, author of the
Lives of Tecumseh and Black Hawk, and other works, mostly on western
statistics and history; E. D. Mansfield, his associate in his statistical
works, and author of many biographical and other works of great merit;
Professor James W. Ward, poet and naturalist of fine and varied tal-
ents; Davis B. Lawler, James F. Meline, Judge Charles P. James, Dr.
Wolcott Richards, D. Thew Wright, Joseph Longworth, J. Newton
Perkins, Edward King, Charles Stetson, T. D. Lincoln, William P.
Steele, George C. Davis, and some other gentlemen whose contributions
are still in manuscript, James H. Perkins, whose extraordinary and ver-
satile talents were as much admired as their possessor was beloved, and
whose untimely death shed a gloom over the city, over the poor to whom
ht was a missionary, carrying in his visits temporal relief and spiritual
instruction, as well as over an admiring and extensive circle of friends
in the highest classes of society; William Green, eminent as a political
writer and expositor of the principles of our constitution; Charles D.
Drake and C. B. Brush, whose poetical contributions graced some of
the periodicals of the period; three Misses Blackwell, two of whom
have since become eminent M. D.'s, and all of them valuable contribu-
tors to the literature and science of the age; three other ladies, whose
names have since been changed, with others distinguished for intellec-
tual qualities; — constituted a literary galaxy which could scarcely have,
been equalled at that time in any city of our country.
The cultivation of musical taste and talent has always been a promi-
nent portion of female education in Cincinnati. Frpm the earliest period
of its history this has been remarked by travellers and visitors, and
among the Semi-colon ladies it was a matter «pf course that there
should be those whose excellence in that department was equal to that
of the best of the literary contributors.
These reunions began and terminated at early hours, and expensive
luxuries in food and drink being rigidly prohibited, the health of the
members was not endangered, (nor the reputation of their neighbors);
— intellectual food, of a quality superior to anything afforded by the
highest style of cookery, and more wholesome than personal gossip,
not only for the mind, but for the body also, being served up. Visitors
of congenial minds and talents were frequent guests, the members of
the club having the privilege of inviting friends to accompany them to
the meetings. Among those visitors who gave and received much grat-
ification by their attendance, Hoffman, the highly gifted and unfortu-
nate, is remembered as one whose company was peculiarly pleasing,
who gave no reason from any peculiarity in his actions or conversation
to apprehend the approach of the melancholy calamity that afterwards
destroyed the early promise of a mind of talents and accomplishments
of the highest order, and overwhelmed one who had given testimony of
his desire and power to aid in the elevation of the literary reputation of
his country, with the heaviest of human calamities. Other visitors of
varied talents and accomplishments were occasional guests, and added
to the amusement and instruction derived from such meetings.
Sumptuary laws, it was well understood, could not be enforced by
private associations any better than by governments and lawgivers. It
was, however, understood to be one of the principles of the club to
discountenance extravagance in dress and luxury in entertainments,
both by example and by avoiding discussions in which they might form
a prominent subject.
The club continued in existence many years, and until the fearful
commercial catastrophe of 1837 swept like a flood over the country
and occasioned a domestic revolution proportionate in its effects to
those crises, as they are styled,' which, since 1789 (and before) have
been historical events in the annals of commerce, both in Europe and
America. The losses and misfortunes inflicted upon individuals and
families at that period were no respecters of persons. Like hurricanes,
earthquakes, and conquerors, they carried desolation very impartially
to all in their course, especially to all commercial cities. The banks
failed, and individuals were compelled to follow their example.
Sometime during the years 1833-5, Dr- Daniel Drake,
upon the completion of his house on Vine street and
removal into it, organized in an informal way a social and
literary reunion, which met statedly with his family. Mr.
E. D. Mansfield, in his Memoir of Drake, has given a
charming picture of this coterie, with honorable mention
of its leading members. He says:
Those meetings are indelibly impressed upon my memory, and
though others of similar character have been made memorable by liter-
ary Jame, I am well persuaded that they were neither more instructive
nor more pleasing than those which Dr. Drake gathered around him in
his Vine street home.
His plan of entertainment and instruction was peculiar. It was to
avoid the rigidity and awkwardness of a mere literary party, and yet
to keep the mind of the company occupied with questions for discus-
sion or topics for reading and composition. Thus the conversation never
degenerated into mere gossip, nor was it ever forced into an unpleasant
and unwilling gravity. We used to assemble early, about half-past
seven ; and when fully collected the doctor, who was the acknowledged
chairman, rang his little bell for general attention. This caused no
constraint, but simply brought us to a common point, which was to be
the topic of the evening. Sometimes this was appointed beforehand,
sometimes it arose out of what was said or proposed on the occasion,
Some evenings compositions were read on topics selected at the last
meeting. On other evenings nothing was read, and the time was
passed in a general discussion of some interesting question. . Occasion-
ally a piece of poetry or a story came in, to diversify and enliven the
conversation. These, however, were rather interludes than parts of
the general plan, whose main (Object was the discussion of interesting
questions belonging to society, literature, education, and religion.
The subjects were always of the suggestive or problematical kind,
so that the ideas were fresh, the debate animated, and the utterance of
opinions frank and spontaneous. There, in that little circle of ladies
and gentlemen, I have heard many of the questions which have since
occupied the public mind talked over with an ability and a fullness of
information which is seldom possessed by larger and more authoritative
bodies. To the members of that circle these meetings and discussions
were invaluable. They were excited to think deeply of what the many
think of superficially. They heard the ring of the doctor's bell with
the pleasure of those who delight in the communion of spirits and
revel in intellectual wealth. Nor was that meeting an unimportant
affair; for nothing can be unimportant which directs minds whose influ-
ence spreads over a country — and such were here. I do not say what
impressions they received; but I know that persons were assembled there,
in pleasant converse, such as seldom meet in one place, and who since,
going out into the world, have signalized their names in the annals of
letters, science and benevolence. I shall violate no propriety by naming
some of them, for those whom I shall name have been long known to
the public.
Dr. Drake was himself the head of the circle, whose suggestive mind
furnished topics for others, and was ever ready to incite their energies
and enliven the flagging conversation. General Edward King was an-
other who, in spirit, manners, and elocution, was a superior man, hav-
ing the dignity of the old school, with the life of the new. His wife,
since Mrs. Peters, and widely known for her active benevolence and as
the founder of the Philadelphia School of Design, contributed several
interesting articles for the circle, and was a most instructive member.
Judge James Hall, then editor of the Western Monthly Magazine, whose
name is known in both Europe and America, was also there. Professor
Stowe, unsurpassed in Biblical learning, contributed his share to the
conversation. Miss Harriet Beecher, now Mrs. Stowe, was just begin-
ning to be known for her literary articles, and about that time contrib-
uted several of her best stories to the press. She was not a ready talker,
but when she spoke or wrote showed both the strength and the power
of her mind. Her sister, Miss Catharine Beecher, so well known for
her labors and usefulness in the cause of female education, was a more
easy and fluent conversationalist. Indeed, few people have more talent
to entertain a company or keep the ball of conversation going, than
Miss Beecher ; and she was as willing as she was able. Conspicuous,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
221
in both person and manners, was Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, whom none
saw without admiring. She was what the world calls charming, and,
though since better known as an authoress, was personally quite re-
markable. She and her highly educated husband — a man on some
subjects quite learned, but of such retiring habits as hid him from the
public view — were then keeping a. popular female seminary in Cincin-
nati. They were among the most active and interesting members of
our coterie.
I might name others whose wit or information contributed to the
charms of our intercourse ; but I should want the apology which public
fame has given to the mention of these. In the current of private life,
it often happens that those unknown to the public are the most genial
and inspiring spirits of the social circle. Like the little stream which
flows among the lofty hills, they sparkle as they flow, and shine in the
shade. We had more than one such ; and while memory sees first the
fame covered hill, it dwells longest and closest with those who cast sun-
shine on our path and made life happy as it was bright.
The Literary Club of Cincinnati was organized October
29, 1849, when a constitution reported by a committee
appointed at a preliminary meeting was adopted. The
club was subsequently incorporated under the general
State law. Weekly meetings were held on Monday
evenings until December, 1849, when Saturday became
the club-night, as it has since remained. The club-rooms
were first on the southwest corner of Vine and Long-
worth streets; then, successively, in Gundry's Commercial
College, old Apollo building, corner Fifth and Walnut;
over Gordon's drug-store, corner Eighth and Central
avenue; over Dr. Weed's book-store, on Fourth, between
Main and Walnut; the law-school rooms in the college
building; from September, 4855, for a time, in the
Morselle building on Seventh, near Vine; over the old
engine-house, No. 60 East Fourth ; the Morselle building
again; a room on the third floor of the Apollo building;
the rooms of the Bar Association, in the college building;
and finally its present home at No. 239^ West Fifth
street, during and after September, 1875. The member-
ship was at first limited to twenty-five. It was enlarged
in 185 1 to thirty-five, in 1853 to fifty, 1873 to eighty, and
in 1875 to one hundred. April 15, 1861, directly after
the outbreak of the war, a special meeting of the club
was held and a military company formed, called the Bur-
net Rifles, from Mr. R. W. Burnet, drill-master of the
company, of which fifty members afterwards regularly en-
listed in the northern armies. This meeting was called
to order by R. B. Hayes, esq., since governor of Ohio
and President of the United States, who remains to this
day a member of the club. Of the original members
of the Burnet Rifles who went into the army, one became
a major-general, five brigadiers, eight colonels, four lieu-
tenant-colonels, eleven majors, fourteen captains, five
first-lieutenants, and two second lieutenants— every one'
thus becoming a commissioned officer.
In consequence of military and political excitement
and movements, no meetings of the club were held from
October 8, 1862, to February 19, 1864. Meetings were
then resumed, and have since been prosperously main-
tained. The whole number of members, since the or-
ganization of the society, has been about five hundred,
including many of the most eminent men of the city.
Strangers distinguished in literature or fine art may be in-
vited by the board of management to the privileges of the
club, and any one may be introduced by a member to the
rooms or the regular meetings. The presidents of the
club, since 1864, have been Charles Dexter, E.'W. Kit-
tredge, Rev. A. D. Mayo, M. F. Force, Dr. C. G.
Comegys, J. W. Herron, J. Eggers, P. S. Conner, J. R.
Sayler, T. M. Hinkle, John Hancock, Julius Dexter, E.
F. Bliss, and Herbert Jenney. The club-rooms are
beautifully furnished, and contain many fine engravings
and paintings, busts, and statuettes.
The Shakspeare club, organized in 1851 and still in ex-
istence, gives weekly readings from Shakspeare and other
dramatists, and also gives admirable amateur theatrical
entertainments. The Wallack and two or three others
are more strictly dramatic clubs, for practice in the his-
trionic art.
A number of the large universities and colleges of this
country give name to clubs organized in Cincinnati by
their graduates; as the Harvard, formed in T869, which
has an annual dinner for its members; and the Yale, or-
ganized in 1863, and reputed to be the oldest alumni
society of the kind in the country. The "old Wood-
ward boys," or graduates of Woodward college, organized
a club in November, 1855, which was once quite large,
but is now small. Formerly a game of foot-ball was en-
joyed annually, on the last Thursday of September. The
Woodward Alumni association is composed of graduates
of the high school which succeeded the college, and has
an annual reunion. Both societies joined in the erection
of the statue of Mr. Woodward, upon the grounds of the
school, on Franklin street. There is also the University
club, which has one hundred and twenty-five members,
many of whom take lunch together daily. Its first anni-
versary was handsomely celebrated December 20, 1880.
The Williams, Princeton, Marietta, and other college
clubs are well known here.
The Cuvier club, founded in 1874, has for its object
the protection of fish and game, the enforcement of the
law concerning them, and the promotion of field sports.
It has a superb collection of more than three thousand
specimens in ichthyology and ornithology at its rooms,
No. 200 West Fourth street.
The Athletic club is a product of that prolific year for
clubs, 1879. Its object is to promote manly sports and
physical culture, and it naturally makes headquarters at
the Gymnasium on Fourth street. There are also several
boat-clubs — as the Cincinnati, organized in 1872; the
Americus, of 1874; the Dauntless; and others.
The Musical club, organized 1879; the Etching club,
also of 1879; and the Pottery club, which dates from
the same year, have objects sufficiently defined in their
titles. They will, however, receive further notice in
future chapters.
The Lincoln club, incorporated February 12, 1879, is
a society of members of the Republican party, formed
for political and social purposes. It occupies the fine
building on the southwest corner of Race and Eighth
streets, formerly a private residence, and has about five
hundred members.
The leading elubs more purely social in their charac-
ter are the famous Queen City, an organization of
August, 1874, owning the splendid club-house on the
corner of Seventh and Elm streets, built expressly for its
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
purposes at a cost of one hundred and seventy thousand
dollars, and occupied in August, 1876; the ElmTstreet,
organized in 1877 by brewers and those associated with
them, but later made up largely of local politicians; the
Phoenix, a large and fashionable Hebrew club, with its
building since March, 1874, on the corner of Court
street and Central avenue; and the Allemania, also with
a Jewish membership, formed in December, 1849, ar>d
occupying a beautiful freestone club-house opposite the
Grand hotel, on Fourth street and Central avenue, built
at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars.
TRADES UNIONS.
These began to be formed at a very early day. No
doubt there were such guilds before 18 19, when we find
the Master Carpenters and Joiners' society, with Richard
L. Coleman president, Isaac Poinier vice-president, John
Tuttle secretary, John Wood treasurer, Edward Dodson
and William Crossman trustees, and Peter Britt, John
Tuttle, John Stout, and R. L. Coleman, measurers of
work. Also the Mutual Relief society of Journeymen
Hatters; James Smith president, William Nikerson secre-
' tary.* Also the Society of Master Taylors (sk), organized
1818; William Lynes, sen., president; James Comly vice-
president, Thomas- Tueder secretary, Israel Byers treasurer.
Also the Union Benevolent society of Journeymen Tay-
lors; James Masten president, Nehemiah Russel vice-
president, William Atkin secretary. And the Journey-
men Cabinet-makers' society; John Fuller president,
James McLean vice-president, George G. Rosette treasurer.
The strength of these societies at a very early day may
be inferred from the fact that, at the Fourth of July cel-
ebration of 1 82 1, no less than thirty-one associations of
mechanics, besides the college societies, were in the pro-
cession. There was also a procession of mechanics'
guilds in Cincinnati the year before, but we are not told
of their number. Fourteen years afterwards, in the pro-
cession of 1834, there were forty-five of these societies.
The Franklin Typographical society in Cincinnati was
formed in 1829. The Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers, which has a numerous branch in Cincinnati, was
organized in 1855. The Expressman's Aid society, a co-
operative life insurance association, dates its existence
from March, 1874. The Butchers' Melting association,
which is commercial in its character, buys the surplusage
of fat from the butchers' stalls, and renders it into lard
and tallow, and also buys and utilizes the bones and
scraps. There is also a Pilots' association, with an office
at the northwest corner of Sycamore and the Public land-
ing, where contracts for river-service are made and infor-
mation exchanged concerning the channels in the western
rivers and other matters of professional interest. It has
also offices in St. Louis and New Orleans.
The Trades' assembly is the central organization of a
small part, about fifteen, of the many trades unions of
the city. It holds semi-monthly meetings, composed of
three delegates from each of the union's in its member-
ship.
The other trades unions of the city, or a considerable
number of them, make up the Combined Trades Unions,
a compact and powerful organization. The societies
comprising it are the stove manufacturers', the machin-
ists' and blacksmiths', the moulders' (Nos. 3 and 4 of
Cincinnati and 4 of Covington), the printers', painters',
carpenters', shoemakers', furniture workers', cigar mak-
ers', cigar workers', tinsmiths', bristle counters', hair
spinners', butchers', bricklayers', pastry-cooks', masons',
plasterers', brewers', tailors', and N. A. M. C. and P. C.
unions, and perhaps others. The officers of the com-
bined unions are :
W. B. Wilson, president; Mr. Clemmer, vice presi-
dent; W. B. Root, recording secretary; Joseph N. Glenn,
corresponding secretary; James Roach, treasurer; Ed-
ward Phelan, sergeant-at-arms.
A monster ball was given by the unions on the night
of the thirteenth of December, 1880, for which six of
the largest halls in the city were occupied, and which we
believed to have been attended by not less than ten thou-
sand people.
May 1, 1880, a movement was started for a company
or society to organize a co-operative store on the Roch-
dale plan, and two hundred and fifty subscribers to its
capital stock were obtained.
BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS.
These constitute a remarkable feature of real estate
operations in and about Cincinnati; and some hundreds
of them must exist in various parts of Hamilton county
— mostly, of course, in Cincinnati. Seventeen in this
city filed their certificates of incorporation in 1871;
fourteen the next year; thirty-six in 1875 ; and the num-
ber has rapidly increased since. The names of many of
them savor strongly of nationalities ; as the Irish build-
ing association, the Bismarck, etc. Some of these so-
cieties furnish their subscribers with a home at once, on
which weekly payments are to be made till all is paid;
others supply the means, at a small premium, by which
members may purchase a home ; and still others consti-
tute savings banks, in which weekly deposits are made
and draw interest, and the whole is repaid, with interest
and earnings of the capital, at a time stipulated when
the association is formed. It is affirmed that many neat
homes in the environs of the city have been built by the
aid of these organizations.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SCIENCE.
In no city in this country is a more hearty and healthy
interest taken in scientific matters than in Cincinnati.
The peculiarities of the rock formations in this part of
the Valley of the Ohio, and their richness in fossils, have
greatly stimulated the practical study of geology and
palaeontology; and specialists of high attainments in other
branches have not been wanting, as well as many care-
ful general students in science, in both its facts and prin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
223
ciples. It is said that in no other city in the land are
there so many private collections in mineralogy and con-
chology as here; and the collections made by the Society
of Natural History, the university, and other schools of
learning, although not yet long in making, are already
very respectable, and bid fair to reach great extent and
excellence in the fullness of time. The good-will of the
community toward scientific enterprises has been mani-
fest in many ways; but in none more, probably, than in
the founding of the Cincinnati observatory, and in the
bequest more recently made by Mr. Charles Bodman, of
fifty thousand dollars to the Society of Natural History.
The beginnings of scientific observation and study in
the Miami country and of popular sympathy with them
were very early, dating back at least to the decade from
1800 to 1810 — that is, from the time when young
Daniel Drake came to the village, a boy of fifteen, to
study medicine with Dr. Goforth, to the year when Dr.
Daniel Drake published his first book, Notices concern-
ing Cincinnati, in which many results of his youthful
enthusiasm for and ability in the study of science
appeared. Even before his day, Colonel Winthrop Sar-
gent, secretary of the territory, had made observations in
meteorology and archaeology, some of which have proved
permanently useful.
THE MUSEUM.
In the opening of the Western museum, in 1820, Dr.
Drake took a cordial interest, and delivered an address
upon the occasion, in which he gave utterance to the
hope of scientific benefits to be derived from its existence :
The plan of our establishment embraces nearly the whole of those
parts of the great circle of knowledge which require material objects,
either natural or artificial, for their illustration. It has, of course, a
variety of subdivisions, and in its execution will call for very different
architects, as its consummation will afford instruction and delight to
persons of very opposite tastes. Already, indeed, in possession of
many specimens in zoology, mineralogy, antiquities, and the fine and
useful arts, we venture to indulge the hope that even at this time we
can afford something to interest the naturalist, the antiquary and the
mechanician.
To establish in this new region a scientific cabinet, on a plan so
varied and extensive, may be considered by some as premature and
impracticable. It is not difficult to show, however, that this objection
is rather specious than solid. For an obvious reason, it is a new coun-
try in which such a multifarious assemblage is most proper. Ancient
communities, only, exhibit a perfect separation of kindred trades and
occupations, and a divorcement of the extraneous branches of science
from the learned professions, to which in young societies we find
them closely united. Old communities, therefore, are the only ones
which can successfully establish cabinets and museums for particular
classes of objects, and destined for the benefit and amusement of partic-
ular orders of men. Let no one, then, charge our society with te-
merity for aiming at a general collection, nor regard as an evidence of
vain glory and undisciplined ambition what, in reality, is both the effect
and indication of our recent settlement in a new region.
THE ACADEMY.
The Western Academy of Natural Sciences was organ-
ganized in Cincinnati in April, 1835, and incorporated
in 1838. Within a very few years, by 1841, it had col-
lected two hundred specimens in mineralogy and fossils,
three hundred shells and two hundred plants. About
fifty persons, mainly leading citizens, were members, and
the young society had also many correspondents. Mr.
Robert Buchanan was president, and made important ad-
ditions to a catalogue of the flowering plants and ferns
found in the vicinity of Cincinnati, which was prepared
by Joseph Clarke and published by the society. For
some years the society held out the hope of a prosperous
career. Its earlier meetings were in the college building,
but it soon went to the Trollopean Bazaar, where con-
venient rooms were furnished it by the Mechanics' insti-
tute, then occupying the building, free of expense. One
of the fire companies, No. 4, upon its disbandment, gave
its furniture to the academy, and offered it also the per-
petual and free use of its hall; but the city council held
that the company had exceeded its powers in making this
offer, and the hall was not occupied. In 1855 we find
the academy back in the college building. During these
years of wandering its collections and library increased
but slowly; yet some valuable private cabinets were
formed, and the general influence of the organization
upon the community was stimulating. Mr. Anthony
published a monograph during its existence upon the
Melesina, which contained the description of many new
species. The academy had the high honor of a warm
compliment from Professor Agassiz, at the close of the
session of the American association for the advancement
of science, in Cincinnati; but it was nevertheless on the
wane, and its life by and by went out altogether.
PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
The society for the promotion of useful knowledge was
originally the educational society of Hamilton county, in-
tended to be auxiliary to the Western Literary Institute
and College of Teachers. The plan was subsequently
changed, and in March, 1840, a constitution was adopted
giving the name to the new society, and electing a corps
of officers. At this meeting an eloquent address was de-
livered by Dr. Lyman Beecher, and a general discussion
of the plans and purposes of the society also lent interest
to the occasion. It was not purely a scientific society;
but as natural, political, and mental science were promi-
nent in its organization and transactions, a notice of it
finds fitting place here. The sections contemplated in
its scheme were organized as follows : Practical teaching ;
exact and mixed sciences; natural science; the practical
arts; the fine arts; medicine; law; political economy and
political science; moral and intellectual philosophy; his-
tory; language; commerce and agriculture; polite litera-
ture; statistics. Every member was expected to attach
himself to as many of these sections as he could attend.
Each section operated in its own way and under its own
officers, and reported its transactions to the general so-
ciety, to which it was expected to supply lecturers in its
own department. These gave their services without fee,
and their lectures were freely open to all who chose to
attend. The comprehensive plan of the society also
looked to a public library, a scientific museum, an art
gallery, and the publication of useful works. An en-
couraging report was made at the close of its first year;
but the society was complex and cumbersome in its
organization, and lacked pecuniary endowment; so it
soon went to join the innumerable caravan. Its first
officers were : John P. Foote, president; Elam P. Lang-
don, vice-president; Milo G. Williams, recording secre-
224
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tary; E. D. Mansfield, corresponding secretary; James
H. Perkins, treasurer; N. Holley, librarian.
THE OHIO MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.
Dr. John M. Craig, a citizen of Cincinnati, at the close
of a course of lectures on natural and experimental phi-
losophy delivered by him in 1828, suggested to the class
the desirability and propriety of a permanent organiza-
tion for the mental and social improvement of the me-
chanics of the city. A number of influential residents
seconded his suggestion, and a meeting was held Octo-
ber 25th of that year, convened under a public notice
issued by W. Disney, Luman Watson, John P. Foote,
and Professor John Locke, at which it was formally re-
solved "that it is expedient for a Mechanics' institute to
be formed in this city; that the gentlemen making the
call, with the addition of Mr. J. Bonsall, should be a
committee to report a plan for the institute; and that Dr.
Craig should be requested to address the next meeting,
November 20, 1828, on the general subject of mechan-
ics' institutes." He did so; the constitution reported by
the committee was adopted, with some amendments;
and the Ohio mechanics' institute, of Cincinnati, was
ushered into being. A charter was obtained February 9,
1829, which was renewed and amended with the grant
of enlarged powers, by the legislature of 1846-7. The
founders of the institute are named in these instruments
as John D. Craig, John P. Foote, Thomas Riley, Luman
Watson, William C. Anderson, David T Disney, George
Graham, jr., Calvin Fletcher, Clement Dare, William
Disney, William Greene, Tunis Brewer, J effrey Seymour,
Israel Schooley, and Elisha Bingham, "with their asso-
ciates." Their institution was characterized as "for ad-
vancing the best interests of the mechanics; manufactur-
ers, and artisans, by the more general diffusion of useful
knowledge in those important classes of the community."
The institute began operations at once after complet-
ing organization. Classes were formed for instruction in
chemistry under Dr. Cleveland, geometry by Professor
Locke, and arithmetic by Mr. John L. Talbot. They
were well attended, and gave excellent satisfaction. Mr.
Talbot taught .in his own school-room, without charge,
and the lectures on chemistry were delivered in College
hall, and partly in the old city council chamber, on
Fourth street, between Walnut and Main. The institute
was encouraged to purchase the Enon Baptist church
property, on Walnut, between Third and Fourth streets,
at four thousand dollars, in easy payments. The ground
floor was partitioned off to afford a library room, reading-
room, and class-room.
In 1831 the valuable mathematical and philosophical
apparatus of Dr. Craig was bought from him by Mr.
Jephtha D. Garrard, and presented to the institute. Dur-
ing the winter of 1833-4 an effort was made, but with-
out success, to unite the interests of the Cincinnati col-
lege and the institute. The latter had been unable to
meet its payments upon the building purchased, which
had only been kept for use by the appointment of four
members as trustees, who made the first payment from
their own funds and took a title-deed in their own names.
An effort to raise a stock subscription of sixteen thou-
sand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each, also
failed; and the institute got deeper into debt every year.
So great was its pecuniary embarrassment and discour-
agement in that year of financial disaster, 1837, that a
proposal to dissolve the organization was seriously enter-
tained.
In November, 1835, its building was necessarily aban-
doned to the trustees, and the hall and some front rooms
of the college building were hired at a rent of one hun-
dred dollars per annum. Dr. Craig took charge as actu-
ary, librarian, and general factotum of the institute. This
temporary home had also to be abandoned after one
year's occupancy, when a building was rented on the
1 south side of Fifth street, first door east of Vine. The
■ lectures before the institute were still delivered in college
hall. In February, 1839, the Trollopean Bazaar, on
Third street, was purchased of Messrs. Blachly & Long-
, worth for ten thousand dollars, of which about two thou-
sand five hundred dollars were paid in cash and the rest
secured by mortgage. The amount of the first payment
■ was raised by a citizens' ball at the National theatre; but
: no more could be paid, and in May, 1843, the building
i on Walnut street, opposite the college, afterwards occu-
: pied by U. P. James' bookstore, was leased at three
hundred and fifty dollars per year, while the Bazaar, still
' nominally" in' the possession of the institute, was rented
to Dr. Curtiss for five hundred dollars. The removal
was much to the advantage of the society, owing to the
! then remote situation of the Bazaar building from the
! business and social centres and possibly a limited attrac-
! tion at what was then known as "Trollope's Folly." Re-
| maining on Walnut street about two years and a half, the
J peripatetic institute, in November, 1845, i0°k UP its
1 quarters in the old post office building on Third street,
between Walnut and Vine. At the same time a lot on
the west side of Walnut, between Third and Fourth, was
taken on perpetual lease from the trustees of Lane Semi-
nary, at four hundred dollars a year, conditioned that a
five thousand dollar building should be erected thereon
within eighteen months. After costing the institute near
five hundred dollars, the lot was re-conveyed to the sem-
inary, and, about November, 1848, the society moved
further up Walnut street, to a location between Fifth and
Sixth. Meanwhile, in February, 1847, the Blachly &
Longworth mortgage had been foreclosed, and the Bazaar
' forever lost to the institute, after costing it about four
thousand five hundred dollars. A subscription was soon
afterwards set on foot for erecting a building for the in-
stitute. The amounts pledged for a building on Walnut
street presently reached three thousand five hundred
dollars, and those for one somewhere else amounted to
five thousand dollars. The trustees — Messrs. Miles
Greenwood, Charles Sellers, and Daniel F. Meader, who
had been appointed September 7, 1847, to raise funds,
buy a lot, and erect a building-^but principally Mr.
Greenwood, raised the subscriptions by their personal
exertions to near eighteen thousand dollars. The lot on
the corner of Sixth and Vine streets, now occupied by
the institute, was bought for fifteen thousand dollars, on
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
225
whatever time might be asked by the trustees, the
amount bearing interest at seven per cent., and secured
by mortgage. It looked now as though the much-wan-
dering institute would get at last a permanent home.
The history of the efforts of the members of the insti-
tute for intellectual improvement during its first quarter-
century includes an unsuccessful attempt made in the
winter of 1833-4 to organize a course of lectures on the
History of Letters, by Professor C. E. Stowe, of Lane
Seminary; two lectures per week by Dr. Craig during
most of 1835, one course of which was delivered to
ladies; and lectures from time to time by Dr. John
Locke. No regular course was delivered for several
years, owing to the limited interest taken in them and
the pecuniary embarrassments of the institute, and the
want of a proper hall; but in the winter of 1844-5 a
profitable course was pronounced in the college hall by
Mr. U. T. Howe and Mr. C. P. Cranch. Various other
lectures was delivered, and sundry classes formed; but it
would be tedious to follow their history in detail.
Early in 1838 arrangements were actively made for the
first exhibition of manufactured articles, under the
auspices of the institute. In February a grand mechan-
ics' and citizens' ball was given at the National Theatre
in aid of the enterprise, which netted for it about two
thousand four hundred dollars. The fair was held May
30 and 31, and June 1, 1838, in the Bazaar building,
and proved a worthy pioneer in the long line of Cincin-
nati industrial expositions. About four hundred articles
were shown, the products of western artizans, crowding
all available space in the building. A pleasing incident
of the occasion is thus related by one of the older writers :
The hall of the institute [the Trollopean Bazaarj occupies the site on
which Fort Washington was built in 1789, to defend the first settlers of
this country against the Indians. General Solomon Van Rensselaer,
who had been stationed at that fort in 1792, being in this city on a visit
to his former commander and early friend, General Harrison, was, with
him, invited to attend the exhibition of the fair. The directors were
desirous to improve the opportunity which this exhibition afforded of
displaying the proofs of the rapid progress of the arts in the west to
those whose youthful energies were devoted to the rescue of these fer-
tile region* from the dominion of those savage barbarians whose occu-
pation of them was incompatible with any improvement in the social
condition of their inhabitants or of the introduction of the arts which
benefit or the sciences which enlighten mankind. They were aware
that the best reward the patriot soldier can receive is that of witnessing
the blessings which his labors, privations and sufferings have contrib-
uted, through the blessings of Providence, to procure for his country.
General Van Rensselaer expressed the highest gratification in being
enabled, after an absence of so large1 a portion of his life from the
scenes- of the toils and dangers of his early years, to witness the marks
of rapid progress of civilization and refinement in the country which he
remembered as the hunting-ground of the savage. It was a pleasing
circumstance, in the decline of life, «o be recognized as one of the early
benefactors of this fair and fertile land.
An address was delivered during the fair by Mr. J. C.
Vaughan, a prominent editor of the city, and Mr. E. D.
Mansfield closed it with remarks on "the mechanic arts
as an essential element in the continual happiness and
progressive elevation of the human mind." Exhibitions
of art and industry were held annually thereafter by the
institute, with occasional interruptions,* the first twelve of
them yielding considerable revenue to the society for
those days, the yearly profits therefrom being six hun-
dred, to twenty-five hundred dollars. The exhibition in
1843, after the lease of the Bazaar to Dr. Curtiss, was held
in College hall, where music was furnished gratuitously
by the Amateur Musical society.
March 8, 1847, following the grant of the amended
charter by the legislature, the institute adopted a new
constitution, substantially the same as now governs the
society, and published it with the new charter.
The cornerstone of the building now occupied by the
institute was laid on Independence day, 1848, with fit-
ting ceremony, under the direction of Nova Cssarea
Harmony Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. A
heavy debt was soon incurred. The subscriptions of the
citizens were quickly exhausted; cholera was prevalent,
and more could not be had, and the trustees were com-
pelled to assume debts and borrow money on their per-
sonal credit, or let the work stand still. They perse-
vered, however, and finished the building within a
reasonable time. By the opening of 1854 the debt of
the institute amounted to forty-nine thoosand three hun-
dred and ninety-one dollars. Two of the principal cred-
itors, members and trustees of the institute, Miles
Greenwood and Marston Allen, offered to cancel the
debts due them — twelve thousand four hundred and
seventy-six dollars and seventy-three cents to the former,
and five thousand three hundred and forty-nine dollars
and fifty-five cents to the latter — if about thirty thousand
dollars were raised to pay the debts against them as trus-
tees. An attempt was made to secure the sum. within
the specified period, by an appeal to the mechanics of
Cincinnati; but it met with little response, and, but for
an extension of time by Greenwood and Allen, their
munificent gifts must have been lost. A more general
effort was now made, reaching the mercantile, profes-
sional, and other classes of the community, from whom
a subscription of twenty-six thousand two hundred and
fifty-eight dollars was soon obtained. But a financial
crisis came upon the city, one of the worst in its history,
and many of the subscriptions proved uncollectable.
Still more time was given by Greenwood and Allen, and
from the subscription sixteen thousand four hundred and
ninety dollars and eighty-six cents were realized, mak-
ing the total reduction of the debt thirty-four thousand
three hundred and seventeen dollars and fourteen cents.
About this time Dr. J. M. Locke delivered a course of
twenty-four lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy
to the institute and public, and Barnum gave a lecture
on "Humbug." A society of the younger members was
formed, called the "Philomathean," for intellectual cul-
ture; but it was short lived.
The thirteenth exhibition of the institute was given
May 9-25, 1854, and netted a profit of one thousand
and forty-eight dollars and sixty-six cents. It was the
first one held in the new institute building. The four-
teenth, May 9 to June 2, 1855, netted five hundred and
fifty dollars and thirty-one cents. The committee in
charge reported that, in the number of exhibitors and
articles displayed, as well as in their novelty and value,
this exhibition was superior to any previous one held by
the institute, and the premiums awarded are not only
greater in number, but also mostly of the higher grades.
226
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
During the year 1855-6, Dr. Locke delivered another
elaborate course of lectures on chemistry and physics;
Dr. W. W. Dawson, eight lectures on geology, and Pro-
fessor John Locke a short course on "Animated
Nature." The lectures were not a financial success.
The next year a highly favorable arrangement was made
with the board of education of the city, by which the
Mechanics' institute and Public School libraries were
consolidated in the building of the institute, a part of
which was leased to the board for ten thousand dollars.
The institute was also thus relieved from the cost of care
and issue of its own library, and of gas, fuel, etc., for
library and reading-rooms. The debt on the building and
lot was completely cleared, and only some minor and
easily managed indebtedness remained. The trustees
accordingly surrendered their trust, and made a clear
deed of the property to the institute. December 16,
1856, due acknowledgments were made and honors ren-
dered to Messrs. Greenwood and Allen, by electing them
as a board of emeritus trustees and advisory directors
for life. The next March Mr. John P. Foote was added
to this board, in token of his long service as president
and his usefulness otherwise to the institute.
During 1856 the plan of a mechanical museum for
permanent exhibition was under the advisement of the
directory; but not much interest was manifested by
others in the project, and it had to be dropped. The
school^of design, however, was organized in the fall of
that year, and has since been prosperously maintained,
the total enrollment to the year 1879, inclusive, being
four thousand four hundred and twenty-five.
The lecture arrangements for the season included the
novelty of two brief lectures on different topics the same
evening — twenty-six lectures on chemistry by Professor
E. H. Foote, and the same number on anatomy and
physiology by Professor W. W. Dawson, on Thursday and
Friday evenings, with thirteen lectures on physics, and as
many on geology, by the same gentlemen, on Wednesday
evenings. The new feature failed to draw, however, and
again the courses proved a financial failure.
The Young Men's Polytechnic association of the Ohio
Mechanics' institute was organized about this time, and
continued with much success during the winter of 1856-
57; but did not survive beyond the second season.
The fifteenth exhibition of the institute was held Sep-
tember 10 to October 8, 1857. An additional building —
the frame work of gas-pipe and the roof of sheet-iron,
attracting much attention from visitors — was erected for
it ; and the large expense (eight thousand dollars) thus
incurred resulted in a net loss of three hundred dollars.
It was thought, however, to have been the most success-
ful and important of any exhibition ever held in the
west. Lectures were delivered during the next winter
by Professors Zachos, Vaughn, Ward, Warriner, and
Allen, Dr. Samuel Silsbee, and Messrs. W. M. Davis and
J. R. Hamilton. The attendance upon them was still
small.
In 1858, the outstanding indebtedness, one thousand
eight hundred and twenty-seven dollars and sixty-two
cents, was paid — the institute thus, in little more than
four years, accomplishing the superb feat of clearing over
fifty thousand dollars debt. The sixteenth exhibition,
held September 6th to October 2d of this year, yielded a
profit of one thousand six hundred and eighty-eight dol-
lars. The seventeenth, occupying the entire month of
September, 1859, lost the institute nearly two hundred
dollars, though receipts were over five thousand dollars.
It was held in Pike's Opera house. During this year im-
portant improvements and repairs were effected upon the
building, and a large increase made in the periodicals
provided for the reading-room. The opening lectures of
the courses proposed for the winter were so poorly at-
tended that the rest of the programme was given up al-
together.
A special effort was made for the eighteenth exhibition,
which proved to be the last under the auspices of the in-
stitute, and it netted a profit of three hundred dollars.
The large building erected for the Catholic institute was
used, as well as the building of the Mechanics' institute.
Fifteen hundred dollars were given in awards. The win-
ter lectures were again omitted.
Then came the war. No exhibition, no lectures, noth-
ing new, could now be undertaken. Rents in the build-
ing were reduced, and the revenues of the institute be-
came very small. Attendance upon the school of
design decreased so much (to less than one-third of the
former number), that at one time its temporary suspen-
sion was seriously contemplated. "The main duty of
the board,'' says the Historical Sketch, "was to keep the
institution free from debt, and work quietly along the
different branches of the same.'' The school of design
was continued, and.in 1862 moved from Greenwood hall
into the fourth story of the institute building, which had
been vacated by the Eagle lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. This change gave the board the large hall
to rent for exhibitions, concerts, etc. In 1863-4 the attend-
ance upon the school increased to one hundred and fifty
and the institute treasury gained a balance of more than
one thousand seven hundred dollars, after paying over
eight hundred dollars for improvements in Greenwood
hall. The balance in March, 1865, had increased to three
thousand and forty-nine dollars and fourteen cents, and
there were no debts. After the war the association pros-
pered, financially, and by March, 1 866, had four thousand
dollars invested in United States bonds. Repairs and
alterations were made the year before to the amount of
two thousand three hundred and forty-five dollars and eigh-
teen cents, and improvements costing one thousand six
hundred dollars the next year. In 1866-7 trie school of
design had two hundred an'd eighty members; the treas-
ury balance increased to seven thousand dollars, and lec-
tures were delivered by Rev. Drs. A. D. Mayo and I. W.
Wiley, and Professor Daniel Vaughan. About seven
hundred dollars were now spent annually for reading
matter, mostly technical and scientific. Classes in nat-
ural philosophy and chemistry were organized the next
winter, with lectures upon the respective topics by Wil-
liam M. Davis and J. F. Wisnewski, but neither class in-
structions nor lectures were well attended. The large
hall was entirely remodeled, and fine portraits of them-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
227
selves given for it to the institute by Messrs. Charles F.
Wilstach, Miles Greenwood, and Marston Allen. It was
the most prosperous year known in the history of the
school of design, the attendance reaching two hundred
and eighty-eight. The next year found nine thousand
dollars in the treasury. There were no lectures, but the
school of design was still highly successful.
In April, 1868, a circular was issued by the institute
and sent far and wide, proposing a "grand exhibition of
arts and manufactures" in the Queen City Skating Rink,
in September of that year ; but of five hundred persons
and firms to whom it was sent, only twenty-six returned
responses, and the project was therefore abandoned.
August 12, 1868, Mr. Marston Allen, an emeritus
director of the association, died in the eightieth year of
his age. He was much mourned by the members of the
institute and citizens in generally.
In 1869-70 important changes were made in the store-
rooms on the first floor of the institute building, where-
by the rents were increased six hundred and fifty dollars
a year. The balance in the treasury March, 1870, was
twelve thousand one hundred and thirty-five dollars and
twenty-four cents. A resolution was adopted October 5,
1869, for the holding of a grand industrial exhibition
during the fall of the next year — a movement which,
with the co-operation of the chamber of commerce and
board of trade, resulted in the magnificent series of ex-
positions held that year and since, whose history is de-
tailed elsewhere. The public library removed to its own
building during the year 1869-70, and, after consider-
able negotiation and calculation, the institute paid to the
board of directors the amount of the lease money agreed
upon July 31, 1856, ten thousand dollars, less one thou-
sand five hundred dollars for books of its library lost or
damaged, for the cancellation of the lease. In 187 1-2
a new roof was placed upon the institute building, and
other improvements made — all together costing the so-
ciety two thousand seven hundred dollars. Further
changes were made 1873-4 in the Vine street stores of
the building, to the value of one thousand and fifty dol-
lars, and repairs were made to the main hall the next
year, involving an expenditure of more than three thou-
sand dollars. A class in natural philosophy was organ-
ized the next year, but not with much success. At the
exposition of 1875 the institute offered large special
premiums of its own for the best cut off stationary
steam engine, and for the best stationary steam engine,
slide valve, not less than twenty-five nor more than sev-
enty-five horse-power. In 1876 another temporary in-
vestment was made by the institute of two thousand
dollars in Federal securities. The next year, partly as a
means of escape from the halls in case of fire, being
warned by the then recent terrible calamity at Brooklyn,
the stairways and entrances to the halls from the differ-
ent floors were thoroughly remodeled, and several new
ante and wash-rooms were provided, with a costly steam
apparatus for heating. About ten thousand dollars were
expended on these improvements. When the great
Music hall was projected the institute gave one thousand
dollars towards its erection, and afterwards five hundred
toward the construction of the wings, or Exposition build-
ings proper.
In the fall of 1878 the directors of the institute organ-
ized a new " department of industrial improvements," for
the purpose of examining into the merits of alleged new
improvements in the industrial arts, and conferring
awards upon such as, after thorough investigation, are
found worthy; this action, the prospectus of the depart-
ment says, "being taken in furtherance of the original
objects of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, viz.; 'To pro-
mote improvements in manufactures and the mechanic
arts."
November 20, 1878, occurred the semi-centennial an-
niversary of the foundation of the institute. It was in
contemplation to have a formal observance of this day,
with fitting ceremonies ; but it was finally determined in-
stead to issue an historical sketch of the society, as had
been done at the quarter-centennial, twenty-five years be-
fore. It contains about one hundred pages, and repre-
sents very creditable work, in the points of industry and
literary skill. We have found it invaluable in the prepar-
ation of this synopsis.
The School of Design was very successful during the
year 1878-9, its enrollment mounting to two hundred
and twenty. A system of awards for attendance and
other merits was introduced, in the shape of medals and
certificates of progress, and worked well. An agree-
able incident of the year was the complimentary entertain-
ment, consisting of instrumental and vocal music, recita-
tions, sketches, etc., tendered to the school and its friends
on the evening of January n, 1879, in Grenwood hall —
an affair which passed off very happily.
During 1879-80 the enrollment was two hundred and
thirty-five, and ten teachers were in charge. The system
of awards was continued wi}h success, and gold badges
of chaste and appropriate design were added to the med-
als and certificates. The announcements for the twenty-
fifth annual session of the school, which began October
22, 1880, set forth three departments — mechanical, for
machinists, metal workers, pattern makers, founders,
blacksmiths, etc.; architectural, for carpenters, masons,
wood workers, builders, etc.; and artistic, for free-hand
drawing, perspective, crayon, etc., for painters, plasterers,
carvers,- gilders, cabinet-makers, etc. — besides special
classes in original designing, for advanced pupils in draw-
ing and for instruction in designing as applied to manu-
facturers; modeling in clay, as applied in the several
branches of industrial art; and drawing from life. Mr.
John B. Heich has been principal for a number of years
of this very useful arm of the institute's work.
Still another interesting feature was added to the in-
stitute in early December, 1880, by the organization of a
department of science and arts, to which admission may
be had for the small sum of three dollars. Several pro-
fessors of the university and other prominent scholars in
the city signified at once their intention of joining it.
During 1879-80 there were kept on file in the read-
ing room one foreign and fourteen domestic dailies and
twenty-six weekly papers, and sixteen monthly periodi-
cals, mostly technical. "The board of directors espe-
228
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
cially request," says their announcement, "a general use
of the reading room," yet, to prevent growing abuses, it
was resolved this year to welcome none to its benefits ex-
cept those possessing cards of admission, which can be
obtained by any well disposed person simply upon appli-
cation to a director, and are good for six months, re-
newable thereafter, on continued good behavior of the
recipient.
The financial condition of the institute, after all its vi-
cissitudes and pecuniary dangers, is sound and safe.
During the fiscal year 1879-80 there were received, on
account of rents alone, seven thousand nine hundred and
eighty-five dollars, from memberships six hundred and
eighty-nine dollars, and small amounts from other sources.
The "Day will trust fund," a sum in the hands of the
treasurer for the benefit of the institute, amounted to
three thousand one hundred and forty-eight dollars and
fifty-four cents, from which substantial benefits were real-
ized. A satisfactory balance was in the treasury at
the close of the year; the institute was practically far
out of debt; and its future was radiant with promise.
It has had a notable past, and it will have a yet more
noteworthy future.
The leading officers of the institute, since its organiza-
tion, have been as follows :
Presidents — 1828 to 1847, Jonn P. Foote; 1847 to
1854, Miles Greenwood; 1854 to 187 1, Charles F. Wil-
stach; 1871 to 1881, Thomas Gilpin. It is thus seen
that, during the fifty-two years of the society's existence,
it has had but four presidents, with an average term of
thirteen years each.
Vice-Presidents — Calvin Fletcher, 1828-39; George C.
Miller, 1840-41; G. Muscroft, 1841-2; W. S. Merrill,
1843-4: Jacob Ernst, 1844-5; Joseph G. Rust, 1846-7;
Benjamin Bruce, 1847-51; R. C. Phillips, 1851-2;
Charles F. Wilstach, 1852-3; George Graham, 1853-4;
William Huddart, 1854-6; George D. Winchell, 1856-8;
H. H. Smith, 1858-9; E. M. Shield, 1859-60; H. E.
Nottingham, 1860-1 ; Isaac Greenwald, 1861-2; Andrew
Erkenbrecher, 1862-3: Eli C. Baldwin, 1863-6; Isaac
Greenwald, 1866-9; P- P- Lane, 1869-71; John F.
Wiltsee, 1871-2; James Dale, 1872-81.
Secretary — D. T. Disney, 1828-9 and 1830-1; John L.
Talhot, 1829-30, 1831-2, 1837-8, and 1841-2; JohnLaugh-
lin, 1832-4; Clement Dare, 1834-5; Joseph Gest, 1835-6;
B. Fisher, 1836-7; L. T. Wells, 1838-9; Robert Lawson,
1840-1; 1841-2, Charles W. Thorp (to fill vacancy caused
by resignation of Mr. Talbot); Thomas G. Shaeffer,
1842-4, and 1845-7; J. W. Applegate, 1844-5.
Recording secretaries— J. L. Whetstone, 1847-9; Hen-
ry M. Ritter {vice Whetstone, resigned); H. W. Stephen-
son, 1849-5:, and 1854-5; J. W. Thomas, 185 1-2; W. G.
Neilson {vice Thomas, resigned); George W. Kendall,
1852-3; James A. Semple, 1854-5 {vice Stephenson re-
signed); C. D. Meader, 1855-6; Caleb C. Whitson, 1856-
61; W. W. Innes, 1861-2; Hugh McCollum, 1862-72;
E. A. Townley, 1872-3; H. W. Stephenson, 1873-9;
1879-81, W. B. Bruce.
Corresponding secretary— John B. Foote, 1847-8; John
G. Anthony, 1848-50; John L. Whetstone, 1850-1, 1852- '
3, and 1854; W. B. Chapman, 185 1-2; George W.
Kendall, 1853-4; A. L. Burke, 1854-8 (1854-5 vice Whet-
stone, resigned); John F. Wiltsee, 1858-9; B. R. Alley,
1859-60; W. W. Innes, 1860-1; W. P. Swain, 1861-2;
George T. Jones, 1862-3; A. Erkenbrecher, 1IJ63-6;
Thomas Gilpin, 1866-71; Frank Millward, 1871-8; P. P.
Lane, 1878-9 (to fill vacancy caused by death of Mr.
Millward); Harvey Jones, 1879-81.
Treasurer — Clement Dare, 1828-9, and 1830-4; Lu-
man Watson, 1829-30; George Graham, 1834-6; Joseph
Gest, 1836-7; G. C. Miller, 1837-9; J- L- Talbot, 1840-1;
James Pearce, 1841-2, 1843-5, an<l 1846-8; John W. Ap-
plegate, 1845-6; H. W. Stephenson, 1848-9, 1858-9, and
187 1-2; J. A. James, 1849-50; L. T. Wells, 1850-2;
Benjamin Bruce, 1852-4; W. B. Chapman, 1854-8; John
T. Wiltsee, 1859-71; Hugh McCollum, 1872-81.
Clerk of the board of directors — John B. Heich,
1856-81.
The record of officers-elect for 1839-40 is lost; also
thafof 1842-3, except as to president and secretary.
THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY.
Thisrenowned institution, one of the crowning glories of
Cincinnati, owes its origin, in the first instance, to the en-
terprise and energy of just one man — a young lawyer and
teacher named Ormsby M. Mitchel. While serving as
professor of mathematics, natural philosophy a.nd astrono-
my in the Cincinnati college, he found his instructions seri-
ously hampered by the lack of a sufficient equipment of
apparatus; and his plans for its procurement gradually
grew in his teeming brain until they included the mag-
nificent project of an astronomical observatory, with one
of the finest telescopes in America and other instruments
and apparatus to correspond. He began in the spring of
1842, by an effort to excite the interest of the local pub-
lic in astronomy by a series of lectures upon the subject,
and faced an audience of sixteen at his opening— a
strange contrast to the audience of two thousand which
crowded one of the largest audience-rooms in the city
upon the repetitition of his last lecture. Broaching his pro
ject in due time, in three weeks he had secured the for-
mation of the Cincinnati Astronomical society and a sub-
scription of seven thousand five hundred dollars, in three
hundred shares of twenty-five dollars each, for an obser-
vatory. Mitchel sailed frora New York June 16th, of
the same year, for Europe, carrying in his heart the hope
of a great equatorially-mounted, achromatic, refracting
telescope. Not half a dozen glasses fit for such an in-
strument then existed; but he found an unfinished one, of
twelve inches, in the cabinet of Mertz, successor of the
celebrated Frauenhofer, at Munich, which he had tested
and very thoroughly approved. Notwithstanding scarcely
three-fourths of the requisite amount had been subscribed,
he had the nerve to close a contract for the mounting of
this at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and in a hundred
days from the date of starting was at home again, having
meanwhile taken time to visit and inspect carefully sev-
eral of the great observatories abroad, undertake some
special studies there, and make some important acquain-
tances among foreign astronomers. He reported his sue-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
229
cess to an immense gathering of the members of the as-
sociation and other friends of the enterprise; and the pe-
cuniary prospects of the scheme decidedly looked up
thenceforth. Mr. Nicholas Longworth gave the society
permission to select any four acres out of twenty-five of
his property on Mount»Auburn, to be held for the uses
of the observatory. The next succeeding events can
best be told in the eloquent words of Professor Mitchel
himself, as he tells the ' story in one of his brilliant lec-
tures :
On the ninth of November, 1843, the corner-stone of the observatory
was laid by John Quincy Adams, in the presence of a vast multitude,
with appropriate ceremonies, and followed by the delivery of an address
replete with beauty and eloquence. The season was too far advanced
to permit anything to be done toward the erection of the building dur-
ing the fall; and, indeed, it was notithe intention of the board of di-
rectors to proceed with the building, until every dollar required in the
payment for the great telescope should have been remitted to Europe.
At the time of laying the corner-stone, but three thousand dollars, out of
nine thousand five hundred, had been paid. This was the amount re-
quired in the contract, to be paid on signing, and the remaining sum
became due on finishing the instrument.
The contract having been made, conditionally, in July, 1842, it was
believed the great refractor would be shipped for 'the United States in
June, 1844, and to meet our engagements the sum of six thousand five
hundred dollars must be raised.
This amount was subscribed, but^ in consequence of commercial
difficulties, all efforts hitherto made to collect it had been unavailing;
and in February, 1844, the board of control solicited the director of
the obseivatory [Mitchel] to become the general agent of the society
and to collect all old subscriptions, and obtain such new ones as might
be necessary to make up the requisite sum. The accounts in the hands
of the previous collector were accordingly turned over to me, and a
systematic effort was made to close them up. A regular journal was
kept of each day's work, noting the number of hours employed, the
persons visited, those actually found, the sums collected, the promises
to pay, the positive repudiations, the due-bills taken, payable in cash
and trade, and the day on which I was requested to call again. These
intervals extended from a week or ten days to four months. The
hour was in general fixed, and when the day rolled round and the hour
arrived, the agent of the society presented himself and referred to the
memoranda. In many cases another and another time was appointed,
until, in some instances, almost as many calls were made as there were
dollars due. By systematic perseverance, at the end of some forty
days, the sum of three thousand dollars was paid over to the treasurer,
as the amount collected from old subscribers. Nearly two thousand
dollars of due-bills had been taken, payable in carpenter work, paint-
ing, dry goods, boots and shoes, hats and caps, plastering, bricklaying,
blacksmith work, paints and oils, groceries, pork-bairels, flour, bacon,
and lard, hardware, iron, nails, etc. ; in short, in every variety of trade,
materials, and workmanship. The due-bills, in cash, brought about
five hundred dollars in the course of the next thirty days, and a fur-
ther sum of three thousand dollars was required for the last remittance
to Europe.
It was determined to raise this amount, in large sums, from wealthy
and liberal citizens who had already become members of our society.
The list first made out, and the sums placed opposite the names of
each person, is now in my possession. On paper the exact amount was
made up in the simplest and most expeditious manner; eight names
had the sum of two hundred dollars opposite them, ten names were
marked one hundred dollars each, and the remaining ones fifty dollars
each. Such was the singular accuracy in the calculation that, when
the theory was reduced to practice, it failed in but one solitary instance,
One person, upon whom we had relied for two hundred dollars, de-
clined absolutely, and his place was filled by another.
I called on one of the eight individuals marked at two hundred dol-
lars, and, after a few moments' conversation, he told me that, in case
one hundred dollars would be of any service to me, he would gladly sub-
scribe that amount. I showed him my list, and finding his name among
those reckoned at two hundred dollars, he remarked that he would not
mar so beautiful a scheme for the sum of one hundred dollars, and
accordingly entered his name in its appropriate place.
At a meeting held in May, of the board of control, the treasurer
reported that the entire amount was now in the treasury, with the
exception of one hundred and fifty dollars. The board adjourned to
meet on the same day of the following week, when the deficiency was
reduced by the agent to twenty-five dollars, and on the same day an
order was passed to remit the entire amount to Barings & Brothers,
London, to be paid to the manufacturer, on the order of Dr. J. Lamont,
of Munich, to be given on the packing of the instrument. The last
twenty-five dollars was obtained, and placed in the treasurer's hands,
immediately on the adjournment ot the board.
Thus was completed, as it was supposed, by far the most difficult
part of the enterprise. All the cash means of the society had now
been exhausted, about eleven thousand dollars had been raised, and to
extend the effort yet farther, under the circumstances, seemed to be
quite impossible. Up to this time nothing had been done toward the
building, and after paying for the instrument not one dollar remained
in cash to commence the erection of a building which must cost, at the
lowest estimate, five or six thousand dollars.
Some two or three thousand dollars had been subscribed, payable in
work and materials. Owing to a slight change in the plan of the
building, the foundation walls, already laid in the fall of 1844, were
taken up and relaid. Finding it quite impossible to induce any master-
workman to take the contract for the building, with the many contin-
gencies by which our affairs were surrounded,' I determined to hire
workmen by the day and superintend the erection of the building per-
sonally. In attempting to contract for the delivery of brick on the
summit of Mount Adams, such an enormous price was demanded for
the hauling, in consequence of the steepness of the hill, that all idea of
a brick building was at once abandoned, and it was determined to
build of limestone, an abundant supply of which could be had on the
grounds of the society by quarrying. Having matured my plans,
securing the occasional assistance of a carpenter, about the beginning
of June, 1844, I hired two masons, one of whom was to receive an extra
sum for hiring the hands, keeping their time, and acting as the master-
workman. One tender to these workmen constituted the entire force
with which I commenced the erection of a building which, if prosecuted
in the same humble manner, would have required about twenty years
for its completion. ^And yet our title-bond required that the building
should be finished in the following June, or a forfeiture of the title by
which we hold the present beautiful site must follow. My master-
mason seemed quite confounded when told that he must commence
work with such a force. In the outset difficulties were thick and obsti-
nate. Exorbitant charges were made for delivering lime. I at once
commenced the building of a lime-kiln, and in a few days had the sat-
isfaction of seeing it well-filled and on fire ; true, it caved in once or
twice, with other little accidents ; but a full supply of lime was obtained,
and at a cheap rate.
Sand was the next item, for which the most extravagant charges
were made. I found this so ruinous that an effort was made, and
finally I obtained permission to open a sand-pit, which had long been
closed for fear of caving down a house on the side of the hill above, by
further excavation. An absolute refusal was at first given ; but syste-
matic perseverance again succeeded, and. the pit was re-opened. The
distance was comparatively short ; but the price of mere hauling was
so great that I was forced to purchase horses, and in not a. few
instances fill the carts with my own hands and drive them to the top of
the hill, thus demonstrating practically how many loads could be
made in a day.
Another difficulty yet remained— no water could be found nearer
than at the foot of the hill, half a mile distant; and to haul all the
water so great a distance would have cost a large sum. I selected one
of the deepest ravines on the hill-top, and throwing a dam across
while it was actually raining, I had the pleasure of seeing it fill rapidly
from the hillsides ; and in this way an abundant supply was obtained
for the mixing of mortar, at a very moderate expense of hauling.
Thus prepared, the building was commenced, with two masons and
one tender during the first week. At the close of the week I had raised
sufficient funds to pay off my hands, and directed the foreman to
employ, for the following week, two additional masons and a tender.
To supply this force with materials several hands were employed in the
quarry, in the lime-kiln, and in the sand-pit, all of whom were hired by
the day, to be paid half cash and the residue in trade.
During all this time, I may remark, I was discharging my duties as
professor of mathematics and philosophy in the'Cmcinnati college, and
teaching five hours in the daj. Before eight o'clock in the morning I
had visited all my workmen in the building, in the lime-kiln, sand-pit,
and stone-quarry ; at that time my duties in the college commenced!
and closed at one. By two o'clock p. m. I was again with my work-
men, or engaged in raising the means of paying them on Saturday
230
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
night. The third week the number of hands was again doubled ; the
fourth week produced a like increase, until finally not less than fifty day
laborers were actually engaged in the erection of the Cincinnati observ-
atory. Each Saturday night exhausted all my funds ; but 1 commenced
the next week in the full confidence that industry and perseverance
would work out the legitimate results. To raise the cash means re-
quired was the greatest difficulty. I have frequently made four or five
trades to turn my due-bills, payable in trade, into cash. I have not
unfrequently gone to individuals and sold them their own due-bills,
payable in merchandise, for cash, by making a discount. The pork
merchants paid me cash for my due-bills, payable in barrels and lard-
kegs ; and in this way I managed to raise sufficient cash means to
prosecute the work vigorously during the months of July and August,
and in September I had the satisfaction to see the building up and
covered, without having incurred one dollar of debt. At one period, I
presume, one hundred hands were employed at the same time in the
prosecution of the work, more than fifty hands on the hill, and as many
in the city in the various workshops, paying their subscriptions by work
for different parts of the building. The doors were in the hands of one
carpenter, the window-frames in those of another ; a third was em-
ployed on the sash ; a painter took them from the joiner and in turn
delivered them to a glazier, while a carpenter paid up his stock by
hanging them, with weights purchased by stock and with cords ob-
tained in the same way. Many locks were furnished by our townsmen
in payment of their subscriptions. Lumber, sawing, flooring, roofing,
painting, mantels, steps, hearths, hardware, lathing, doors, windows,
glass, and painting, were in like manner obtained. At the beginning of
each week my master carpenter generally gave me a bill of lumber and
materials wanted during the week. In case they had not been already
subscribed, the stock-book was resorted to, and there was no relaxing
of effort until the necessary articles were obtained. If a tier of joists
was wanted, the saw-mills were visited, and in some instances the joists
for the same floor came from two or three different mills.
On covering the building, the great crowd of hands employed as
masons, tenders, lime-bumers, quarrymen, sand and water-men, were
paid off and discharged ; and it now seemed that the heavy pressure
was passed, and that one might again breathe free, after the responsi-
bility of such heavy weekly payments were removed.
In February, 1845, the telescope came, and the next
month was placed in position. The Observatory soon
afterwards went into full operation, with Professor Mitchel
installed as director, and residing in the building with
his family. The structure had been completed in time —
by June, 1845 — to save the grant of Mr. Longworth,
which was conditioned upon its completion within two
years from the date of the gift. Mitchel devised two
very ingenious and delicate instruments for recording
observations in right ascension and difference in de-
clination, and added them to the working apparatus of
the Observatory. He received and instructed students,
and continued to make astronomical observations with
much success. At times, however, his finances were ex-
tremely limited; and he had to eke out a subsistence by
engineering on the route of the Ohio & Mississippi rail-
road and by lecturing, in which he finally obtained much
renown, and left brilliant memorials in two published
volumes. After his departure for the military service, to
which he gave his life, the Observatory languished; but
after the war its grand opportunity came, in the estab-
lishment of the Cincinnati university. For the uses of
this institution the Astronomical society tendered the
entire property of the Observatory; and it was made a
department of the University. By this time, however,
the growth of the manufacturing and other interests of
the city had wrapped the summit of Mount Adams fre-
quently in clouds of smoke and fog; and there were
other reasons for removal to a more retired locality, with
more quiet surroundings and a clearer air.
When the situation of the Observatory upon Mount
Adams had become unsuitable for its purposes, the heirs
of Mr. Longworth united with the Astronomical society
in agreeing to transfer the grounds originally given to it
by Mr. Longworth to the city, upon the specific trust
that it should be sold or leased, and the proceeds applied
upon the endownment of the University school of Draw-
ing and Design, and further conditioned that the city
should sustain a new observatory, to be also connected
with the University. For the establishment of that the
Astronomical society presented to the city the equatorial
and other instruments collected for the older institution,
with all its apparatus and astronomical records and
books. The Mount Adams property was leased to the
Passionist Fathers, who now use it for a monastery and
school, at a ground-rent of three thousand dollars per
year, with the privilege of purchase at discretion. Mr.
John Kilgour gave a site of four acres, at Mount Look-
out, near Oakley, just beyond the northeast corner of the
city, for the new observatory, and also ten thousand dol-
lars for building it and supplying a further equipment.
Mr. Julius Dexter added a gift of one thousand dollars
in 1874. The corner-stone of the new building — the
same as that laid by the assistance of John Quincy
Adams thirty-five years before, with many of the same
articles enclosed — was laid with due ceremony in the
spring of 1873; and the edifice went rapidly up, without
any of the embarrassments which clustered about the in-
domitable founder of 1843-5. I* was occupied the next
year, with Professor Ormond Stone as director, and has
since been in successful and useful operation, in the
training of students for professorships and astronomical
inquiry, and in making observations and discoveries.
Among much other good work, the star-measurements of
Professor Mitchel, which were still in manuscript, have
been reduced and made ready for the printer. A short
summer term is held at the observatory, for the benefit
of teachers and others who desire to take special studies.
Mr. Henry T. Eddy is now professor of astronomy, and
Mr. Stone remains director.
THE CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.
We adopt in full, for this important society, with some
additions, the historical sketch published in the first num-
ber of its Journal, April, 1878:
The Cincinnati Society of Natural History was organ-
ized, and a constitution adopted, on the nineteenth day
of January, 1870, at No. 6 West Fourth street, in the city
of Cincinnati. The following persons were enrolled as
original members: Dr. F. P. Anderson, Ludlow Apjones,
Robert Brown, jr., Dr. R. M. Byrnes, J. B. Chickering,
Robert Clarke, Lucius Curtis, V. T. Chambers, Julius
Dexter, Charles Dury, C. B. Dyer, John M. Edwards,
Dr. H. H. Hill, R. E. Hawley, Dr. W. H. Mussey, R. C.
McCracken, Dr. C. A. Miller, S. A. Miller, Dr. William
Owens, Henry Probasco, J. Ralston Skinner, Dr. John A.
Warder, Dr. E. S. Wayne, Dr. E. Williams, and Horatio
Wood.
The society was regularly incorporated on the twentieth
day of June, 1870, as shown by church record book, No.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
231
2, page 633, of the records of Hamilton county, Ohio.
On the second day of February, 1870, the society met
and proceeded to elect permanent officers, Mr. John M.
Edwards having presided at the preliminary meetings.
Dr. John A. Warder was elected president, which office
he continued to fill, by re-election, to the satisfaction of
the members, until April 6, 1875. Dr. W. H. Mussey
was elected first vice-president, and was continued in the
office until April 6, 1865. Mr. Ludlow Apjones was
elected corresponding and recording secretary, and served
as such until the regular election held April 4, 187T. Mr.
Robert Brown, jr., was elected treasurer; Dr. F. P. An-
derson, custodian; Dr. Edward S. Wayne, curator of
mineralogy; and Mr. Horatio Wood, curator of botany.
The membership of the society increased very rapidly,
and during the summer arrangements were perfected for
renting room No. 41 College Building, on Walnut street,.
above Fourth street, at one hundred dollars per year.
The society held its first meeting in College Building on
the evening of October 4, 1870. At this meeting Mr.
Robert Brown, jr., resigned the office of treasurer, and
Mr. Horatio Wood was elected to fill the vacancy;
Professor John M. Edwards was elected custodian in
place of Dr. F. P. Anderson ; and Mr. Charles Dury was
elected taxidermist. The society held meetings regularly
every month, and at the meeting held March 8, 187 1,
had the pleasure of knowing that the trustees of the Cin-
cinnati college had remitted the rent, and consented to
the occupation of room No. 41 College Building free of
charge, save such as would be incurred for light and fuel,
until such time as the trustees might find it necessary to
use the room for other purposes.
At the annual meeting, held on the evening of April 4,
187 1, the treasurer reported that the total receipts of the
society to that date amounted to one hundred and sixty
dollars, and that there had been expended one hundred
and sixty-five dollars and seventeen cents, leaving a bal-
ance due the treasurer of five dollars and seventeen
cents. The library was reported as containing thirty-five
volumes. Previous to this meeting there had been pro-
cured for the society five upright cases, all of which the
custodian reported were well filled by the specimens of
natural history which had been donated by members of
the society. At this meeting the officers were elected
for the year, with the following changed : Mr. Ludlow
Apjones was elected second vice-president; Mr. L. S.
Cotton was elected corresponding secretary, and contin-
ued to be re-elected annually, and served until April 6,
1875; Rev. R. E. Hawley as recording secretary, in
which position he served for two years. Mr. Horatio
Wood was elected treasurer, and was continued in the
office until he declined to serve longer, April 4, 1875.
Dr. H. H. Hill accepted the position of librarian, and
was re-elected April 2, 1872, and April 1, 1873. Profes-
sor John M. Edwards was elected custodian, and was
continued in the position for two years. Dr. R. M.
Byrnes was elected curator of mineralogy, which position
he has held to the present time. The fine collection
and careful arrangement of the minerals in the posses-
sion of the society bear witness to the intelligent and
faithful work of this officer. Mr. Samuel A. Miller was
elected curator of palaeontology, and was subsequently
re-elected and continued in the curatorship until April 7,
1874. Dr. H. H. Hill, curator of conchology, who was
re-elected the following year; Mr. Lucius Curtis, curator
of entomology, who was continued in office until April 1,
1873; Dr. William Owens, of botany; and Mr. Charles
Dury, taxidermist, who was twice re-elected, and contin-
ued in office until the position was abolished in April,
1874, and the curatorship of ornithology instituted.
The donations of specimens in the various depart
ments of natural science being numerous at every meet-
ing, it was found necessary to provide additional cases
for preserving the collections. At the meeting held June
6, 187 1, five new upright cases, uniform with those pre-
viously in the possession of the society, were procured.
At the meeting held September 5, 187 1, the society
received from the Western Academy of Natural Science
three hundretl and fifty-one dollars in money, two hun-
dred and sixty-five volumes of books, and the remnant
of its collection, being all of its property and effects of
every kind then remaining. The money was invested,
and has remained at interest since that time. Mr. S. A.
Miller read a paper on the "Silurian Island of Cincin-
nati," which was published the next day in the Cincinnati
Enquirer.
At the meeting held on the second day of January,
1872, the society received from Mr. Robert Buchanan
one hundred and eleven volumes from his library, and
three upright cases with drawers, containing fossils, shells,
and minerals. This donation was a valuable acquisition
to the society, and was brought about through the gen-
erosity of Mr. Probasco and nine other gentlemen, who
presented Mr. Buchanan with one thousand dollars, as a
partial compensation for his parting with his collection.
The society elected Mr. Robert Buchanan an honorary
member at the meeting held the following month.
The society assembled for the February meeting in
rooms forty-six and forty-eight, College building, which
had been kindly placed at its disposal by the trustees of
the Cincinnati college, and which the society continued
to occupy until it was able to purchase a building and
removed to 108 Broadway.
On the fifth day of March, 1872, at a regular meeting,
Messrs. Robert .Clarke, U. P. James, George Graham, D.
E. Bolles, John L. Talbot, S. T. Carley, and Robert
Buchanan, surviving members of the Western Academy
of science, were duly elected to life-membership in this
society, in pursuance of the arrangement made at the
time of receiving the donation from the Western acade-
my. Mr. S. A. Miller read a paper on the "Geological
History of this Locality, from the Tertiary Period to the
present time," — which was published in the Cincinnati
Enquirer of the succeeding day, and was continued at a
subsequent meeting of the society and published in the
same paper on the seventeenth day of June following.
At the annual meeting held April 2, 1872, the report
of the treasurer showed the receipts to have been, from
dues of members for the preceding year three hundred
and eighty-five dollars, and from the Western Academy
232
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of Natural Science three hundred and fifty-one dollars
and forty-five cents. Mr. Samuel A. Miller was elected
second vice-president, which position he continued to
hold until the April meeting in 1875; and Miss M. J.
Pyle was elected curator of botany.
At the meeting held June 4, 1872, Dr. Charles A.
Miller was elected curator of conchology, in place of Dr.
H. H. Hill, who resigned; and Mr. G. A. Wetherby was
elected curator of entomology, instead of Mr. Lucius
Curtis, who had also resigned.
The society exhibited a large collection of specimens at
the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, held during the
months of September and October of this and the follow-
ing year. At both expositions the display made by this
society attracted much notice, and the section devoted to
its use was generally well attended by visitors.
At a meeting held November, 1872, Professor W. H.
Mussey presented to the society a large number of skele-
tons, of domesticated and wild vertebrate animals. He
had previously shown his generosity to the society by
contributing books, minerals, and other valuable speci-
mens, and has continued to be one of its most steadfast
and liberal benefactors down to the present time.
At the annual meeting, held April 1, 1873, it appeared
from the treasurer's report that there were one hundred
and seventeen members of the society, that the dues col-
lected for the year amounted to four hundred and ten
dollars and thirty-six cents, that the expenses had been
three hundred and twenty-four dollars and ninety-three
cents, and that there remained in the treasury the sum of
one hundred and twenty-two dollars and twelve cents,
not including the funds received from the Western Acad-
emy of Science. At this meeting Mr. John M. Edwards
was elected recording secretary; Mr. R. B. Moore custo-
dian, which position he continued to fill until elected
president, April 3, 1877; Dr. Charles A. Miller, curator
of conchology, who was re-elected the following year;
Mr. V. T. Chambers, curator of entomology; Mr. John
Hussey, curator of botany; Dr. D. S. Young, curator of
ichthyology, a position he has held ever since; Professor
W. H. Mussey, curator of comparative anatomy, who was
re-elected the following year, At this meeting a resolu-
tion was adopted providing for a committee to take
charge of a building fund, having for its basis the promise
of a contribution of one hundred dollars annually for five
years from Mr. Julius Dexter, and of twenty-five dollars per
year for a like period frem Professor A. J. Howe and Mr.
Ludlow Apjones, and of the sum of ten dollars for a like
period from Mr. A. E. Tripp and Mr. Horatio Wood.
At the meeting held May 6th, of this year, Mr. Charles
H. Browning presented to the society a magnificent col-
lection of marine shells and corals, collected by his father,
Lieutenant R. L. Browning, United States navy.
At the meeting held August 5", 1873, Mr. S. A. Miller
read a criticism on that part of the first volume of the
Ohio Geological Survey relating to the Cincinnati Group
of rocks and its fossil contents, which was published in
the Cincinnati Enquirer on the seventh day of the month.
The annual meeting in 1874 was held April 7th, when
it appeared, from the report of Mr. R, B. Moore, the
custodian, that the society had in its collection forty-five
hundred specimens of minerals, two thousand palasonto-
logical specimens, five thousand shells, six thousand bo-
tanical specimens, four hundred entomological specimens,
two thousand archagological specimens, and one hun-
dred each of anatomical, ichthyological, and ornitholog-
ical specimens, making a grand total of twenty thousand
two hundred specimens. He also reported that the
library contained about one thousand volumes. The
treasurer's report showed that the society had received
during the year: Members' dues, five hundred and fifty-
three dollars and ninety-five cents; interest, twenty-one
dollars and eight cents; while it had expended four hun-
dred and fifty-six dollars and thirty-four cents, leaving in
the treasury the sum of two hundred and forty dollars and
eighty-one cents. The report further showed that there
had been collected of the subscription to the building fund,
three hundred and fifteen dollars, and interest accrued on
the same, eleven dollars and forty-seven cents ; making the
total building fund three hundred and twenty-six dollars
and forty-seven cents. At this meeting, Mr. William
Colvin was elected recording secretary; Mr. John M.
Edwards librarian, who was re-elected the following year;
Mr. John W. Hall, jr., curator of palaeontology, in which
position he was continued until April 3, 1877; Mr. A. G.
Wetherby curator of entomology; Dr. H. H. Hill curator
of archaeology, and has been continued in the position
ever since; and Mr. Charles Dury curator of ornithology,
who continues to fill the curatorship.
No election for curator of botany having been made
at the annual meeting, Mr. Paul Mohr, jr., was elected
to the position May 5th, and was re-elected the succeed-
ing year.
Mr. Charles Bodman was elected a member of the so-
ciety at the meeting held September 1, 1874.
The society received a letter at the meeting held De-
cember, 1874, from a lady eighty years of age, containing
a present of two hundred dollars, and signed "A Friend
of Science." It was ascertained, however, that the gen-
erous donor was Mrs. Abbie Warren, residing at No. 299
George street, in Cincinnati.
At the meeting held April 6, 1875, it appeared from
the treasurer's report that the receipts from members' dues
were five hundred and fifty-eight dollars and thirty cents;
from Mrs. Abbie Warren, donation two hundred dollars;
and interest on invested funds, twenty-six dollars and
eight cents; which, added to the balance in the treasury
from the previous year, amounted to one thousand and
twenty-five dollars and nineteen cents. The expenditures
for the year amonnted to five hundred and thirty-one
dollars and forty-six cents, leaving a balance of four hun-
dred and ninety-three dollars and seventy-three cents; of
this latter sum four hundred dollars had been placed at
interest. In. addition to this the sum of three hundred
and fifty-one dollars and forty-five cents, which was
received from the Western academy, was safely invested,
and further that the building fund had during the year
been increased by collection of subscriptions and accrued
interest to the sum of four hundred and ninety-nine dol-
lars and eighty-five cents; making a total of all funds to
£Z^2££
££
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
233
the credit of the society, one thousand three hundred
and forty-five dollars and three cents. At this meeting
Mr. S. A. Miller was elected president; Mr. Horatio
Wood was elected second vice-president; Mr. L. M.
Hosea corresponding secretary, to which office he was
re-elected the next year; Dr. J. F. Judge recording sec-
retary, in which office he has been continued to this time;
Dr. J. H. Hunt treasurer; Professor A. J. Howe curator
of comparative anatomy, since which time he has been
annually re-elected to the position.
At the meeting held May 4, 1875, the president, Mr.
S. A. Miller, read a "Review of the Glacial Theory, as
presented in the Ohio Geological" Survey," which was
published in the July number of the Cincinnati Quarterly
Journal of Science.
Professor A. G. Wetherby read a paper entitled a
"Description of Lepidopterous Larvae, with their habits
and affinities," at the meeting held October 5, 1875,
which was published in the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal
of Science for the same month. Professor A. G. Weth-
erby read, at a meeting held December 7, 1875, a paper
on the "Variations in form as exhibited by Strepoma-
tidse, with descriptions of new species," which was pub-
lished in the month of January following, under the title
of Proceedings of the Cincinnati Society of Natural His-
tory. It is the only publication the society has ever is-
sued. At various times attempts have been made by
members to have the society definitely adopt the policy
of a regular publication of its transactions, but without
success until the last, which has resulted in the present
undertaking of publishing a journal of the society quar-
terly, which is designed to embrace the proceedings of
\he society and such original papers of value as may be
prepared for the society by its members or others.
The next annual meeeting was held April 4, 1876.
The treasurer's report showed that the receipts for the
year had been, from members' dues, three hundred and
forty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents; from interest,
forty-five dollars and eight cents; the expenditures
amounted to four hundred and fifteen dollars and ninety-
five cents, leaving a cash balance of one hundred and
two dollars and forty cents. The building fund was re-
ported as five hundred and fifty-five dollars and sixty-
three cents. At this meeting Professor W. H. Mussey
was elected president; Mr. John M. Edwards, first vice-
president; Mr. George W. Harper, second vice-president,
who was in the second year re-ele?ted; Mr. S. E. Wright,
treasurer, and continues in office to this time; Mr. J. C."
Shroyer, librarian, who was re-elected the following
April; Mr. J. W. Shorten, curator of entomology; and
Mr. Davis L. James, curator of botany.
Professor A. G. Wetherby read a paper at the meeting
held June 6th, on the "Tulotoma," which was subsequently
' published in the Quarterly Journal of Conchology, Leeds,
England.
At the meeting held October 3d, Professor Ormond
Stone was elected curator of mathematics and astronomy,
and Professor R.. B. Warder curator of chemistry and
physics, each being re-elected at the annual meeting the
following year.
At the meeting held March 6, 1877, Dr. August J.
Woodward was elected curator of herpetology, and re-
elected at the annual meeting next month.
At the meeting held on April 3, 1877, the treasurer's
report showed the financial condition to be as follows :
Cash in the treasury April 4, 1876 $102 40
Received from membership dues 654 00
For life membership 50 00
For interest to credit of general fund 42 25
$848 65
Expenditures during the year 350 02
Balance in the treasury 498 63
BUILDING FUND, APRIL 3, 1877.
Balance in fund April 4, 1876 $555 63
1 Received subscriptions 200 00
Received interest 46 37
Total building fund $802 00
TOTAL FUNDS
Bearing interest or held in cash, April 3, 1877.
General fund .'...$ 644 13
Endowment fund 551 45
Life membership fund 50 op
Building fund 802 00
$2,047 58
At this meeting Mr. R. B. Moore was elected presi-
dent; Mr. V. T. Chambers, first vice-president; Mr. J.
W. Hall, jr., corresponding secretary; Dr. J. H. Hunt,
custodian; Mr. O. E. Ulrich, curator of palaeontology.
Dr. A. J. Howe read a paper on the "Life of John
Hunter," which was subsequently published in pamphlet.
Mr. S. S. Bassler was elected curator of meteorology
and Mr. V. T. Chambers curator of microscopy, at the
meeting held June 5, 1877. Professor A. J. Howe read
. "A Biographical Sketch of Baron Cuvier," at the meet-
ing held August 7, which was afterwards published in
pamphlet; and on the second of October he read another
paper on "American Archaeology," which was also pub-
lished in pamphlet.
Mr. Charles Bodman, who was elected a member Sep-
tember 1, 1874, died on the tenth day of May, 1875,
leaving a will containing a bequest to this society of fifty
thousand dollars, which sum should have been paid to
the society at once ; but the payment was delayed until
the sixteenth day of July, 1877, depriving the society of
about two years' interest. There were no conditions or
limitations attached to the bequest, and consequently,
when the money was received, it was absolutely at the
disposal of the society. The society had previously ap-
pointed a board of trustees, one of whom is the treasurer,
to receive the money and make such investments as the
society should direct. The trustees, previous to entering
upon the discharge of their duties, gave satisfactory bonds
for the faithful performance of the trust. About eleven
thousand five hundred dollars was invested in the pur-
chase and repairing of the property on the corner of
Broadway and Arch streets, in the month of October
following. The collection and other property of -the so-
ciety was at once transferred from the rooms 46 and 48
College building to the new premises.
The society held its first meeting in its own building
234
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
on November 6, 1877. At this meeting the following
resolution was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That the members of the Cincinnati Society of Natural
History tender the trustees of the Cincinnati college our heartfelt thanks
for their generosity and kindness in furnishing this society a room in
their building, free of charge, since the organization of this institution.
The balance of the bequest from Mr. Charles Bodman
has been properly invested in bonds and mortgages, and
the society now finds itself at home, in its own building,
in affluent circumstances, and prepared to commence in
earnest work for the advancement of science and the dif-
fusion of knowledge.
At the meeting held January 1, 1878, the Mechanics'
Institute sent to the Cincinnati Society of Natural His-
tory a written proposition to donate the collection of
minerals in its possession, known as the McClue Collec-
tion; which offer was accepted, and the collection was
transferred to the Society's building. Professor Claypole
read a description of a new fossil, Glyptodendron Eaton-
ense, which will appear in the American Journal of
Science and Arts for April.
At the meeting held on February 5, 1878, the society
authorized the publishing committee to publish a journal
quarterly, to contain the proceedings and transactions of
the society. This atrangement, if permanently main-
tained, will be of great importance to the society and to
students of natural science everywhere.
In view of the fact that the proceedings of this society,
as heretofore made public through the newspapers, have
contained only meagre notices of the many donations
and kindnesses of persons not members of the society, and
that several members have borne a large share of the
labor necessary in arranging, classifying, and taking care
of the. collection in the rooms of the society, and in mak-
ing the necessary arrangements for its display in the Cin.
cinnati exposition without any compensation, an honora-,
ble mention of their names at this time will not be;
regarded as out of place. It will, however, be impracti-i
cable to attempt to enumerate all of them here, but in a
brief way to express the obligations of the society to those
whose names have appeared in the foregoing pages. The
society is also under many obligations to Major A. S.
Burt, of the U. S. army ; Mr. John Robinson, Mr. Julius
Dexter, Dr. E. S. Wayne, Hon. J. S. Gordon, Hon. T. A.
Corcoran, the Cincinnati Zoological society, and the
Smithsonian institution, for valuable contributions to its
collections and library. Dr. H. H. Hill, Dr. R. M.
Byrnes, Professor A. J. Howe, Mr. R. B. Moore, and Dr.
D. S. Young, among others, are also deserving of especial
thanks for the many services rendered the society.
The Cincinnati Society of Natural History is a chari-
table institution, devoting all its energies to the advance-
ment of science and education. The rooms are kept
open to the public, so that all the advantages of the mu-
seum may be enjoyed as well by those who are not mem-
bers as by those who contribute annually the sum of five
dollars towards its maintenance. In no event can any one .
profit,, by membership, beyond the nominal privilege of!
voting for the officers and participating in the work of the
society.
On the second of March, 1880, a "revision of the con- i
stitution and by-laws was reported and adopted by the
society. It has generously undertaken half the expense
of the antiquarian researches made in Anderson and
Columbia townships by the Madisonville Literary and
Scientific society, and in return receives a proportionate
share of the relics found by that society, which now
form an important and very interesting feature of the
Cincinnati collection. The papers of Dr. Metz and Mr.
Charles F. Lowe, of the Madisonville association, on
their archaeological investigations, have appeared in the
journal of the Cincinnati society, with an admirable
chart of the mounds and other works examined.
The following named gentlemen have been presidents
of the society since its organization: Dr. John A.
Warder, 1870-5; Samuel A. Miller, esq., 1875-6; Dr. W.
H. Mussey, 1876-7; R. B. Moore, 1877-8; V. T. Cham-
bers, 1878-9; Dr. R. M. Byrnes, 1879 — .
THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN CINCINNATI.
Making a somewhat abrupt descent from great things
to small, we desire to insert here, finding no fitter place
for it in the entire book, the entertaining history of the
English sparrow in the Queen city, as related by a well-
known Cincinnati naturalist, Dr. A. Zipperlein, in a com-
munication to the Feathered World, a weekly paper pub-
lished in Berlin, from which the following is translated:
The first English sparrows were brought to New York in the latter
half of i860. As they began to multiply and to check the ravages of the
caterpillars on the shade trees in the streets and parks, other cities
also began to express a wish for them.. In Cincinnati it was especially
the German citizens and German press that took the matter up. The •
English press in the city followed in favor of the sparrows, till at length
the city council passed a resolution to buy two hundred pairs of the
birds and distribute them throughout the public parks. So great was
the demand for them, however, that only eighty pairs could be procured,
and these cost eight dollars the pair. They were so distributed by the
council that thirty-five pairs went to Lincoln park, thirty to Washing-
ton park, and fifteen pairs to the small Hopkins park. The city coun-
cil naturally expected they would stay there. They were let loose on
the appointed day, and rejoiced in their new-found freedom; but the
trees and ornamental shrubs were a strange region' to them, a luxury
they did not understand, and in spite of the richly decked table offered
them, the colonists that had been bought with money longed for the
stables, abandoned swallows' nests, and dungheaps of their dear Ger-
many, and one fine day these immigrants, that were to pay for their
passage to America by their work, disappeared. They accepted the
hospitality of the Americans only three days, and then, on that prin-
ciple according to which every immigrant should shape his conduct,
not to depend on others, but only on himself, and stand on his own
feet, they deserted their festive boards and the charming parks, and
wended their flight to Mill creek — a creek flowing through the western
part of the city, whose banks are inhabited by German gardeners and
dairymen, where German sounds saluted their ears, and straw peeped
seductively out under stable roofs, which reminded them of their lost
homes in Germany. The speech had a familiar tone to them ; they saw
German gardens, stables, and the old manure heaps, and the posses-
sors of all these treasures, who had seen no German bird in thirty
years, perhaps, rejoiced at the arrival of their feathered guests.
Among the gardeners who mostly raise only vegetables, the sparrows
could do no harm; neither could they among the milk people; and so it
happened that the vanguard of the coming army of German birds was
welcome everywhere. Their well-known prolific tendencies were not-
lost in the hew climate. A year afterward single pairs came into the
city here and there to look about them. The report must have been
favorable, for soon they began to colonize themselves in the city, build-
ing their artless nests under the ornamental cornices of the roofs or in
holes in the walls. Bird-houses upon long poles, or upon trees in many
streets, also invited them to remain. But the sparrows did not stop at
colonizing the city, after they had become Americanized. They spread
through the whole region round about, going as far as the starch fac-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
23S
tory of Mr. A. Erkenbrecher, five miles from the city. They rightly
guessed that they would be well received there, for Mr. Erkenbrecher
is not only the man who proposed the introduction of German singing
birds here, but he is also the father of our zoological garden. He did
not deceive the confidence of the sparrows, for he immediately caused
bricks to be left .out here and there in a great factory chimney he was
building, so that the sparrows might have nesting-places. Since the
chimney is always warm, these petted sparrows breed here year in and
year out. There was no want of food, but Mr. Erkenbrecher was
at length obliged to put up wire trellises over the factory windows be-
cause these fellow-countrymen that had been received in such a friendly
manner, were soon no longer satisfied to pick their living in the streets,
but helped themselves to the best that was laid up in store. Since then
they have increased by the thousand, they are in every street in the
city, where there is always a rich feast. They have not lost their impu-
dence in the strange country; on the contrary, they appear to have
adopted the American tramp, called a ' ' loafer, " as their model, and if
possible are even more impudent than they were in their former home.
It is true, there are here in the city no cherries or grapes to steal, and
so they will always find advocates, because since their arrival there has
been no destructive visitation of caterpillars. Nevertheless our prole-
tarian has in some degree lost credit, at least among Americans who
live in their country houses in the neighborhood of the city. These
beg to be excused from suffering the German bummer to build his nest
in the richly decorated cornices of their villas and soil them all over.
Then, too, this same sparrow, that could live abundantly off the
crumbs from the rich man's table, steals the carefully cultivated cherries
and grapes. Open war has not yet been declared against him, it is
true, and the sparrow will never be exterminated from the cities, where
he does no harm, but the owners of the villas will probably make a bit-
ter fight against him, especially when they find out that young sparrows
broiled for breakfast are by no means to be despised.
CHAPTER XXV.
ART.
The history of the development of the patronage and
practice of the fine arts in Cincinnati possesses special
interest. The seeds of a splendid bloom and fruitage be-
ginning to appear to-day were planted even before the
forest of barbarism was cleared. The field of its story
has already been traversed by that intelligent inquirer,
Mr. H. A. Rattermann, editor of the German Pioneer,
from whose admirable essay on the subject' much of the
following is condensed :
The singular beauty of this region, especially at an
earlier day, when the hillsides and valleys were still
clothed in their primeval garb of forest and thicket, con-
tributed in no small degree to bring budding artists to
Cincinnati. They found here, not only the promise of a
culture which would create a demand for their works, but
of means that would enable art-lovers to gratify their
tastes. Hence the unusual number of workers in fine
art here, at a period in the city's history so early that
their presence and labors would hardly have been expect-
ed. Mr. Cist was able to write in his book of 1857:
"Cincinnati has been for many years extensively and favorably
known as the birthplace, if not the home, of a, school of artists who
may be found in various parts of Europe, to say nothing of those in
great numbers whose talents have found exercise in the various great
cities of our own republic."
The first painter in Cincinnati was George Jacob Beck,
either a German or of German stock, who came here in
a company of.scouts with Wayne's army in 1792, and was
in the campaign to the Maumee and the battle of the Fallen
Timbers. He then settled here, and remained until 1800.
It is thought that the gay decoration of General Wilkin-
son's famous barge may have been the work of this artist.
While in Cincinnati Mr. Beck married a daughter of M.
Menessier, a refugee from France in 1789 and a man of
prominence in his native land, who had settled first with
the French colony at Gallipolis, and afterwards here.
Beck's specialty was landscape painting, in which he at-
tained some eminence, placing upon canvass many of the
most beautiful scenes in this part of the Ohio Valley. He
was also a poet, doing original work, as well as transla-
tions from Greek and Latin authors. In 1800 he re-
moved to Lexington, then a more promising place than
Cincinnati, and died there in 181 2. Mrs. Beck returned
■here and opened a drawing-school for ladies at the corner
of Walnut and Third streets, which she maintained for
at least fifteen years. Specimens of the work of this gift-
ed pair are still extant, especially in Lexington.
During Beck's residence here, the place was visited,
and perhaps inhabited for a short time, by the first artist
in the Western country, Mr. William West, who emigrat-
ed to Lexington in 1788. - He was a well cultivated man,
son of the rector of St. Paul's church in Baltimore; but
did not use his gifts to much advantage, and painted few
pictures.
John Neagle (or Neagli), a Boston boy of Swiss par-
entage, who studied in Philadelphia under the celebrat-
ed painter Sully, painted in Cincinnati in the early part
of this century; but removed to Lexington, and thence re-
turned to Philadelphia in 1820. He is best known as the
painter of the popular genre picture, Pal Lyon, the Black-
smith, which has been extensively reproduced in engrav-
ing and lithography. Neagle returned to Lexington in
1844, long enough to paint a portrait of Henry Clay, up-
on a commission given him by the Whigs of Philadelphia.
A. H. Corwine, another early portrait painter here,
came from Kentucky in 181 7. His work was_so well
done that a number of leading citizens paid liberally for
it in advance, and sent him to Philadelphia to study un-
der Sully. There he improved rapidly, and painted some
excellent portraits upon his return. He afterwards went
to England, and never saw Cincinnati again, as upon
coming back he went to Philadelphia, and died there.
Among the few art-workers of 1825 here was Mr. F.
V. Peticolas, a miniature, painter, who presently saw great-
er profit or pleasure in more material pursuits, and aban-
doned the easel for the plow, establishing himself on a
farm in Clermont county.
Another early miniature painter was J. O. Gorman, who
removed to Frankfort, Kentucky, after a limited stay here.
Later Cincinnati enjoyed the artistic labors of another
of Sully's pupils, Mr. Joseph Henry Busch. He was a
native of Kentucky, born in Frankfort in 1794, of Ger-
man parentage. It is known that in 1826 Mr. Busch was
at work in a studio in the Academy of Fine Arts, then
kept by Professor Eckstein on Main street, between
Third and Fourth. Mr. Eckstein was the founder of the
academy that year. He was from Berlin, Germany, the
236
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
son of a Prussian painter of distinction, who flourished in
the time of Frederick the Great. He brought with him
many busts and other art-works, which added greatly to
the attractions of his rooms. His enterprise is thus fav-
orably noticed in Drake and Mansfield's Cincinnati in
1826:
Mr. F. Eckstein, an intelligent and highly ingenious artist of this
city, is about to commence the formation of an academy of fine arts,
on a plan well calculated to ensure success. His skill in sculpture and
taking plaister casts, his taste in painting, and his enterprising in-
dustry, will, even with a moderate amount of patronage, ensure the
permanence and respectability of the institution. Mr. Eckstein has
already a number of busts and other specimens of art, which will be
arranged as the nucleus of his establishment, so soon as suitable apart-
ments can be procured. A part of the plan embraces the delivery of
lectures in the institution, illustrative of the departments' of the arts
which properly belong to an academy of this kind.
Mrs. Trollope, in her book on the Domestic Manners
of the Americans, gives an amusing and undoubtedly
prejudiced account of this academy and its fate. She
says:
Perhaps the clearest proof of the little feeling for art that existed
at that time in Cincinnati, may be drawn from the result of an experi-
ment originated by a German, who taught drawing there. He con-
ceived the project of forming a chartered academy of fine arts; and he
succeeded in the beginning to his utmost wish, or rather "they fooled
him to the top of his bent." Three thousand dollars were subscribed
— that is to say, names were written against different sums to that
amount, a house was chosen, and finally application was made to the
Government and the charter obtained, rehearsing formally the names
of the subscribing members, the professors, and the officers. So far
did the steam of their zeal impel them, but at this point it was let off;
the affair stood still, and I never heard the academy of fine arts men-
tioned afterwards.
As already stated in effect, Eckstein's own work was
mainly in sculpture. He made portrait-busts of a num-
ber of Cincinnatians. One of his pupils became the
most famous of American sculptors — Hiram Powers. He
was a Vermont boy, brought here while still very young
by his father, and serving variously in his earlier activity
as an attendant in Langdon's reading-room on Third
street, as clerk and errand boy in a grocery store, and
finally as apprentice to Luman Watson, a clockmaker.
He forever neglected his work, and remained but a short
time in a place. Every hour which he could get from
his legitimate employments was spent in Eckstein's apart-
ments, watching with eager eyes the artistic processes
which transformed dull clay and plaster into forms of al-
most living beauty. The sculptor was pleased with the
evidences of the boy's genius, and gave him instructions
which soon developed it in the hopeful promise which
has since manifested a master to the world. He aided
young Powers to get a place as employee in Letton's
Museum, where he obtained favor by his fidelity and ar-
tistic talent, and for seven years was in charge of the
wax-works, himself making a number of the figures,
while continuing to practice under Eckstein upon clay
and marble. In 1835, now in adult manhood, he went
to Washington and sculptured a number of portrait-busts
of celebrities there. His growing fame soon prompted
the wealthiest citizen and patron of art in Cincinnati,
Mr. Nicholas Longworth, who had been among the sub-
jects of Powers' graver, to furnish means to send the
artist abroad for study and practice. Powers settled in
Florence, where he afterwards resided and made himself
and his great works known everywhere. Several of his
busts and best-known works, originals or copies, are
owned in this city — among the most beautiful of them
the two angels in marble on the altar of St. Peter's Ca-
thedral. The genesis of these works is told in the fol-
lowing story : Over twenty-five years ago Archbishop
Purcell wrote to Mr. Powers, asking what he would
charge for a pair of angels "of the usual size." Powers
replied that angels were in all sizes, little and big, and
that he was unable to determine what the archbishop
meant by "the usual size." To which the ever-ready
ecclesiastic replied : " Take the two prettiest girls of
Florence and put wings to them." The sculptor did so,
or something like it, and produced the two beautiful
figures which are now among the chief adornments of
St. Peter's, and which certainly suggest the Italian style
of female loveliness in their features, whatever Mr. Pow-
ers' models or ideals may have been.
The following commendation of the young sculptor,
written before he had yet accomplished a single work in
marble, will be read with interest. It was probably from
the pen of Judge Hall, editor of the Western Monthly
Magazine, in which it appeared April, 1835 ;
Mr. Powers would appear, from the facts which we have stated,
and a variety of others of similar import which might be added, to
possess a rare combination of intellectual and physical endowments — a
fecundity of creative power, a quickness of invention and contrivance,
a mathematical accuracy of judgment in reference to mechanical com-
binations, a peculiar facility in subjecting matter to the influence of his
mind and a readiness in acquiring the skillful use of tools. He com-
bines, in short, the genius of the inventor with the skill of the practical
artisan, and can conceive and execute with equal felicity.
We are glad that this ingenious gentleman has turned his attention
to a branch of art which is both lucrative and honorable, and in which
he stands undoubtedly without a rival. His present occupation is that
of making busts in plaster by a process of his own invention.
He is a musician by nature, and we have heard that he can imitate
sounds with the same ease and success with which he moulds the most
obdurate metallic substances or the rudest clay into graceful shapes.
But we have not room to repeat all that can be done by the admirable
genius of this distinguished artist. If any friend will suggest anything
he cannot do, we will notice it in our next.
Another famous pupil of Eckstein was Jubal Klefin-
ger, better known by his anglicized name of Shubael
Clevenger. He made his humble beginnings in 1836, in
a stone cutter's shop, in partnership with George Bassett,
on the southeast corner of Race and Seventh streets.
Here he engaged in putting ornaments on tombstones,
when his talent was favorably noticed by Mr. E. S.
Thomas, editor of the Evening Post, who, at Clevenger's
suggestion, sat to him for a bust, which was chiseled di-
rectly from freestone, without the intervention of a model.
The effort was highly successful, and brought him at
once into the public regards as a sculptor. He studied
and worked with Eckstein a few years, and then went to
Italy. He continued to give brilliant promise, but, un-
happily for the world of art, he died while upon the
ocean, on his way home in 1844.
Dr. Frederick Hall, an observant traveler from the
east, who was here in 1837, published the following
notes upon Clevenger and Powers:
This city is becoming famous as a nursery of the fine arts, or rather of
artists. A gentleman took me this morning to a small shop, where we
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
237
saw three full-length statues, nearly completed, carved out of hard
sandstone, representing three individuals with whom my conductor
was well acquainted. "They are," said he, " perfect likenesses. " The
workmanship appeared to me to be of an high order — not equal to the
Apollo de Belvidere, the Venus de Medicis, but not at all inferior to that
displayed by the untaught Scottish sculptor Thorn, in his universally
admired statues of "Tarn O'Shanter," " Souter Johnny," and the
"Landlord and Landlady" — a work which will render the name of
their author as immortal as history. This artist, like Thorn, has had no
instruction, I am told, in the use of the chisel. His own native, unbor-
rowed talent and taste led him to employ it. A few years spent in the
studios of Rome or Florence would, I think, make him one of the first
sculptors of our age. His name is Clevenger. We did not see him as
I hoped to do. He was absent.
Mr. Powers, the gentleman who attracted so much attention last
winter at Washington by his skill in moulding likenesses, is from this
town, though a native of Vermont. He is, you know, shortly to em-
bark for Italy to perfect himself in his profession. I promised to write
him a letter of introduction to our worthy friend, Mr. Cicognani, late
American consul at Rome. This promise I have this day fulfilled, and
left the letter, as he requested, with Mr. Dorfeuille, the proprietor of
the Western museum. Mr. Dorfeuille invited me to examine the vast
assemblage of curiosities, which his own individual enterprise and per-
severance had enabled him to form. Besides the thousand and one arti-
cles which are common to all museums, I was pleased to find an exten-
sive collection of Indian and other curiosities, which have been ob-
tained in the western States, many of which are full of interest for the
antiquary. I observed, too, a number of wax figures, of surpassing
beauty, formed by the hand of the sculptor, Mr. Powers, who was em-
ployed during two or three years at this establishment.
Before Powers and Clevenger, however — even before
Eckstein — the sculptor's art had been cultivated in Cin-
cinnati, in a way unknown, we suspect, in the great art
centres of the world. The rapid increase and very pros-
perous character of the business of steamboat building
created a large demand for figure-heads and other sculp-
tured, carved, and gilded ornaments. These were done
here in tasteful style, and sometimes almost with touches
of genius, by Messrs. Sims and Shepherd, whose work is
mentioned with due commendation in Drake and Mans-
field's Cincinnati in 1826. The last of these was a Penn-
sylvania German who came to the place under the name
of Schafer (afterwards anglicized into Shepherd) in 1814,
and began business as a wood-carver, the pioneer of what
has since become a great and notable thing in the Queen
City. In 1822 he executed the wooden statue of Mi-
nerva, which old citizens will remember as standing for
many years upon a column before the Western museum,
on the southwest corner of Main and Pearl streets. The
head of the statue is now in possession of the Historical
and Philosophical society. For a number of years Shep-
herd was associated with Mr. Sims, and their work, on
steamboats and elsewhere, was much admired.
About 18 1 9 Messrs. Sims and Shepherd found a rival
in William Jones, whose published card announced him
as "carver and gilder," at No. 6 West Front street; but
ten years afterwards both establishments had disappeared,
and the business was solely in the hands of Hiram Frazer,
who had in his employ a skilled German workman named
John Nicholas Adam.
One of the early painters here, about 1823, was Joseph
Kyle. He left few of his works in Cincinnati, however,
and spent most of his artistic life in New York city,
where he died a few years ago. He painted portraits
and genre, pieces.
The rendezvous of local artists in the early day was
principally the City hotel, kept by David Kautz, on the
corner of Sycamore and Lower Market streets. For
about five years, however — from 1819 to 1824 — they oc-
cupied as a sort of club room for evening reunions a
large apartment in the second story of a boarding-house
kept at No. 75 Sycamore street by Mrs. Sophia Amelung.
The following-named gentlemen are known to have been
frequenters of this place: Mr. Nathan W. Wheeler, por-
trait painter at No. 78 Broadway, corner of Lower Mar-
ket street; Edwin B. Smith, historical and portrait paint-
er, afterwards of New Orleans; A. W. Corwine and Jo-
seph Mason, portrait painters, the latter afterwards of
New Orleans; and Joseph Dorfeuille, director of the
Museum, but more famous as an archaeologist and ca-
terer for the public entertainment than as an artist or
patron of art. He was a Suabian by his nativity, and his
name was properly Dorfel, which became Dorfeuille to
conform to the then popular taste, which, perhaps in con-
sequence of Lafayette's visit, ran to names and things
French rather than German. He traveled widely in
Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land, collecting in his wan-
derings many curiosities, which he brought to this coun-
try for exhibition, uniting with them a display of Western
amphibia and of foreign and domestic birds. Letton's
Museum was already in existence when he came to Cin-
cinnati in 1823; and he was induced to combine his col-
lection with it and take the management of the whole
exhibition.
Occasional visitors to the Sycamore street club-room
were the distinguished ornithologist, Jean Jacques Audu-
bon, who made Cincinnati his base of operations for a
time; and Dr. Robert Best, the first director of the mu-
seum. The gathering-place of the artists was removed
in 1824 to the quarters of the dancing-master of Cincin-
nati in that day, Herr Philibertus Ratel, on Third street,
between Main and Walnut.
The Cincinnati Directory of 1829 makes the following
additions to the heretofore short catalogue of local art-
ists: Portrait painters — Aaron Day; Alonzo Douglass,
on Sixth streets, near Main; and Christopher Harding.
Thomas Dawson, miniature painter, 22 Main street. Sam-
uel Dickinson, decorative painter; Samuel M. Lee, land-
scape painter, Third street, between Main and Walnut;
and Michael Lant, historical painter. Messrs. Day,
Dickinson, and Lant had their studios at Kautz's City
hotel, which was still much resorted to by the gentlemen
of the brush and palette.
A notable event about this time (1828) was the open-
ing of the gallery of fine arts, by Frederick Franks. This
was situated on the southwest corner of Main and Fifth
streets, above the drug store of Allen & Sonntag. Franks
had studied at Dresden and Munich, and was a meritori-
ous artist. He belonged, however, to the school, if
school it be, of the Dutch artist known by the soubriquet
of "Hell-Breughel;" and, like him, delighted in repre-
senting imps and devils, goblins, witches, robbers and the
like. He had a picture .of his own in his gallery, deline-
ating the infernal regions; and some time after opening it
made the famous chamber of horrors whose preparation
is generally and wrongly attributed to Hiram Powers.
238
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
In this, by machinery and movable figures, demons, spir-
its, snakes, grotesque and frightful objects, and electrified
iron batteries or railing heightening the effect by giving a
shock to the visitor when touched, the infernal regions
were represented with a horrible vividness and fascina-
tion that drew large numbers to visit the unique show.
After the death of Mr. Dorfeuille, this inferno went with
Mr. Franks to the museum of which he took charge, and
was there long and successfully exhibited. It is made
the subject of further notice in our chapter on amuse-
ments.
A number of young artists, some of whom have since
become famous, received their training, in part, in Mr.
Franks' gallery. Among these were Miner K. Kellogg,
and the brothers James H. and William H. Beard, Daniel
Steele, John Tucker, William H. Powell, and the poet
painter Thomas Buchanan Read, were also of that period.
Kellogg was the son of a successful Cincinnati merchant,
and was enabled early to establish himself in Florence,
where he remained, painting chiefly genre pictures. In
this country he painted portraits of Presidents Van Buren,
Polk, and Jackson, Chief Justice Taney, Generals Scott
and Worth, and many other dignitaries. At Constanti-
nople, some time before his death, he executed a full
length portrait of Reschid Pasha, the Grand Vizier, which
so gratified the eminent Turk that he presented the artist,
in addition to a good price for his picture, a superb gold
cup, studded with diamonds.
The Beards profited, by the instruction of Franken-
stein as well as the opportunities of the art gallery.
They became portrait-painters of note, but likewise com-
posed genre pieces of much beauty and excellence.
William H. Beard has become very celebrated, especially
as an animal painter; and many of his pieces are well
known in Cincinnati. Over thirty-five years ago Miss
Harriet Martineau thus wrote of one of the brothers,
probably him, in her Retrospect of Western Travel :
We next went to the painting-room of a young artist, Mr. Beard,
whose works pleased me more than that of any other American artist.
When I heard his story and saw what he had already achieved, I could
not doubt that, if he lived, he would run a noble career. The chief
doubt was about his health, the doubt which hangs over the destiny of
almost every individual of eminent promise in America. Two years
before I saw him Beard had been painting portraits at a dollar a head
in the interior of Ohio ; and it was only a year since he suddenly and
accidentally struck into the line in which he will probably show himself
the Flamingo of the New World. It was just a year since he had be-
gun to paint children. He had then never been out of his native State.
He was born in the interior, where he began to paint without having
ever seen a picture, except the daubs of itinerant artists. He married
at nineteen, and came to Cincinnati, with wife, child, an empty purse,
a head full of admiration of himself, and a heart full of confidence in
this admiration being shared by all the inhabitants of this city. He
had nothing to show, however, which could sanction his high claims,
for his portraits were very bad. When he was in extreme poverty, he
and his family were living, or rather starving in one room, at whose open
window he put up some of his pictures to attract the notice of passen-
gers. A wealthy merchant, Mr. G., and a gentleman with him,
stopped and made their remarks to each other, Mr. G. observing, 'The
fellow has talent, after all.' Beard was sitting behind his pictures,
heard the remark, and knew the voice. He was enraged. Mr. G.
visited him, with a desire to encourage and assist him ; but the angry
artist long resisted all attempts to pacify him. At his first attempt to
paint a child, soon after, all his genius shone forth, to the astonish-
ment of every one but himself. He has proved to be one of the privi-
leged order who grow gentle, if not modest, under appreciation ; he
forgave Mr. G., and painted several pictures for him. A few wealthy
citizens were desirous of sending him to Italy to study. His reply to
every mention of the subject is, that he means to go to Italy, but that
he shall work his own way there. In order to see how he liked the
world, he paid a visit to Boston while I was there, intending to stay
some time. From a carriage window I saw him in the street, stalking
along like a chief among inferiors, his broad white collar laid over his
coat, his throat bare, and his hair parted in the middle of his forehead,
and waving down the sides of his face. People turned to look after
him. He stayed only a fortnight, and went back to Ohio expressing
great contempt for cities. This was the last I heard of him.
J. R. Johnston was also one of Franks' pupils, and
shared his master's taste for the grotesque and horrible.
Two of his best historical pieces, "Starved Rock," rep-
resenting the scene of a terrible legend of the Upper
Illinois river, near Ottawa, and "The Mouth of Bad Axe
River, " are still owned in the city.
In 1833 the celebrated historical painter, W. H.
Powell, began his career in Cincinnati, which was subse-
quently pursued with great distinction in Washington
city, Paris, and other places at home and abroad. In
this city he painted portraits, fancy and historical pieces;
but gradually developed a specialty for the last, which
chiefly won him renown as the first painter in that de-
partment in America. His first historical piece was
"Salvator Rosa among the Brigands." Another, repre-
senting " Columbus before the Council at Salamanca, "
was exhibited at Washington in 1847, and with sucn suc-
cess as to secure Mr. Powell a commission from Con-
gress, against more than sixty competitors, by a unani-
mous vote of the senate and over six to one in the
lower branch, to paint an historical picture in the sole
panel of the rotunda of the capital then remaining
vacant. He chose the subject, "De Soto discovering the
Mississippi;'' his conception of which may be studied at
leisure by visitors to the capitol. Other pieces of the
kind of Mr. Powell's production are the "Burial of De
Soto," and the "Signing of the Constitution by the Pil-
grims on board the Mayflower." His "Battle of Lake
Erie," in the rotunda of the capitol at Columbus, is
much admired. Some notable portraits of his are also
extant, as one of Lamartine, painted for the Maryland
Historical society, and two of John Quincy Adams, one
of which was presented to the Cincinnati observatory, in
recognition of the services rendered by "the old man
eloquent" in founding that institution.
Read has attained unto fame rather as a poet than an
artist, and his later life, which has been spent mostly in
Rome, has not fulfilled the promise of his youth in giving
life and beauty to canvas. Still, his work is very pleas-
antly remembered, and such of it as remains in Cincin-
nati is still shown with much interest.
Among the toilers in art here during the decade
1830-40, may be mentioned Thomas Tuttle, a portrait
painter and one of West's pupils, who commenced his
career in 1830; Sidney S. Lyon, here in 1836, but
afterwards of Louisville, a portrait and landscape painter;
E. Hall Martin, marine painter, who went in 185 1 to
California, leaving many of his first pieces here; Augus-
tus Rostaing, 1835, carver of cameo likenesses and ideal
heads upon shell, who returned to France, his native
land, and resided in Paris; Frederick Berbrecht, a Prus-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO
239
sian landscape and historical painter, and producer of
the altar pieces burned with the Trinity Catholic church
in 1852; George Henry Shaffer; Thomas Campbell,
1840, miniature painter; W. P. Brannan, landscape and
genre painter; A. Baldwin, marine scenes principally; T
Witheridge, afterwards of Dusseldorf, where he painted
"The Poachers," which was much reproduced in litho-
graphy; John Cranch, of New York subsequently,
painter; and John Airy, an English sculptor, who made
the Gano monument, now in Spring Grove cemetery.
Airy is said to have possessed a fair ameunt of genius
and a rich fancy, coupled with genuine devotion to art;
but he suffered from the weakness of appetite, which
took him prematurely out of the world.
Other early Cincinnati sculptors were Christopher C.
Brackett, a name, as associated with Boston, of very con-
siderable renown; H. K. Brown, who went to Brooklyn
and achieved eminence; John L. Whetstone, after-
wards a well-known civil engineer; and Nathan F.
Baker, sculptor of "Egeria" and of the "Cincinnatus"
which may still be discerned through the grime and soot
on the front of the Baker building on Fourth street,
between Main and Walnut. Though he long since
abandoned the chisel, he is still an enthusiastic lover
and patron of fine art.
Eastman Johnson, one of the most successful and dis-
tinguished of American artists, had his studio for a time
in Cincinnati, in the Bacon building, at the corner of
Walnut and Sixth streets. He had more of the sensitive
high-art feeling than most of his professional brethren;
and, although his circumstances then presented a striking
contrast to the wealth and ease of his later years, so much
so that at times he could not pay his board-bills, he de-
clined to lower his customary rates for a portrait — seventy-
five dollars, which was rather high for that time. Mr.
Ratterman relates the following anecdote by way of excep-
tion:
"A widow came one day to Johnson, asking him to
paint the portrait of her only son, a lad of four years.
She had lost her husband without retaining his picture;
and, as the boy had the features of his father, she could
not bear to think that- she might also lose the boy with-
out his portrait, and thus be deprived of all recollection
of her deceased husband. But she had only forty dol-
lars. It was all she possessed, and the art of photograph-
ing was not yet invented. Not even was there a daguer-
reotypist in those days in Cincinnati. So she offered to
Johnson these last forty dollars, if he would paint the
picture of her boy. Mr. Johnson, however, refused to
take less than seventy-five dollars for painting it, and the
widow left in despair. A week or so later, however, he
was unable to pay his board and lodging, and was turned
out on the street by his landlady. He obtained a new
boarding-house, upon Mr. Wiswell going security for him.
Two weeks later Johnson asked Wiswell if he knew the
lady who wanted the portrait of her boy painted. He
had reconsidered his determination, and would paint the
portrait for the forty dollars. The widow was found, the
portrait of the child painted; and a beautiful picture it
was, indeed. The picture was exhibited in Wiswell's,
and was admired by every one seeing it, which brought
to Johnson more work than he could make."
While here, Mr. Johnson painted portraits of Edmund
Dexter, George Selves, and many other prominent citi-
zens. He afterwards gave his energies mainly to genre
painting, in which, as well as other departments of the
art, he has achieved great distinction.
The transition period of art in Cincinnati, from the
earlier to the later time, is considered to be that of the
Frankenstein family — four brothers and one sister — all of
them eccentric personages, and two of them, John P. and
Godfrey N. Frankenstein, artists of no little merit. The
latter was a landscape painter of note in his day, copying
directly from nature, and exhibiting marked originality in
his treatment of themes. He painted many portraits ;
among them those of Abbott Lawrence, Charles Francis
Adams, George Ticknor, and other famous Bostonians.
He was the tutor in art of the more distinguished William
Sonntag, son of a German chemist who was junior mem-
ber of the firm of Allen & Sonntag, dealers in drugs and
medicines. Mr. Ratterman says :
When Sonntag began to paint his pictures, they were so novel in
their conception and rich in coloring, though less delicate i.n their exe-
cution, that they at once became the rage. Everybody wanted to have
a. " Sonntag, " and Sonntag was not disinclined to please everybody;
so he painted away, and every two or three days brought forth from his
fruitful easel a new landscape, and into his pocket a new treasure of
fifty, seventy-five, or a hundred dollars — and all sides appeared for
awhile satisfied. Soon, however, it was ascertained that Sonntag's
pictures were not at all scarce, but as plenty as blackberries; and the
parties that had measured the value of a picture according to the com-
parative scarcity of them, not in the point of real merit, became dissat-
isfied, and the So'nntag rage subsided.
But after this mania for his pictures had passed, Sonn-
tag became so poor that he lived for a time upon the
charity of his friends, who finally made a collection to
purchase the railroad ticket with which he went away. In
New York afterwards he became very popular, and
amassed wealth by his busy labors.
Godfrey Frankenstein was a sculptor as well as painter,
and made the portrait bust of Judge McLean, which still
stands in the United States district court-room in Cincin-
nati. The other brothers, Francis and George, also tried
their hand in painting, but did not attain the celebrity of
John and Godfrey. Tradition says that their early ten-
tative efforts were expended in 1828, upon a series of
painted tablets for Jacob Reiss' pleasure-garden. Miss
Frankenstein was also something of an artist, but is bet-
ter remembered as the first teacher of the German de-
partment in the Cincinnati public schools. The Frank-
enstein family went finally to Springfield, Ohio, where
they now reside.
A second Cincinnati academy of fine arts was founded
October 18, 1838, by a number of young men, "in order
that by their union they might obtain greater facilities for
improvement in the various branches of the fine arts."
Godfrey Frankenstein was its first president, and John L.
Whetstone, the sculptor, first secretary. The next year
they opened an art exhibition, the first of the kind ever
made in the west, at the Mechanics' institute. It com-
prised about one hundred and fifty works, by both foreign
and native artists; and though it realized nothing byway
240
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of pecuniary profit, it served an admirable purpose in
stimulating the aesthetic and artistic sentiment here, and
preparing the way for better things in the future.
It is held by local authorities on art history that its
golden age in this city was the decade 1840-50. Mr.
Ratterman relates :
During this period art evinced more life, more vitality, more self-reli-
ance, in Cincinnati than at any other period. After 1850 it sank lower
and lower. Not that the city then ceased to produce artists of genius.
On the contrary, it raised in modern days more than ever, and compar-
atively more and greater ones than any other American municipality,
not excepting the "Hub of the universe." It is no bombastic puffery
if we make this assertion. Our city was generally the starting point of
American artists. We gave them birth and nourishment in thir infancy;
and when our artists were grown to manhood, then the east would come
to woo and wed them, and boast of them as their own.
The Academy of fine arts, brief as was its existence,
did much to inaugurate this era. It was short-lived ; and
another effort was made in behalf of art culture, by the
establishment of a department of the fine arts in the new
Cincinnati Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowl-
edge. Provision was made for it in the courses of lectures
delivered before that body and the public; and the dis-
quisitions upon various topics of art by James H. Beard,
E. P. and John Cranch, and others, are remembered as
foreshadowing a brilliant future for aesthetic growth in the
Queen City. This society too, however, was doomed to
extinction, and the materialistic view taken of art by the
average Cincinnatian of that day is probably well set
forth by Mr. John P. Foote, in a remark in his book on
the Schools of Cincinnati. Says Mr. Foote:
After the extinction of two academies and one section of fine arts,
most of those who had been active in efforts for their encouragement
and promotion thought best to let art stand upon its own feet and be
governed by the laws of trade or of taste — and flourish or fade accord-
ing to those laws.
In 1846 the establishment of the American art union
in New York city led to the founding of the Western art
union in Cincinnati. Its headquarters were at the cor-
ner of Fourth and Sycamore streets. Mr. Stetson was
president of the union, and Messrs. E. S. Haines, Mar-
chant, Baldwin the artist, and others, lent their energies to
keep it in life for a fev/ years; but it had not the elements
of permanence, and expired soon after its New York
prototype. While it lasted, however, it exerted a health-
ful and hopeful influence, and scattered many excellent
works of art through the city and more or less over the
west and south.
Following this was a scheme for a national portrait
gallery, toward which a purchase was made of Rembrandt
Peak's well-known collection of portraits of heroes of the
revolution, then forming part of Peak's museum in Phil-
adelphia. Many other appropriate pictures were bought,
and placed in a gallery, which was opened for public ex-
hibition. This enterprise, contrary to . expectation, was
shorter lived than the art societies. The paintings
strangely but surely disappeared, and the Cincinnati
national portrait gallery soon passed into history.
Still later, in 1855, organized effort in behalf of art
took the form of a ladies' gallery of the fine arts, which
was projected by Mrs. Peter. Its plan was to secure for
exhibition copies of famous works by the old masters —
copies made by artists whose reputation would alone be
a sufficient guarantee of their authenticity. The ener-
getic projector of the scheme made two voyages to
Europe in its interest; but she did not meet with suffi-
cient co-operation and encouragement otherwise to war-
rant the consummation of the undertaking. No special
associated endeavors have since been made here to aid
fine art. A very excellent school of design has been
maintained in connection with the Mechanics' institute,
and receives due notice in our history of that institution.
A school of art .and design, with instructors in the sev-
eral branches -of sculpture, carving, drawing and per-
spective, decorative design and water-color painting, also
exists as a department of the Cincinnati university, with
rooms in the College building, on Walnut street. It was
founded in 1868, and has already done a good work, as
is shown by the facts set forth in our outline history of
the university.
Recurring to the golden age, it may be mentioned that
Mr. Charles Souk, the oldest artist in the city by contin-
uous residence and work, set up his easel here during
that period, in 1841, at No. 83 West Seventh street.
The full-length portrait of Josiah Lawrence, in the Mer-
chants' exchange, and many other well-known portraits,
are among his works. Miss Clara Souk, his daughter,
was also a meritorious artist, painting flower and fruit
pieces, as well as portraitts.
Mrs. Lily Martin Spencer, who achieved considerable
though perhaps but temporary fame, was a favorite in this
city for some years. She furnished a number of the best
paintings distributed by the Art union, as well as some
popular subjects for engraving. Her specialty was Shake-
spearian delineation, and her King Lear, Ophelia, Romeo
and Juliet, and others, added materially to her fame.
The latter part of her career was in New York city.
J. Insco Williams dated here from 1842. His histori-
cal pieces were very favorably received, and his elaborate
Panorama of the Bible, which was burned in 1851 or
1852, was publicly exhibited with some success.
Other well-remembered artists of or about this decade
were B. M. McConkey, 1844, afterwards a student of the
Dusseldorf school; William Walcutt, 1844, subsequently
of New York, painter of "The Battle of Monmouth;"
Herrmann M. Groenland, also of 1844 and still a resi-
dent of the city, a singer as well as artist, who receives
due notice in our history of music in Cincinnati; J. C.
Wolf, painter of allegorical and historical pictures, whose
"Joseph and Potiphar's Wife" was long among the adorn-
ments of the St. Charles exchange; J. O. Eaton, 1846,
since of &ew York city, and one of the most famous por-
trait painters in the land; A. H. Hammill, 1847, and
continuously here since, except for a short time at Waynes-
vilk, Ohio, painter of animals and birds; and Gerhard
Mueller and Henry Koempel, historical painters. Mueller
had been a student at Munich, and came here in 1839 or
1840, occupying a studio in an old frame building where
the Debolt exchange was subsequently built. Some of
his works are to be seen in St. Mary's, St. Joseph's and
other Catholic churches of this city. William, his son,
who changed his name to Miller, was a meritorious paint-
er of miniatures. Mr. Koempel began his labors in 1848,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
241
and won -but small renown. An attempted adaptation of
Guido's St. Michael, by Koempel, is in existence as the
altar-piece of St. Michael's church, in the Twenty-first
"ward.
About 1840 came another Catholic artist, a Suabian,
in the person of Michael Muckle the sculptor. He had
a specialty of saints and crucifixions, and made so many
of the latter as to obtain among the Germans the sobri-
quet of "Herrgott-schmitzes," or the crucifix carver.
C. E. Gidland, another of Cincinnati's veteran artists,
also dates from this decade, and keeps his studio still at
No. 8 East Fourth street. Mr. Ratterman says: "He is
of a very eccentric nature; yet his pictures are full of
vivacity and, though sometimes roughly sketched, of
striking color effect."
Another veteran of the golden age, but in a different
walk of art, was Mr. T. D. Jones, the sculptor, who is be-
lieved to have made more portrait busts than any other
artist in the country. Among his subjects were Clay,
Cass, Corwin, Chase, and other notabilities whose
names do not begin with C. He modeled the fine figure
in bronze of the Soldier on Guard, which adorns the sol-
diers' lot in Spring Grove cemetery.
Mr. Cist also names, as portrait and landscape painters
in Cincinnati before 1851, Messrs. C. R. Edwards, Jacob
Cox (afterwards of Indianapolis), D. B. Walcutt, the
brothers C. J. and Jesse Hulse, C. S. Spinning, George
W. Philipps, P. McCreight, Ralph Butts, A. P. Bonte,
George W. White, Jacob H. Sloop, and Miss S. Gengem-
bre; none of whom attained distinguished honors.
The only colored artist of note Cincinnati has pro-
duced is R. S. Duncanson, who opened his studio here
in 1843. He was presently taken up by the Anti-slavery
league, which saw in him a valuable piece of testimony
against the assertion that the colored people are devoid
of genius, and was aided by the society to go to Europe,
where he resided for a time in Edinburgh. His talent was
versatile, enabling him to turn out at will portraits, land-
scapes, fruit, flower, or genre pieces, or even histori-
cal pictures. He painted the portraits of Charles
Sumner, James G. Birney, and other anti-slavery agitators.
In the higher walk of the art his principal pieces are:
"The Trial of Shakspere," "Shylock and Jessica," "The
Ruins of Carthage," "The Western Hunter's Encamp-
ment," etc.
The painters of the later and present days in Cincin-
nati are mostly portrait painters. Among them have been,
or are: John Aubrey, Dwight Benton, Anthony Biester,
A. Gianini, E. D. Grafton (a painter in water-colors), Her-
man Goldsticke (removed to Quincy, Illinois), R. H.
Hammond, J. A. Knapp, T. C. Lindsay, Israel Quick,
Mary W. Richardson, Alexander Roeschke, Charles Rossi,
Louis Schwebel, Raphael Strauss, Will P. Noble, Ru-
dolph Tschudi, Michael Lendouski, T. C. Webber, Henry
Mosler, Frank Duveneck, and others.
The first named of these, Aubery, has done something
in historical as well as portrait painting. His "Gloria in
Excelsis Deo," "Prometheus," "Charon," and "Eve's
Daughters," are warmly praised. He was the painter of
the altar-piece in the Church of the Holy Trinity, in this
city, burned a number of years ago. Mr. A. has been a
painter in Cincinnati for nearly a generation, and his
works are almost countless.
Mr. Webber has also painted in the historical field — as
"Rip Van Winkle" and "The Rescue," the latter of'which
has been numerously reproduced in chromo-lithograph.
A number of Mosler's miscellaneous pieces have been
similarly copied and widely scattered — his "Lost Cause,"
"Found," "Asking a Blessing," etc. His "Preparing for
Sunday" is considered one of his best pieces. Mr. Benton
lias likewise some pictures outside the line of portrait-paint-
ing, as, "Evening," "Morning," and "The Wood-Path."
Duveneck is the most widely celebrated of Cincinnati
artists. He is a native of Covington, of an old German
family there, born in 1848. While still a boy he exhib-
ited signs of talent, and at thirteen became the pupil of
Schmidt, in Covington, with whom he remained for six
years, during which he traveled much over the United
States and the Canadas, painting saints and angels in the
Catholic churches. Among his figures was a Madonna,
which had such marked and original characteristics that
it attracted great attention to his work, and materially
aided him in procuring the means for study in Europe.
At nineteen he reached Munich, where the new school
of Dietz was just rising into prominence. Duveneck
joined himself to it, in full sympathy with its vigorous color
and realistic tendencies; and soon won a place among
his seniors by his delicate and able treatment of study-
heads. He here made a strong portrait of a classmate,
since Professor Loefftz, which is owned by Mr. Herrman
Goepper, in this city. His later "Circassian" is consid-
ered among the masterpieces in the Boston, Museum, and,
either by accident or intention, appears first on the cata-
logue. It is related of this that it could not secure a
purchaser in Cincinnati at any price, but that a friend of
Duveneck's finally took it at fifty dollars, carried it to an
art exhibition in Boston, and easily sold'it there for eight
hundred dollars ! The graceful genii which beautify the
ceiling of the Grand Opera House are also the work of
Duveneck's facile brush. He spent ten years in this city,
but was comparatively unappreciated, and reaped small
pecuniary reward from his labors; he then returned to
Europe. One of his pupils, also a graduate of the School
of Design, Mr. Alfred T. Brannan, remains. A praised
picture of his — "A Garden Scene in Portugal" — is the
property of Mr. A. Gunnison, of Glendale.
Henry F. Farny employs his talents principally and
profitably in designing the pictures for school books, a
department of art which he has almost revolutionized.
He has made several visits to the Indian tribes to study
their dress and manners, for the purposes of his work.
His picture of "The Fugitives" has a history somewhat
similar to that of Duveneck's "Circassian," in that it
found no purchaser here at anything like its value, but
was finally sold at the nominal price of forty dollars,
taken to New York and sold for five times as much.
Of late Mr. Farny's work in the beautiful and striking
illustration of Professor W. H. Venable's well-known
poem, "The Teacher's Dream," published as a holiday
gift book for 1880, has attracted much attention.
31
242
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
William Lamprecht, an historical painter of considera-
ble celebrity, resided for some time in Cincinnati, but did
not meet the encouragement he seemed to deserve.
Among his best known pieces are "Fen wick, the Apostle
of Ohio," a portrait of the first bishop of Cincinnati, with
an effective landscape and fitting surroundings; "Mar-
quette Discovering the Mississippi," and "The Crowning
of St. Mary's," which is in St. Mary's church, in this city.
He worked for a time here in company with Lang, who
made a specialty of architectonic painting, and left speci-
mens of his art in St. Ludwig's church. He too went
away, returning to his Fatherland.
Others who attempted to make an artist home in Cin-
cinnati, but finally settled elsewhere, include Philip Wal-
ter, a miniature painter and also a talented musician,
conductor of the Cincinnati Ssengerfest of 1870, now
of Baltimore; Kemper, of Philadelphia; and young Den-
nis, of Antwerp, in Belgium.
Professor Thomas S. Noble, painter of the "Hidden
Nemesis" and "Forgiven," is principal of the School of
Design, a department of the university of Cincinnati.
Among the home artists, amateur and professional,
whose works have figured of recent years at the exposi-
tions and in the windows of art stores, are Mrs. H. James,
with fruits, flowers, and birds; Mary Spencer, flowers;
Mary E. Snowden, portraits ; Colonel George Ward Nich-
ols, president of the College of Music; Mr. Landon Long-
worth; Claude R. Hirst, devotional pictures; Gustave
and Joseph Malchus; George Sharpless and J. R. Tait,
landscapes; Joseph Turanjou and W. W. Woodward, pu-
pils of Gerome; J. H. Twachtman, landscapes; and Hi-
ram Wright, game and fruit pieces.
The sculptors of Cincinnati, besides those already men-
tioned, have not been numerous, but talented in propor-
tion to their rarity. Charles Bullitt was a French artist,
who set up his studio at the corner of Fourth and Elm
streets, chiefly for the sculpture of portrait-busts and me-
dallions. He went to New Orleans a little before the
war of the Rebellion broke out.
About the same time Signor G. Fazzia, an Italian, was
here modeling portraits and statuary in clay and plaster.
M. Ezekiel was a young sculptor for a time in this
city, who chiseled, among other work, the Hebrew monu-
ment in Washington city, said to be the largest piece of
marble statuary in the country. He has been in Rome
for a number of years.
August Mundhenk,'ayoung artist, exhibited his "Auld
Lang Syne" with credit at the Centennial Exposition.
Himself and partner, Herr Konrad Hoffman, both found-
ers of theMunich 'Art School, introduced ^the zinc-cast
statuary into the city, of which the copy of Kiss's Ama-
zon and the griffins in front of the building of the Ama-
zon Insurance company, on Vine street, are fair speci-
mens.
Frederick and Henry Schroeder, brothers, are sculptors
in wood, working mainly upon altars and pulpit orna-
ments_for the churches. Herman Allard, a pupil of
Achterman at Minster, labors'jn'the same work of art.
His more famous pieces are: "The Death of St. Joseph,"
"Germania, the Protectress of Art and Science," and a
life-size statue of an Indian in his war-dress. He was
also the sculptor of the statue of St. Paul, heroic size, ex-
hibited at the Exposition of 1873. Mr. Joseph Libbel, a
student and comrade with Allard, produced "Always my
Luck," which took a premium at one of the exhibitions
of the School of Design; also "Asleep," "Caught," and
other pieces of statuary.
Signor Louis T. Rebisso, teacher of sculpture at the
University School of Design, and modeler of the eques-
trian statue of General McPherson at Washington city;
Charles L. Fettweis, jr., a native of Cincinnati, afterwards
a student at Rome, and sculptor of "The Castaway," or
"Wrecked," "The Italian Shepherd Boy," "Germania,"
the colossal statue adorning the building of the German
Mutual Insurance company on the corner of Twelfth and
Walnut streets, and the bust of General R. L. McCook in
Washington Park; Francis X. Dengler — "the poet among
our artists," says Mr. Ratterman, "where the others are
but simple prose-writers" — sculptor of "Imelda and
Azzo," "Blind," and "Damroschen," which, the last-
named, won a gold medal at the Art Academy of Munich,
while the first was pronounced by Lamprecht the greatest
work of American art — now professor at the Boston Art
Museum; with Mrs. Wilson, of Walnut Hills, modeler of
a large piece of statuary cut in marble at Rome for Lane
Seminary, are other honored names in the later roll of
Cincinnati sculptors.
THE ART FOUNDRY.
Within a few months a notable impetus has been given
to this department by the establishment of the Cincin-
nati Art Foundry, at No. 21 Hunt street. The partners
in this enterprise are all o'f foreign birth — Louis T. Re-
bisso, of the Art School; August Mundhenk; and Con-
rad Walther, who was of the famous royal foundry at
Munich, and came with the Tyler-Davidson fountain to
this city to aid in setting it up, afterwards returning to
settle here. They are undertaking ^rt-works in marble or
any kind of metal; as fountains, monuments, reliefs,
statues, groups, etc. Among the works already executed
or in process of excution are the heroic statue of Gen-
eral McPherson, designed by Rebisso, and the Odd Fel-
lows' monument, in Spring Grove Cemetery, executed at
a cost of twenty thousand dollars. The studio and shops
of these gentlemen are now among the most interesting
features of fine art in the Queen City.
ARCHITECTURE.
This is now distinctly recognized as one of the fine
arts; and, notwithstanding the plainness of many of the
earlier buildings yet standing, there are enough of the
higher order to illustrate the development of this branch
of art in the Queen City. It was long after Losantiville,
however, before the primitive log cabin or the rude frame
building formed of boat-boards or the product of the
early saw-mills gave way to more ornamental and taste-
ful structures. Until about 1800 the log cabin was still
the type of the Cincinnati building; then the plain frame
house became common; and finally, with the general ad-
vent of brick and stone, a better era of architecture set
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
243
in. In the enumeration of the buildings of the town,
made 1815, less than two per cent, of them were found
to be of stone and but about twenty-three per cent, of
brick. The number of brick and stone buildings had
increased by 181 9, the year the city government was
instituted, to four hundred and thirty-two, or about two-
ninths of the whole number; and in 1826 to nine hun-
dred and fifty-four, or three-eighths of all. The Germans
inclined specially to the brick house, from the accus-
tomed weight and solidity of their buildings in the Father-
land. In many cases, it is said, the buildings of Cincin-
nati's first half-century were erected not only without the
aid of an architect, but without building-plans or designs
of any kind in a formal draft; and when they were first
introduced, they were rudely drawn by the builder upon
a smooth board or a shingle, and not elaborately, as now,
on draughting paper. Even the pioneer public buildings,
as the First Presbyterian church, erected in 1792, were
put up without plans and specifications. The second
church built by the same society about 181 3, was still
very plain, but of brick, had two spires of the utmost
simplicity, and was otherwise almost wholly devoid of
ornament. It is not until 1824, in the Directory of that
year, that mention is made of an architect by profession
— Mr. Michael Scott, an Irishman by birth, and until
that year, or thereabouts, a house carpenter. In the
spring of 1825 he designed the plans of the old St. Peter's
cathedral on Sycamore street, on the site now occupied
by St. Xavier's church. A picture of this may be seen
in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio and in the sin-
gle volume of the Monthly Chronicle, published by the
late E. D. Mansfield, in 1839.
No successor or rival to Scott appeared until 1834, by
which time the pioneer architect was dead. Then came
Seneca Palmer, from Albany, who was the architect of
the original Lane seminary buildings, of which the chapel,
with its Doric front and colonnade of pillars, is the most
marked remain. He also designed the building for the
Western Baptist Theological seminary in Covington, and it
is believed also the Lafayette bank building on Third street.
Some of his best plans are undoubtedly to be attribu-
ted to a superior German architect, Mr. John Jolasse, who
was in his employ. They were kept to reasonable plain-
ness, however, by the comparative poverty of house-own-
ers at that time, as well as the incipiency of taste for
ornamentation in architecture. Sometimes, in the effort
at display, a comical mixture of styles occurred, as Doric
or Ionic mouldings upon a Gothic window, or a Tuscan
column surmounted b'y a Corinthian capital. It is said
the old Trust company's building, at the corner of Third
street, had a colonnade of Doric pillars with Ionic capi-
tals. The most hideous example, however, long remained
in the well-known "Trollope's Folly," or Bazaar building,
on Third street, west of Broadway. It was erected in
1829-30, and presented a most absurd commixture of Ori-
ental and Occidental styles, of which endless fun was made
by the English tourists who since visited it, as well as
by the citizens of the community it afflicted. Its archi-
tect is said to have been the painter Hervieu, a French-
man who came with Mrs. Trollope, and was the designer
of the caricatures upon American manners in her book,
as well as decorator of her building and painter of a large
picture of Lafayette's Landing at Cincinnati.
Francis Ignatz Erd, designer of the plans for St. Mary's
Catholic Church, on Thirteenth street, was another of the
early architects ; also Henry Walter, who is mentioned
first in the directory of 1842, but who was long before
that designer, in the Greco-Doric style, of the old Second
Presbyterian Church on Fourth street, where now the
splendid warehouse of the Mitchell & Rammelsberg
Furniture Company stands, and of St. Peter's Cathedral,
on the corner of Ninth and Plum streets, which has been
so much admired for more than forty years, notwithstand-
ing its incongruities of architecture ; also of the House
of Refuge, in the Norman-Gothic style, a truly splendid
edifice. Mr. Walter died shortly after its commence-
ment, and the work was then entrusted to his partner,
Mr. Joseph W. Thwaites, and his son, William Walter.
The latter, afterwards in association with James K. Wil-
son, has long been a prominent architect here.
The burning of the old Shires' Garden Theatre, on
the corner of Third and Vine streets, in 1847, and the
projecting of the Burnet House by a company of local
capitalists, brought to the city Mr. Isaiah Rogers, one of
the most famous architects in the west until his lamented
death. He was designer of the noble structure named,
which was a marvel of hotel architecture in those days,
and is still unsurpassed by its kind in the city. The
Lunatic Asylum at Longview, likewise designed by
Rogers, embodies the same ideas as the Burnet House,
but on a larger scale.
After the coming of Rogers and the impetus given by
increasing taste and prosperity to beautiful architecture,
the gentlemen of the profession rapidly multiplied. In
iS^ are noted, as architects here, Messrs. B. L. W,
Kelley, Robert A. Love, James O. Sawyer, George W.
Stevenson, and James K. Wilson ; in 1850, Joseph J.
Husband; 1851, John Bast; r8s3, J. R. Hamilton, J.
B. Earnshaw, Joseph Gottle, Otto G. Leopold, James
McClure, Robert Haines, William H. Bayless, Hudson
B. Curtiss, William Tinsley & Son, E. C. Schultz, and
Stephen Reddick ; Charles B. Boyle, Adrian Hagemann,
and William S. Rosecrans (since known to the world as
the Union general and now Congressman), in 1855 ;
James W. McLaughlin, Edwin A. Anderson, Carl Victor
Bechmann, and Samuel Hannaford, in 1858; Anthony
& Louis Piket, father and son, and Georg Willmer,
1859 ; Charles P. Dwyer, John Mierenfield, and Francis
W. Moore, in 1863; and so on down in rapidly increas-
ing numbers. The principal buildings designed by these
are the Hughes High School, Norman-Gothic, by Earn-
shaw; the Woodward High School, English-Gothic, by
Hamilton; St. Peter's German Protestant Church, by
Louis Piket ; the magnificent St. Xavier's Church, Ger-
man-Gothic, and the St. Xavier College, by Anthony
Piket; and some others, including the present First
Presbyterian Church, the Mechanics' Institute and Medi-
cal College buildings, the Court House, etc.
The heavier Grecian and Roman styles of architecture
have long been out of fashion in Cincinnati, and have
244
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
been superseded by the more picturesque orders. The
elegant post office building, on the corner of Vine and
Fourth, is about the last example of the old styles that
was erected here. The later Byzantine style is well rep-
resented in the Masonic temple, St. Francis' (Catholic)
church, and the depot of the Cincinnati, Hamilton &
Dayton railroad. All of these were designed by James
W. McLaughlin. Other fine specimens ars the St. Geor-
gius church, on Calhoun street, and the Catholic Insti-
tute building, now the Grand Opera House. The Italian
or Renaissance style appears in the great Government
building on Fifth street, designed by the Government
architect, Mr. A. B. Mullett; the Johnston building, by
McLaughlin; the Cincinnati hospital, by A. C. Nash;
the German Mutual Insurance company's building, by
John Bast; the old Music Hall, by Sigmund Kutznitzki;
Robinson's and Pike's opera houses, the Grand hotel, the
Gibson house, the Public library, the hilltop resorts known
as Bellevue and the Highland house, the Arcade, the
Carlisle, Mitchell, Sinton, Halbert, Simon & Thurnauer
blocks, and many others of more or less recent construc-
tion. Several of these combine sculptural with archi-
tectural art in their external effects. It is said that the
first piece of statuary applied to a building front in the
city is that on the Baker building, Fourth street, between
Main and Walnut — a life-sized statue of Cincinnatus, by
Nathan F Baker.
The Moresque style of architecture is superbly repre-
sented here by the two Jewish temples — the synagogue
of the Children of Israel and that of the Benai Jeshurun.
Mr. Samuel Hannaford designed several buildings,
among the more notable structures of Cincinnati's later
day, which it is difficult to classify, except as of his
design. Such are the city workhouse, the present Music
Hall, and the Longworth and Bell buildings on Central
avenue.
THE SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN.
The history of this institution, a department of the
Cincinnati university and the first to be founded, has al-
ready been outlined in our chapter on education. It now
comprises not only the School of Art and Design proper,
opened January 4, 1869, but also the Wood-carving
school, started under Benn Pitman in 1873, and the de-
partment of sculpture, organized by Professor Rebisso in
1875. The former was the first school ever established
for the instruction of women in artistic wood-carving.
Some of the admirable work done by its young-lady
students may be seen upon the carved screen in front of
the great organ in Music hall. This work was a labor of
love for those engaged upon it, and is justly reckoned
very elegant and tasteful. An exhibition of the work of
the school made at the Centennial fair in Philadelphia,
in the Women's pavilion, excited much attention, and
won the award of three medals. It success has led di-
rectly to the establishment of similar schools in St. Louis,
Wheeling, Rochester, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Sheffield,
England. The Hon. Samuel F. Hunt, president of the
board of directors of the university, in his address at the
annual commencement in June, 1880, thus testified to
the influence of the Art school:
The influence of the school in Cincinnati during the eleven years of
its existence has been of a marked character. It has elevated the
standard of taste in the appreciation of all beautiful things. In fact,
all the industries of this city in which artistic decoration is employed to
enhance the value of the manufactured article are indebted to this school,
not merely for the general improvement in taste, but for • the education
of many of the skilled artisans who produce the work. The object of
the instruction is not, as many suppose, for the sake of an accomplish-
ment, nor, indeed, for the development of the fine arts alone. It is de-
signed to give thorough technical training in the principles as well
as in the art of drawing, so that the information may subsequently
be applied in all operative forms, whether of machinery, engi-
neering, architecture, manufactures, or the arts. It is proposed to
expand the inventive faculty of applying new forms to material. Rich
and poor are alike received and alike trained free of charge, and the
crowning usefulness of the school consists in the fact that a correct taste
and a high artistic skill are inspired in those who carry it directly into
the workshops of Cincinnati. Many have gone to all parts of the
country from this school, who are now filling positions as teachers, ar-
tisans or artists. Those who have gone abroad to complete their art
education have taken honorable rank at once in the foreign schools. At
the last exhibition of the Fine Art academy at Munich three of the
former students were, at the end of the first year, awarded medals and
one received honorable mention. In Paris another was admitted to the
class of Gerome in the Ecole des Beaux Arts — a tribute to the thor-
oughness of previous training. The group of Mr. Charles Nieham was
placed in a niche of the gallery set apart for the most successful worker
in the school.
Cincinnati is a great manufacturing centre, and there are many skilled
workmen in her shops. The great need is to apply that assthetic'taste
and that educated hand and ear and eye, as far as may be necessary, to
industrial pursuits. There is great need to destroy the idea that any
antagonism exists between art and industry. It will be found that the
greater part of our manufactures owe their merit, their attraction and
their profitable sale to the degree of taste which they exhibit in the art
of design. This will not only be seen in the manufacture of bronze
and the more valuable metals, but in tapestry and silks and satins and
multiplied in calico prints.
A prominent manufacturer of the city adds the opinion
that the establishment of this department of the university
has already revolutionized the style of the higher grades of
goods, and that Cincinnati is rapidly taking the lead of all
cities in the world for first-class parlor furniture. Sixteen
ladies from the school of wood-carving were employed by
Mr. William Hooper, who was building an elegant resi-
dence on the hills, to decorate the entire wainscot panel-
ing of a large hall, which was done, it is said, "with such
excellent taste and feeling that it has called forth the
most hearty commendation from the proprietor as well as
from others who, from study and observation, are capable
of forming an intelligent opinion." The very shop-win-
dows of the city, now among the finest in the world, show
in a conspicuous way the influence of the art school. A
thorough, graded course of instruction has been intro-
duced, culminating in a university diploma at the end of
successful study. Instead of prizes at the annual ex-
hibition, the quality of work exhibited is hereafter to de-
termine the grade of diploma awarded.
Among the art-works possessed by the school are casts
from some of the most famous antiques, as the Laocoon,
the Venus of Milo, Diana and the Stag, etc., of heroic
size; the Wrestlers, the Discobolus, the Venus de Medici,
and others, life size; Cincinnatus, the Faun with a Flute,
the Moses of Michael Angelo, the Dying Gladiator, and
many more, of reduced size; with still smaller casts,
busts, fragments, etc., and many large and small paint-
ings, crayon and pastel drawings, autotypes from draw-
ings of old masters, engravings and lithographs, and a
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
245
valuable library of books on art. The collection in-
cludes the gift of paintings and statuary made to the
"McMicken university'' in June, 1864, by the Ladies'
Academy of Art, the institution organized by Mrs. Sarah
Peter and others some time before 1855, but not now in
existence. This donation really started the movement
which led to the formation of the art school.
fry's carving-school
is a private institution under the management of the vet-
eran artist in wood, Professor Henry S. Fry, and his son
William H. FryJ and a granddaughter. These instructors
and artists did much of the beautiful work on the great
organ in Music hall, and also the adornment in carved
work of Mr. Henry Probasco's residence in Clifton and
the dwellings of Judge Longworth and Colonel George
Ward Nichols, on the Grandin road. Their school is
over Wis well's art store, at No. 70 Fourth street.
ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATIONS.
The Women's Art Museum Association of Cincinnati
grew out of a resolution adopted at the final meeting,
January 18, 1877, of the Women's Centerinial Executive
Committee of Cincinnati, as follows:
Resolved, That it is the wish of this committee that they re-organize
as an association to advance women's work, more especially in the field
of industrial art. Also,
Resolved, That Mrs. A. F. Perry be requested, at a suitable time, to
call a meeting for deliberation, and lay before it a definite plan of work.
In pursuance of these resolutions, a meeting of ladies
was held January 27, 1877, at which the paper requested
was presented by Mrs. Perry. It argued ably, with am-
ple and forcible illustrations, for the establishment of a
ladies association here, which should look to the found-
ing of an art museum. A joint meeting of ladies and
gentlemen was held March 12th, at the house of Mrs. A.
S. Winslow, which resulted in the appointment of a com-
mittee to prepare a scheme for the organization and estab-
lishment of an art museum and training schools in this
city. The committee reported at a subsequent meeting
at the same place, recommending "that the ladies who
have been for some time discussing the feasibility of such
an undertaking should perfect an organization, in aid of
the movement; and, in order to inspire confidence in
those who may wish to contribute to the support of the
enterprise, they recommend further that the following
named gentlemen: A. T. Goshorn, Joseph Longworth,
L. B. Harrison, A. D. Bullock, A. S. Winslow, Julius
Dexter, George Ward Nichols, William H. Davis, O. J.
Wilson, be invited to act as a committee to draft a form
of subscription and to take such steps as, in their judg-
ment, will best promote the establishment of an art
museum, until such time as the subscribers to a fund for
this object shall effect a permanent organization."
At a meeting of ladies alone, held Saturday, April 28,
1877, to complete an organization whose object should
be to interest the women of Cincinnati in aid of the es-
tablishment of an art museum fn the city, it was resolved
to give it the form of an association, which should reach
by its membership every neighborhood, circle, and inter-
est of the city and its suburbs. At this meeting a con-
stitution was adopted and officers elected for the follow-
ing year. The constitution defined the objects of the
association to be "the cultivation and application of the
principles of art to industrial pursuits, and the establish-
ment of an art- museum in the city of Cincinnati." The
officers elect were:
President, Mrs. Aaron F. Perry; vice-presidents, Mrs.
John Davis, Mrs. A. D. Bullock, Mrs. John Shillito,
Mrs. A. S. Winslow, Mrs. George Carlisle, Mrs. William
Dodd; treasurer, Mrs. H. C. Whitman; secretaries, Miss
Elizabeth H. Appleton, Miss Laura Vallette. Mrs. Perry
is still president, Miss Appleton recording secretary, and
Mrs. Whitman treasurer of the association.
The organization did much good work in the stimula-
tion of fine art in the community, the holding of a
loan exhibition in 1879, the preparation of many art
works by its own members and their exhibition at the
annual industrial expositions in the city, and by putting
ideas and plans in the air which undoubtedly hastened
the oncoming of the more immediately promising move-
ment we are now about to record.
On the eighth of September, 1880, at the opening of
the annual industrial exposition, a letter was read from
Mr. Charles W. West, a retired and wealthy merchant of
Cincinnati, offering the munificent gift of one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars for the establishment of an art
museum in the city, conditioned upon the subscription of
an additional and similar amount by others for the same
purpose. The gift was hailed with immense acclama-
tion near and far, and the work of raising the remainder
was entered upon promptly. In a very few weeks, even
before the exposition had closed, by the action of a few
public-spirited gentlemen and the beneficence of a num-
ber somewhat larger, the entire sum was raised, with sev-
eral thousands to spare. The subscribers were then
formed into a joint-stock company, which has held a
number of meetings, principally with reference to a site
for the museum. This matter was the subject of warm
debate in the newspapers and community, as well as
among those more closely interested; and many sites
apparently eligible were suggested. As this work goes
through the press, a site has not yet been definitely
determined. A suitable building will of course go up
rapidly upon it, when chosen, and art-collections cluster
within its walls at once upon its completion.
ART-CLUBS.
The only societies of this character known to the gen-
eral public in Cincinnati are the Pottery and Etching
clubs. The former is a ladies' society, organized in April,
1879, by a number of ambitious amateurs, for the decora-
tion in underglaze painting of pottery made from the Ohio
valley clays. It meets twice a week in the rooms of the
Women's Art Museum association, in Music-hall. Its
president, Miss M. Louise McLaughlin, is author of
"China Painting: A Practical Manual for the Use of
Amateurs, in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain," which
has been published in several editions, and of one or two
other related books. She and others of the club have
made very beautiful exhibits at the Industrial expositions.
The Etching club is a society of gentlemen, under the
246
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
original presidency of Mr. Daniel S. Young, founded in
March, 1879, ar>d meeting fortnightly at the studio of the
artist Farny, in Pike's Opera-house building, where the
members have the use of a press for taking impressions
of their etchings.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MUSIC.
THE FIRST SOCIETIES.
The divine arts of harmonious and melodious vocali-
zation and instrumentation had, like those of the fine
arts which appeal to the eye, an early beginning in
the Queen City. Readers who have pushed their way
through the annals of Cincinnati's first decade, will
remember that very early in those years a Mr. McLean
joined to several other vocations, as of butcher and
public officer, that of a singing-master. From time to
time during all the years of Cincinnati village and town,
advertisements similar to those of country . singing-
schools appear in the local papers. For example, in a
local paper for September, 1801, Mr. McLean advertises
a singing-school to be maintained by subscription at one
dollar a member for thirteen nights, or two dollars per
quarter — "subscribers to find their own wood and
candles. "
At last, in the very year when Cincinnati town became
Cincinnati city, we begin to have definite information of
the formation of musical societies — as the Episcopal
Singing society, organized in 1819, with Luman Watson,
the clockmaker who was afterwards Hiram Powers' mas-
ter, for president; F. A. Blake, vice president; Ed B.
Cooke, secretary; and James M. Mason, treasurer. The
younger Arthur St. Clair offered a lot and Mr. Jacob Bay-
miller a building as a permanent home for this society.
It nevertheless met in Christ Episcopal church, other-
wise the old Baptist meeting-house on Sixth street, which
had been leased by the Christ church organization.
The same year, and only four years after the Handel
and Haydn society was organized in Boston, the
Haydn society was organized here, composed of sing-
ers of the different choirs and other musical organ-
izations of the infant city. Its first concert was given
May 25, 1819, in the Baptist-Episcopal church men-
tioned, for the benefit of a fund to purchase an organ for
the church. The novelty of such an entertainment in
Cincinnati is distinctly hinted in an announcement of it
in the Spy newspaper, which said :
Public concerts of this description, although rather a novelty here, are
quite common in the eastern cities, and if well performed never fail to
afford great pleasure to the audience,
The same paper was enthusiastic in its praise after the
affair, saying it gave "very general satisfaction," and
adding :
In addition to the excellent selection, the execution would have
reflected credit on our eastern cities, and the melody in several
instances was divine. This exhibition must have been highly grati-
fying to those who begin to feel proud of our city. It is the strongest
evidence we can adduce of our advancement in those embellishments
which refine and harmonize society and give a zest to life. We hope
that another opportunity will shortly occur for a further display of the
talents of the Haydn society. For their endeavors to create a correct
musical taste among us they deserve our thanks; but when to their
efforts is added the disposition to aid the views of public charities or
the services of the church, their claims to the most respectful attention
and applause rise to an obligation on the community.
The Haydns gave their second concert in the fall of
1 81 9, with a programme partly composed of classical
music. Tickets were one dollar each— s-"one half of the
proceeds to be appropriated to the several Sunday schools
in the city, the other half to be applied for the purchase
of music to remain the permanent property of the Cin-
cinnati Haydn society." The committee of arrange-
ments for this concert consisted of Edwin Mathews and
Charles Fox, the latter of whom, in union with Benjamin
Ely, advertised a singing-school to open at the Second
Presbyterian church December 17th following, "at early
candlelight."
It is certain that, long before 181 9, there was a lively
interest in musical affairs here, for a prominent Cincin-
natian, the well-known author Timothy Flint, had had
printed in 181 6 at the Liberty Hall office a new music
book called The Columbian Harmonist, for which there
must have been some local demand, or he would not
have ventured it upon the market. A year or more
before this, in Liberty Hall of April 8, 18 15, proposals
were advertised for the publication by subscription of
"a new and valuable collection of music, entitled 'The
Western Harmonist,' by John McCormick,"' in which is
this statement: "The author, having been many years
in the contemplation of this work, flatters himself that
he will be able to furnish the different societies with the
most useful tunes and anthems. " From this it appears
that there were also musical societies already in exist-
ence, from whom the author expected co-operation and
material aid. A brass band is known to have been for-
mally organized under a more general name as early as
1814, by inference from the following notice in Liberty
hall of October nth, of that year:
CINCINNATI HARMONICAL SOCIETY.
At a meeting held at Mr. Burt's tavern on Saturday evening last, it
was unanimously resolved that the society shall meet at the established
hour at the same place on Saturday evening of each succeeding week ;
and that on next Saturday evening a proposed amendment of the by-
laws will be finally discussed, of which previous notice shall be given
to the society in general.
The members are therefoie requested to be punctual in attending on
Mr. Burt's on the fifteenth instant, at seven o'clock, r. m.
A general attendance of the honorary members is particularly re-
quired. By order,
Thomas Danby, Secretary.
Cincinnati, October 10.
The annual concert and ball of this society or band
was given December sixteenth ensuing, "at the large
brick house on Front street, lately occupied by General
Harrison." The repertoire of the band was quite exten-
sive, and its selections, as played after the toasts at the
banquet on the Fourth of July, 1819, are well worth
naming again, as hints of Cincinnati band-music two
generations ago. They were: Life let us Cherish, Will
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
247
you Come to the Bower, Hail Columbia, The White
Cockade, Victory of Orleans, Italian Waltz, Echo, Mon-
roe's March, America, Commerce and Freedom, Liberty
or Death, Masonic Dead March, Liberty's March, Hull's
Victory, Friendship, Lafayette's March, March in Blue
Beard, Adams and Liberty, Star-spangled Banner, Sweet
Harmony, Massachusetts March, Haydn's Fancy, Miss
Ware's March, Pleyel's Hymn, Lawrence's Dirge, Away
with Melancholy, Rural Felicity, Harmonical Society's
March. It is believed that this society flourished to
some date this side of 1820.
The style of musical instruction in those days was
somewhat unique. Such an advertisement as the follow-
ing, which appeared in a local journal of December 18,
1815, would be regarded nowadays as decidedly queer,
and perhaps as indicating small performance for so large
promise:
MUSICAL ACADEMY
at Mrs. Hopkins', opposite Columbia Inn, Main street, Cincinnati.
For teaching in a scientific and comprehensive manner, n scholar thir-
teen tunes at least, in eighteen lessons, or no compensation will be re-
quired, on any of the following instruments, viz :
Clarinet, Flagotto or bassoon,
Trumpet, Serpent,
French horn, Flagolet,
Bugle horn, Sacbut,
Oboe, Hurdygurdy or beggar's lyre,
Grand oboe or voice umane, Violin,
Trombone, Violincello,
Fife, Bass drum,
German flute, Octave flute,
Cymbals, etc., etc., etc.
Military bands taught accurately and expeditiously, on a correct
scale, on any of the above instruments, with appropriate music, by
James H. Hoffman, P.
A writer in the Daily Gazette of May 15, 1880— a
number giving many historical facts concerning music in
Cincinnati — to whose industry we are indebted for these
citations, finds also notes of two other early concerts.
On Saturday, May 29, 1819, "the Caledonian youths
from Glasgow" gave a select concert on the Scotch harp
at the. Cincinnati hotel, and on July 18, 1821, three sing-
ing societies united in giving a concert of sacred music
under the direction of Charles Fox, at which "Comfort
Ye My People," and the Hallelujah Chorus from Han-
del's Messiah were sung for the first time in Cincinnati.
NOT THE FIRST CONCERT.
It is very singular that Miss Martineau, who was here
in 1835, should have received the impression from some
Cincinnati friend, or otherwise, that the concert given
during her visit was the first ever offered to the local
public, when, doubtless, several scores had preceded it.
Yet she so mentions it in her notes of the affair, as pub-
lished in her Retrospect of Western Travel :
Before eight o'clock in the evening the Cincinnati public was pouring
into Mrs. Trollope's Bazaar, to the first concert ever offered to them.
This Bazaar is the great deformity of the city. Happily, it is not very
conspicuous, being squatted down among houses nearly as lofty as the
summit of its dome. From my windows at the boarding-house, how-
ever, it was only too distinctly visible. It is built of brick, and has
Gothic windows, Grecian pillars, and a Turkish dome; and it was orig-
inally ornamented with Egyptian devices, which have, however, disap-
peared under the brush of the whitewasher.
The concert was held in a large, plain room, where a quiet, well-man-
nered audience was collected. There was something extremely interest-
ing in the spectacle of the first public introduction of music into this
rising city. One of the best performers was an elderly man, clothed
from head to foot in gray homespun. He was absorbed in his enjoy-
ment, so intent on his violin that one might watch the changes of his
pleased countenance the whole performance through, without fear of
disconcerting him. There was a young girl in a plain, white frock, with
a splendid voice, a good ear, and a love of warbling which carried her
through very well indeed, though her own taste had obviously been her
only teacher. If I remember right, there were about five-and-twenty
instrumental performers and six or seven vocalists, besides a long row
for the closing chorus. It was a most promising begining. The
thought came across me how far we were from the musical regions of
the old world, and how lately this place had been a canebrake, echoing
with the bellow and growl of wild beast; and here was the spirit of
Mozart swaying and inspiring a silent crowd, as if they were assembled
in the chapel at Salzburg !
These were, we believe, all local performers.
THE CHRONOLOGICAL STORY.
In a more consecutive way Mr. H. A. Ratterman, in
an elaborate essay read before the' Literary club Novem-
ber 9, 1879, has outlined the history of early music in
Cincinnati. We subjoin some notes from the pages that
embody the results of his industrious and well-directed
labors ;
General Wilkinson, who was commandant at Fort Washington after
the departure of General Anthony Wayne, kept a band at the fort,
whieh seems to have been rather highly accomplished for the time.
They were, indeed, German and French musicians, who, says Klau-
precht, in his German Chronicle in the History of the Ohio Valley,
after speaking of Wilkinson's superb barge and the pleasure-parties
thereon, "accompanied them with the harmonies of Gluck and Haydn,
and the reports of the champagne bottles transported the guests from
the wilds of the Northwestern territory into the Lucullian feasts of the
European aristocracy."
But the time came when the gay general removed his headquarters to
New Orleans and when Fort Washington passed into history. The
artistic band also then disappeared, except from the pleasant memories
of the pioneers and the old soldiers formerly at the fort.
One of the earliest musicians in Losantiville was Mr.
Thomas Kennedy, a Scotchman who came in the spring
of 1789, and afterwards removed to the Kentucky shore,
long giving to what has since become Covington the
name of Kennedy's ferry. This bonnie Scot, like the
renowned Arkansas traveller, has found a place in litera-
ture by the skillful use of his violin. A fellow-country-
man of his, Mr. John Melish, was here in September,
181 1, and of course visited Mr. Kennedy. In one of his
volumes of travel he accordingly makes record :
Before we had finished our breakfast, Mr. Kennedy drew a fiddle from
a box, and struck up the tune of "Rothemurchie's Rant." Heplayedin
the true Highland style, and I could not stop to finish my breakfast,
but started up and danced Shantrews. Tbe old man was delighted,
and favored us with a great many Scottish airs. When he laid down
the fiddle I took it up and commenced in my turn, playing some new
strathspeys that he had not heard before ; but he knew the spirit of
them full well, and he also gave us Shantrews, "louping near bawk
hight," albeit he was well stricken in years. He next played a number
of airs, all Scottish, on a whistle.
Herr Klauprecht, in his " Chronik," says that a mu-
sical organization called the St. Cecilia society was in
existence here as early as 18 16; but very little else is now
known of it. The notices gleaned from the newspapers
of the decade 18 10-19 probably furnish all that is now
certainly known of the musical societies of that time. A
number of them appear in the first few paragraphs of this
chapter.
Somewhat earlier than 181 6, probably, an amateur
band practiced at the residence of Frederick Amelung,
248
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
on Sycamore street, opposite the later site of the Na-
tional theatre, where the artists subsequently rendez-
voused. He was himself a musician, and also received
notice in the literature of travel, Mr. F. Cuming, in his
Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, made in
1808, having noticed him in connection with a visit to
Pittsburgh, where Amelung then lived. Among the
members of this early musical society are said to have
been Martin Baum, already a prominent merchant in
town; Mons. Menessier, the eminent jurist and parlia-
mentarian in Paris, but here the humble pastry cook on
Main and Third streets; Albert Von Stein, a famous
builder of waterworks, including the first waterworks of
Cincinnati; Dr. Carl G. Ritter, a confectioner on Lower
Market street; and Augustus Zemmer, another on Main
street; Philibert Ratel, professional musician and the first
dancing master in the place; George Charters, piano-
maker; and Edward H. Stall, a druggist on Front street.
It is shrewdly conjectured that the name of this musical
club was the Apollonian society, since that was the name
of the similar organization which met at Amelung's house
in Pittsburgh, and is the name found in the Cincinnati
Directory of 1825, as that of a musical organization here.
This hypothesis, however, requires us to suppose a re-
vival of an older society of the same title; for, says the
authority of 1825, this "was organized about a year
since," having "for its object the cultivation of vocal and
instrumental music.'' The Directory goes on to say:
"It is now in a flourishing state, and consists of forty
active and honorary members, and is supported by a
monthly tax on its members. The officers are a moder-
ator, a standing committee of three, a treasurer, and a
secretary. Singular to say, no musical leader or con-
ductor is named. Old settlers suggest that he was very
likely Mr. William Tellovv, who came to Cincinnati from
Germany in 1817, and afterwards settled at Dayton and
traveled with his family as a concert troupe, dying finally
at New Orleans about 1835, of yellow fever. The Apol-
lonians of this date were wont to meet in the saloon of
George Juppenlatz, a baker at No. 26 Main street, and
then at the Apollonian garden kept in the Deer Creek
valley by Kothe & Ott, later by Ruter & Ott, a pioneer
of the famous German beer gardens of Cincinnati.
In connection with this occurs the first notice of any-
thing like public music in the city, in one of Klauprecht's
pages. He says: "On festival occasions there was no
want of a German orchestra at this resort of pleasure to
play to the dancing of its visitors.'' Sebastian Rentz
played the clarionet, "Speckheinrich" (nickname of
Henry Schmidt) the violin; and Jacob Schnetz, the
brother of Mr. Longworth's gardener, the piccolo. Mon-
sieur Ratel, who is named above as a professional musi-
cian, is deemed worthy, with a musical associate of his,
of the following notice from the Gazette writer before
cited:
He came from Philadelphia in July, 1877, and, besides the clarionet,
flute, bassoon, flageolet, violin, and piano, he taught "country dances,
cotillons, allemandes, waltzes, hornpipes, the mienuet de la cour with
the gavote, the celebrated Gavote of Vestris, the much admired
shawl dance, ballet and opera-dancing, with a variety of garland
dances, such as constitute exhibitions. He was a solo player on the
clarionet and French flageolet, and played pieces on both these instru-
ments at a concert given by Mr. Garner, at Mack's Cincinnati hotel,
on March 16, 1820, at which he also led the "orchestie." In his an-
nouncements he flatters himself that by his experience and methods
he "can in four or six months, give his scholars a competent knowledge
of music and its various tunes to perform alone or in harmony correctly."
The Mr. Garner, whom he assisted on this last occasion, was an actor
and singer from the east, evidently an Englishman, who played an en-
gagement at the theater some time before, while on a visit from New
York and Boston to New Orleans. During his engagement he pro-
duced two of the light English operas then in vogne — viz: "The
Devil's bridge, " and "Lionel and Clarissa.'' The former is a work
that Braham was a favorite in. He had composed the music for his
part. "Lionel and Clarissa" is the composition of Charles Dibdin
(1745-1814).
No concert seems to have been announced by the
Apollonian ; and the musical beauties of this society
were apparently born to blush unseen and waste their
sweetness upon themselves alone. No vocal mnsic is
heard of, even in connection with the reception of Lafay-
ette in 1825, when the best of everything the city had to
show was brought to the front. There was fine instru-
mental music in the parade, however, and at the ball, for
which musicians had been expressly imported from the
east, and over which the veteran Joseph Tosso (who is
still living) swayed the impressive baton. Tosso, the sole
surviving musical pioneer of those days, is a native of
Mexico, trained as a musician in Italy and France, com-
ing to America to try his fortune as a violinist, and to
Cincinnati upon a concert-tour, or for the purpose of
leading the orchestra during Lafayette's visit and remain-
ing here permanently as a teacher and practitioner of
music. He was professor of music in the Cincinnati
Female academy on Walnut street, between Third and
Fourth, in 1829, and six years thereafter was leader of
the orchestra in the Musical Fund society, established
April 29, 1835, on the plan of similar societies already
existing in Philadelphia and New York. The society
had for its object "the cultivation of musical taste, by
the encouragement and improvement of professional and
amateur talent, and the establishment of a musical
academy, by means of which pupils may be instructed in
the theory and practice of music." It was also proposed
to establish a relief fund for distressed musicians, and
the families of musicians who died in poverty. The new
society had originally a strong social and pecuniary
backing, if we may judge from the names embodied in
the following flattering notice, which appeared in the
New York Family Minstrel in July 15, 1835:
MUSICAL FUND SOCIETY IN CINCINNATI.
We hear very favorable accounts of this institution, which is said to
be fostered both by wealth and influence. Its present officers are :
President — Morgan Neville.
Vice-presidents— John P. Foote, Peyton S. Symmes.
Treasurer — Samuel E. Foote.
Secretary — Linden Ryder.
Librarian— John Winter.
T. D. Carneal,
Herman Cope,
Nicholas Longworth,
William Price, M.
Robert Buchanan,
David T. Disney,
Alexander Flash,
William Greene,
D.,
MANAGERS.
T. Vairin,
S. Wiggins,
W. G. W. Gano,
S. S. Smith,
William Yerke,
J. S. Armstrong,
David Benson,
John W. Ryan,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
249
George Graham, jr., William R. Foster,
James Hall, I. F. B. Wood,
E. Haynes, Joseph R. Fry,
C. S. Ramsay, M. D., J. F. P. Moline.
Physicians— Alban G. Smith, M. D. ; V. C. Marshall, M. D.
Counselors — Robert T. Lytle, Bellamy Storer.
It is not probable, however, that all these influential
personages took a lively interest in the society. Its
primal career, at least, was brief; but it was re-animated
afte.r an interval of some years, in the autumn of 1840,
when the amateur orchestra, with Mr. Tosso at the
baton, was about all there was left of it. Still, Cist's
book of the next year says it " promises much for the
culture of musical taste and science in our city." He
adds, however, that the society had not yet elected
any other officers since its resurrection than Mr. Tosso
as musical director.
Tosso and a Mr. Douglass assciated themselves in
1839 as "musical instrument makers and importers of
musical instruments," in a store or shop on the north
side of Fourth street, between Main and Walnut. He
was thenceforth for many years prominently associated
with music and musical interests in this city, and now
makes his home at Latonia Springs, Kentucky, four miles
from Covington.
The establishment of this firm reminds us that, so early
as 1816, according to a correspondent of the Boston
* Courier, there were "piano-fortes by the dozen in Cincin-
nati," although he complains that there was nobody to
tune them. This must have been an error; for in Decem-
ber of the previous year Mr. Adolph Wapper was adver-
tised in the local journals as a teacher of music, and like-
wise as a tuner and repairer of pianos. In the directory
of 18 19 Mr. George Charters is named as a piano-maker.
He was also proprietor of the circulating library kept on
Fifth, between Main and Sycamore streets.
Not far from this date the first organ was built here by
the Rev. Adam Hurdus, a pioneer of 1806, an early
merchant on Main street, between Front and Second,
and also the first preacher of the gospel according to
Swedenborg, west of the Alleghanies. He was minister
to the New Jerusalem Society here while carrying on a
regular business as organ-builder at No. 127 Sycamore
street. It was no uncommon thing in those days, as
we have already hinted, to see what would now be con-
sidered a singular coupling of vocations. One sign in
town read, "Bookseller and Tailor;" a line in the direc-
tory informed the reader that Mr. was "House
and sign painter and minister of the gospel." This pio-
neer organ of Hurdus' is still in use in the village of
Lockland, in this county. Another organ-builder, Israel
Schooley, a Virginian, settled in 1825 in Cincinnati. The
same year the piano-makers noted as here were George
Charters, Francis B. Garrish, an immigrant from Balti-
more, and Aaron Golden. In 1828 was added the firm
of Messrs. Steele & Clark. Two years previously the
first general dealer in sheet music and musical instru-
ments, Mr. John Imhoff, opened his store on the west
side of Main street, second door below Fourth, "at the
sign of the violin," where he kept it for many years. Ed-
ward Thomas is the. only person mentioned in the direc-
tory of 1825 as a professional musician, and Alexander
Emmons in that of 1829. Music, as a sole vocation, did
not pay extensively in that decade.
The Eclectic Academy of Music dated from 1834, al-
though it was not incorporated until the next year. Its
founders were two notable musicians of that day, Pro-
fessors T. B. Mason and William T. Colburn. A well-
known German pianist, Mr. Louis Lemaire, was after-
wards associated with them. A regular society was
formed, however, of which Judge Jacob Burnet was
president, Moses Lyon vice-president, and Charles R.
Folger recording secretary. The object of the institu-
tion, as specified in the charter, was " to promote knowl-
edge and correct taste in music, especially such as are
adapted to moral and religious purposes." In 1841, ac-
, cording to Mr. Cist's book of that year, the academy had
"a good library of music, vocal and orchestral; also at-
tached to it an amateur orchestra of twenty-four instru-
ments." Probably the leader of this band was the only
person named at this time among the teachers of the
academy as "Instrumental Professor"— Mr. Victor Wil-
liams. He is another of Cincinnati's musical veterans, a
Swede by his nativity, and the active projector and origi-
nator of the first musical organization in the city on a
large scale, the " American Amateur Association." This
society of the far-reaching name had its birth here about
1846. It performed for the first time in public any
grand oratorio music, among which may be named,
in successive renditions, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's
Twelfth Mass, Haydn's Creation and Third Mass, and
Neukomm's David. Mr. Rattermann says : "I remem-
ber well the enthusiasm with which the first public pro-
duction of the 'Creation' was received. It was per-
formed before a large and fashionable audience in the
Melodeon Hall, which was then the chief concert-room
here." Afterwards, April 8, 1853, as a complimentary
benefit to Professor. Williams, Neukomm's David was
given by the association in Smith & Nixon's Concert
Hall, on the north side of Fourth street, near Vine. The
society was aided in this, its final public appearance, by
Mons. L. Corradi Colliere, a celebrated French baritone,
who died in New York City a number of years ago; Mr.
Henry Appy, a German violinist of some note, who re-
sided here for a time; Mr. J. Q. Wetherbe, a basso
singer of high accomplishment; Mr. Leopold Lowegren,
pianist; and Mr. Henry J. Smith, long and favorably
known as one of the local organists. Professor Williams
still survives, a veteran of the profession, having practiced
it here for nearly half a century, during a part of the
time as a teacher of vocal music in the public schools.
With the extinction of the Amateur association in
1853, the second period of the musical history of Cincin-
nati may be regarded as closed, the first having ended,
so to say, with the end of the Apollonian society, twenty-
five years before. Mr. Rattermann makes a clear defini-
tion of these epochs in the following:
To distinguish these two periods from each other, we must view them
in the light of their original intention. The first period had in object
only a self-content purpose. Its beginning was of the most primitive
nature, and all along its existence it bore only rudimentary signs of
being. No public exhibit of its artistic existence was even attempted.
32
25°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The music rendered was of the most modest kind possible, performed
only for self-amusement. The actors of this period played behind a
closed scene. But presently we see the desire visible that the curtain
rise, and the efforts of the actors communicated to others, to participate
in its enjoyment.
The leading spirit in this movement must be ascribed to the German
element. "To the Americans belongs the credit, " says Klauprecht,
"of being the first pioneers of music in Cincinnati; but the Germans
may boast of having brought about its higher development."
In Cincinnati the Germans practiced music already in the early years
of the city's existence. At first, when the number was small, they con-
fined their chorus-singing to the church, and when the divine service was
over on Sundays they would flock into the country, and there, seated or
lying in the grass, beneath the green crown of a shady tree, they would
sing the songs of their native land in swelling chorus. And .in the
evening often would the guitar or the zither, the flute or the violin, send
the melodious strains of a German ballad from the lone window of his
small cottage, or even the garret-window of the tenement house:
"In einem kuehlen grunde ; "
Or—
"Ich weiss nicht, was soil es bedeuten.'
A number of young Teutons, in 1838, formed the first
German singing society in the city, and the first organi-
zation of a chorus of male voices. It was part of an at-
tempt to introduce the chorus-singing of four-part songs
here. Every Thursday evening the members assembled
in the dancing-hall of the Rising Sun tavern, "beyond the
Rhine," on the corner of Main and Thirteenth streets.
Among them were General Augustus Moor, Frederick
Gerstaecker, the famous German traveller and writer, who
spent some years in this city; with Godfrey Frank, Chris-
tian Lange, and other well-known German gentlemen of
that era. Mr. William Schragg, later of Lebanon, War-
ren county, was the first leader of the chorus. Herr Rat-
termann adds:
That the songs of this pioneer of our German singing societies were
as yet of a primitive character, we may safely infer from the fact that
all beginnings are necessarily small. The singers seated themselves
around a table, and alongside the music-book of each stood the quart
of beer, for the expenses of the illumination of the hall, which con-
sisted of two large lard-oil lamps, had to be covered by the profit real-
ized from the sale of the beer to the members. Thus the.drinking may
have played a greater role in this first German singing society than the
singing.
The choirs of the German Protestant church on Sixth
street and the German Catholic Church of the Holy
Trinity on Fifth street, united some years afterwards to ■
form a singing society, which met regularly at the resi-
dence of Fritz Tappe, a watchmaker on Clay street. For-
tunately, the names of this organization are on record:
Fritz Tappe, leader; George Labarre, Adolphus Menzel,
Henry Poeppelmann, Christ Lange, Louis Dieck, Godfrey
Frank, Anthony Nuelsen, Arnold Weigler, Augustus
Friedeborn, William Ballauf, Charles Beile, and Charles
Schnicke, sen. All are now dead, except Poeppelmann, a
professor in the Woodward High School; Beile, teacher
in the Twenty-first ward; Frank, a grocer on Central
avenue; and Nuelson, the well-known Front street tobac-
conist.
The German Liedertafel was founded anonymously, as
a modest organization of musicians, in 1841, but took a
name and something more of a formal organization in
June, 1843, ar>d was regularly and fully constituted a year
thereafter. Its musical conductors included George
Valentine Scheidler, an early German musician here,
whose wife, Bertha Scheidler, held high rank as a local
singer down to 1855; with successors George Labarre,
William Runge, Franz Schoenfeld, Carl Barus, and
Robert T. Hoelterhoff. The society, as the Liedertafel,
lasted fourteen years quite successfully, doing a good
work, and was finally, in 1857, merged in the greater
Maennerchor.
The Gesang- und Bildungs-verein deutscher Arbeiter
had its beginnings in 1846. It was the first German or-
ganization here which allowed female voices in the chgrus.
Henry Damm was its first and Xavier Vincent the last
conductor of the society. Under the latter a perform-
ance of Haydn's Creation was given. The Verein lasted
but six years, disbanding in 1852.
A small society was founded among the Germans in
the spring of 1848, and called the Eintracht. It fiad but
one leader, Anthony Bidenharn; and with his death from
cholera the next year, the organization also expired.
A number of Swiss musicians in Cincinnati, about the
same time, formed a Schweizer-verein, whose first leader
was Emanuel Hirinen. In 1850 its identity was lost in
the Nordische Ssengerbund, a select double quartette.
The members were: First tenors — Augustus Klausmeyer
and Louis Haidacker; second tenors — Professor William
Klausmeyer (leader) and Frederick Winkler; first
basses — Dr. C. F. Hetlich, H. A. Rattermann; second
basses — John Sterger, Charles Niemann. It was a favor-
ite society with the Cincinnati public during 1849-50,
and in October of the latter year the consolidation with
the Schweizer-verein was made, the two forming the
Saengerbund, which, after a somewhat distinguished
career, became in its turn a part of the Meannerchor.
The oldest surviving musical society in the city is the
Cincinnati Mannerchor, dating as it does from June 27,
1857. It had its being by the union of three German
singing societies, the Liedertafel, the Sangerbund, and
the Germanic; to which was added, in 1859, the literary
society, "Lese und Bildungs-verein," which added a
fine library and substantial pecuniary aid to the new
society. In i860 the Mannerchor, being, as its name
implies, exclusively a male society, undertook the pro-
duction of the opera "Czar and Zimmerman," with but
one female voice in the cast, that of the prima donna.
Lady members were afterwards admitted, and many fine
operas produced. Since the withdrawal of a number of
members to form the Orpheus society, in April, 1868,
from difficulties resulting from the production of operas,
the society has been simply a choral organization.
Weekly meetings for practice have been held in
Mannerchor Hall, corner of Vine and Mercer streets.
The building was destroyed by fire on the fourth of
August, and the valuable musical library belonging to the
society burned. It will be replaced as rapidly as possible.
The list of German singing societies of this era is
filled with the addition of the musical section of the
Turnverein, formed in 1849. Mr. Raltermann com-
ments and continues the history as follows :
The existence of these societies brought life into the musical silence
of our city. Each one of them gave a regular 'series of concerts an-
nually, generally followed by » ball. Those of the Liedertafel, and
afterwards of the Saengerbund, were considered the ion ton entertain-
ments of our German citizens of those years.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO
25*
The narrow compass to which these societies, according to their na-
ture and tendency, were limited, soon called for an extension of the
boundary. This could not be accomplished in one association, as that
would soon become unwieldly for the general purpose. The Liederta-
feln, as societies for the object of cultivating the male voice chorus,
without instrumental accompaniment, are called, and of which the first
was founded in Berlin under Zelter in 1809, are, on account of their
original intention, not adapted for massive choruses. Wherever they
are found, they seldom number as many as a hundred singers, generally
averaging about twenty-five members. If, then, a more powerful, a
massive chorus is desired, it becomes necessary to bring several of these
Liedertafeln together, and by their united efforts the massive chorus is
obtained. For that purpose festivals, to be given at stipulated inter-
vals in the larger cities of a country, are devised. The earlier of these fes-
tivals have their origin in Germany. The first festival of the kind was
held in the city of Wuerzburgh, in Bavaria, August 4th to 6th, inclu-
sive, 1845.
The first attempts to introduce them in America were, in comparison
with these festivals in Germany, very diminutive in size. Already in
1846 endeavors were made in Philadelphia and Baltimore to organize
friendly relations between the German singing societies of these cities.
They, however, were restricted to mutual visits paid each other, con-
nected with a social festivity, in which the public of these cities partici-
pated. No formal organization was attached to these visits, and there-
fore they cannot be classified as Saengerfests. Festivals of this charac-
ter were likewise held in Cincinnati in the summer each of 1846, 1847,
and 1848.
A formal organization was first effected in 1849, by a union between
the singing societies of Cincinnati, Louisville, and Madison, Indiana.
These societies held the first German Ssengerfest in America in the city
of Cincinnati, June ist-3d, inclusive, 1849, and at this festival, on June
2d, the German Ssengerbund of North America was founded.
This was the first effort of its kind in America, and the city of Cin-
cinnati can boast, not only of being the author of them, but also of the
fact that these festivals were originated here in America. With that
indeed diminutive Saengerfest there was inaugurated a new era in the
musical history, not only of Cincinnati, but of America ; for then the
foundation was laid to the great musical festivals which have given to
our city the titles of 'The Paris of America' and 'The City of Festivals.'
Notwithstanding Mr. Rattermann modestly styles this
initial step diminutive, it seems to have comprised five
important German societies from the three cities named,
and informal delegations were present from the Maenner-
chors of St. Louis and Columbus, and the Deutscher
Liederkranz of Milwaukee. These societies, it is said,
had promised attendance, but failed to come as bodies.
One hundred and eighteen singers, nevertheless, partici-
pated in the concerts given at the Fest; and at the open
air concert and social gathering on Bald Hill, near Col-
umbia, several thousand people were present. This was
held on Sunday, after the German manner; and was much
disturbed by roughs from the city, who posted themselves
in force at the entrance to the picnic grounds. Mr. Rat-
termann relates that —
"To avoid a tumult — for the many thousand Germans would have
been in any emergency the stronger — the several flags and banners, the
capturing of which it was known was contemplated by the gang of
rowdies assembled on the outside of the garden, were carried on a. cir-
cuitous road, via Linwood, to the banks of the Ohio river, by Ex- Coun-
ty Auditor Siebern, and from there taken on board of the Pittsburg
steamer back to the city.
One of the musical historians in the historical number
of the Daily Gazette, from which we have quoted, sup-
plies some interesting details of this first regularly organ-
ized Ssengerfest. He says:
Viewed in the light of the events of the last few years, the first Ger-
man festival held here in 1849 looks very modest, and yet, at the time,
it meant much to the Germans. Only one concert was given ; it was on
June 1st, and of all the city's populace only four hundred bought tickets
at fifty cents each and attended. The result was a deficit which, by a
subsequent concert arranged to cover it, was swelled to one hundred
and seventy-one dollars, and the singers were assessed to pay this. The
chorus numbered one hundred and eighteen, there being twenty-eight
first tenors, thirty-two second tenors, twenty-nine first basses, and twen-
ty-nine second basses. The societies participating were the Louisville
Liederkranz (fifteen singers), Madison Gesangverein (nine singers), Cin-
cinnati Liedertafel (thirty-two singers). Cincinnati Gesung und Bildungs-
verein (thirty-three singers), Cincinnati Schweizerverein (fourteen sing-
ers), eight delegates from the Louisville Orpheus, and seven singers
from Cincinnati who did not belong to any society. The concerts were
given in Armory Hall, on Court street, at present used as Geyer's As-
sembly Rooms. The music consisted of part-songs by Zoellner, Mo-
zart, Kreutzer, Freeh, Broch, Reichardt, Abt, Silcher, and Baumann.
The second festival was held in 1850 in Louisville. The Cincinnati
societies participated and carried off both of the prizes offered.
In 1851, when the third festival was given, in Cincinnati, the bund
had grown to include fourteen societies, by additions from Columbus,
Hamilton, Cleveland, St. Louis, Newport, Kentucky, Lafayette, Indi-
ana, and Detroit, and the chorus, which was conducted by Mr. William
Klausmeyer, numbered two hundred and forty-seven voices. Instru-
mental numbers by the Military band from the United States garrison
at Newport were given a place in the programme.
Sixteen years later, and in the same city that saw this small begin-
ning, a festival was celebrated which had nearly two thousand singers
in its chorus, and the concerts were given in a building specially erected
for the purpose. This was in 1867, and from this went out one of the
impulses that called the May Festivals into life.
The festivals of the Ssengerbund which were held here
were the first, in 1849; those of 1851, 1853, 1856, 1867,
and the twenty-first, in 1879, in the Music hall.
THE MAY FESTIVALS.
The relation of the Saengerfests to the May festivals,
as preparers of the way, has already been suggested. By
the beginning of 1872 the conditions were eminently
favorable to the inauguration of the festivals. The city
had become accustomed to the monster concerts of the
Germans, and would welcome similar entertainments with
elements from other nationalities in them; a great build-
ing, whose accoustic properties had proved very excellent
for musical purposes, had been erected for the Industrial
Expositions, and was suffered to stand from year to year,
and was available for annual concerts ; and, in another's
words, "the Expositions, too, had demonstrated the fact
that the citizens of Cincinnati were generous in their sup-
port of big things which made the city attractive, while
the inhabitants of the surrounding country rejoiced in the
opportunity of coming to town to spend their money.''
The historical Gazette thus continues the narrative:
The first public step taken to carry out the plan was a meeting of
prominent gentlemen, which was held in the law office of Storer, Good-
man & Storer, on the twenty-seventh of September, 1872, at which a
temporary organization was effected by the appointment of an executive
committee composed of George Ward Nichols, President; Carl A. G.
Adae, vice-president; John Shillito, treasurer; and Bellamy Storer, jr.,
for secretary; besides John Church, jr., Ceorge W. Jones, and Daniel
B. Pierson. Plans were discussed, the question agitated, and three days
later a large finance committee, with Hon. George H. Pendleton as
chairman and George W. Jones as secretary, was appointed and au-
thorized to raise a guarantee fund of fifty thousand dollars, the under-
standing being that no further steps should be taken until thirty thou-
sand dollars had been subscribed.
A little more than one month was required for this work, and on the
twelfth of November a circular was issued announcing that a musical
festival would be held in Cincinnati in May, 1873, for the purpose of
elevating the standard of choral and instrumental music, and to bring
about harmony of action between the musical societies of the country
and especially of the west. Telegrams and letters were also sent broad-
cast, an official agent was employed to visit the various singing socie-
ties of the west and northwest to secure their co-operation and to
arouse the public mind to an interest in the affair. The response was
very general; and when the chorus was organized it was found to con-
252
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tain no less than thirty-six societies, agregating one thousand and eighty-
three singers, of whom six hundred and forty were Cincinnatians.
Twenty-nine societies participated in the first mass rehearsal, which was
conducted by Professor Carl Bams, who had been appointed assistant
director, but who had been superseded by Mr. Otto Singer, who has
since held the position, in March, 1873. The instrumental forces were
an orchestra numbering one hundred and eight pieces, and a chorus or-
gan of one manual, fourteen stops, and six hundred and sixty-five pipes,
built for the purpose by Messrs. Koehnken & Grimm of this city.
The festival was held on the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth of May.
Th^original plan, borrowing the idea from the Sasngerfests, purposed
to devote the last day to an open-air concert and picnic; but rain spoiled
the-scheme, and an afternoon concert in the hall was substituted. Thus
Providence came in to take from the festival this vestige of the German
custom which had done much to degenerate the Sa^ngerfests from festi-
vals of song to bacchanalian carouses. The soloists were Mrs. E. R.
Dexter, of Cincinnati; Mrs. H. M. Smith, of Boston; Miss Annie
Louise Cary; Mr. Nelson Varley, of London; Mr. M. W. Whitney
and Mr. J. F. Rudolphsen; and Mr. Arthur Mees, organist. The prin-
cipal compositions performed were Handel's "Dettingen TeDeum,"
Beethoven's C minor symphony, scenes from Gluck's "Orpheus," Schu-
mann's symphony in C (op. 61), and his chorus, "Gipsy Life;" Beetho-
ven's choral symphony, Mendelssohn's " The First Walpurgis Night, "
and Liszt's symphonic poem "Tasso."
At the close of the last evening concert Judge Stanley Matthews read
a request, signed by a large number of prominent citizens, for another
festival. The managers determined to act on the suggestion and a sec-
ond festival was announced for May, 1875. Owing to the inexperience
of the managers the expenses were very large, but so generous was the
patronage that the deficit amounted only to three hundred and fifty
dollars, which the executive committee paid from their privy purses.
The second Festival was given in May, 1875, the Biennial Musical
Festival Association having meanwhile been incorporated for the pur-
pose. As before, Mr. Thomas was director, and Mr. Singer his assist-
ant. The soloists were Mrs. H. M. Smith, Miss Abbie Whinnery, Miss
Cary, Miss Cranch, Mr. William J. Winch, Mr. H. Alexander Bischoff,
Mr. Whitney, Mr. Franz Remmertz ; Mr. Dudley Buck, organist. The
chorus numbered six hundred and fifty, and the orchestra one hundred
and seven. The principal works performed were the Triumphal
Hymn, by Johannes Brahms, Beethoven's A major Symphony, Scenes
from Wagner's Lohengrin, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's Magnificat,
the Choral Symphony, Schubert's Symphony in C, and Liszt's Prome-
theus. The Festival was a complete financial success, and though its
expenses exceeded forty thousand dollars, there was a balance of one
thousand five hundred dollars in the treasury when the accounts were
closed.
The future of the festivals now seemed assured, and the movement
inaugurated by Mr. Reuben R. Springer, which gave to the city the
Music Hall and the great organ, created an enthusiasm here which,
supplemented by the curiosity abroad to see the new structure and hear
the new instrument, made the third Festival, given in 1878, an unprece-
dented success. It was given on the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth,
and seventeenth of May, and on the first evening the dedicatory cere-
monies of the new hall took place. The soloists were Mme. Eugene
Pappenheim, Mrs. E. Aline Osgood, Miss Cary, Miss Cranch, Mr.
Charles Adams, Mr. Christian Fritsch, Mr. Whitney, Mr. Remmertz,
Signor Tagliapietra, and Mr. George E. Whiting, organist. The cho-
rus numbered seven hundred, and embraced, besides the local societies,
the Dayton Philharmonic society, the Hamilton Choral society, and
the Urbana Choral society. The principal numbers in the scheme were
scenes from Alceste, by Gluck, the Festival Ode, composed by Otto
Singer, Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, Handel's Messiah, selections
(finale of Act III) from Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung, the Choral
Symphony, Liszt's Missa Solennis, and Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet
Symphony. The orchestra numbered one hundred and six men, all
from New York city. The financial success was enormous, the receipts
running up to eighty thousand dollars, and thirty-two thousand dollars
being left in the treasury after settlement.
The fourth festival was held during the third week in
May, 1880, and was also a financial success, though not
so great as the third. The receipts amounted to fifty-five
thousand and eighty-five dollars and twenty-eight cents;
expenses, forty-six thousand and eleven dollars and thirty-
six cents; balance, nine thousand and seventy-three dol-
lars and ninety-two cents. The board of directors of
the festival association resolved January 14, 1879, to
offer a prize of one thousand dollars for the best musical
composition by a native American, which was to be per-
formed at the festival of 1880. The musical world
received the proposal very favorably, and a wide interest
in the festival and this particular item of preparation for
it was awakened. Twenty-five more or less elaborate
works were offered for competition, and a board of
judges, of which Mr. Theodore Thomas was chairman,
concurred in awarding the prize to the author of the
composition entitled Scenes from Longfellow's Golden
Legend, who was found by opening the letter of trans-
mittal with it, on the day of its performance, May 20th,
to be Mr. Dudley Buck, of Boston. A similar prize will
be offered for the next festival, with some changes sug-
gested by experience. The festival chorus has been made
a permanent institution, with Mr. Michael Brand, of Cin-
cinnati, as chorus director; and, in addition to its work
at the May festivals, will annually render on Christmas
night, as it did in 1880 with triumphant success, Handel's
magnificent oratorio of the Messiah.
GEORGE WARD NICHOLS.
Colonel Nichols held the office of president of the
board of directors of the Musical Festival association
from the period of its creation until March 10, 1880,
when he resigned the post, and also his place as a
director. As he remains president of the College of
Music, and has been most conspicuously identified with
musical matters in Cincinnati since his residence here
began, in 1868, we make some special mention of his
life and public services.
Colonel George Ward Nichols was a Boston boy, and
spent his earlier school-days in that city. His family on
both sides reaches far back into New England history,
and he inherits patriotic and cultured instincts. Although
very young when the Kansas troubles broke out, he was
old enough to take some part in them in behalf of free-
dom. He afterwards studied the fine arts, especially
painting, in New York city, and was for several years
attached to the New York Evening Post, as its art critic.
He painted for a time in the studio of the great Couture,
in Paris. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, he
was early in the field, served as aid-de-camp on the gen-
eral staff with Generals Fremont and Sherman, and closed
his military career with honor. After the war he finished
the preparation of the Story of the Great March, narra-
ting Sherman's wonderful campaigns through Georgia
and the Carolinas. It was published by the Harpers,
and sold rapidly and largely. His literary efforts have
since been otherwise directed, and have performed emi-
nently useful service in presenting the world with his
books on Art Education Applied to Industry, and Pot-
tery: How it is Made and Decorated. He has also
written much on congenial topics for the magazines and
newspapers, and was for some time an approved and
popular lecturer in the field. About 1868 he married
Miss Maria Longworth, daughter of Judge Joseph Long-
worth, of Cincinnati, and grand-daughter of the million-
aire Nicholas Longworth, and removed to the Queen
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
253
City, where he soon began to interest himself in the pro-
motion of music and fine art. To him, more than to
any other one man, the annual musical festivals and the
College of Music owe their origin and successful mainte-
nance. Mrs. Nichols devotes her attention mainly to
decorative art, and has established a pottery of her own,
in and for which she labors faithfully and toilsomely.
THE COLLEGE OF MUSIC.
This noble institution had its origin, in part, in the felt
want of an American School of Music that could enter
boldly into competition with the great conservatories of
the continent, to which our students, ambitious to enter
the higher ranges of the art, had been compelled to re-
sort. The need was clearly seen, in all parts of the land,
of broad, thorough, practical instruction, which should
do for the young musician what our best colleges are
doing for the scientific or literary student, under masters
of equal repute in their special profession. The disap-
pointment, too, which many American students had ex-
perienced in the foreign conservatories, was an element
in the feeling which seemed to demand a new and greater
institution on this side the water. The musical schools
of Europe are mostly^under the control of Governments,
and are, as another has expressed it, "loaded down with
administration." They are clogged and hampered to
such an extent that progress in their courses is seriously
embarrassed. The teachers, though they may be men of
great celebrity, are commonly poorly paid, and have con-
stantly present the temptation to neglect their public
duties and compel the pupil to take private lessons of
them, at a high rate — five dollars for a half-hour lesson is
a known example. The pupils are often grouped in
classes, and so miss that individual instruction which is
indispensable to progress, unless they resort to private
lessons. An American student at one of the conserva-
tories writes: "There are six of us in a piano class of
one hour — ten minutes for each. While I had my turn,
Professor was violently discussing, with a friend
of his who without ceremony had entered the room, Bis-
marck's last coup. This and other occurrences, with an
utter lack of interest on the part of the teacher, have dis-
couraged me." Similar testimonies abound in the letters
of our musical students abroad. The methods of in-
struction in fundamental principles are also often faulty in
the European schools. The performances of our vocal-
ists, as well as instrumentalists, on their return from a
course in the famous institutions of the Old World, is
thus made singularly disappointing. Such experiences of
foreign study and their results had' long produced, in the
minds of thoughtful lovers of the art, a conviction that a
great American school was necessary for the best ambi-
tions of American students. The completion of the
Music Hall and the building of the great organ seemed
to furnish the desirable auspices for the beginnings of
such a school.
Primarily, however, the college grew out of the musi-
cal festivals which had given this city such wide reputa-
tion. The experience of Colonel Nichols for several years
as president of the Festival association, and as author. of
the plan of the festivals, led him to believe that Cincinnati
might well become the seat of a great college of music.
From long association with Mr. Theodore Thomas, it
seemed to him also that the renowned orchestra leader
was the best man to be placed at the head of such an
institution ; and so, early in the spring of 1878, he ascer-
tained, by private correspondence, that Mr. Thomas
would accept the position. A meeting of some scores
of prominent gentlemen was held, the scheme of Colo-
nel Nichols adopted, and a corporation formed with a
capital of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and
the following officers and directors : George Ward Nichols,
president. Peter Rudolph Neff, treasurer. J. Burnet,
secretary. Remaining members of the board — R. R
Springer, John Shillito.
Upon the death of Mr. Shillito, General A. T. Gos-
horn was elected to his place. The number of directors
was increased to seven, when the Hon. Jacob D. Cox
and Mr. William Worthington were also elected.
Within two months of the incorporation of the college,
on the fourteenth of October, 1878, it opened its doors
for the reception of students, with a faculty of eminent
teachers representing every important branch of musical
education. Probably no collegiate institution, so fully
formed, sprang so quickly into existence. On the part
of the management it required courage, judgment and a
long purse. They were rewarded by an attendance of
some five hundred pupils in the first year. This year
was one of great activity. Besides the regular course of
instruction, the college gave twelve orchestra concerts
and twelve public rehearsals, with twelve chamber con-
certs, and organ concerts on the great Music Hall organ
twice a week throughout the year.
The second year the college witnessed a similar activity.
More than five hundred students were in attendance, and
the orchestra, chamber, and organ concerts were steadily
maintained. In the last months of this year (1879) Mr.
Thomas retired from the musical directorship. Upon his
retirement the faculty of the college, which until then had
exercised no functions other than as teachers, were for the
first time called together and consulted in the manage-
ment of its affairs. Subsequently a board of examiners,
representing the heads of important departments, was
appointed. This board, in consultation with the board
of directors of the college, performs now the duties of
musical direction. The result of this new government
is a thorough reorganization of the college upon a wise
and systematic plan.
The Cincinnati College of Music is incorporated under
the laws of the State, with the following objects: "To
cultivate a taste for music, and for that purpose to organ-
ize a school of instruction and practice in all branches of
musical education; the establishment of an orchestra;
the giving of concerts; the production and publication
of musical works; and such other musical enterprises as
shall be conducive to the ends above mentioned." Its
capital stock is only fifty thousand dollars, held in shares
of fifty dollars each. The stockholders are principally
wealthy, influential citizens, who have invested in the en-
terprise, not so much from the hope of pecuniary returns
254
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
as from a love of art and a fine sense of public good.
Seven directors manage the business affairs of the college
and are elected annually by the stockholders. This
board chooses its own officers — a president, a treasurer,
and a secretary. It also appointed, formerly, the musical
director, who shouldered the entire responsibility of the
instruction, while the business details were managed by
the officers and remaining members of the board of di-
rectors. He nominated the professors, fixed the courses
of study, and regulated the discipline of the institution.
In these matters the board was advisory, but did not con-
trol except when financial considerations were involved.
Since the retirement ot Mr. Thomas, the office of musical
director has been practically abolished, the officers of
the college and its faculty satisfactorily performing all the
duties formerly committed to the famous conductor. The
officers of the board give all necessary time to the man-
agement of the college — some of them, as Colonels Nich-
ols and Neff, their entire business hours; yet all serve
without salaries. The officers at the time this sketch is
made up (March 16, 1881) are: Colonel George Ward
Nichols, president; General A. T. Goshorn, vice-presi-
dent; Colonel Peter Rudolph Neff, treasurer; William
Worthington, secretary; remaining directors, ex-Gover-
nor Jacob D. Cox and R. R. Springer, the latter the well-
known benefactor of the Music hall and other philan-
thropic enterprises.
Colonel Nichols has been president of the college from
the beginning. Mr. Neff is a retired merchant, of large
means, liberal taste, and cordial appreciation of high art.
Judge Burnet, descendant of one of the most distinguish-
ed pioneers of Cincinnati, the Hon. Jacob Burnet, was
secretary for some years and until very lately, is a prac-
tical musician and a gentleman of large culture and in-
fluence. General Goshorn is widely renowned as the
able director-general of the late Centennial Exposition at
Philadelphia. Mr. John Shillito, another wealthy and
eminent citizen of Cincinnati, was a director of the college
until his recent death.
The college has no endowment as yet, except a gift of
five thousand dollars from Mr. Springer, the interest of
which is expended annually in the procurement of prizes
— ten gold medals — which are awarded to the students
who manifest superior musical ability, have been in the
college at least one year, and have complied with the
rules, attended all obligatory classes, been diligent and
punctual, and have maintained good character. Other
endowments, however, from the generous benefactors of
Cincinnati, can hardly fail to fall to this most meritorious
institution in the lapse of time.
The college is in no sense a money-making affair or
business venture; it pays no cash dividends. The rea-
sonable wish of its founders is simply that it may meet
its own expenses, upon the most liberal terms that can
be safely granted to its pupils. This modest ambition
has pretty nearly been gratified, although assessments on
the stockholders have at least once proved necessary,
and the probability is that if it continues to be judicious-
ly managed as now, its stockholders and officers will soon
have to pay nothing, except in time, care, and mental
energy, for the privilege of its maintenance and manage-
ment.
The attendance at the college, for the academic year
1 880-1, aggregated over five hundred. The permanent
success of the institution seems confidently assured, and
it is no exaggeration to say that it is the largest and best
appointed school of music in the world.
The several branches taught in the college, according
to the announcements of 1879-80, are the piano, organ,
violin, violoncello, bass viol, flute, French horn, cornet,
bassoon, clarinet, vocal music, with individual instruction
and chorus classes, elocution, the French, German, and
Italian languages, history of music, theory, and the
hygiene of the throat, including anatomy of the ear and
larynx. It is pleasant to record in perpeto the names of
the faculty in charge of the several branches of instruc-
tion. They include some of the most famous musicians
in the country, in their respective walks of art :
FACULTY,
Piano — Henry Carter, Charles A. Graninger, Armin W. Doerner,
Adolph Hartdegen, Miss Jennie Eisner, Miss Helen Sparmann, Miss
Cecilia Gaul, Otto Singer.
Voice — Max Maretzek, Madame Maretzek, James E. Perring, J. F.
Rudolphsen.
[Miss Emma Cranch, the celebrated contralto, and
Miss Louise Rollwagen, withdrew from this department
in the spring of 1881, and we have not yet the names of
their successors].
Organ — Henry Carter, George E. Whiting.
Theory — Charles Baetens, Adolph Hartdegen, Henry Carter, Otto
Singer, George E. Whiting.
Violin — Charles Baetens, Miss Kate Funck, Jacob Bloom, S. E.
Jacobsohn.
Violoncello — Adolph Hartdegen.
Bass Viol — Frederick Storch.
Flute — Hugo Wittgenstein.
Cornet — M. Heidel.
French horn — A. Schrickel.
Bassoon — H. Woest.
Harp — Madame Maretzek.
SCHOOL FOR THE OPERA.
Dramatic expression — Max Maretzek.
Clarinet — Carl Schuett.
Chorus classes — Henry Carter.
Elocution-
LANGUAGES.
French — Madame Fredin.
German — Madame E. Langenbeck.
Italian — C. P. Moulinier.
Lectures on music— Henry Carter, George E. Whiting, Otto Singer.
Hygiene of the throat, anatomy of the ear and larynx— Dr. Bernard '
Tauber.
The departments of the college are organized, severally,
for instrumentalists, vocalists, theory, chorus classes, lec-
tures, elocution, and 'languages. The larger division is
into the general music school and the academic depart-
ment— the former for general or special instruction when
the pupil enters for an indefinite period, or without a
view to graduation ; the later for those who aim to become
professionals or are amateurs who enter for graduation,
all of whom are required to pursue a definite course of
study for a period of time. The academic year is four
terms, of ten weeks each. The orchestra and ensemble
classes are recruited altogether from this department. A
board of examiners from the faculty fix a standard of ad-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
255
mission to it, and conduct the examination of applicants.
In 1880 a school for operatic training was added to
the facilities of the college, and placed in charge of the
celebrated impressario, Max Maretzek, who also Brought
to the institution his invaluable services as a singing-
master. Another interesting recent feature is the addi-
tion of the choristers, or choir in which boys are care-
fully trained in vocalization, for the purpose of church
music, etc.
Neither elementary nor advanced knowledge is requi-
site to admission ; but the merest tyro in music is cordi-
ally welcomed with the rest. Attendance upon the
chorus classes, the lectures on the history of music, the
students' recitals, the rehearsals of the orchestra, and the
organ concerts, is free to all students. Attendance upon
the chorus classes is obligatory upon all. The other
privileges of the school are furnished at very low rates of
tuition. A special advantage of this institution is the
predominance of individual over class instruction — the
former being the rule, the latter the exception, contrary
to the practice of the European schools.
An interesting, and to the public peculiarly valuable,
feature of the work of the college is the orchestral and
chamber concerts given under its auspices and by its
members. Thirty-six of these were given during its first
season, that of 1878-9 — twelve symphonic concerts,
twelve public rehearsals, and twelve chamber concerts.
Of the last-named a most interesting series of eight was
announced for the academic year 1880-81, to be given
by the College String Quartet, with Professor Jacobsohn
as first violin, Miss Gaul, and Messrs. Doerner, Singer,
and others as pianists, accompanying, from time to time,
vocal performances of a high character. One paragraph
from this announcement is well worth perpetuation :
The value to a musical community of the String Quaitet, and the fine
artistic performance of the beautiful compositions of the great masters
known as "chamber music," cannot be over-estimated. The college
sustains the financial responsibility of the Quartet, because it is an im-
portant branch of instruetion for the students and teachers in the col-
lege, and because it offers rare entertainment to the general public.
Some of the choicest works of Haydn, Bach, Beetho-
ven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rubenstein, and other masters,
were announced for performance at this series of chamber
concerts.
At the symphony concerts important service is ren-
dered by the college choir, which consists of three hun-
dred members, students being admitted to it as they
successively become qualified by their study and prac-
tice in the college course. The orchestra, which also
bears an important part in these concerts, is composed
of about sixty musicians. During the directorship of
Mr. Thomas, he introduced an innovation, in this coun-
try at least, by placing some lady performers in the
orchestra, whose skillful and tasteful execution is said to
have justified his confidence. The members of the
orchestra are guaranteed a fixed income by the college,
thus securing, what is not secured in any other city in
this country except New York, the permanence of supe-
rior players in the troupe, as well as a number of invalua-
ble professors of instrumental music for the college. A
number of members of the orchestra were formerly of
Mr. Thomas's famous orchestra, and long enjoyed the
benefits of his unrivalled drill and mastership. The
college receives nothing from the performances of its
orchestra, except at its own concerts ; but deals thus gener-
ously by them in order to keep the players together,
enhance the reputation of the school, and confer addi-
tional benefits upon the local public. There is no other
instance in the world of a self-supporting school of music
embracing an orchestra in its plan of organization and
scheme of education, and maintaining it at great financial
risk — sometimes inevitable loss.
The full programmes of the concerts have been col-
lected and published in a beautiful little book, which has
permanent interest and value.
Another public benefaction conferred by the college is
through the organ concerts, which are given twice a
week, upon the great organ in the Music hall, by the two
professors in organ-music in the college, Messrs. George
E. Whitney and Henry Carter. These are conducted
largely at the expense of the college, the limited attend-
ance at the concerts seldom returning the expense of
them; but they serve to aid the institution to reputation
and popularity, especially among music-loving strangers
visiting Cincinnati. The price of admission to the con-
certs is always cheap, in imitation of the plan pursued at
the concerts given for the masses upon the great organ
in St. George's hall, Liverpool, Albert hall, London, and
other places in the Old World. As an educating
influence among the people, slowly but surely prevailing
in behalf of the higher order of music, the value of these
performances can hardly be overestimated. Free con-
certs are also given upon the organ, partly at the expense
of the college, during the annual Expositions held in the
hall.
In the fall of 1880 the management of the college pro-
jected another enterprise, in the form of a grand Opera
Musical Festival, to be given in the Music hall during
the last week in February — seven performances, repre-
senting the favorite operas Lohengrin, Faust, Mefistofele,
Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor, the Magic Flute, La Son-
nambula, and part of Moses in Egypt. The college of
music, with the aid of the thoroughly trained troupe of
Colonel J. H. Mapleson, the well-known opera man-
nager, gave the festival. The musical directors em-
ployed were Signor Arditi, Max Maretzek, and Otto
Singer. A famous array of soloists was employed, in-
cluding Madame Gerster, Miss Annie Louise Cary, Sig-
ners Campanini and Ravelli, and many others. An
orchestra of one hundred musicians was formed, and the
organ of the Music hall was used effectively in some of
■the operas. The massive chorus, made up in Cincinnati,
consisted of about four hundred voices. The troupe con-
trolled by Colonel Mapleson, and known as Her Majesty's
Opera company, was embodied in the great corps.
The stage of the Music hall, the largest in the world,
was fitted throughout with new and beautiful scenery,
and the entire festival presented on a scale of magnifi-
cence unequalled before in America or Europe. Visitors
were present from far and near, including many fashion-
ables from the seaboard. The aggregate receipts were not
256
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
far from sixty thousand dollars, a comfortable share of
which went to the treasury of the college of Music.
ANOTHER COLLEGE OF MUSIC.
The original Cincinnati College of Music (the larger
institution being the College of Music of Cincinnati)
was founded by Miss Dora Nelson, daughter of Richard
Nelson, president of Nelson's business college, but a
short time before the other sprang into being. Miss
Nelson had been for six years in charge of a conserva-
tory of music, when, in the spring of 1878, overtures
were made to her by distinguished musicians to under-
take the management of a more important school, which
should supersede the necessity of American students
going abroad to complete their musical education. An-
other proposal, from influential sources, was that she
should open an extensive musical institution in the
Mount Auburn female seminary, which was not at the
time in operation, and whose property would be pur-
chased for the new school by an association of citizens.
Both projects were abandoned, for various reasons; and
Miss Nelson, resolving to proceed altogether on her own
account, bought out an academy of music as a nucleus
for her proposed college, and issued her announcements
about the first of August, 1878. On the first of Septem-
ber the school went into operation with a large Faculty
and a patronage which, notwithstanding the existence of
the other college of music, under the auspices of Colonel
Nichols and Mr. Thomas, and of other rival institutions,
returned expenses the first year, and laid the foundation
of a good business thereafter. During the early part of
the academic year it was removed to No. 305 Race
street, where it now is. Miss Nelson remains president
of the college, with Professor Adolph Carpe, a musician
of some distinction, as musical director, and a staff of
competent instructors. A boarding apartment is attached,
which is kept in the same building, and is also under the
immediate supervision of Miss Nelson.
OTHER SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
are not wanting in the city. Among them are the Cin-
cinnati Conservatory of Music, on Eighth street, Miss
Clara Baur, directress; the Cincinnati Musical Institute,
Miss Hattie E. Evans, directress; the Academy of
Music, recently started by two professors from the col-
lege of music of Cincinnati; and private teachers in
great number. No city in the world is more abundantly
provided with facilities for musical education.
THE CINCINNATI MUSIC HALL ASSOCIATION.
The success of the Musical Festivals and of the Ex-
positions, and the inadequacy and temporary character
of the building used for their purposes, naturally led up*
to the thought of a permanent structure, which should
be worthy of the riches and culture of the Queen City,
and should be available for all great occasions and shows,
when a monster audience-room or vast spaces for dis-
plays were desired. In May, 1875, the venerable and
wealthy philanthropist, Mr. Reuben R. Springer, made
the prompt erection of such an edifice possible by his
munificent offer of a gift of one hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars for the purpose, if the people would con-
tribute an equal sum, thus raising a quarter of a million,
which proved, finally, to be but about half the sum nec-
essary to execute the enlarged and liberal views ulti-
mately entertained of the erection of a great Music Hall
and the related buildings. The work of soliciting sub-
scriptions to secure Mr. Springer's gift went briskly and
successfully on ; and in December of the same year an
organization of subscribers was had, under the name of
the Cincinnati Music-Hall Association. This body, a
joint stock company, is constituted of fifty shareholders,
who are elected by the entire body of subscribeis to the
fund, and who in turn elect from their number seven
trustees, in whom was vested absolute authority, as an
executive board, to construct the hall, and thenceforth to
conduct its affairs. Each of the gentlemen appointed to.
represent the subscribers as a stockholder is depositary
of one share of stock, of the nominal or par value of
twenty dollars. He cannot sell this share except to a
purchaser approved by the trustees, nor can it be sold to
one who is already a stockholder. If the holder dies,
his share reverts to the association, to be placed in the
custody of a newly-elected member. The original trus-
tees were elected for terms, severally, of one to seven
years; and a trustee is now elected annually, whose term
of services is seven years. The following-named gentle-
men farmed the original corps of trustees: Reuben R.
Springer, for one year; Robert Mitchell, for two years;
■William HL Harrison, for three years; Julius Dexter, for
four years;' T. D. Lincoln, for five years; Joseph Long-
worth', for six- years; and John Shillito, for seven years.
Judge Longworth was made president of the board, Mr.
Dexter secretary, and Mr. Shillito treasurer. Mr. Dex-
ter was also chairman of the building committee, with
Messrs. Longworth and A. T. Goshorn as associates: and
rendered most signal and efficient service in the active
operations that rapidly followed. The smaller hall
in the building, used for operettas, piano recitals,
chamber concerts, and the like, was given the name
of Dexter Hall, in honor of his services and his gen-
erous pecuniary contributions. The entire structure
is often popularly called the Springer Music Hall, to
perpetuate the name and fame of its founder. First and
last, he gave to this monumental enterprise the aggregate
sum of two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars —
nearly the entire amount to which his original benefac-
tion looked. Among other gifts toward the erection of
the hall and Exposition buildings, must not be forgotten
that of about three thousand dollars, made by the chil-
dren of the public schools, from the proceeds of four
concerts given by them. " The city of Cincinnati, as a
municipal corporation, contributed the ground upon
which the building stands, most of the large block
bounded by Elm and Plum, Fourteenth and Grant
streets, on the east facing the north part of Washington
park.
A year or two elapsed before the means were in hand
and plans consummated for the erection of the hall. It
was at last determined to complete the building, if possi-
ble, sufficiently for the holding therein of the May festi-
val of 1878; and most of the contracts were let April 28,
Miqi- sy -
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
«S7
of the previous year. Obstacles and delays were numer-
ous in the construction of so great and unique an edifice,
but the intelligence and energy of the building com-
mittee, with a competent staff of aids, triumphed over all
difficulties, and the hall stood ready for dedication by the
appointed time, when a splendid ceremonial formally set
it apart to its destined purposes. The Exposition an-
nexes were subsequently added by the beneficence of
Mr. Springer and others, and were first used for the Fair
of 1879. They receive due notice and description in
another part of this volume. An excellent account of
the hall proper is contained in the little book descrip-
tive of the organ, in which the cost of this building is
placed at about three hundred and seven thousand dollars.
In this hall have been held all the great concerts and
monster musical occasions in Cincinnati since its erec-
tion; also the National Democratic convention and
the Raikes Sunday-school centennial in June, 1880,
popular Sunday afternoon services in the summer of the
same year, and many other large meetings. The hall
"and Exposition buildings must be so rented and man-
aged as to yield no profit above what is necessary to keep
them in repair. No stockholder can expect a dividend
upon his share, and no trustee is allowed compensation
for his services. The College of Music is the lessee of
the hall, but several large rooms are occupied by the col-
lections and classes of the Women's Art Museum Asso-
ciation. Both of these institutions, however, annually
give way, during parts of September and October, to the
occupation of all the buildings by the Industrial Exposi-
tion.
THE MUSICAL CLUB.
This is one of the leading social and musical organi-
zations of the city, It is composed of influential patrons
of music and prominent local musicians, both profes-
sional and amateur, and has for its objects the cultivation
of classical and modern chamber music, and the promo-
tion of harmony and fraternity among musical people.
It was organized in 1876, and its membership, at the
time of the annual meeting October 4, 1880, was eighty-
six — well up to its constitutional limit of one hundred.
The initiation fee is eight dollars. The club has had at
times a sharp struggle for existence, but seems now
fairly upon its feet, and occupies handsome rooms of its
own at No. 200 West Fourth street. The last annual
report of its president, Mr. Lucien Walzin, gives some
facts in its history of permanent value :
At the time of the formation of the club there existed in this city no
organization for the cultivation of chamber music our best musicians
had but a bare acquaintance with each other, while the younger mem-
bers of the profession, in spite of culture and talent, found it difficult
to secure recognition. The objects of the club, "the promotion of
musical culture and good-fellowship among its members," were then
best served by our weekly Sunday afternoon meetings, where the music
of the masters fused the acquaintance of our little band of members
into active friendship, and gave to all a knowledge, respect, and affec-
tion for each other, which not only had an immediate effect, but must
continue to make us cherish through life the recollections of those
days.
Two years so passed had ripened the club for a larger effort, and the
third year satisfied the members that a step in advance was needed as
an incentive to that activity which is as necessary to the healthful life of
a club as to that of an individual. Measures for the formation and
support of a string quartette of the highest order were being taken
when the formation of the College of Music made further effort in that
direction unnecessary, and at the same time gave us new work and
new life in receiving and amalgamating, as it were, with our local,
musicians, the artists who were thus brought to the city.
The fourth year of the club, and its last at the Literary Club-rooms,
gave us a number of brilliant performances, but the great number of
concerts of the highest order, which we were then having in the city,
naturally detracted from the intense satisfaction which the early per-
formances at the club had given, for we were no longer in the hungry
state of former years. The musicians themselves were wearied by the
continual demands which weekly performances required, and toward
the close of that year, though strong in members, the interest in the
club was rather low.
It was then that the move was made to our present quarters. The
result has been in many respects most gratifying.
The report of the secretary, Mr. Chapman Johnson,
adds an item or two of interest :
The musical entertainments were all highly successful. Among the
larger, three were devoted to the compositions respectively of Beeth-
oven, Mozart, and Chopin, celebrating the anniversaries of their births ;
two were devoted to a variety of composers, and one was furnished by
Mr. Parry, the Boston pianist. The reputation of these performances
spread outside of the club's limits.
There were about six smaller performances, taking in quite a range
of compositions. At the larger entertainments the highest grade of
ensemble music was invariably performed, and a very high standard
reached.
These entertainments must by a high source of congratulation to
both the entertainers and entertained, and only one regret is to be ex-
pressed, and that is, that those members whose playing was listened to
with great pleasure in former years, were seldom, if ever, heard during
the last season.
OTHER MUSICAL SOCIETIES
exist in Cincinnati in great number, including several
which are organized as orchestras and bands. Among
them are the St. Cecilia Maennerchor, organized in May,
1867, by the male members of the choir of St. Mary's
German Catholic church; the Cincinnati Maennerchor,
whose history has already been outlined; the Germania
Maennerchor, formed from the latter by eight seceding
members in 1872; the American Protestant Association
Maennerchor, a singing club connected with the German
branch of the association named; the Turner, Odd Fel-
lows', Schweitzer, Herwegh (Polish), and other Maenner-
chors; the Harmonic society, founded in 1869, and not
long since accounted the largest organization of the kind
in the city, forming the nucleus of the chorus for the May
festivals; the Cincinnati Orchestra, organized in 1872,
chiefly for the cultivation of classical music, and promi-
nent in the orchestral concerts of the city, especially the
free concerts given in the parks; Currier's band, which is
much in request for public occasions; the Ladies' Mu-
sical club, with twenty-five members, amateur and profes-
sional, the Choral society, Alert and Oneida Singing
clubs, the Orpheus, the College Choir, the Druiden Ssen-
gerchor, and many others. There is also a Society for
the Suppression of Music.
THE GUOESBECK ENDOWMENT.
This is a fund of fifty thousand dollars, given by the
Hon. William S. Groesbeck April 7, 1875, for the pleasure
and musical culture of the people of Cincinnati, through
free concerts given in the warm season at Burnet Woods
park. The benefits of the fund were made available very
soon after the gift, it having been invested in seven per
cent, water bonds of.the city, and yielding three thousand
33
*58
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
five hundred dollars annually. One hundred and eight
afternoon concerts had been given under this benefac-
tion with great satisfaction to large numbers of visitors,
down to the last given in October, 1880. The trust is
perpetual, and by the terms of the gift, "the interest
thereon shall be applied yearly to furnish music for the
people." Free evening concerts have also been given at
intervals during recent summers in other parks, at the
expense of the city, under the supervision of the park
commissioners.
CHAPTER XXVII.
LIBRARIES.
The collection of books, pamphlets, newspaper files,
and other material of libraries, for the uses of the public,
is a very prominent feature among the literary aspects of
life in Cincinnati. Great success has been attained in the
aggregation of books and documents for this purpose; and
at least one of these libraries, the Public, has become
widely renowned. The Mercantile is also of high local
reputation; the collection of the Historical and Philos-
ophical society, while less known, perhaps, than its merits
deserve, has great value, and is exceedingly useful to
those engaged in prosecuting special inquiries. Certain
other libraries of a semi-public character, as the Bar
library, the Law library in the College building, the Uni-
versity library, the Swedenborgian library at the church
on Fourth street, and others, also serve very useful pur-
poses. The history of the Bar library will be detailed in
our chapter on the bar.
THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY
established in the Northwest Territory was founded at
Cincinnati in 1802, almost two years before the noted
"Coonskin library" at Ames, Athens county, in this
State, which has been much vaunted as the first. The
meeting for preliminary steps was held at Griffin Yeat-
man's tavern Saturday evening, February 13, in that year;
and after due consultation and discussion it was agreed
that an attempt should be made to found a library. Messrs.
Jacob Burnet, Martin Baum, and Lewis Kerr were ap-
pointed a committee to solicit subscriptions of shares at
ten dollars each. They drew up the following article the
succeeding Monday:
We, the subscribers, being desirous of establishing n public library
in the town of Cincinnati, agree to take as many shares in the stock of
sucn an institution as are annexed to our names respectively, and pay
for the sameat therate of ten dollars for each share.
The paper'embracing this is still preserved, and bears
the autographs of General Arthur St. Clair, Peyton
Short, son-in-law of Judge Symmes, Judge Burnet, Gen-
eral James Findlay, Jonathan S. Findlay, Griffin Yeat-
man, William Ruffin, Joel Williams, Isaac VanNuys,
David E. Wade, Joseph Prince, John R. Milk, John
Reily, C. Avery, Jacob White, Patrick Dickey, W. Stan-
ley, P. P. Stuart, C. Killgore, Martin Baum, Jeremiah
Hunt, Lewis Kerr, James Wallace, Samuel C. Vance,
and Cornelius R. Sedam. Nine of these subscribed two
shares each, so that the total subscription of thirty-four
shares amounted to three hundred and forty dollars,
which is considered very liberal for the little settlement,
in the hard times which then prevailed. Books were
speedily purchased, - and others given ; and the library
began issuing March 6, 1802, only nineteen days after
the subscription was opened. Mr. Lewis Kerr was the
first librarian.
ANOTHER EARLY LIBRARY.
This first library probably lasted but a few years.
Again, in 1809, only seven years after the date of the first
effort, we find the citizens of Cincinnati moving again for
a library, and petitioning the legislature for an act of in-
corporation ; which, strange to say, was then refused. In
the summer of 181 1 Judge Turner obtained a subscrip-
tion of several hundred dollars, in shares for a library.
A meeting of the shareholders was held and a constitu-
tion adopted, which was sent to the legislature as the
basis of another appeal for a charter. Again was the
application singularly denied; but at a subsequent ses-
sion (in 1812) the assembly granted an act of incorpora-
tion for the Circulating library of Cincinnati. There
were further delays, however, in perfecting the arrange-
ments; and the licrary was not opened until April, 1814.
A second and more liberal, efficient charter was procured
soon after.
This library was flourishing in 1815, and had then
about eight hundred volumes, which were arranged under
the following heads: Arts and Sciences, Belles Lettres
and Rhetoric, Biography, Botany, Chemistry, Medicine,
the Drama, Education, Geography, History, Law, Meta-
physics and Moral Philosophy, Natural History, Natural
Philosophy, Novels, Philology, Poetry, Politics, Theology,
Veterinary Art, Voyages and Travels, Miscellaneous, and
Continued Periodical Works. The collection included
Rees's Cyclopaedia and Wilson's great work on Ornith-
ology. About sixty of the volumes had been presented.
In the year named the library was kept open one day
in the week. It was managed by a president and a board
of seven directors, who were elected annually. The
shares were ten dollars apiece, were transferable, and
were subject to an annual assessment of one dollar.
In 1826 this library had increased to thirteen hundred
works, which are spoken of in Drake & Mansfield's book
of that year as "well-selected volumes." It was then
kept in a lower room of the old College building, and
was open to the public Saturday afternoons. Strangers
in the city and other non-shareholders were allowed, for
a consideration, to use books by the single volume or on
a monthly, quarterly, or yearly arrangement. It was
thought the institution was not very well sustained at this
time, judging from the frequent appeals of the directors
for material aid.
THE APPRENTICES' LIBRARY
had by this "time also got into full operation. It was
founded in 182 1, through the liberality of a number of
public-spirited citizens, who saw in it an important means
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
259
of intellectual and moral improvement to the younger
class of mechanics and laboring men. Five years there-
after it had as many books, within a hundred volumes, as
the older library was credited with. All young mechanics
or other laborers were entitled to draw books, upon
making satisfactory guarantee of their safe return. The
contributors elected annually five directors, by whom the
library was managed.
In 1829 the library was kept in the Council chamber.
Other libraries mentioned this year are the Cincinnati,
kept on Main street, north of Third; the Circulating, on
Fourth, between Main and Walnut; and the Sun, a
private circulating library, on Third, between Main and
Walnut.
In 1 841 the library had nearly doubled its collection,
having then two thousand two hundred volumes, about
four hundred of which were taken out and returned
weekly. It was still free to all minors of the laboring
classes, and was attended by a librarian who received the
munificent salary of one hundred dollars a year.
THE CINCINNATI READING-ROOM
was founded in 18 18, by Elam P. Langdon, then assist-
ant postmaster. The Gazetteer of the next year, the first
published in the city, gives it this notice :
The room is amply furnished with the most respectable news and lit-
erary journals in the country; also with maps, European gazettes, etc.,
etc. It is conducted on a liberal plan, and is a convenient and pleas.-
ant resort for the citizens and strangers who are desirous of noting the
"passing tidings of the times."
It was kept in the rear of the post-office, on Third
street, and was successfully maintained for a number of
years. It is noticed as "this valuable establishment" in
Drake & Mansfield's Cincinnati in 1826. It was fur-
nished with many leading news journals and magazines
of the country, including the North American Review,
The Museum, the United States Literary Gazette, and the
Port olio, and also the Edinburgh Review. Strangers, if
to. be in the city but a short time, were admitted to its
privileges free. It seems at this time riot to have been
very liberally patronized, and was not long-lived thereafter.
THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY.
This noble literary institution, now forty-six years old,
is one of the features of the higher civilization in which
Cincinnati justly prides herself. A good account of its
genesis and early growth is given by Mr. John W. Ellis,
of New York, formerly of Cincinnati, in a letter contrib-
uted to the annual report for 1879. Says Mr. Ellis:
The Young Men's Mercantile Library association, of New York,
which originated in the year 1822, was the pioneer of many similar
institutions since formed in the various cities of this country. This
association had accomplished so much good as to excite a feeling in
favor of establishing similar institutions in other cities.
Several prominent young men of Cincinnati had considered this
matter, and one or two informal preliminary meetings had been held,
at which the subject had been discussed, but the formal meeting at
which the Young Men's Mercantile Library association was founded,
was held on the eighteenth of April, 1835, in the second story of a
building then used as a fire engine house, on the north side of Fourth
street, two or three doors east of Christ church.
There were forty-five persons present; nearly all of this number are
now dead. So far as I can recollect, the persons now living who were
present on that occasion are Messrs. Rowland G. Mitchell, William H.
Harrison jr., John P. Tweed, James Wiles, and myself. I was, prob-
ably, the youngest person present, not much more than a boy.
The^association was formed and constitution adopted, the members
going to work vigorously to get it in shape. As cash in those days was
a much scarcer thing than it is now, the salaries of clerks being very
small, it worked on very limited means for a long period.^ It was loca-
ted for the first few months in the second story of a building belonging
to Mr. Daniel Ames, on the west side of Main street, below Pearl
street.
During the hot summer weather of 1835, not having the means of
hiring a librarian, the library was temporarily closed, but opened
again in the fall in the second story of a building belonging to Ross &
Geyer, which was located on the north side of Fourth street, just east *
of Main street.
For a few months the entire duties of librarian, porter, janitor, etc.,
were performed in turn by the officers and directors. They gave out the
books, swept the rooms, and cleaned the lamps. There was no gas in
those days.
Donations of money were solicited from merchants, and the sum of
eighteen hundred dollars was obtained. By the end of that year, 1835,
the library contained seven hundred and fifty volumes, and many lead-
ing papers were on file in the reading-room.
In the winter of 1836 Mr. Doolittle was elected librarian, and a spe-
cial charter for the association was obtained from the legislature.
For the next three years, viz., 1836-37 and '38, embracing the period
of the greatest financial revulsion that ever occurred in this country, not
excepting that of 1873, the existence of the institution was con-
stantly imperiled for want of money; and it was only sustained by the
constant and untiring exertions of a few gentlemen, who were deter-
mined, at all hazards, to carry it throngh. They gave their own per-
sonal labor and exertions night after night. They advanced money to
it; they became security for its debts; and, in fact, did everything to ac-
complish a successful result. It might be improper for me to mention
the name of any of these young men who thus did so much for the as-
sociation, as I might do injustice to many who could not be mentioned.
There was one person, however, who more than all others may be con-
sidered the father of the association, -and that was Mr. Moses Ranney.
The "hard times, " growing out of the panic of 1837, did not cease
for several years, and of course affected the means of the members in
sustaining this association. The older members will recollect, and
others may find out by referring to the minutes, how "soliciting com-
mittees " were appointed every month to raise money to save it from
sinking.
In 1837 Mr. Doolittle vacated his office, and Mr. Holly was appointed
librarian.
In 1838 the first printed catalogue was published and sold at a mod-
erate price to such members as chose to purchase. The expenses over
and above these receipts were paid for by a few gentlemen.
In the year 1839 the number of paying members was increased to five
hundred, and all the. debts of the Association, for the time being, dis-
charged. This year Mr. James Wildey was elected librarian. Matters
began to improve, connections were better, and the number of volumes
in the Library increased.
In 1840 a special collection was made of one thousand dollars, which
was sent to London to purchase some choice editions of books, and
resulted in the importation of seven hundred and sixty-eight volumes.
The record shows, as I have ascertained, that the number of volumes
at this time was one thousand six hundred and sixty.
During this year the Association moved its quarters from Fourth
street to the old College building on Walnut street, paying a rent of
three hundred dollars. That building was a predecessor of the present
one. From the south end of the College to Fourth street there was a
beautiful garden, with shrubbery and trees.
In 1841 a new catalogue was prepared and published, which showed
some three thousand volumes in the library. There were then some
six hundred members, and the annual receipts amounted to two thou-
sand dollars.
Among the notable events in which the association participated in a
body were the funeral of President Harrison in 1841 and the laying of
the foundation of Mount Adams Astronomical Association building in
1843, when the oration was delivered by ex-President John Quincy
Adams.
In the year 1842 there was an effort made to establish classes in
French and German languages, but they were not successful.
The annual contests, which have been a marked feature in the
elections of this association, were originated at the election in January.
1843 ; and I think this fact worth mentioning, as these contests, con-
ducted always with good feeling, have had a marked effect on the prog-
ress of the association.
260
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
It may seem strange to mention the fact ; but a very important event
in the history of the association, in a. small way, was the introduction
of gas into the library and reading-room in 1843. Previous to that
time the association, like the community at large, had depended for
light on the use of tallow candles and lard oil.
On Sunday morning, January 19, 1845, the college building was en-
tirely destroyed by fire, but by the great exertions of the members and
citizens generally, all the books of the association were saved, and the
little damage done was covered by insurance. This fire, however, re-
sulted in an arrangement with the trustees of the Cincinnati College for
the present quarters occupied by it.
By great exertions there was raised, chiefly by subscriptions from
merchants, the sum of ten thousand dollars to pay for the fee-simple
of its quarters, and one thousand six hundred dollars in addition
for the furnishing of the rooms. The association took possession of its
new quarters in May, 1846, amid the general congratulations of all the
members and their friends.
In those days of small things it is well to acknowledge that the eleven
thousand six hundred dollars contributed by the merchants for the pur-
pose showed great liberality.
About the same time Mr. Cist was elected librarian, in the place of
Mr. Wildey, deceased.
As a good many inquiries have been made, and as there has been
considerable discussion for some years past, in reference to the origin
of the Chamber of Commerce of Cincinnati, it is well to say that during
the early years of the existence of the Young Men's Mercantile Library
association, there were many reports made on the subject of forming a
chamber of commerce, or merchants' exchange, or board of trade, as it
was variously styled from time to time. Many resolutions were passed
and conferences had between the officers and merchants of the city.
Commencing in 1839 and running through the following years up to the
spring of 1844, when a committee was appointed, of which Mr. John
W. Hartwell was chairman, on the part of your association, and Mr.
Thomas J . Adams, a prominent merchant, represented the merchants of
the city. They employed Mr. Lewis J. Cist to collect the commercial
statistics of the city then accessible, in the shape of imports and exports
of merchandise, etc., by canal and river. For the purpose of paying
the expense of this undertaking, ninety merchants contributed five dollars
each. The result of Mr. Cist's labor was daily recorded in the books in
the library rooms, accessible to all contributors ; but no daily meetings
were held. After the association had moved into its present rooms, an
arrangement was made for a nominal consideration, by which the Mer-
chants' Exchange became a fixed institution, under its own manage-
ment, as it now exists.
In regard to the lectures that were a prominent feature for many years,
some recollections may be of interest.
The first lectures delivered before the association were upon com-
mercial law, in the winter of 1835-36, by Joseph L. Benham, a promi-
nent and distinguished lawyer.
In the winter of 1838 Judge Timothy Walker gave a course of lec-
tures. No charge was made for attendance upon either of these courses.
In the winter of 1840 and 1841 Dr. Robinson gave a course of lectures
on American history, for which, if I recollect aright, he received three
hundred dollars, not from the association, but donated by individuals.
In the winter of 1842 Dr. John Locke delivered a course of twelve
lectures on geology, which were well attended.
William Green, esq. , also lectured three or four times on various sub.
jects. There were also some miscellaneous lectures the same year, but,
to the best of my recollection, were not successful.
Up to this period home talent had been entirely enlisted in this mat-
ter. Efforts were made to get literary men from the eastern cities to
lecture, but the time, fatigue, and expense of travelling were so great
that it was impossible to accomplish it, as it required from five to seven
days to travel to New York and other eastern cities.
Finding this impossible, for two or three seasons the officers and
some of their intimate friends took the bold step of delivering, their
own lectures. These were very well received by the community, and if
they did not enlighten the people on the subjects of which they treated,
they at least had the benefit of teaching their authors the subject of
composition and delivery.
In the winter of 1843 and 1844, these lectures were delivered by
Messrs. R. M. W. Taylor, Richard A. Whetstone, Lewis J. Cist, and
others. The following year lectures were delivered by Messrs. J. T.
Headley, J. F. Annan, James Calhoun, George S. Coe, John D.
Thorpe, William Watts, James Lupton, and John W. Ellis. All these
were active members of the association.
The celebrations of the anniversary of the founding of the Associ-
ation were quite prominent features, and an effort was made to hav e
these anniversary orations delivered by active members of the associ-
ation, but this was not strictly carried out.
The first was delivered by Mr. R. G. Mitchell, on April 18, 1839.
The next by Mr. John C. Vaughn, an honorary member, and editor
of the Cincinnati Gazette, April 18, 1841.
This was followed by that of 1844, when the anniversary address
was made by John W. Ellis, and a poem was read by William D.
Gallagher.
On the eighteenth of April, 1845, the address was made by J. T.
Headley; the following year, 1846, by Judge James "Hall.
This brings me up to the period at which I ceased to take an active
interest in the management of the association, and shall therefore
leave the future history to others.
The first officers of the society elected were; Moses
Ranney, president; Elbridge Lawrence, William M.
Greer, vice-presidents; Charles G. Springer, treasurer;
W. R. Smith, recording secretary. S. A. Spencer, Rob-
ert Brown, R. D. Mitchell, I. D. Wheeler, directors.
The succession of presidents of the association, and
statistics of the members elected year by year, the total
number of members each year, the number of volumes
annually added to the library, and the whole number at
the several periods, are exhibited at a glance in the fol-
lowing table, prepared for the Annual Report of 1879,
which had, to a considerable degree, an historical char-
acter :
Date.
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
184s
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
18 C3
1854
18SS
1856
1857
1858
1859
i860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
PRESIDENT.
Moses Ranney
Moses Ranney
R. G. Mitchell
William Watts
(I. D. Wheeler 1
( Chas. C. Sackett.... J
Moses Ranney
Chas. Duffield
William Watts
JohnW. Ellis
John W. Ellis
R. M. W. Taylor. .
R. M. W. Taylor. .
John W. Hartwell.
John W. Hartwell.
George T. Stedman. . .
Joseph C. Butler
Joseph C. Butler
James Lupton.,
James Lupton
H. D. Huntington
C. R. Fosdick
A. B. Merriam
W. I. Whiteman
S. M. Murphy
C. W. Rowland
Theodore Cook
C. P. Marsh
A. S. Winslow
C. Taylor Jones
C. Taylor Jones
Adolph Wood
S. C. Newton
S. C. Newton
F. H. Baldwin
F. H. -Baldwin
George W. Jones
Hugh Colville
W. P.Anderson
Samuel B. Warren
Wm. S. Munson
Wm. J. Armel
Herman Goepper
Earl W. Stimson
Chas. P.Wilson
Henry J. Page
Robert F. Leaman
Walter J. Mitchell
Members
Elected.
140
158
140
142
283
3J8
540
278
163
5i°
577
689
527
717
805
522
559
523
678
197
204
243
523
326
4r7
251
480
I.033
547
338
716
534
57i
35°
33i
459
Total No.
of
Members
45
169
207
346
480
500
54i
55°
700
592
625
722
1,007
1,144
I.5I7
1,697
1,782
I.956
2,157
2,381
2,55°
3."3
3.074
3.196
3.237
3.327
3.104
2,702
2,065
2,161
2,188
2,850
1.993
2,144
2,079
2,051
2.735
2.833
2,607
2,726
2.853
2,776
2.599
2.325
2,417
Volumes
Added.
146
184
298
283
1,076
536
1,320
2,089
1,609
1,292
674
872
1,198
1,002
1,582
1,118
694
881
782
1,223
439
174
148
805
875
4.413
1,700
969
698
1,281
1,071
1,282
1,167
1,184
1. 134
1,067
914
1,248
2.255
TotalNo.
of
Volumes.
767
9*3
L^
J.342
1,660
1,809
2,885
3.299
3,626
3.998
4.250
4.786
6,106
8,195
9,804
11,096
11,769 ,
12,641
!3.839
14,841
16,423
I7.54I
19,386
19,873
21,096
21.535
21,707
21,834
22,542
23.417
27,830
29.530
30,499
31,212
32.247
33.350
34.362
35.259
36.193
37.092
38,159
38,803
40,051
41.306
Mr. John M. Newton is now, and has been for some
years, the popular librarian of the association.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
261
The following designated gentlemen are distinguished
as perpetual members of the association :
Larz Anderson, N. L. Anderson, William P. Anderson, William J.
Armel, F. H. Baldwin, J. B. Bennett, Robert W. Burnet, W. T. Bur-
ton (transferred to Mrs. W. T. Burton, 1876), Gideon Burton, Joseph
C. Butler, Theodore Cook, Augustus Darr, Charles Davis, Julius Dex-
ter, J. W. Ellis, J. J. Emery, Seth Evans, Kenner Garrard, H. H. Gib-
son, Herman Goepper, Frank W. Handy, Jacob W. Holenshade,
Charles H. Kilgour, John Kilgour, jr. , Joseph l£insey, Robert F. Lea-
man, George W. McAlpin, John McHenry, A. B. Merriam, William
S. Munson, J. M. Wayne Nfff, E. H. Pendleton, William Powell, jr.,
President Cincinnati Gas Light & Coke company, President of the Cin-
cinnati Insurance company, E. M. Shield, Gordon Shillito, Charles W.
Short, W. W. Taylor, S. B. Warren, William A. Webb (transferred to
W. L. Mallory, 1876), George Wilshire, A. S. Winslow, Adolph Wood,
D. T. Woodrow, C. W. Woolley, Edward Worthington, Nathaniel ,
Wright, jr., Charles B. Wilby, Charles P. Wilson.
In accordance with section 5, article II, of the consti-
tution, providing that "persons of distinction may be
elected honorary members of the association by unani-
mous vote of the board of directors," the following per-
sons have been made honorary members : Hon. Bellamy
Storer, 1862;* Henry Probasco, esq., 1872; Hon. A. T.
Goshorn, 1873; Robert Clarke, esq., 1873; Reuben R.
Springer, esq., 1876; Professor Daniel Vaughn, 1877;*
Theodore Thomas, 1879.
There are also two hundred and eighteen life members.
On the aftejnoon of Tuesday, October 21, 1869, the col-
lege building occupied by the Library again took fire and
burned for several hours, destroying much of the build-
ing, but not leveling it with the ground. The second
floor, however, used for the library and the reading-room,
was so badly injured as to be untenable, and much dam-
age to the books and other property of the Association
was done by fire and water, especially the latter. A read-
ing-room was opened at No. 137-9 Race street, between
Third and Fourth, and the books were stored and the
ordinary operations of the library suspended until the old
quarters could be re-occupied. Since then the occupancy
has been undisturbed, and it is justly regarded as one of
the pleasantest retreats in the city for the members of
the Association and their introduced friends. The files
of newspapers, magazines, and reviews are very numerous
and choice, and the books of the library are kept up with
the progress of publication, on all the lines of popular
demand.
The circulation of miscellaneous works from this library
during the year 1880, was reported at thirteen thousand
nine hundred and sixty-four, while four thousand three
hundred and forty-nine were read in its rooms ; of novels,
forty thousand two hundred and fourteen; read in the
library, three hundred and forty. Total issue of books
for the year, fifty-seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-
seven — an increase of three thousand eight hundred and
twenty-two against the report of 1879. The Association
had in its treasury the handsome amount of twenty-five
thousand seven hundred and seventy-one dollars and
twenty-six cents. One hundred and thirty-two pupils of
the public schools are admitted to the privileges of the
library, under the provisions of the Day bequest.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
By the statute of May 4, 1853, the State Legislature
* Deceased.
provided that a tax of one-tenth of one mill on the dol-
lar of valuation should be levied and appropriated to the
purchase of libraries and apparatus for schools, under
direction of the State Commissioner of Common Schools.
Under this law the Commissioner at first himself obtained
books for small libraries, as the means in hand warranted,
and sent to the officers of the several counties, for dis-
tribution to the school districts. Sixteen such libraries,
each the exact duplicate of every other, came by this ar-
rangement to Cincinnati in 1854 — one for each school
district in the city. The Board of education of the city
naturally objected to libraries so ill adapted to the situa-
tion, and requested the Commissioner to allow the Board
the handling of its quota of the library fund, or to send
it books in a single library. He agreed to the suggestion,
and the next year sent according to a list furnished by
the Board. Soon afterwards, in 1856, the Board con-
tracted with the Mechanics' institute for the perpetual
lease of the second story of the new institute building,
on the corner of Vine and Sixth streets, and the tempo-
rary consolidation of its library with the collection in
charge of the Board. Ten thousand dollars in city bonds
were placed with the institute, subject to recall when the
premises, after due notice, should be vacated. In this
building the "Ohio School Library," as its name then
was, opened to the public, July, 1856, its collection of
eleven thousand six hundred and thirty volumes. Of
these six thousand five hundred and eighty-three were
the property of the Mechanics' Institute, and the re-
mainder, something less than half, constituted the school
library proper. This part of the collection had cost
seven thousand five hundred and forty-one dollars and
ninety-two cents, which was not half the sum which the
city of Cincinnati had paid in library taxation under the
law of 1853.
The library had a very satisfactory circulation the first
year. Accounts were opened with two thousand four
hundred persons, and twenty thousand one hundred and
seventy-nine books were given out. A catalogue of one
hundred and fourteen pages octavo was prepared — as the
tradition runs, by boys from the Hughes high school —
and printed in January, 1857. It is, of course, very far
from what such a catalogue should be, and presents a
marked contrast to the admirable catalogues that have
been prepared in later years. The second catalogue ap-
peared in i860, in a volume of two hundred and four
pages, double-column. The catalogue now in use, a
portly octavo of six hundred and forty-four pages, was
published in 187 1, under the supervision of the distin-
guished librarian, Mr. W. F. Poole. In addition the li-
brarian's office contains a large number of manuscript
"shelf catalogues," in bulky volumes, for entry and clas-
sification of books by topics ; also a very thorough system
of card catalogues in drawers, for classification alphabet-
ically by authors. The new books of every month are
also classified and catalogued in a Monthly Bulletin, a
thin quarto pamphlet, which is sold at a nominal rate,
and keeps book-borrowers regularly informed of additions
to the library. Special catalogues are also being printed,
exhibiting the resources of the library under each of the
262
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
great heads of literature. Several volumes of these are
already printed, which, with the Bulletins since printed,
enable one in a few minutes to ascertain all that the col-
lection contains relating to a topic under investigation.
In i860 the library had twenty-two thousand six hun-
dred and forty-eight volumes (sixteen thousand and sixty-
five in the library proper) upon its shelves, besides the
collections of the Historical and Philosophical Society
of Ohio, which numbered over three thousand. The
same year a second printed catalogue, of two hundred
and four octavo pages, was printed. The law imposing
a State tax for libraries was repealed this year, and no
additions were made to the library in 1861; except eighty-
one volumes, by donation. In the same way one hun-
dred and fifteen were added the next year, and one hun-
dred in 1863. The additions during seven years when
no public tax was levied for it scarcely kept pace with
the losses; and in 1866 but sixteen thousand two hun-
dred books were reported — about the same as six years
before — and many of these were in most wretched con-
dition.
However, in 1867 a subscription of four thousand
seven hundred and sixty- dollars and fifteen cents was
made for the library, and the income of a legacy of
five thousand dollars, left to it by Mrs. Sarah Lewis, be-
came available. On petition of the school and munici-
pal authorities, the tax for libraries was restored March
10, 1867, in cities of the first and second class, which
gave Cincinnati the next year thirteen thousand five
hundred dollars for new books. Only one thousand six
hundred and eighty-three dollars and forty-nine cents
were, however, expended this year in this direction ; but
seven thousand eighty-nine dollars and seventy-seven
cents were paid out in 1863 for three thousand six hun-
dred and eighty-six volumes, and three hundred and
fifty-two were received by donation. Shortly before this
purchase the exact number of books in the library was
reported at twelve thousand four hundred and eighty-
three, showing a great falling-off from losses, worn-out
copies, and other causes. In 1869, five thousand three
hundred and ninety-three volumes were added ; in 1870,
one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven ; and
seven thousand nine hundred and one were bought during
the year ending June, 1871. The number of volumes
was thirty thousand three hundred and six August 10th
of that year. The number of readers in a single month
of 1867 was two thousand one hundred and twenty; of
1868, three thousand five hundred and five; 1869, five
thousand one hundred and eleven; 1870, six thousand
seven hundred and seventy-three ; 1871, eleven thousand
two hundred and thirty-one ; showing a very remarkable
increase the last year, which was during the administra-
tion of Mr. W. F. Poole, the celebrated librarian, and
reformer of this library. About this time arrangements
were made with medical institutions in the city to build
up and maintain an extensive medical department ; and
a Theological and Religious Library, numbering three
thousand two hundred and ninety-one volumes, had re-
cently been deposited with its collection.
The building occupied by the library is eighty feet
front on Vine street by one hundred and ninety feet
depth to College street in the rear. The front is four
stories high, the two lower being eighteen feet high, and
the two upper sixteen feet, built of light-colored Buena-
Vista freestone, of massive design, and surmounted by a
cornice of galvanized iron, eighty feet from the pave-
ment. The building is fire-proof throughout; the floors
are on rolled wrought-iron beams, with corrugated sheet-
iron arches between them, filled, in with concrete. In
the main hall of the library the columns which support
the ceiling are wrought-iron of peculiar construction,
ornamented with cast-iron. The lintels are all of wrought-
iron; and the interior cornices, etc., are of galvanized
iron, with panels of ornamental glass in the iron ceiling.
An arched roof spreads above this, studded with prismatic
lights of thick glass set in iron plates. The inside fold-
ing shutters for the windows are of wrought-iron in
moulded panels. The windows are double, excluding
effectually smoke and dust, with French casements hung
inside of the outer sashes.
The main apartment is eighty by one hundred and
eight feet, and fifty feet high, surrounded by five tiers of
alcoves, the lower of them eleven feet high and the
upper seven and a half feet. They have six miles of
shelving, with a total capacity for two hurfdred and fifty
thousand volumes. The floor of this hall, the visitors'
reception-room, and the entrance hall, are paved with
marble in various colors. The staircases from the
ground floor to the library, seven feet above, are of white
marble; other flights of stairs in the building are of
iron.
On the first floor, near the entrance to the main hall,
is a delivery-room for the circulating library, which im-
mediately adjoins, but is separated from the large hall
used in consulting the library of reference.
The interior finish, wainscoting, etc., of the building is
in black walnut, with walls and ceilings decorated in
color. Heat is supplied from steam coils throughout the
building. An ample cellar gives lofty vaulted rooms for
the reception and unpacking of books, for boiler and en-
gine, coal vaults, etc. The steam engine is used partly
to move the elevator in the building.
This edifice was occupied in 1873, when the Hon.
Charles Jacob, mayor of the city, formally received from
the board of education the keys of the fine structure, and
an address was delivered by the Hon. George H. Pen-
dleton.
The last annual report of the librarian, dated July 1,
1880, exhibits the total number of books then in the
library as one hundred and eighteen thousand nine hun-
dred and fifty-five; pamphlets, thirteen thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two; total, one hundred and thirty-two
thousand eight hundred and seven. Added during the
year, twelve thousand three hundred and sixty-five nine
thousand five hundred and fourteen by purchase, one
thousand five hundred and five by gift, and ninety-eight
by exchange. The Cincinnati Newsboys' union presented
its entire library— three hundred and seventy-seven books
and three hundred and eighty pamphlets. The issue of
books was : Volumes delivered for home use, two hun-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
263
dred and fifty-seven thousand five hundred and ninety-
one; for reference, one hundred and fifty-one thousand
and eighty-two; total, four hundred and eight thousand
six hundred and seventy-three, an increase, as against the
previous year, of thirty-three thousand six hundred and
eighty-six. An average of a book every minute is given
out during all the hours the library is open, and over two
thousand people daily make use of the library in some
shape.
Branch libraries have been established in the First
ward (Columbia) and the Twenty-first ward (Cummins-
ville) with very gratifying results. The expenditures of
the library for the year were fifty-four thousand nine hun-
dred and twenty-seven dollars and twenty-eight cents.
The librarian, Chester W. Merrill, esq., thus illustrates,
in a very interesting incident, the many ways in which
the library is returning consideration to the community
for this seemingly large expense :
It is seldom that we can measure in dollars and cents the usefulness
of an institution whose benefits silently permeate the whole community,
but occasionally an illustration presents itself. I am authorized by
Judge M. W. Oliver and E. W. Kittredge, esq., to state that the in-
formation derived from three volumes in the library, wnich could not
have been obtained elsewhere at the time, saved the people of Cincin-
nati, in the contract with the Gas Company, at least thirty-three thou-
sand five hundred dollars annually for the next ten years. How much
more of the reduction of the price of gas was due to these books, cannot
be certainly known. There can be no doubt that seven cents per thou-
sand feet reduction was due to the assistance rendered by these books.
This one item is alone more than one-half the annual cost of the library,
and is nearly equal to the amount paid by the board of education from
the general educational fund for library purposes.
BENEFACTIONS.
Mr. Timothy Kirby, a well-known old citizen of Cin-
cinnati, left a bequest at his death of a lot on Court
street and four acres on Strait and Zigzag avenue, for the
benefit of the Public and Mercantile libraries. It was
put in litigation, however, and its loss was seriously
threatened. The decision of the court below invalidated
the will in this particular, and decided the case against
the city; but the bequest was subsequently allowed, at
least in part, by a compromise; and in 1878 three thou-
sand dollars were realized from it for the Public library
and five thousand dollars for the Mercantile. The Pub-
lic also about this time received five thousand three hun-
dred dollars from the assets of the estate of Mrs. Sarah
Lewis, under the terms of her will, yielding the library
over four hundred dollars per year. June 10, 1879, Mr.
Henry Probasco made it the liberal donation of one hun-
dred and sixty-one standard books and fifty photographs
for its walls. The British government presented it nearly
four thousand volumes containing the specifications and
plans of English patents, and added four hundred and
thirty volumes the next year. A very remarkable gift
was made by John A. B. King, a Cincinnati newsboy, in
the shape of his entire library, consisting of two thousand
four hundred and sixty-six volumes and two hundred and
thirty-seven pamphlets — considered a very useful collec-
tion. Of this donation the Rev. Thomas Vickers,
librarian, said in his report for 1878-9:
The application by Mr. King of his hard-earned savings to the pur-
chase of an extensive and valuable collection of books in all depart-
ments of literature, with the intention of devoting it to public uses,
may teach a useful lesson, not only to those in the humbler ranks of
life, but perhaps to some on whom fortune has bestowed goods suffi-
cient to enable them to be generous without sacrifice.
Many other notable gifts have been received by this
library.
The succession of librarians for the Public is as fol-
lows:
J. D. Caldwell, clerk of the board and ex officio libra-
rian, 1855-9; N. P. Poor, 1859-65; Louis Freeman,
1866-9; William F. Poole, 1869-73; Thomas Vickers,
1874-9; Chester W. Merrill, 1880.
A large force is employed in the library — at the close
of 1880 one librarian, one first and one second assistant;
twenty -four day assistants, including two in the librarian's
office and five in the catalogue department; fourteen
evening assistants; nine Sunday assistants; two employees
in the engineer department, six janitors, and one police-
man; fifty-five different persons filling fifty-nine places,
four of them duplicating their work.
THE HISTORICAL LIBRARY
has been noticed, and its history incidentally given in an
account of the Historical and Philosophical society of
Ohio. It has about seven thousand five hundred volumes
and thirty thousand pamphlets, mostly of an historical
character, and occupies rooms in the fourth story of the
College building.
A GERMAN LIBRARY.
A German Catholic School and Reading society was
organized September 25, 1842, in connection with the
churches of that nationality and faith in the city. It
built up a moderate library, which became mostly dis-
persed, and a new organization was formed April 4, 1859,
called the St. Charles de Borromeo Reading society.
This was also broken up after a time, and the books fell
to the St. Mary's Catholic church (German), on Thirteenth
and Clay streets. November 4, 1877, the name was
again changed to the St. Mary's Library association, by
which it is now known. The books are in charge of the
members of the different societies of St. Mary's congre-
gation. The active reading members number forty;
passive members, twelve hundred; volumes in the libra-
ry, two thousand five hundred. Mr. Henry Petker is
librarian. Both the German and English languages are
well represented on its shelves.
PRIVATE LIBRARIES.
We extract the following note from Mr. King's inval-
uable little Pocket-book of Cincinnati :
There are numerous valuable private libraries, many of which are
rich in specialties. Some of the noteworthy private libraries are those
of A. T. Goshorn, most of which was presented to him by the citizens
of Philadelphia, in recognition of his services as director-general of the
Exposition in 1876, the room being exquisitely fitted up by a committee
sent here for the purpose; Robert Clarke, containing bibliography and
literary history, science, and rare and numerous works in Scottish his-
tory and poetry; Henry Probasco, a costly collection of ancient, rare,
and exquisitely bound books, well arranged, classified, and catalogued;
Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, D. D., rich in theological works; E. T. Car-
son, having probably the most complete Masonic collection in the
world, besides a fine Shaksperian collection; J. B. Stallo, a large library,
with a specialty of philosophical works; Stanley Matthews, abounding
in law, scientific, and theological works; George McLaughlin, contain-
ing standard historical works, and a great variety of books on art, as
264
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
well as many curious books; M. F. Force, a fine collection of books re-
lating to American Indians; T. D. Lincoln, one of the most extensive
and useful collection of law-books in the world.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
LITER ATUR )
The Queen City has done worthy deeds in the field of
letters, as well as in more material realms. Her men of
intellect and scholarship have not only won their way in
the professions and at mercantile and manufacturing em-
ployments, but have left enduring memorials illustrating
many and important walks of literature. The books by
Cincinnati authors would fill a large library. The story
of the rise, development, and present state of literature
in Cincinnati would itself easily fill a volume. We shall
in this chapter merely attempt an outline of its begin-
nings, with some notices of the authors and works of
the various periods of the city's history, particularly
those less familiar to readers and inquirers of the pres-
ent generation.
THE DRAKES.
The pioneer in Cincinnati literature was probably Dr.'
Daniel Drake, who came in r8oo, a boy of fifteen, and
early began literary labors, though he did not publish
anything of importance until ten years after his arrival,
when the Notices concerning Cincinnati appeared. It is
a little book, but deserves special mention as, .the first of
an honorable line of publications illustrating the city in
almost every decade of its existence, and as being alto-
gether of local manufacture, in authorship, printing, and
binding. Dr. Drake exhibited in this much ability to
observe carefully and scientifically, and to arrange and
record the results of his observations. He followed it
five years later by his Natural and Statistical View, or
Picture of Cincinnati and the Miami Country, a work of
similar character, but larger and fuller, and now more
easily accessible, the Notices having become exceedingly
rare, only three copies, it is said, being known to book-
collectors. Dr. Drake's professional and public life soon
became too busy to" allow him much time for literature,
but he was more or less a writer during the rest of his
life, which was prolonged until 1852. In 1842 a small
work of his on Northern Lakes and Southern Invalids
was published; he prepared in part a popular treatise on
physiology, and published several pamphlets or modest
books of addresses, lectures, and other public efforts,
among them a very interesting collection of discourses
before the Cincinnati Medical Library association, deliv-
ered only a few months before his death. His great
work, however, to which he worthily gave many years of
minute investigation and well-directed literary toil, is the
Systematic Treatise on the Diseases of the Interior Val-
ley of North America — a work which at once attracted
marked and wide attention from the medical profession,
and is still held in repute. After Dr. Drake's death a
collection was made of letters written by him in his latter
years to his children, describing Pioneer Life in Kentucky,
and published under that title as No. 6 of the Ohio Val-
ley Historical Series. He was an enthusiastic Cincin-
natian, and his services to the city through a long life
were invaluable.
Benjamin Drake was a younger brother of Dr. Drake
and a lawyer by profession, but with a strong bent toward
literature. In conjunction with his brother-in-law, the
late Edward D. Mansfield, while both were still young
men, he prepared and published a work representing
Cincinnati in 1826, which, besides securing a large local
and some more distant circulation, had the honor to be
re-published bodily in London the same year, as an appen-
dix to a book of travels and prospectus of a real estate
speculation on the Kentucky shore, by a wealthy English-
man named -Bullock. He later prepared a comprehen-
sive work on the Agriculture and Products of the West-
ern States, an entertaining little volume of Tales of the
Queen City, and Lives of the celebrated Indian chiefs
Tecumseh, the Prophet, and Black Hawk. He also
wrote much for the Western Monthly Magazine, the
Southern Literary Messenger, and other periodicals of
the earlier day of magazine literature in this country.
He seems to have had a respectable place among the
literati of his time, though he has not had much perma-
rient fame.
'. Charles D. Drake, son of Dr. Drake and late United
States senator from Missouri, was for a time (1830-4)
among the rising young authors of the Queen City. He
was a midshipman in the United States navy for about
three years, when he resigned to study law in Cincinnati,
where he was admitted to the bar in May, 1833, While
a student, and for some time thereafter, he wrote much
in prose and poetry for the city papers; but in 1834
removed to St. Louis, and wrote but little after getting
into full practice. A series of papers on the Legal Rela-
tions of Husband and Wife, published in the Cincinnati
Mirror in 1836, and Drake on Attachment, an authority
well known to the legal fraternity, are, however, from his
pen. He also edited the volume of his father's reminis-
cential letters before published, and prefaced it with an
admirable biographical sketch of the famous doctor.
EDWARD D. MANSFIELD, LL. D.,
who came to Cincinnati in the fifth year of the century
and of his own life, was a quite prolific author. When
but twenty-five years old he, in union with Mr. Benjamin
Drake, also a young man of the period, prepared and
published the valuable little work entitled Cincinnati in
1826. One of the first books on the science of govern-
ment and the Federal constitution, prepared for use in
American schools, if not the very first one, was Mans-
field's Political Grammar, 1835, which is still in use
under another name. Other books of his are a Treatise
on Constitutional Law, 1835; Legal Rights of Women,
1845; Life of General Scott, 1846; American Educa-
tion, 1850; Memoirs of Daniel Drake, 1855; and Per-
sonal Memoirs 1803-48, 1879. He was author of some
strong and intelligent reports as State commissioner of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
265
statistics, and many addresses of his were published in
pamphlet form. He was an editor for some time, and
continued his correspondence for the Cincinnati Gazette
almost to the day of his death. In 1839 he conducted
for a single year an excellent literary periodical called the
Monthly Chronicle, the patronage of which, however,
did not encourage him to continue it. His death occur-
red at his farm "Yamoyden" — named from a famous
poem which he greatly admired — near Morrow, Warren
county, October 27, 1880.
JUDGE BURNET.
The name of Jacob Burnet, as our readers are well
aware by this time, is among the foremost names of the
early time in Cincinnati. He made a fame as a local
historian and speaker scarcely less than his perhaps wider
though not more enduring renown as a legislator and
jurist. Fortunately for the writer of Cincinnati's annals
at this day, a number of her pioneer citizens took a cor-
dial interest in recording and publishing the memoirs and
statistics of several decades. One of the most important
of these issues was Judge Burnet's Letters relating to the
Early Settlement of the Northwestern Territory, contained
in a series addressed to J. Delafield, jr., during the years
1837-8, afterwards reconstructed and published in better
form by Derby, Bradley & Company, under the auspices
of the Historical and Philosophical society, in 1847, as
"Notes on the Early Settlement of the Northwestern Ter-
ritory," which makes a portly octavo of five hundred
pages. Thomson's Bibliography well says of it:
We know nothing which illustrates more forcibly the rapid growth of
the vast region northwest of the Ohio river, than the contents of this
volume. The work is in reality an autobiographical sketch of the
author, accompanied by a statement of such facts and incidents relat-
ing to the early settlement of the Northwestern Territory as were within
his recollection, and might be considered worth preserving.
His book, with some few exceptions, is considered accurate, and is
quoted as authority in more modern productions.
Judge Burnet was also the author of the annual ad-
dress delivered before the Cincinnati Astronomical soci-
ety, June 3, 1844, which comprises an account of the
early settlement of the State; a speech in the National
Whig convention of 1839, including a sketch of the ca-
reer of General Harrison; and an article of some value
in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1848, on Cincin-
nati in 1800, accompanied by a picture of the town at
that time. He also wrote the Historical Preface to Mr.
David Henry Shaffer's Cincinnati, Covington, Newport,
and Fulton Directory for 1839-40, in which he supplies
some rare information concerning the founding of Lo-
santiville.
MR. FLINT.
The Rev. Timothy Flint, at first a visitor here for some
months early in the century, and then a permanent resi-
dent, made a striking figure among the literary men of
his time. His volume of Recollections of the Missis-
sippi Valley, his book on the Indian Wars of the West,
and other works, are still read with interest. Mrs. Trol-
lope seems to have been an especial admirer of Mr. Flint,
and thus wrote of him in her book on the Domestic Man-
ners of the Americans :
The most agreeable acquaintance I made in Cincinnati, and indeed
one of the most talented men I ever met, was Mr. Flint, the author of
several extremely clever volumes, and the editor of the Western Monthly
Review [Magazine]. His conversational powers are of the highest
order ; he is the only person I remember to have known with first-rate
powers of satire, and even of sarcasm, whose kindness of nature and of
manner remained perfectly uninjured. In some of his critical notices
there is a strength and keenness second to nothing of the kind I have
ever read. He is a warm patriot, and so true-hearted an American
that we could not always be of the same opinion on all the subjects we
discussed ; but whether it were the force and brilliancy of his language,
his genuine and manly sincerity of feeling, or his bland and gentleman-
like manner that beguiled me, I knew not ; but certainly he is the only
American I ever listened to whose unqualified praise of his country did
not appear to me somewhat overstrained and ridiculous.
THE CISTS.
Mr. Charles Cist rather furnished material for history
than wrote or compiled history himself. He was em-
ployed to take, or to assist in taking, several censuses of
the city ; and thus, as well as by his own disposition to
inquire into local statistics — as the enumeration of houses
and their increase year by year — and his habits as a jour-
nalist, he was remarkably well prepared for the publica-
tions which he put forth at intervals of about ten years — ■
Cincinnati in 1841, Cincinnati in 1851, and Cincinnati in
1859. For their statistical and historical matter, and the
indications given of the states of things here at the sev-
eral periods treated, these neatjvolumes, though not ab-
solutely accurate at all points, are invaluable; and we
acknowledge deep and frequent indebtedness to them in
the preparation of this work. Mr. Cist was also editor of
a local newspaper, the Western General Advertiser, for
some time in the forties, and from its columns he com-
piled two volumes of the Cincinnati Miscellany, or An-
tiquities of the West, closely printed in two octavo
volumes, which form an invaluable thesaurus of Cincin-
nati antiquities and statistics. Many of the most useful
facts, copies of old documents, and other materials
of this History, have been available to us through the in-
dustry of Mr. Cist. In the literary legacy he left to pos-
terity, this gentleman probably builded better than he
knew.
Lewis J. Cist, oldest son of Charles Cist, early exhib-
ited poetic abilities, and wrote much for his father's pa-
per, the Advertiser, for the Hesperian, and other local
publications. In 1845 many of his pieces were collected
and published under the title, Trifles in Verse : A Collec-
tion of Fugitive Poems. He was a bank-clerk in Cin-
cinnati, in the office of the Ohio Life and Trust com-
pany; went to St. Louis in 1850, and took a position in
a bank there; and afterwards returned to Cincinnati,
where he now resides. He has one of the finest collec-
tions of autographs in the world.
OTHER HISTORIANS.
Very excellent work has been done in this department
of late years by Mr. Robert Clarke, of the well-known
publishing firm of Robert Clarke & Company. He is
doubtless the best local historian in the Miami country;
and it is to be regretted that as yet his labors have been
confined to editing the productions of others — invaluable
as this work has been— issuing privately-printed pam-
phlets, advising writers of history, and corresponding oc-
casionally for the newspapers. His pamphlets so far are :
34
266
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The Pre-historic Remains which were found on the Site
of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, with a Vindication of
the Cincinnati Tablets; and a valuable publication on
the first sales and quotations of lots in Losantiville. The
more important publications issued under his editorship
are included in the Ohio Valley Historical Series, in.
which his careful revision and editorial notes are among
the best features of the books. They include :
i. An Historical Account of the Expedition against
the Ohio Indians, in the year 1764, under the command
of Henry Bouquet. By Dr. William Smith.
2. History of Athens county, Ohio, and incidentally ,
of the Ohio Land company, and the first settlement of
the State at Marietta. By Charles M. Walker.
3. Colonel George Rogers Clark's Sketches of his
Campaign in the Illinois, in 1778-9.
4. Pioneer Biography : Sketches of the Lives of Some
of the Early Settlers of Butler county, Ohio. By James
McBride. Two volumes. This is a perfect treasure-
house of interesting facts relating to the Miami valley in
pioneer times, and we here acknowledge frequent indebt-
edness to it.
5. An account of the remarkable occurrences in the
life and travels of Colonel James Smith (now a citizen
of Bourbon county, Kentucky), during his captivity
among the Indians, in the years 1755, '56, '57, '58,
and '59.
6. Pioneer Life in Kentucky : A series of reminiscen-
tial letters addressed to his children. By Dr. Daniel
Drake.
7. Miscellanies: Containing — 1, Memorandums of a
tour in Ohio and Kentucky, by Josiah Espy; 2, Two
Western Campaigns in the War of 181 2-13, by Samuel
Williams; 3, The Leatherwood God.
Mr. Clarke had also the enterprise to reprint two vol-
umes of Olden Time, a Pittsburgh publication replete
with valuable matter relating to the early explorations and
the settlement and improvement of the country around
the head of the Ohio.
To go back again more than a generation in time, it
may not be commonly known or remembered here that
the first general History of Ohio given the public was
prepared in Cincinnati by a young attorney, Salmon P.
Chase, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury and chief
justice of the United States. It was published first in
1833 as an introduction to Chase's edition of the Statutes
of Ohio, in three volumes, which gave its previously un-
known author at once a high standing among the Ohio
bar; afterwards separately, in a thin octavo. It is still re-
garded as a very satisfactory outline of the history of the
State to the year 1833.
Hart's History of the Valley of the, Mississippi is also
a Cincinnati book, published by Mc<6re, Anderson, Wil-
stach & Keys, in 1853. So are Indian Wars of the West,
by Timothy Flint, 1833, a work still held in high esteem;
the same author's Biographical Memoir of Daniel Boone,
Life and Exploits of Daniel Boone, the History and Ge-
ography of the Mississippi Valley, in three volumes,
1828-33; an<i tne Shoshone Valley, a romance in two
volumes. Mr. Flint had also several historical and other
books printed elsewhere, but whether prepared during his
residence in Cincinnati or not we have not been able to
learn. In 1855 Messrs. Ephraim Morgan and Sons pub-
lished here a history of the Shawnee Indians, from the
year 1681 to 1854, inclusive, by Henry Harvey, who was
not, we believe, a Cincinnatian. The Miami Printing &
Publishing company, in 1872, issued a little work entitled
A Chapter of the History of the War of 18 12 in the
Northwest, by Colonel William Stanley Hatch, volun-
teer in the Cincinnati light infantry. Henry Howe's
famous Historical Collections of Ohio was prepared and
published here, in four editions from 1847 to 1869, the
last by Robert Clarke & Company. Important contribu-
tions have been made to ecclesiastical and general history
in the Sketches of Western Methodism: Biographical,
Historical, and Miscellaneous, Illustrative of Pioneer
Life, by the Rev. James B. Finley; and a History of the
Wyandott Mission at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, under the
direction of the Methodist Episcopal church, by the same
author; also in a History of the Miami Baptist Association,
from its organization in 1797 to a Division of that Body
on Missions in the year 1836 — a small, but excellently
prepared book by the Hon. A. H. Dunlevy, son of Judge
Francis Dunlevy, a pioneer settler at Columbia. Profes-
sor W. H. Venable, the poet teacher, has done much good
work in preparing historical text books for the schools,
besides his contributions in lighter departments of litera-
ture. Dr. George Halstead Boyland, an ex-surgeon of
the French army, is author of an interesting volume de-
scriptive of Six Months under the Red Cross, with the
French Army. Two of the Cincinnati regiments in the
late war — the Sixth infantry and the Eighty-first — have had
their stirring stories published; the former written by
Lieutenant E. Hannaford, in an octavo volume of six
hundred and twenty-two pages, the latter a smaller book,
by Major W. H. Chamberlin.
An interesting account has been given of the black
brigade, the Cincinnati negroes who worked upon the
Covington fortifications during the great scare of 1862, in
a little book by Mr. Peter H. Clark. By far the greatest
work that has been done in this direction, however, in
this city or State, or perhaps in any State, is Ohio in the
War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Her Soldiers,
in two large octavos ; which is truly a magnum opus in
every respect. It is the production of several writers and
compilers employed during the war and subsequently by
the publishers, Messrs. Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, of
Cincinnati; but was carefully edited throughout by
Mr. Whitelaw Reid, now editor-in-chief of the New York
Tribune, and published in 1868. Its great value to the
history of the State is amply recognized in the citations
from it in this and other works of the kind.
An entertaining book of Cincinnati's Beginnings, deal-
ing principally and very usefully with the Miami Pur-
chase, and containing many before unpublished letters
of Judge Symmes and his partners of the East Jersey
company, by Mr. F. W. Miller, was published in 1880 by
Peter G. Thomson. Mr. Thomson is also the recent
publisher of The Old Court House : Reminiscences and
Anecdotes of the Courts and Bar of Cincinnati, by the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
267
Hon. A. G. W. Carter, himself long a practitioner at the
bar, prosecuting attorney many years ago, and for a time
a judge in the court of common pleas. Mr. Thomson
also, with rare and well-directed enterprise, published
a work of his own in the late fall of 1880 — The Bibliogra-
phy of the State of Ohio, being a Catalogue of the Books
and Pamphlets relating to the History of the State. It
is a thick quarto, printed with exceeding beauty of typog-
raphy; and, notwithstanding some errors, both of com-
mission and omission — notably the failure even to cata-
logue the already considerable number of county histo-
ries published in Ohio, some of which make important
contributions to State and general history — it is a very
useful work, and a credit to Queen City publications.
The preparation of this chapter of our history has been
very greatly facilitated by its use.
It is announced that a History of Cincinnati is
also in press — one large enough to fill two duodecimo
volumes, the work of Colonel A. E. Jones, who has con-
tributed many valuable historical articles to the city jour-
nals— and it will probably see the light in due course of
time.
Other publications, more or less local and historical in
their character, are Mr. W. T. Coggeshall's The Signs of
the Times, comprising a History of the Spirit-rappers in
Cincinnati and Other Places, with Notes on Clairvoyant
Revealments; John P. Foote's useful and painstaking
work on The Schools of Cincinnati and its Vicinity, 1855;
an anonymous Brief Sketch of the History, Rise, and
Progress of the Common Schools of Cincinnati, in the
Historical Sketches of the Public Schools of Ohio, pub-
lished at Columbus in 1876; and the The Horrors of the
Queen City, a crime-record anonymously issued, but known
to be from the pen of Colonel W. L. De Beck, of Cincin-
nati; and William F. Poole's Essay on Anti-slavery be-
fore 1800, read before the literary club November 16,
1872.
The city has a somewhat voluminous literature in
pamphlets and reports embodying contributions to her
history and that of Hamilton county. In 1833 was pub-
lished an octavo pamphlet of the proceedings at the cel-
ebration of the forty-fifth anniversary of the first settle-
ment of" Cincinnati and the Miami county; and two years
thereafter one recording in print the celebration, by na-
tive citizens, of the forty-seventh anniversary of the first
settlement of Ohio. James F. Conover's oration on the
History of the First Discovery and Settlement of the New
World, with especial reference to the Mississippi valley,
was published in 1835; and three years afterwards came
Judge Timothy Walker's discourse on the History and
General Character of the State of Ohio, before the His-
torical and Philosophical society, preceded the previous
year by a eulogy of the State, in the Annual discourse
before the same society by the same gentleman. N. C.
Read's anniversary oration of the Buckeye celebration
April 7, 1841, was published here the same year. In
1836 public record was made by the executive committee
of the Ohio Anti-Slavery society, in a pamphlet, of the
Late Riotous Proceedings against the Liberty of the
Press in Cincinnati; with Remarks and Historical No-
tices relating to Emancipation. Pioneer Life at North
Bend was set forth in an address at Cleves in 1866 by the
Hon. J. Scott Harrison, son of President Harrison, print-
ed in a neat pamphlet by Messrs. Clarke & Company.
Colonel A. E. Jones has a pamphlet address on Reminis-
cences of the Early Days of the Little Miami Valley, and
another on the Financial and Commercial Statistics of
Cincinnati: The Past and Present. The church, in vari-
ous denominations, receives just historical treatment in
Dr. J. G. Montfort's Presbyterianism North of the Ohio;
Rev. Richard McNemar's The Kentucky Revival, a
Cincinnati publication of 1807, from the Liberty Hall
office; Memorials of the Celebration of the Fiftieth An-
niversary of the First Congregational (Unitarian) church ;
Rev. William H. James' historical discourse on the
Seventy-ninth Anniversary of the Presbyterian church at
Springdale; Hutchison's historical discourse of the
Reading and Lockland Presbyterian church; Rev. An-
drew J. Reynolds' historical discourse of the Cummins-
ville Presbyterian church; Rev. Samuel R. Wilson's dis-
course at the dedication of the Church of the Pioneers
(Fhst Presbyterian church of Cincinnati), September 21,
1 851; A Brief Account of the Origin, Progress, Faith,
and Practice of the Central Christian Church of Cincin-
nati; the History of Union Chapel, Methodist Episcopal
church; and many brief histories of churches, Sunday-
schools, and attached religious and benevolent organiza-
tions, in the church manuals and ecclesiastical reports.
Brief histories have also been published, alone or in
divers connections, of the Cincinnati high schools, Lane
seminary, the Wesleyan Female college, the Catholic in-
stitute, Western Baptist Theological institute, and other
schools; of the Young Men's Mercantile, the Public, and
Law libraries, the Mechanics' institute, Spring Grove
cemetery, the Academy of Medicine, the Cincinnati
Horticultural society, the Literary club, the Cincinnati
Society of ex-Army and Navy officers, the Exposition of
Textile Fabrics In 1869, the Industrial Exposition of
1870, the Gas and Coke Company, the Cincinnati Orphan
Asylum, the Suspension Bridge, the Tyler-Davidson Foun-
tain, the Widows' Home, the Young Men's Gymnasium,
and other institutions. A vast amount of valuable matter
is included in the twelve volumes of Der Deutsch Pio-
nier, published as a monthly magazine by the German
Pioneer society of Cincinnati; and in the five numbers
of the Cincinnati Pioneer, published some years ago by
Mr. John D. Caldwell, as an organ of the Cincinnati
Pioneer society.
Many valuable books and pamphlets, not strictly his-
torical in their character, but illustrating the city at differ-
ent periods of its history, have been published. The
most valuable of these are the earliest, the books of Dr.
Drake, of Drake & Mansfield, and of Mr. Cist, already
mentioned. In this class of works are also : The City of
Cincinnati, a Summary of its Attractions, etc., by George
E. Stevens, 1869; Illustrated Cincinnati, by D. J. Kenny,
1875, and Cincinnati Illustrated, a handsome thick
quarto pamphlet, by the same, 1879; the Guide Books
or Hand Books of Boyd, Caron, Holbrook and, latest
and best of all, Moses King; the Cincinnati Almanacs
268
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
(or local almanacs under different names) of 1806,
1810-20, 1823-34 and 1839-40; the Directories for
1819, 1825, 1829, 1831, 1834, 1836-37, 1842-44, 1846
and 1849-81; the Cincinnati Society Blue Book and
Family Directory, published by Peter G. Thomson,
1879; the Suburbs of Cincinnati, by Colonel Sidney D.
Maxwell; Suburban Homes, by Richard Nelson; the
Manufactures of Cincinnati and their Relation to the Fu-
ture Progress of the City, a lecture by Colonel Maxwell;
the Bible in the Public Schools, a report of the case of
John D. Minor et al. vs. The Board of Education of the
City of Cincinnati, et al. The Cincinnati Excursion to
California in 1869, reported in letters to the Daily Com-
mercial, were published in book form ; the reports of sev-
eral notable trials in pamphlet form ; and sundry pub-
lished addresses by Jacob Burnet, Alphonso Taft, George
Graham, Charles P. James, ex-Governor William Bebb,
and many others; besides the invaluable annual reports
of the Chamber of Commerce, by Colonel Maxwell; of
the Board of Trade, by Mr. Julius F. Blackburn, and of
other city institutions and the several departments of the
city government.
LOCAL BIOGRAPHY,
by local authors, has been by no means neglected. Lives
of Dr. Daniel Drake, by his brother-in-law, Mr. E. D.
Mansfield; of Dr. John Locke, by Dr. M. B. Wright; of
the Hon. Larz Anderson, by the Rev. I. N. Stanger;
James H. Perkins, the well known editor and annalist, by
Rev. B. F. Barrett; Judge Thomas Morris, an eminent
resident in Columbia and in Clermont county for many
years, by his son; Samuel Lewis, the first State superin-
tendent of public schools in Ohio, also by a son ; Rev.
Truman Bishop, by John Haughton; Rev. Philip Gatch,
another of the early Methodist ministers in the Miami
county, by the Hon. John McLean, justice of the su-
preme court of the United States; Mrs. Charlotte Cham-
bers Ludlow, one of the pioneer ladies here, in a privately
printed memoir by her grandson, Mr. Lewis H. Garrard;
the Rev. Adam Hurdus, first minister of the Sweden-
borgian faith west of the Alleghanies, by Judge A G W.
Carter; Judge Jacob Burnet, by Mr. D. K. Este, and
again by the Rev. Samuel W. Fisher; the Reminiscences
of Levi Coffin, the reputed President of the Under-
ground Railway; the Life, Public Services, and Select
Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes, by J. Q. Howard; the
Memorial of William Spooner, 1837, and of his De-
scendants to the Third Generation, and of his Great-
grandson', Elnathan Spooner, and of his Descendants to
1871, by Thomas Spooner; and of Samuel E. Foote, by
his brother John P. Foote, have been prepared in the
shape of book, address, or sermon, and published in
Cincinnati. The Personal Memories of the Hon. E. D.
Mansfield, 1879; tne Autobiography of Rev. J. B. Fin-
ley, 1857; and the Narrative of Indian Captivity, by
Oliver M. Spencer, which has been published in three
editions, belong mainly to this category. The lives of
leading Cincinnatians were written up briefly and pub-
lished, with photographic portraits accompanying, in Cin-
cinnati Past and Present, or its Industrial History, as
exhibited in the Life Labors of its Leading Men, 1872,
of which a German edition was also published. Many
other local biographical sketches appear in the Biograph-
ical Encyclopaedia of Ohio, of the nineteenth century,
published in Cincinnati and Philadelphia in 1876, and
the Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery of Dis-
tinguished Men, a great work issued in Cincinnati by
Messrs. John C. Yorston & Company. Lives of Gen-
eral Harrison were prepared here in 1840, by Charles S.
Todd and Benjamin Drake; in 1836, by Judge James
Hall; and in 1824, by Moses Dawson, the well-known
editor of the Cincinnati Advertiser. It is a little re-
markable, however, that out of eighty-three printed
funeral orations, sermons, and other eulogies pronounced
upon the death of General Harrison, only one belongs to
Cincinnati — a sermon preached by the Rev. Joshua L.
Wilson, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Only
one of the nine Harrison campaign song-books men-
tioned in Thomson's Bibliography was of Cincinnati
compilation — the Tippecanoe Song-book, a little affair of
sixty-four pages. Judge Joseph Cox's address before the
Cincinnati Literary Club, February 4, 187 1, on General
W. H. Harrison at North Bend, should be honorably
mentioned in this connection. A Eulogy on the Death
of General Thomas L. Harmar was pronounced by Da-
vid L. Disney, esq., of this city, and published in 1847.
A Life of Black Hawk, 1838, is included among the
writings of Benjamin Drake; also a Life of Tecumseh,
and of his brother the Prophet. It is said that the late
Peyton Short Symmes, for some time before his death,
was engaged upon a life of his distinguished uncle,
Judge Symmes; but if so, the manuscript has never
been discovered, and an invaluable work is lost to the
world. Mr. Symmes was a highly useful man in his day;
but his performance was never quite equal to his promise.
Mr. William T. Coggeshall, in his book on "Poets
and Poetry of the West," published in i860, says of this
gentleman :
His recollections of men and places, of writers, of periodicals, and of
books, extend over the entire history of literary enterprises of Ohio. He
deserves to be remembered, not only for what he has written, but for
what he has done to encourage others to write. For fifty years at least
he has been the ready referee on questions of art and literature for
nearly all the journalists and authors of Cincinnati, and a kindly critic
for the inexperienced who, before rushing into print, were wise enough
to seek good advice.
THE ANTIQUITIES OF CINCINNATI
have been described and discussed in the pamphlet by
Mr. Robert Clarke, already mentioned; in papers by
General M. F. Force on Pre-historic Man and The
Mound Builders, bound up in the same volume with an
essay on Darwinism and Deity; another by the same
writer, To what Race did the Mound Builders Belong?
in the same book with a paper by Judge Force on Some
Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio; and in A Dis-
course on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio, by
General W. H. Harrison, 1839, a production which is warm-
ly esteemed. A valuable pamphlet on The Pre-historic
Monuments of the Little Miami Valley, with chart of lo-
calities, has been issued by Dr. Charles L. Metz, of Mad-
isonville; and three or four parts of Archaeological Ex-
plorations by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madi-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
269
sonville, by Mr. Charles F. Low, secretary of the society.
In 1839 a remarkably handsome quarto, for the time, was
published here by N. G. Burgess & Company, entitled An
Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America,
by John Delafield, which attracted the marked attention
of the North American Review and other learned author-
ities. In 1879 Messrs. Clarke & Company published^ a
neat duodecimo by a Butler county author, Mr. J. P. Mac-
Lean, on The Mound Builders.
OTHER SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS,
mostly in pamphlet form, and illustrative of natural his-
tory here, have been made in Cincinnati, or have had
their inspiration in the Miami country. So long ago as
1849, a thin octavo was published in Philadelphia, giving
a Catalogue of Plants, Native and Naturalized, collected
in the vicinity of Cincinnati. The same year a Catalogue
of the Unios, Alosmodontas, and Anadontas of the Ohio
River and Northern Tributaries, adopted by the Western
Academy of Natural Sciences at Cincinnati, was issued
here in a small i6mo.; A Catalogue of the Land and
Fresh Water Mollusca found in the immediate vicinity
of Cincinnati, by George W. Harper and A. G. Weather-
by, 1876; a List of the Land and Fresh Water Shells
found in the vicinity of Cincinnati, also the Unionidae of
the Ohio River and its Northern Tributaries within the
State of Ohio, by R. M. Byrnes; A Catalogue of the
Birds in the vicinity of Cincinnati, with Notes, 1877; A
Catalogue of the Lower Silurian Fossils of the Cincinnati
Group, by U. P. James, 187 1 and 1875; A Description
of New Genera and Species of Fossils from the
Lower Silurian about Cincinnati, by E. O. Ulrich, 1879;
Catalogue of Flowering Plants and Ferns observed in the
vicinity of Cincinnati, by Joseph Clark, 1852; and A
Catalogue of the Flowering Plants, Ferns, and Fungi
growing in the vicinity of Cincinnati, by Joseph James,
1879, make up a tolerably full exhibit of the natural his-
tory of this region. Asiatic "Cholera, as it appeared in
Cincinnati in 1849-50, and in 1866, was scientifically
treated by Dr. Orin E. Newton in a printed pamphlet.
Drs. J. J. Moorman and W. W. Dawson issued a little
work in 1859 on the Ohio White Sulphur Spring; and in
1853, under employment of the city water- works depart-
ment, Dr. John Locke prepared and published an elab-
orate report, of permanent value, of Analyses of the
Waters in the Vicinity of Cincinnati.
ART PUBLICATIONS.
A very respectable line of books in the department of
fine art, of Cincinnati authorship or publication, has
begun to appear. Colonel George Ward Nichols, of the
College of Music, is author of two well-known works — Art
Education, Applied to Industry; and Pottery: How It is
Made and Decorated; which have been published in
elegant shape elsewhere. Robert Clarke's firm publish
China Painting: A Practical Manual for the Use of Ama-
teurs in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain, by Miss M.
Louise McLaughlin, president of the Pottery club, which
has passed through several editions; also, a beautiful
little volume, a more recent work by the same author,
entitled Pottery Decoration: A Practical Manual of
Under-glaze Painting, which records the results of Miss
McLaughlin's prolonged studies and experiments, in the
effort to rival the painting of the celebrated Haviland or
Limoges faience. Mr. Benn Pitman, of the School of
Design, has added a valuable appendix on modeling in
foliage, etc., for pottery and architectural decoration, to
Vago's Instructions in the Art of Modeling in Clay,
which is also published by Clarke. Professor M. J.
Keller, ot the same school, has in print a book on Ele-
mentary Perspective Explained and Applied to Familiar
Objects, for the use of schools and beginners in the art
of drawing. Miss E. H. Appleton, librarian of the
Historical and Philosophical society, has translated from
the German, and Mr. Clarke has published, Karl Robert's
Charcoal Drawing Without a Master: A Complete Trea-
tise in Landscape Drawing in Charcoal, with Lessons and
Studies after Allonge*. The splendid illustrations sup-
plied to the art of landscape gardening by Superintendent
Strauch's folio edition of his Spring Grove Cemetery,
Cincinnati : Its History and Improvements, with Observa-
tions on Ancient and Modern Places of Sepulture, pub-
lished at fifteen dollars, entitle it also to mention under
the head of art-works. Other books traversing portions
of the realm of art have doubtless been written and
printed here, the knowledge of which has not yet been
reached by the present writer.
MEDICAL WORKS.
One of the most notable of these is the book of Dr.
Drake on the Diseases of the Mississippi Valley, men-
tioned early in this chapter, and a much later is that on
Asiatic Cholera, already named. Another, not so largely
of historical character, by Dr. William B. Fletcher, is on
Cholera, Its Characteristics, History, Treatment, Geo-
graphical Distribution of Different Epidemics, Suitable
Sanitary Preventions, etc. An important work on
Etiology is from the pen of Dr. Thomas C. Minor, for-
merly health officer of the city; also a treatise on Erysipe-
las and Child-bed Fever, and a pamphlet giving the
Scarlatina Statistics of the United States. Dr. Minor
has also dropped into fiction, in the authorship of Her
Ladyship: A Novel — a story of the late war, which evoked
much attention and compliment at the time of its publi-
cation a year or two ago. Dr. Forchheimer, of the Ohio
Medical college, has translated from the German Hoff-
man & Ultzmann's Guide to the Examination of Urine,
with special reference to the Diseases of the Urinary
Apparatus. Dr. James T. Whittaker, another professor
in the college, is author of a duodecimo volume of twelve
preliminary course lectures on Physiology. Dr. Edward
Rives has in print a chart exhibiting the Physiological
Arrangement of the Cranial Nerves. Surgeon Tripler,
of the United States army, and Dr. George C. Black-
man are joint authors of a Hand-book for the Military
Surgeon; and Dr. George E. Walton is sponsor for the
appearance in English of a French work on the Hygiene
and Education of Infants, by the Societe" Francaise
d' Hygiene, at Paris.
Perhaps to this head may also be referred Mr. William
Russell's octavo on Scientific Horse-shoeing for the Dif-
270
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ferent Diseases of the Foot; and also J. R. Cole's A
Book for Every Horse-owner: The Horse's Foot, and
How to Shoe It, giving the most approved methods,
together with the Anatomy of the Horse's Foot and Its
Diseases.
LAW BOOKS.
A goodly number of these, some of them of high value,
have emanated from the Cincinnati bar and Cincinnati
presses. Among them are the Hon. Stanley Matthews'
Summary of the Law of Partnership, for the use of busi-
ness men; J. R. Sayler's American Form Book, a collec-
tion of legal and business forms; Florien Giauque's The
Election Laws of the United States, being a Compilation
of all the Constitutional Provisions and Laws of the
United States relating to Elections, the Elective Fran-
chise, to Citizenship, and to the Naturalization of Aliens,
with Notes of Decisions affecting the Same; and M. D.
Hanover's Practical Treatise on the Law of Horses,
embracing the Law of Bargain, Sale, and Warranty of
Horses and other Live Stock, the Rule as to Unsound-
ness and Vice, and the Responsibility of the Proprietors
of Livery, Auction and Sale Stables, Innkeepers, Vet-
erinary Surgeons, and Farriers, Carriers, etc., which has
reached a second edition.
RELIGIOUS BOOKS.
A large number of books, presenting religious interests
in various ways, have been published in various stages
of Cincinnati history. Some of these have been inci-
dentally named among historical and biographical
works. Many others, by writers at some time resident
here, appear upon the lists of the Methodist Book Con-
cern; as Dr. W. P. Strickland's Manual of Biblical Lit-
erature; the same writer's autobiographies of Peter Cart-
wright and of Daniel Young; Bishop Morris' Treatise
on Church Polity; Dr. D. W. Clark's Death-bed Scenes:
Dying with and without Religion; the same author's
Fireside Reading, in five volumes — Traits and Anecdotes
of Birds and Fishes, Traits and Anecdotes of Animals,
Historical Sketches, Travels and Adventures, True Tales
for the Spare Hour; his Life and Times of Bishop Hed-
ding, and his powerful treatise, Man all Immortal, or the
Nature and Destination of Man as Taught by Reason
and Revelation; also his valuable little work on Mental
Discipline; Rev. M. P. Gaddis' Footprints of an Itiner-
ant; Rev. J. B. Finley's Autobiography, and his Life
Among the Indians; the work of Dr. J. M. R-eid on the
Missions and Missionary Societies of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and Dr. Strickland's on a similar
topic — the History of the Missions of the Methodist
Episcopal Church; Dr. William Nast's Introduction to
the Gospel Records, and his Commentary on Matthew
and Mark; Rev. Jacob Young's Autobiography of a
Pioneer; Dr. Strickland's Pioneers of the West; M. P.
Gaddis' Sacred Hour; Bishop Morris' Sermons on Sacred
Subjects; Rev. Erwin House's Sunday-school Hand
Book, Literary and Religious Sketches, and his Mission-
ary in Many Lands; Bishop Wiley's China and Japan;
and many others now out of print bear the imprint of
this great publishing house.
The Western Tract society carries also a number, but
not so many, of books by local writers. The Rev. A.
-Ritchie, secretary of the society, is author of a small
i6mo. published by it, entitled The Christian's Friend,
another work, a duodecimo of one hundred and twenty-
five pages, called My Savior and My Home, and another,
much larger, on Matter and Manner for Christian Work-
ers. The Rev. Dr. B. P. Aydelott, long its president,
wrote a brief treatise on the fall of man, entitled The
First Sin, a refutation of the skeptical philosophy, under
the name, The Great Question, and a little book of
Thoughts for the Thoughtful. A compilation of the ful-
minations of Rev. Drs. Beecher, McDill, and Blanchard
against secret societies has been made in a small volume.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Patterson, late a Presbyterian pas-
tor here, wrote a large duodecimo upon Facts of Infidel-
ity and Facts of Faith, and another work entitled The
Sabbath, Scientific, Republican, and Christian. The
first edition of the Autobiography of Levi Coffin, the
leader of the Cincinnati abolitionists, was published by
this house; the second, with an additional chapter, by
Clarke & Company.
The great religious work, in point of size and repute
in the Roman Catholic church, which is due in any
measure to Cincinnati brain and hands, is a translation
of the massive work of Dr. John Alzog, professor of
theology at the University of Freiburg, entitled A Man-
ual of Universal Church History, done by the Rev. F J.
Pabisch, D. D., president, and Rev. Thomas S. Byrne,
professor, of Mount St. Mary's of the West, Cincinnati,
and published in three octavo volumes, at fifteen dollars.
It is said to be standard in the Catholic theological sem-
inaries and among the clergy of that faith.
Among later books on religious topics are Creed and
Greed: Lectures by the Rev. Dudley Ward Rhodes,
rector of the Church of our Saviour; and Sixteen Sav-
iours, or One? The Gospels not Brahmanic, by Mr. John
T. Perry, of the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Gazette.
Authors of Sunday-school books have hot abounded
in this region. The most noted is one of quite recent
immigration, and one still actively at work — Mrs. G. R.
Alden, of Cumminsville, best known as "Pansy." Either
alone, or in conjunction with her sister, Mrs. Livingston,
she has published a large number of books for the Sun-
day-school, among which are: Nannie's Experiment,
Bernie's White Chicken, Helen Lester, Docia's Journal,
Jessie Wells, Ester Ried, Three People, Julia Ried, The
King's Daughter, Wise and Otherwise, Household Puz-
zles, The Pansy Library, A New Graft, Ruth Erskine,
Links in Rebecca's Life, and The Randolphs*
THE JEWISH LITERATURE
of Cincinnati has now no small volume. The learned
rabbis of the city have put forth their energies as vigor-
ously in the direction of literature as in other directions.
The Rev. Dr. Isaac M. Wise is author of valuable and
somewhat elaborate works on the Hebrews' First and the
Second Commonwealth, and others on the Martyrdom
of Jesus of Nazareth, Three Lectures on the Origin of
Christianity, The Cosmic God, The Wandering Jew, and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
271
an Essay on the Temperance Question, written against
the principles and policy of sumptuary laws. To the
department of books for the Jewish schools he has con-
tributed a concise compendium of Judaism, its Doctrines
and Duties ; and another local writer has given a series
of Scriptural Questions for the Use of Sabbath-schools.
Several historical romances are also from the pen of
Rabbi Wise ; as the Combat of the People, or Hillel and
Herod ; and the First of the Maccabees. Into this field
of novel writing some other Cincinnati Hebrews have
ventured — Mr. H. M. Mods, in the publication of Han-
nah, or a Glimpse of Paradise, and its sequel, Carrie
Harrington, and Mortara, or the Pope and His Inquisi-
tors, a Drama. Nathan Mayer is author of Differences,
a novel; M. Loth of Our Prospects, a tale of real life;
and The Forgiving Kiss, or Our Desliny ; and H. Ger-
soni of Sketches of Jewish Life. These are but examples
of a local Israelite authorship which is already somewhat
prolific. A collection of sermons by prominent Cin-
cinnati and other rabbis, entitled The Jewish Pulpit, has
also been published.
In addition to his occasional labors in the field of
literature, Rabbi Wise is editor, assisted by a son, of
The American Israelite, a weekly periodical in English,
and we believe also of Die Deborah, a similar publica-
tion in German. Rabbi Lilienthal is editor of The Sab-
bath School Visitor, another weekly issue.
The local Jewish publishers are Messrs. Bloch & Com-
pany, No. 169 Elm street, from whose presses nearly all
the works we name have issued, and many others.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Under this head may be rapidly classified a number of
Cincinnati books, most of them of recent publication,
which have not been elsewhere mentioned. Among
them, of earlier books, are W. C. Larrabee's Ro'sabower :
A Collection of Essays and' Miscellanies, 1855; H. M.
Rulison's The Mock Marriage, or the Libertine's Victim,
1855; and the Legends of the West, by James Hall,
1832. Judge Hall was a voluminous writer. He wrote,
besides this, the Winter Evenings, a Series of American
Tales; The Soldier's Bride, and other Tales; The
Harpe's Head, a Legend of Kentucky; Tales of the
Border; The Wilderness and the War-path ; The West-
ern Souvenir, for 1829 ; also a volume of Letters from
the West, Sketches- of History, Life and Manners in the
West, Statistics of the West at the close of the year
1836, Notes on the Western States, The West, its Com-
merce and Navigation ; The West, its Soil, Surface, and
Productions; and an Address before the Eurodelphian
Society of Miami University, September 24, 1833. In
poetry, besides what has been mentioned, there were
published in Cincinnati Selections from the Poetical
Literature of the West, reputed to be by William D.
Gallagher ; and Poems on Several Occasions, by Moses
Guest, 1823. Of a miscellaneous character are O. S.
Leavitt's Strictures on the New School Laws of Ohio and
Michigan, with some General .Observations of the Sys-
tems of other States, published in 1839; Gallagher's
Facts and Conditions of Progress of the Northwest;
Dr. Lyman Beecher's Plea for the West ; Peter Smith's
Indian Doctor's Dispensatory, a curious early book of
18 1 3 ; Hon. Stanley Matthews' Oration at the Reunion
of the Army of the Cumberland, 1874; and numerous
other books and pamphlets.
Among later issues from the press are the books of
travel by Dr. N. C. Burt, on the Far East, or Letters
from Egypt, Palestine, and other Lands of the Orient,
and R. G. Huston's Journey in Honduras"and Jottings
by the Way; the Hon. Frederic Hassaurek's historical ro-
mance entitled The Secret of the Andes; Charles^Reeme-
lin's Treatise on Politics as a Science, and his Wine-
Maker's Manual; E. & C. Parker's translation of Du
Breuil's Vineyard Culture improved and cheapened ; Mr.
S. Dana Horton's book on Silver and Gold and their Re-
lation to the Problem of Resumption, and his address on
the Monetary Situation; Colonel C. W. Moulton's Refer-
ences to the Coinage Legislation of the United States;
General Durbin Ward's paper on American Coinage and
Currency; Hon. William S. Groesbeck's Address on Gold
and Silver, delivered before the Bankers' Association of
New York, September 13, 1877; Hon. Job E. Stevenson's
campaign book on the Third Term, in advocacy of the
renomination of General Grant, 1880; Nicholas Long-
worth's translation of the Electra of Sophocles; the His-
torical and Literary Miscellanies, by the well-known edi-
tor, Mr. G. M. D. Bloss, published by subscription in
1875; J. Ralston's Skinner's Key to the Hebrew-Egyp-
tian Mystery in the Source of Measures ; Colonel Nichols'
little book on the Cincinnati Organ, with a brief descrip-
tion of the Cincinnati Music Hall; H. J. Mettenheimer's
Safety Book-keeping; Louise W. Tilden's Karl and
Gretchen's Christmas, a poem ; Professor W. H. Venable's
June on the Miami, and other poems, of which two edi-
tions have been published; and Felix L. Oswald's Sum-
merland Sketches, or Rambles in the Backwoods of
Mexico and Central America, illustrated by Farny and
Faber, and published by the Lippincotts, in Philadelphia.
Among the many school-books of Cincinnati authorship
are those of Professor Venable, already mentioned, the
Graded Selections for Memorizing, by Superintendent
Peaslee, of the public schools, the well-known mathemat-
ical text-books of Professor Joseph Ray, Brunner's Ele-
mentary and Pronouncing Reader and the Gender of the
French Verbs Simplified, and many others.
SOME EARLIER. WRITERS.
Returning from this long excursus through vari-
ous fields of literature trodden by the Cincinnati au-
thors, which has led us far from anything like a chrono-
logical account of the local literature, we desire to close
with some further notices of the older writers. For many
of the facts embraced in them we are indebted to Mr.
W. T. CoggeshalPs valuable compilation and series of
brief biographies, the Poets and Poetry of the West.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield mentions as among the young
men of Cincinnati about the year 1806, one Joseph Pierce,
whom he styles a "poet of decided talent." We are not
aware that any writings of this young versifier are extant.
In"i82i ajmerchant named Thomas Pierce was living
272
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
here, who was the reputed author of the amusing local
satires contributed that year to the Western Spy and the
Literary Chronicle, and published the next year in a little
book under the title of Horace in Cincinnati — the first
book of distinctively Western poetry, it is said, that was
printed in the city.
In 1815 this paper, the Spy, became the pioneer jour-
nal in town to print original home poetry in its columns.
Four years later, there was a sharp rivalry for literary pre-
eminence between Cincinnati and Lexington — the college
here and the Transylvania university there; the Western
Review at the latter place, and the Spy, the Gazette, and
Liberty Hall at the former. The result was the produc-
tion at each end of the line, but particularly in Cincin-
nati, of much good prose and verse. The Spy was about
this time, and for a year or two afterwards, the general
favorite of the local rhymers; but when a new paper, The
Olio, was started, their affections were transferred to that.
This year (181 9) the first book or pamphlet of original
verse printed anywhere in the West, appeared in Cincin-
nati— a duodecimo pamphlet of ninety-two pages, entitled
American Bards: A Modern Poem in three Parts. It
was anonymous; but its author was understood to be
Gbrham A. Worth, cashier of the United States branch
bank, who sometimes wrote for the papers under the sig-
nature of "Ohio's Bard."
Another active business man, a merchant and lawyer,
who wrote for the papers and magazines in both prose
and verse, was Moses Brooks, who came to Cincinnati
in 1 81 1.
Between 181 7 and 1820 a club of talented young men
was maintained here, whose members contributed articles
to the local newspapers "from an old garret." Among
them were Bellamy Storer, Nathan Guilford, Nathaniel
Wright, Benjamin F. Powers, and others, most of whom
soon abandoned the muses to meet the demands of in-
creasing business and domestic cares.
In 18 18 the students of Cincinnati college had a liter-
ary society called the Philomathic, to which a branch was
attached for scholarly gentlemen not belonging to the
college — as General Harrison, the Drakes, Peyton S.
Symmes, Pierce ("Horace"), and others. After a year or
two the prize of a gold medal worth fifty dollars was of-
fered for the best original poem by a Western man, writ-
ten between January 15, 1821, and April 1, 1822, and
containing not less than four hundred lines. The commit
tee of judges consisted of Messrs. John P. Foote, Josh-
ua D. Godman, and Benjamin Drake. Twelve poems
were submitted; and after careful examination the award
was made to The Muse of Hesperia, a Poetical Reverie.
Its authorship, however, was not disclosed, and not until
long after its publication was announced in 1823, did it
come to be known that Thomas Pierce was the success-
ful contestant. The Philomathic society undertook its
publication in handsome style, with heavy paper and a
clear, beautiful imprint. Mr. Coggeshall reprints it in
full, as an appendix to the preliminary matter in his Poets
and Poetry. One specially notable and fitting feature of
it is the appeal it makes to the bards of the West for or-
iginal study and the use of local themes..
The same Mr. Pierce wrote the prologue used at the
opening of the Cincinnati theatre in September, 182 1,
• for a prize of a silver ticket of admission to the theatre
for one year. He also penned the Ode to Science for
an extra night of the Western museum. In 1824-5 ne
was a frequent contributor to the Literary Gazette, and
his last poem, Knowledge is Power, was written for the
Gazette in 1829. He was a translator from the French
and Spanish, as well as a highly original writer.
William R. Schenck, who was born here in 1799, wrote
many short poems for the Gazette in 1824-5. Charles
Hammond, Esq., afterwards editor of the Gazette, wrote
many satirical verses for it.
Otway Curry, the remarkable young poet from High-
land county, came to Cincinnati in 1823, and worked at
his trade of carpenter for a year; went away, came back
in 1828, and began to write under the signature of "Ab-
dallah." He contributed some admirable poems to the
Mirror and the Chronicle.
W. D. Gallagher was a printer in Cincinnati between
1821 and 1824. While still an apprentice he published
a creditable little literary journal, and afterwards contribut-
ed largely to the other local papers. In 1828 he wrote a
capital series of letters from Kentucky and Mississippi
to the Saturday Evening Chronicle, then published here.
He removed to Xenia in 1830, and became editor of the
Backwoodsman, a Clay campaign paper. The next year
he was invited to return to Cincinnati by John H. Wood,
a publisher; and came back. He took editorial charge
of the Mirror, and followed it for some years through its
various vicissitudes and changes of name. In 1836 he
started the Literary Journal and Western Review, which
was discontinued the next year. His first book of poems
was printed early in 1835, under the title Erato No. 1.
In August of the same year appeared Erato No. 2, and
No. 3 soon after. The pamphlets, for they were little more,
were very favorably received, and won the author much
repute. After doing editorial work in Columbus upon
the Hesperian, he came back to Cincinnati in 1839, as
editor of the Gazette, and remained upon it until 1850,
except one year, when he had a daily penny paper of his
own called the Message. In 1841 he edited a compila-
tion of the Poetical Literature of the West, containing
selections from thirty-eight writers. Mr. U. P. James,
who still survives in a good old age, was publisher of this
work. In 1850 Mr. Gallagher went to Washington as
confidential clerk in the Treasury, and never returned to
reside here. He is still living, spending his declining
days upon a farm near Louisville.
About the time Mr. Gallagher was getting prominently
to the front as a literary man in Cincinnati, between 1828
and 1835, two local poets of some note appeared— both
natives of Connecticut— Hugh Peters, author of "My
Native Land" and other poems, who died in this State
in June, 1832, and Edward A McLaughlin, a printer,
who lived in this city ten to fifteen years. He is noticed
more fully hereafter.
John B. Dillon was another Cincinnati printer who
became a poet and historian of note. His first poem,
"The Burial of the Stranger," was contributed to the
•-, --' - ■ ■
c?~e^
■6-A-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
273
Gazette. He also wrote for the Western Review and
other publications, until 1834, when he removed to In-
diana, where he became the author of two or three his-
torical works of authority.
Mrs. Sarah Louis P. Hickman was one of the poetical
writers of Cincinnati about 1829-30. She died in New
York city February 12, 1832.
Salmon P. Chase, when a young attorney here, besides
editing the Statutes of Ohio, with an historical sketch of
the State, and writing for the North American Review
and the Western Monthly Magazine, also wrote poems
in his student days, and occasionally afterwards.
Charles A. Jones, about 1835, ^a(i some local distinc-
tion as a poet. In 1836-9 he wrote for the Mirror, and
in 1840 for Mr. Gallagher's paper, the Daily Message.
In 1835 Josiah Drake published a little collection by
Jones, entitled The Outlaw, and Other Poems. In 1839
a series of Lyrics Aristophanaea, by the same, attracted
much attention in the Gazette. Another series by him
was subscribed "Dick Tinto." He went to New Orleans
some time after, but returned to Cincinnati in 185 1, and
died at Ludlow Station (Cumminsville) the fourth of July
of that year.
Some of the editors of that day had bright sons. Rev.
Timothy Flint had frequent poetical contributions to his
Western Review from his son, Micah D. Flint. Freder-
ick W. Thomas was associate editor with his father upon
the Commercial Advertiser and Daily Evening Post. In
1832 a poem of his, headed The Emigrant,' and dedi-
cated to Charles Hammond, was published in a thin
pamphlet, and gave him much transient repute. He was
the author of numerous other. poems and many prose
sketches. Upon his return to Cincinnati in 1850, he
served for a time as a Methodist minister.
His father, Mr. Lewis F. Thomas, editor of the Louis-
ville Herald in 1839, and afterwards of St. Louis and
Washington City, was a resident of Cincinnati for a few
years after 1829. About that time he and his brother
William assisted in the management of the Commercial
Advertiser and the Evening Post of this place. He was
also a welcome contributor to the Mirror and the West-
ern Monthly, especially in poetry. After his removal to
St. Louis, he put in print the first book of poetry pub-
lished west of the Mississippi — "Inda and other poems."
The first of these was delivered before the Cincinnati
Lyceum in 1834, and afterwards before the Lyceum in
St. Louis.
Mr. James H. Perkins, long afterwards a Unitarian
clergyman, began his literary, career by writing for the
Western Monthly Magazine. Early, in 1834 he became
editor of the Saturday Evening Chronicle. He wrote
also for the New York Quarterly and the North American
Review. He was the author of the first edition of The
Annals of the West, published in Cincinnati by James
Albach, in 1847.
Thomas H. Shreve, a Cincinnati editor and merchant,
wrote many essays and poems of uncommon excellence
for the Mirror, the Hesperia, the Western Monthly
Magazine, the Knickerbocker, and other periodicals.
The Hon. James W. Gazlay, sometime member of
congress, was the author of a pretty large volume, of
Sketches of Life, and other poems ; also of a humorous
book in prose, entitled Races of Mankind, or Travels in
Grubland, by Captain Broadbeck.
William Ross Wallace, the well-known New York poet
and song-writer, laid the foundation of his fame with
Cincinnati publishers. He was born at Lexington, Ken-
tucky, in 1 81 9, received his collegiate education in Indi-
ana, and before he was seventeen years old gave the
world a poem, the Dirge of Napoleon, which at once
gave him rank among western writers. About the same
time, in 1836, the Cincinnati Mirror pronounced a poem
of his, "Jerusalem," published in one of its issues, to be
"beautiful, exceeding beautiful." In 1 837 P. McFarlin pub-
lished in this city Mr. Wallace's first book of poetry, The
Battle of Tippecanoe, and other Poems. The first of
these is said to have been recited by its young author,
when he was but sixteen years old, at a celebration on
the Tippecanoe battleground. He was soon persuaded
to embark in literary pursuits in New York city, where
the rest of his days were spent.
THE CARY SISTERS.
Alice and Phoebe Cary were born near Mount Pleasant
(now Mount Healthy), in Springfield township, the fourth
and sixth children of Robert and Elizabeth Jessup Cary.
The former was born April 26, 1820, the latter Septem-
ber 4, 1824. They are the brightest stars in the literary
galaxy of Cincinnati or of Hamilton county. They were
of good blood on both sides. Their father was des-
cended from Sir Thomas Cary, a cousin of "Good
Queen Bess," and a Pilgrim Father in New England.
Robert, of the sixth generation from Sir Thomas, came
with his father Christopher to the Northwest Territory in
1803, and in due time settled as a farmer near Mount
Healthy, upon the site known as Clovernook in Alice's
stories. The mother was of a family in which poetic
talent was developed. The following lines, by one of
the sisters, descriptive of many another pioneer home in
the Miami valley, as well as of the Cary dwelling, deserve
a place just here :
OUR HOMESTEAD.
Our old brown homestead reared its walls
From the wayside dust aloof,
Where the apple-boughs could almost cast
Their fruit upon its roof ;
And the cherry-tree so near it grew
That, when awake I've lain
In the lonesome nights, I've heard the limbs
As they creaked against the pane ;
And those orchard trees — O, those orchard trees!
I've seen my little brothers rocked
In their tops by the summer breeze.
The sweet-brier under the window-sill,'
Which the early birds made glad,
And the damask rose by the garden fence
Were all the flowers we had.
I've looked at many a flower since then,
Exotics rich and rare,
That to other eyes were lovelier,
But not to me so fair ;
For those roses bright — O, those roses bright !
I have twined them in my sister's locks,
. That are hid in the dust from sight.
274
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
We had a well — a deep, old well,
Where the spring was never dry,
And the cool drops down from the mossy stones
Were falling constantly ;
And there never was water half so sweet
As the draught which filled my cup,
Drawn up to the curb by the rude old sweep
That my father's hand set up ;
And that deep, old well — O, that deep, old well !
I remember now the plashing sound
Of the bucket as it fell.
Our homestead had an ample hearth,
Where at night we loved to meet ;
There my mother's voice was always kind,
And her smile was always sweet ;
And there I've sat on my father's knee,
And watched his thoughtful brow,
With my childish hand in his raven hair —
That hair is silver now !
But that broad hearth's light — O, that broad hearth's light !
And my father's look and my mother's smile,
They are in my heart to-night !
The sisters had only the limited advantages for educa-
tion which the schools of their early day afforded.
When Alice was eighteen her poems began to appear in
the Cincinnati press, and Phcebe, though but fourteen,
had been making rhymes for a year or two. The first of
Alice's pieces published appeared in the Sentinel, and
was entitled The Child of Sorrow. In 1849 tne'r first
book, Poems of Alice and Phcebe Cary, for which they
received a hundred dollars, was published by Moss &
Brother, of Philadelphia. The next year Alice went
bravely to live in New York, and support herself by the
labors of her pen. Phcebe and a younger sister followed in
the spring of the next year. Their subsequent life is
known to all the literary world. The two series of
Clovernook Papers, with Clovernook Children, Pictures
of Country Life, Hagar, a Story of T°-day, The Bishop's
Son, Married, Not Mated — these in prose; with Lyra, and
Other Poems, Lyrics and Hymns, Poems and Parodies,
Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love, and other books in
verse ; and some good editorial work, as of Hymns for
all Christians, published in 1869 — these volumes, by
one or the other, or both of them jointly, brought them
money and renown. Alice died in New York city Feb-
ruary 18, 187 1 ; Phcebe in Newport, Rhode Island, July
31st, of the same year.
OTHER LITERATI.
Edward A. McLaughlin was a native of Connecticut,
and after many wanderings came to Cincinnati, where he
wrote verses, and in October, 1841, published through the
house of Edward Lucas a good sized volume of poetry,
entitled The Lovers of the Deep, in four cantos, with the
addition of miscellaneous poems. The first and longest
was dedicated to Nicholas Longworth, and others to
Messrs. Jacob Burnet, Bellamy Storer, Richard F.
L'Hommedieu, Peyton S. Symmes, and other prominent
citizens. We know nothing of his subsequent career.
James W. Ward came here in early manhood, as a
student in the Ohio Medical college, contributed much
in verse and prose to the Hesperian and other Cincinnati
journals, made careful studies in botany, and in 1855
associated himself with the well-known Dr. John A.
Warder, now of Miami township, in the publication of the
Western Horticultural Review. He wrote the comical
parody upon Longfellow's Hiawatha, entitled Higher
Water, which was published first in the Cincinnati
Gazette, and then in book form. After several years'
service here with the publishing house of Henry W.
Derby & Company, he went to New York and devoted
himself to musical and metrical composition, and other
works for the publishers of that city.
James Birney Marshall, of the Kentucky Marshalls,
was a prominent writer here for nearly twenty years. In
1836 he bought the Cincinnati Union, and changed its
name to the Buckeye, but published it only a few months.
The next year he bought the Western Monthly and also
the Literary Journal and united the two in one publica-
tion under the name of Western Monthly Magazine and
Literary Review, with W. D. Gallagher as joint editor.
After the failure of this venture, he entered the field as a
political writer, and was concerned in the publication of
several Kentucky and Ohio papers.
Cornelius A. Logan was a native of Baltimore, but
came from Philadelphia to this city in 1840. He was a
man of versatile talents — actor, playwright, novelist, and
poet. He wrote many plays, mostly comedies, farces,
and burlesques, and defended the stage with great vigor,
but in perfect good temper, from the attacks made
upon it. A Husband's Vengeance was a prize tale writ-
ten for NeaVs Saturday Gazette, and The Mississippi was
. a sketch which received the compliment of copying en-
tire into the Edinburgh Review. Eliza, Olive, and
Cecilia, three of his daughters, became noted actresses,
and the second of these (Mrs. Wirt Sikes) has consider-
able repute as a magazine and book writer. Thomas A.
Logan, his only son, has been for many years a promi-
nent lawyer at the Hamilton county bar.
Mrs. Sophia H. Oliver, wife of Dr. Joseph H. Oliver,
for some years a professor in the Eclectic Medical col-
lege, of this city, wrote poetry in 1841 for the Cincinnati
Daily Message, before that for several Kentucky and
Ohio journals, and afterwards for the Columbian and
Great West, and other publications.
Mrs. Margaret L. Bailey was the wife of Dr. Gamaliel
Bailey, who published the anti-slavery journals here and
in Washington city — The Philanthropist in Cincinnati, in
1837 and after, The National Era at the capital, from
1847 until nis death in 1859, when Mrs. Bailey became
publisher, and kept the journal until its suspension next
year. She was editor of the Youth's Monthly Visitor
from 1844 to 1852, and made a bright, popular magazine
of it. She also wrote occasional poems, which were
recommended by the critic Griswold as "informed with
fancy and a just understanding.'' Mrs. Bailey was the
daughter of Thomas Shands, who came with his family
in 1 81 8 and settled near Cincinnati.
William Dana Emerson, a native of Marietta, came to
Cincinnati sometime in the 40's, studied and practiced
law. He wooed the muses to some extent, however, and
in 1850 a little volume of his poems, Occasional Thoughts
in Verse, was published by a brother for private circulation.
Edwin R. Campbell, brother of the well-known politi-
cian, Hon. Lewis D. Campbell, was editor of the Cincin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
275
nati Daily Times in 1841, and afterwards of the Daily
Dispatch. He wrote a number of poems for the Knick-
erbocker and the Hesperian.
Mrs. Rebecca S. (Reed) Nichols, wife of Mr. Willard
Nichols, journalist, aided her husband for some years in
St. Louis, and came with him to Cincinnati in 1841.
Three years afterwards her first book appeared — Berenice,
or the Curse of Minna, and other poems. In 1846 she
edited a literary periodical here called The Guest, and was
a contributor for many years to eastern magazines, Her
sprightly papers in the Cincinnati Herald, signed "Kate
Cleaveland," excited much attention and brought her no
little praise when she was ascertained to be the author.
In 1 85 1 she was aided by Nicholas Longworth to publish
a large and elegant book of poems, under the title, Songs
of the Heart and of the Hearthstone. The publishers
of the Cincinnati Commercial for a time paid her liberally
for an original poem each week.
Mrs. Catharine A. (Ware) Warfield here first gave
marked evidence of poetic talent, soon after completing
her education in Philadelphia. She was married in Cin-
cinnati in 1833, to Mr. Elisha Warfield, of Lexington.
A book published in New York about 1842, entitled
Poems by two Sisters of the West, is the joint production
of Mrs. Warfield and Mrs. Eleanor Percy Lee. Another
volume of poetry by the sisters, The Indian Chamber
and other Poems, was published in 1846. Most of the
poems in both are by Mrs. Warfield. Her sister, Mrs.
Lee, also resided in Cincinnati for several years, and died
in Natchez when about thirty years of age. Two or three
of her poems are much admired.
Mrs. Susan W. Jewett frequently contributed in prose
and poetry to the Cincinnati papers from 1840 to 1857,
and for a time conducted a monthly juvenile magazine
called The Youth's Visitor. The Corner Cupboard, a
duodecimo volume published here by Messrs. Truman &
Spofford in 1856, is a collection of her poems and sketches,
setting forth "the every-day life of every-day people."
Mrs. Luella J. B. Case was wife of Leverett Case,
who came to Cincinnati about 1845, and became an
editor and proprietor of the Enquirer. They remained
here but five years, during which she contributed to the
paper several poems on western topics.
Miss Mary A. Foster, an English lady who formerly
contributed poetry to the Gazette and the Commercial
under the nom de plume of "Mary Neville," was a resi-
eent of Cincinnati for a short time.
The book of poems entitled Buds, Blossoms and
Leaves, published here in 1854, was the production of
Mrs. Mary E. Fe£ Shannon, a native of Clermont county,
who received her musical education in Cincinnati, and
wrote much for the city papers.
Mrs. Celia M. Burr came with her first husband (Mr.
C. B. Kellum) from Albany to Cincinnati in 1844, and
did much literary work for the local papers under the sig-
nature "Celia." In 1849 she became literary editor of
The Great West, but dropped out when it was united
with the Weekly Columbian, and then wrote for the east-
ern monthlies and the New York Tribune.
Austin T. Earle, an editor of The Western Rambler,
here in 1843-4, wrote a number of pleasing lyric and
other poems.
Horace S. Minor, another Cincinnati painter about
1845, often contributed to the city papers, finally assisting
upon a small weekly called 7%,? Shooting Star. He died
of consumption at an early age.
Benjamin St. James Fry, who assisted Mr. Earle in
starting The Western Rambler in 1843-4, was a Methodist
Episcopal minister and a teacher of repute. He contrib-
uted much to the Ladies Repository and the Methodist
Quarterly Review, and also wrote several prose works.
William W. Fosdick was born in Cincinnati January
28, 1825. His mother was Julia Drake, formerly a fam-
ous actress. While still a youth he composed a drama
entitled Tecumseh, which won him some fame. He was
the author of a novel called Malmirtie, the Toltec, and
the Cavaliers of the Cross, i85r; Ariel and other Poems,
published 1855 ; and of other works. He was considered
for some years the Poet Laureate of Cincinnati.
Peter Fishe Reed was for several years before 1856 a
house and sign painter in Cincinnati, but found time to
write, under the signature of "Viva Mona," some very
pretty poems for the Weekly (afterwards Daily) Columbian.
He was also a writer of romance and on art topics, and a
man of generally versatile talents.
William Penn Brannan was a poet-painter, a native of
Cincinnati, born March 22, 1825. He wrote many pleas-
ing poems and humorous prose sketches, and was also
a painter of some note. He removed to Chicago after
he had grown to manhood.
Benjamin T. Cushing, author of the Christiad, an am-
bitious sacred poem, and other works of poesy, was a
lawyer here for a few months, in 1847-8, in the office of
Salmon P. Chase.
Mr. Obed J. Wilson, over thirty years ago, then a
young teacher in the city, wrote much in various depart-
ments for the local press. He was for many years the
literary referee of the great publishing house of Van Ant-
werp, Bragg & Company, and the several firms which
preceded it.
Alfred Burnett, English born, but a Cincinnatian since
boyhood, has written many pleasant things in prose and
poetry, and is widely known as a humorous lecturer and
elocutionist. He is the author of a little work on Mag-
netism Made Easy, a volume of original poems and se-
lections, and of other productions.
Mrs. Helen Truesdell was the author of a good-sized
book of poems published in 1856 by E. Morgan & Sons,
of this city. She was then a resident of Newport, and
had previously, for a year or two, contributed acceptably
to the Parlor Magazine, published here in 1853-4 by
Jethro Jackson.
Mrs. Anna S. (Richey) Roberts, said to be a native of
Cincinnati, and resident here until her marriage in 1852,
was a poetical contributor to the Columbian and Great
West, and author of a volume of poems entitled Flowers
of the West, published in Philadelphia in 185 1.
Mrs. Frances (Sprengle) Locke, who in 1854 married
Mr. Josiah Locke, then of the Cincinnati press, and came
to reside here, was also a writer of many pieces of poetry,
276
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
published in the magazines and newspapers of the day.
William D. Howells, editor of the Atlantic Monthly,
author of several admirable books in prose and poetry,
and one of the very first names in American literature,
was for a time in the fifties an editor of the Daily Gazette,
and while here contributed to the Atlantic and other
eastern publications. His first book of poetry was pub-
lished in a thin little volume at Columbus, in conjunction
with John James Piatt.
General William H. Lytle was Cincinnati born, and
of one of the oldest and most renowned families. He
was a lawyer, but gave some time to writing poetry, and
while serving as captain in the Mexican war wrote a
series of letters home which were much admired for their
grace and brilliant descriptions of tropical scenes. Gen-
eral Lytle was also a soldier in the late war, and was killed
at the battle of Chickamauga. His most famous poem
is "Antony and Cleopatra." As this has acquired an al-
most world-wide celebrity, and many of the readers of
this work will be glad to have it conveniently at hand
and in a permanent place, we here append it in full :
I am dying, Egypt, dying !
Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast,
And the dark Plutonian shadows
Gather on the evening blast ;
Let thine arm, O Queen, enfold me,
Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear,
Listen to the great heart secrets
Thou, and thou alone, must hear.
Though my scarred and veteran legions
Bear their eagles high no more,
And my wrecked and scattered galleys
Strew dark Actium's fatal shore ;
Though no glittering guards surround me,
Prompt to do their master's will,
I must perish like a Roman,
Die the great Triumvir still.
Let not Caesar's servile minions
Mark the lion thus made low ;
'Twas no foeman's arm that felled him,
'Twas his own that struck the blow —
His who, pillowed on thy bosom,
Turned aside from glory's ray —
His who, drunk with thy caresses,
Madly threw a world away.
Should the base plebeian rabble
Dare assail my name at Rome,
Where the noble spouse, Octavia,
Weeps within her widowed home,
Seek her ; say the gods bear witness,
Altars, augurs, circling wings,
That her blood, with mine commingled,
Yet shall mount the thrones of kings.
And for thee, star-eyed Egyptian !
Glorious sorceress of the Nile,
Light the path to Stygian horrors
With the splendors of thy smile ;
Give the Caesar crowns and arches,
Let his brow the laurel twine —
I can scorn the Senate's triumphs,
Triumphing in love like thine.
I am dying, Egypt, dying ;
Hark ! the insulting foeman's cry ;
They are coming ; quick, my falchion,
Let them front me ere I die.
Ah, no more amid the battle
Shall my heart exulting swell,
Isis and Osiris guard thee —
Cleopatra, Rome, farewell!
James Pummill was also a native of Cincinnati, and a
practical printer there for a number of years. For some
time he contributed to the magazines, and is author of a
little collection of Fugitive Poems, published there in
1852, and of Fruits of Leisure, a small volume of poetry,
' privately printed.
John T. Swartz came to Cincinnati with his parents
when still a boy, in 1841, graduated at the Woodward
high school, and died while a teacher here, March 5,
1859. He was writer of the poem, "There are no Tears
in Heaven," and other pieces.
Mr. John James Piatt, of the famous Ohio and Indi-
ana family, is a writer of considerable note, and among
the leaders of literature in Cincinnati. His first volume
was published in i860 — "Poems of Two Friends" — Mr.
W. D. Howells being associated with him in its author-
ship. He has since given the public Poems of House
and Home, Western Windows and other Poems, the Lost
Farm: Landmarks and other Poems, and Pencilled Fly-
leaves : A Book of Essays in Town and Country. Mr.
Piatt still lives near Cincinnati, at North Bend, the former
home of Judge Symmes. Near the close of last year he
gave to the public an elegant volume of Idyls and Lyrics
of the Ohio Valley, containing thirty-six poems, many of
which have a delightful local flavor.
Miss Eloria Parker, a poetical contributor to the local
newspapers and magazines twenty to twenty-five years
ago, was a native of Philadelphia, but educated at the
Wesleyan Female college in Cincinnati, and afterward a
resident of Reading, in the Mill Creek valley.
Mrs. Cornelia E. Laws was daughter of M. C. Wil-
liams, of College hill, and was educated at the Female
college of that place, but removed, upon her marriage in
1857, to Richmond, Indiana. She was writer of The
Empty Chair, Behind the Post, and other meritorious
poems.
■CHAPTER XXIX.
BOOKSELLING AND PUBLICATION.
In the many walks of trade and industry which have
helped to form the material greatness of Cincinnati, the
manufacture and sale of books has had prominent place
almost from the beginning. South of the Ohio, the clus-
ter of intelligent people at Lexington had an early book
supply, but solely through the drug and other stores, as
the custom is in new communities and small places, and
in a very limited way, until 1803, when Mr. John Charles
opened a regular book-store there. A printing press and
newspaper, as we have seen, were there even before Lo-
santiville was founded ; but Cincinnati can claim prece-
dence, probably, over Kentucky, and certainly can over
all other points in the Northwest Territory, in the matter
of book publication. Nearly five years before the last
century had gone out, the little village was in the field as
a publishing centre; and the supremacy thus early ac-
£
ic/&e4>t444Z .
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
277
quired has been steadily maintained, over all other places
in the western country, to this day.
The first publication in Cincinnati which had the vol-
ume and dignity of a book was ' entitled, "Laws of the
Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio,
adopted and made by the governor and judges in their
legislative capacity, at a session begun on Friday, the
twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-five, and ending on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth
day of August following, with an appendix of resolutions
and the ordinance for the government of the territory.
By authority. Cincinnati. Printed by W. Maxwell.
M, DCC, XCVI." It is a respectable duodecimo of two
hundred and twenty-five pages, with very fair paper,
typography and binding, for that primitive time. It was
known from the printer (who was also Postmaster and
editor of the Centinel of the Northwest Territory) as the
Maxwell code, and was sold by him at a moderate rate
for cash, but a rather exorbitant price if credit were
given — a necessary provision, very likely.
Two volumes of the territorial laws had been previ-
ously printed, but in Philadelphia in 1792 and 1794, by
Francis Childs and John Swaine, "Printers of the Laws
of the United States." When the next volume of stat-
utes after the Maxwell code came to be printed, Messrs.
Carpenter and Friedley, also of Cincinnati, had become
"printers to the territory." The volume issued by them
contained two hundred and eighty pages, and included
the laws passed by the general assembly of the territory in
the fall of 1799, as well as "certain laws enacted by the
governor and judges of the territory from the commence-
ment of the government to December, 1792," with an
appendix of resolutions, the inevitable "ordinance," the
federal constitution, and the law respecting fugitives.
The next two volumes of session laws were printed in
Chillicothe, the new capital of the territory, in 1801-2.
Judge Burnet, in his Notes upon the Settlement of the
Northwestern Territory, says of this first book:
This body of laws (enacted in the summer of 1795, at the legislative
session of the Governor and judges at Cincinnati, from the codes of
the original States) was printed at Cincinnati by William Maxwell in
1705, from which circumstance it was called the Maxwell code. It was
the first job of printing ever executed in the Northwest territory, and the
book should be preserved, as a specimen of the condition of the art in
the western country, at that period, All the laws previously passed had
been printed at Philadelphia, from necessity, because there was not at
the time a printing office in the territory.
A careful reading between the lines of our chapter upon
literature in Cincinnati will enable one to get a pretty
good view of the progress and status of book publishing
here at the several periods of its history.. We shall add
but a few notes of the business at different eras.
Mr. Cist, in his day, thought the second book pub-
lished in Cincinnati was a twenty-five cent pamphlet en-
titled "The Little Book: the Arcanum Opened," etc. — a
very long and singular title, which was announced August
19, 1801.
The Liberty Hall and the Western Spy offices had each
an extra press for book work, and several works of some
size had been printed thereon by 1805. Between 181 1
and 1815 at least a dozen books, averaging over two hun-
dred pages each, and many pamphlets, were printed upon
them and perhaps other presses. Suitable paper was ob-
tained at first from Pennsylvania, then from Kentucky,
and in due time from paper mills established on the Lit-
tle Miami, as is elsewhere related. The earliest publica-
tions here, and even so lately as 1810, when Dr. Drake's
"Notices concerning Cincinnati" was published, are
printed in the old fashioned typography, with long s's,
etc. Soon after this, however, — as when Dr. Drake's
book of 1815, the "Picture of Cincinnati," was issued —
the modern typography came into vogue.
In 1826 there were printed in this city sixty-one thou-
sand almanacs, fifty-five thousand spelling books, thirty
thousand primers, three thousand copies of the Bible
News, fifty thousand table arithmetics, three thousand
American Preceptors, three thousand American Readers,
three thousand Introductions to the English Reader, three
thousand Kirkham's grammar, one thousand five hun-
dred Family Physicians, fourteen thousand Testaments,
hymn and music books, one thousand Vine Dresser's
Guide, five hundred Hammond's Ohio reports, five hun-
dred Symmes' Theory, and some other books. It was
certainly a very respectable output of the book press, for
a western place, that had been a city but seven years.
The great interest of book manufacture made such
progress in the Queen City, that, within about forty-five
years from the date of the issue of the first book here — in
four months of the year 1831 — no less than eighty-six thou-
sand volumes issued from the presses of Cincinnati pub-
lishers, or twenty-one thousand five hundred per month
— almost a thousand every working day. Twenty times
the number are now turned out each secular day by a
single house in the city; but, for half a century ago, con-
sidering the state of American literature and book publi-
cation at that time, the exhibit of production is note-
worthy. Of the whole amount nearly one-fourth, or
twenty thousand three hundred volumes, were of original
works, and mainly of Cincinnati authorship.
The Cincinnati Almanac for 1839 contained the fol-
lowing notice of the book interest as it stood locally that
year:
Cincinnati is the great mart for the book trade west of the mount-
ains, and the principal place of their manufacture. We believe the
public have but an imperfect conception of its extent in this city.
There are thirty printing offices, one type foundry, two stereotype
foundries (being the only establishments of the kind in the west) ;
and one Napier and several other power presses are in constant opera-
tion. At E. Morgan & Company's printing establishment, Eighth street,
on the canal, four presses are propelled by water power.
The style of manufacture has been rapidly improved within a year or
two past. Among other specimens, Mr. Delafield's Inquiry into the
Origin of the Antiquities of America, published by N. G. Burgess &
Company, will bear comparison with any similar work from the Amer-
ican press, for the beauty and accuracy of its typography. It is a royal
quarto volume of about one hundred and fifty pages and eleven maps and
colored engravings ; one of the maps is nineteen feet long, which, with
all the engravings, was executed in this city. The whole number of
books printed and bound the past year, exclusive of almanacs, prim-
ers, toys and pamphlets, was about half a million. The principal
houses who have issued the largest number of volumes are —
Truman & Smith 153,500
N. G. Burgess & Co 120,538
E. Morgan & Co 86,300
U. P. James 531896
Ely & Strong 35.766
Total 500,000
278
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
In 1840 the business of book publishing in Cincinnati
was remarked by a local writer as already "a department
of industry and enterprise of great extent." Books to
the number of more than a quarter of a million were pub-
lished here that year, of over half a million dollars in
value, besides about one million in school books. Mich-
igan, Western Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and much of
the south, even to Texas, were supplied almost exclu-
sively from Cincinnati. The large standard works were
much reprinted here — as Josephus, Gibbon, Rollin, and
the like, besides Bibles in great quantity, and many
smaller publications, including some by Cincinnati au-
thors. Stereotyping was now much in vogue, and three
or four houses were reputed to own a total value of sixty
thousand dollars in stereotype plates.
About 1850 the annual value of books published in
Cincinnati was one million two hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars; 1858, two million six hundred thousand dol-
lars. The number of volumes published in 1858 was
estimated at three million two hundred thousand. Nearly
all the public schools in the west were then supplied with
textbooks from Cincinnati. In 1859 seventeen publish-
ing houses were in business here.
In 1850, Messrs. H. S. & J. Applegate & Co. began
the business of bookselling and publishing, at 43 Main
street. They went into the work with a great deal of
energy, and quite extensively for that time. Their first
year's product included one thousand copies of Clarke's
Commentary, in four volumes; ten thousand of Dick's
Works, two volumes ; four thousand Plutarch's Lives,
three thousand Rollin's Ancient History, two thousand
Spectator, besides Histories of Texas, Oregon, and Cali-
fornia, and several other works, all together valued at
sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars. They were pub-
lishers of Lyons's grammar, the Parley history series, and
two music books then popular — the Sacred Melodeon
and the Sabbath Chorister.
About the same time Messrs. W. H., Moore & Co., of
118 Main street, who had been publishing school books
for eight years, entered the field as general publishers,
issuing only foreign books at first, as Hugh Miller's Foot-
prints of the Creator and Anderson's Course of Creation.
Mr. Cist says :
These have attracted general and favorable notice at the east, as evi-
dences that books can be got up in the west, as regards paper, print-
ing, and binding, in a style not inferior to those in the east, and that
miscellaneous literature can be published to advantage in Cincinnati,
although a contrary opinion prevails in our Atlantic cities.
J. F. Desilver, also a publishing bookseller, at 122
Main street — which street seems to have been to Cincin-
nati in those days what Nassau street was to New York —
made a specialty of medical and law books, publishing,
among other valuable works, in royal octavo, Worcester
on Cutaneous Diseases, Hope's Pathological Anatomy,
and Harrison's Therapeutics. All these were beautifully
illustrated with lithographs, executed in the city; the last
named, in all particulars of mechanical execution, was
believed to rank with any eastern publication of its class.
J. A. & U. P. James were issuing Gibbon's Rome,
the Libraries of American History and of General
Knowledge, Dick's theology, family Bibles, and the like,
in large numbers. Within two years they had published
fourteen thousand copies of Hughes's Doniphan Expedi-
tion.
E. Morgan & Co., in Main street, issued within the
year twenty thousand family Bibles, fifteen thousand
copies of Josephus, ten thousand of the life of Tecumseh,
one hundred thousand Webster's spelling books, ten
thousand Walker's school dictionary, and other books in
considerable quantity — all together worth fifty-four thous-
and dollars.
WESTERN METHODIST BOOK CONCERN.
The first Methodist book concern in this country was
founded in Philadelphia by the General conference of
1787. It was removed to New York in 1804, and its
profits were mainly devoted to the enlargement of its fa-
cilities for publication, instead of the maintenance of
Cokesbury college and other schools, as theretofore. In
,1820 a branch concern was located in Cincinnati, to sup-
ply the States west of the Alleghanies with Methodist
books. It found a modest home in a little office on the
corner of Fifth and Elm streets, to which the stranger
was guided by the words on a rude sign of trifling di-
mensions, "Methodist Book Room.'' The agent in
charge was Rev. Martin Ruter, afterwards president of
Alleghany college and a pioneer preacher of his faith in
Texas, where he finally laid down his life. Dr. Ruter
printed a Scriptural Catechism and Primer during his
connection with the branch, but it was on his own ac- ■
count, as he was not expected or allowed to publish any-
thing in the name or at the risk of the concern. He re-
ceived a little more than four thousand dollars the first
year, which was considered a very fair business for that day,
and remained in office until 1828, when his term expired
by limitation, and he was succeeded, by election of the
General conference, by the Rev. Charles Holliday. Fin-
ley's Sketches of Western Methodism, which supplies us
the earlier facts of this sketch, says :
" In that small store, had the inquiry been made, there might have
been found the works of Wesley, Fletcher, Clark, and Coke, together
with the Journals of Asbury and Hymn-book and Discipline. There
also one migljt have subscribed for the Christian Ad-vpcate and Zion's
Herald, and, had he desired to become more intimately acquainted with
the condition and prospects of the church, he might have obtained a
copy of the General Minutes.
Agent Holliday secured a house for his residence on
George street, between Race and Elm, and used the front
room for the depository of the Concern. After two
years here the store was removed to a stone building on
the northwest corner of Baker and Walnut streets. Mr.
Henry Shaffer, who is still living (February, 1881) in
Cincinnati, was then a clerk in the office. The new lo-
cation was better for business than the other, and the
General conference of 1832 appointed the Rev. John S.
Wright assistant agent and directed removal to a still
more eligible site, which was found on the west side of
Main street, a little above Sixth, in the store-building of
Mr. Josiah Lawrence. Operations widened year by year,
and the branch proved a most efficient auxiliary in sup-
plying the west and south with Methodist literature. The
demand for Hymn-books and Disciplines was particularly
large, and about 1833 a beginning of the magnificent
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
279
line of publications of what became the Western Book
Concern was made, under permission of the New York
Concern, by the issue of an edition of these books.
Next year, in the spring of 1834, the Western Christian
Advocate was started under its auspices, with the Rev.
(afterwards Bishop) Thomas A. Morris as editor.
"In 1836," says Mr. Finley, "the General conference
struck out of the discipline the provision which limited
the office of book agent to eight years, and the agents
of the Western Book Concern were not required to act
any longer in a subordinate capacity to the New
York Book Concern, but to 'co-operate with them.'
They were also authorized to publish any book in the
general catalogue when, in their judgment and that of
the book committee, it would be advantageous to the in-
terests of the church ; provided that they should not
publish type editions of such books as were stereotyped
at New York."
Revs. J. F. Wright and L. Swormstedt were elected
agents. They were further authorized to set up a print-
ing office and bindery, and, after much consultation and
the requisite approval of the book committee, they
purchased the old, historic lot on the southwest corner
of Main and Eighth streets, upon which still stands the
brick mansion, now almost a wreck, said to have been
built in 1806 by General Arthur St. Clair, formerly gov-
ernor of the Northwest Territory. A printing office was
erected on the rear of this lot, four stories high, and
otherwise on a spacious scale. Here the first book print-
ed by the concern from manuscript was Phillips' Stric-
ures, whose publication was requested by the Ohio Con-
ference. Then followed The Wyandot Mission, Power
on Universalism, Shaffer on Baptism, Ohio Conference
Offering, Morris' Miscellany, Memoir of Gurley, Lives
of Quinn, Roberts, Collins, Wiley, Finley, and Gatch,
and many other works of renown in the Methodist
churches. Duplicates of the stereotype plates held by
the parent concern in New York were sent out for many
of the reprints.
In 1839 the Concern was chartered by the State legis-
lature. In 1840, upon the re-election of Messrs. Wright
and Swormstedt, they were authorized to start a month-
ly magazine specially adapted to female reading. This,
the long famous Ladies' Repository (to which title the
addition "and Gatherings of the West" was made at
first) appeared in January, 1841, with Rev. L. L. Ham-
line, then assistant editor of the Advocate, as editor; and
was continued with much success until the close of 1880,
when its publication, with that of the juvenile magazine,
The Golden Hours, ceased by order of the General Con-
ference of that year.
The agents now, according to Mr. Finley, "had au-
thority to publish any book which "had not been previ-
ously published by the agents in New York when,
in their judgment and that of the book committee, the
demand for such publication would justify and the inter-
est of the church required it. They were, however, pro-
hibited from reprinting any of the larger works, such as
the commentaries, quarto bibles, etc. They were also
authorized to publish such books and tracts as were re-
commended by the General Conference, and any other
works which the editors should approve and the Book
committee and the annual Conference recommend."
A German Methodist paper was now started, called Der
Christliche Apologete, in charge of Rev. William Nast,
who receives more particular notice in our historic sketch
of Methodism in Cincinnati.
It became necessary by and by to add further to the fa-
cilities possessed by the Concern. An adjoining lot was
bought, upon which was erected the main building for
the Concern, six stories high, fifty feet front, and over
one hundred feet deep ; then still another building, of
four stories, occupied by stores, the rent of which added
materially to the revenues of the Concern. These, by
the way, were at this time not kept at home, but, after
payment of expenses, were remitted, as largely and fre-
quently as possible, to the full amount of stock furnished,
whenever practicable, to swell the profits of the New
York Concern.
Rev. J. F. Wright resigned as principal agent in 1844.
He was succeeded by L. Swormstedt, promoted from
assistant, and Rev. J. T. Mitchell was chosen for the sec-
ond place, to which the Revs. John Power and Adam
Poe were successively and subsequently appointed.
Mr. Finley writes thus of the operations of the Book
Concern :
We are informed by reliable authority that the amount of sales dur-
ing the current year is greater than at any former period, and greater
than all the sales effected during many of the first years of the existence
of the Concern. In addition to the sales the Concern issues twenty-six
thousand copies of the Western Christian Advocate, eighteen thousand
copies of the Ladies Repository, thirty thousand copies of the Sunday-
School Advocate, six thousand copies of the Missionary Advocate, and
five thousand of the German Apologist. In view of what has been accom-
plished during the thirty-four years of its existence, commencing with a
small branch depository, and gradually increasing to its present giant
proportions as a wholesale establishment, what mind can calculate its
future expansion or the amount of good yet to be accomplished in this
great work of spreading a pure literature and a scriptural holiness over
all these lands?
Rev. Dr. J. M. Walden, present agent of the Concern,
in an article contributed to one of the New York publi-
cations of the church, adds some interesting details and
valuable statistics. We republish it in full :
Its Establishment. — It did not develop from an individual enter-
prise, but from the first has been under the control of the church.
1. The general conference directed the agents of the Book Concern
to open a branch in Cincinnati in 1820 to meet the wants of the grow-
ing church in the west. The preachers found it difficult to secure books
for themselves and their charges, because of the expense and delay in
transporting them from New York. The proposition to divide the busi-
ness met with opposition, but discussion satisfied the conference, largely
composed of eastern delegates, that a book depository in the west
would be advantageous to the church and its publishing interests. Cin-
cinnati was chosen for the location, and Rev. Martin Ruter was elected
the first agent.
n. At that time the Methodist Magazine was the only periodical of
the church, and the list of books was so limited that one room in the
agent's dwelling was sufficient for the new enterprise. The business
steadily increased; and in a few years a bindery and printing-office
were opened, and it was found advantageous to ship printed sheets
from New York and bind them in Cincinnati.
3, After a probation of twenty years the Cincinnati branch, in 1840,
was constituted an independent house, and styled the Western Method-
ist Book Concern, under which name it is legally incorporated. The
business relations between it and the New York Concern were fixed by
the general conference.
Its Expansion. — The"growth of the church in the west made it
28o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
necessary to increase the facilities and enlarge the work of the Western
Book Concern.
i. At first the printing was done on hand-presses, and little ma-
chinery was used in the bindery. By the introduction of improved
machinery the productive capacity of the publishing department at
Cincinnati is probably a hundred-fold what it was in 1840.
2. The merchandise department has been greatly increased in Cin-
cinnati, and extended to other points. The Chicago depository was
opened in 1852, the St. Louis depository in i860 (Sunday-school books
were kept on sale there even earlier), the Atlanta depository in 1869,
and an 'Advocate" established at each of these points by the order of
the general conference.
3. A Methodist literature in the German language, including books
and periodicals, has been created by the Western Book Concern, and
a similar work in the Scandinavian has been begun.
4. The1 buildings now fully occupied by the business in Cincinnati
cost above one hundred thousand dollars in addition to the land. The
depositories were not designed to serve a mere temporary purpose ;
hence the investment of capital for their accommodation in Chicago
and St. Louis. The growth of the Western Book Concern is shown by
this: In April, 1840, its capital in merchandise was thirty-nine thou-
sand, one hundred and eleven dollars and sixty-seven cents ; in the pub-
lishing department four thousand, three hundred and forty-nine dollars
and five cents ; total, forty-three thousand, four hundred and sixty dol-
lars and seventy-two cents. On November 30, 1879, the capital in
merchandise was one hundred and ninety-two thousand, six hundred
and ninety-one dollars and thirty-eight cents ; in the publishing depart-
ment, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand, four hundred and nine
dollars and eighty-five cents ; total, three hundred and eighty thousand,
one hundred and one dollars and twenty-three cents. The total sales
in 1840 were forty-eight thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars ; the
total sales in 1879 were six hundred and thirty-nine thousand, eight
hundred and eighty-eight dollars.
Its Production and Circulation of Religious Literature.—
The list of Western periodicals and the catalogue of books each shows
the increase in the demand for Methodist literature, and how fully it
has been met.
i. The English periodicals were established in the following order :
Western Christian Advocate, i^pril, 1834 ; Ladies' Repository, Janu-
ary, 1841 ; Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago, January, 1853 ;
Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis, January, 1857 ; Methodist Ad-
vocate, Atlanta, January, 1869 ; Golden Hours, January, 1869. The
Germ in : The Christian Apologist, January, 1839 ; Sunday-School
Bell, October, 1856 ; Bible Lessons, July, 1870 ; Home and Hearth
(Magazine), January, 1873; Little Folks, July, 1879. The Scandinavian
paper, The Sandebudet, January, 1863. The Sunday-School Advo-
cate, Sunday-School Journal, Sunday-School Classmate, Picture Lesson
Paper, the Missionary Advocate during its existence, have been and are
printed in the West, as well as in the East, this being found economi-
cal in the end. About fifty million copies of the Western Christian Ad-
vocate and twenty million copies of the Christian Apologist have been
printed and lead.
2. Besides standard Methodist books printed in common with the
New York Book Concern, the Western Book Concern has published a
large number of biographical, historical, doctrinal, and miscellaneous
works in English, valuable contributions to the literature of the church,
among the more recent of which are the works. of Bishops Hamline,
Clark, Thompson, Kingsley, Wiley, and Merrill; Ecclesiastical Law,
by Bishop Harris and Judge Henry; Systematic Theology, by Dr.
Raymond ; History of the Christian Church, by Dr. Blackburn ; Plat-
form Papers, by Dr. Curry, etc.
The German publications, about two hundred different volumes, are
produced exclusively by this concern, and comprise the various classes
of books needed by the preachers, the church and the Sunday-school.
3. An estimate of the quantity of Methodist literature put in circu-
lation by the Western Book Concern may be made from its cash value.
During the forty years the sales have aggregated: Books seven million
three hundred and ninety-five thousand seven hundred and fourteen
dollars and seventy-two cents; periodicals, seven million three hundred
and eighty thousand three hundredand forty-five dollars and forty-
seven cents; total, fourteen million seven hundred and seventy-six thou-
sand sixty dollars and nineteen cents. A computation of the number
of volumes or pages would be difficult, but the money value shows that
this concern has been of vast service to the church.
4. The great bulk of these sales has been made by the preachers.
They carried the books to the homes of the people, solicited the names
of subscribers to the periodicals, and introduced both books and papers
into Sunday-schools. No system of colportage or other method could
have reached the people as has the plan of our church, made effective
by the.efforts of her pastors.
5. How much of this literature would have been circulated without
the Western Book Concern? A direct answer cannot be given, but the
establishment of depositories and papers at Boston, Syracuse, Pitts-
burgh, etc., by the general conference, interprets the conviction of the
church that every interest is best served by having depots for her litera-
ture in the great commercial centres. The sales of the Western Book
Concern since 1852, when the Chicago depository was opened, have
been thirteen million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand one hun-
dred and sixty-eight dollars and twelve cents, of which those at Cincin-
nati have been eight million four hundred and seventy-two thousand
nine hundred and forty-five dollars and seventy-eight cents, and at her
depositories, five million five hundred and twenty-six thousand two hun-
dred and twenty-two dollars and thirty-four cents.
its financial success.
The large business of the Western Book Concern has, by small profit
and economical management, yielded a large aggregate profit, part of
which has been added to the capital, part paid out for the support of
the bishops and other church purposes, and part expended in maintain-
ing papers, etc. , ordered by the general conference.
1. April 1, 1840, the Western Concern owed the New York Con-
cern one hundred and five thousand one hundred and three dollars and
fifty-six cents. This was canceled by the general conference, which
raised the net capital to one hundred and thirty thousand six hundred
and three dollars and sixty-six cents, showing a net gain from 1820 of
at least twenty-five thousand five hundred and ten dollars and ten cents.
The net capital November 30, 1879, was four hundred and seventy-four
thousand one hundred and seventy-eight dollars and forty-seven cents,
a gain of three hundred and forty-three thousand five hundred and sev-
enty-four dollars and eighty-one cents since it became independent.
The only drafts on the proceeds from 1840 to 1852 were the dividend to
annual conferences and loss on German publications, most of which
have been remunerative for twenty-five years.
2. Since 1852, when the support of the bishops was placed on the
Book Concerns and the depository system began in the west, the drafts
on the proceeds have been as follows : For the church south, by ruling
of the supreme court, one hundred and two thousand forty-seven dol-
lars and nine cents ; by order of general conference, for bishops, etc.,
one hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred and thirty-six
dollars and sixteen cents ; direct loss by the Chicago fire, one hundred
and two thousand two hundred and twenty-one dollars and forty-eight
cents ; and losses on the Central Christian Advocate, Methodist Advo-
cate, the Scandinavian papers, and the Chicago Depository since the
fire, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand one hundred and thirty-six
dollars and forty-nine cents ; a total of five hundred and thirty-four thou-
sand nine hundred and forty-one dollars and twenty-two cents ; which
shows an aggregate profit of eight hundred and seventy-eight thousand
five hundred and sixteen dollars on the business during the forty years.
3. It is proper to state that the financial credit of the Western Con-
cern has been steadily maintained. Supplying books and papers on
credit, and enlarging the business, have necessitated large loans.
These have been readily made. Its financial paper has never been pro-
tested, and in the most stringent times its large corps of employes have
been promptly pajd. Since the late general conference it has issued six
per cent, five-twenty bonds, and sold of them at par above one hundred
thousand dollars with which to liquidate liabilities heretofore bearing
eight per cent, interest. The productive capital, the past profits, and
the credits of the Western Book Concern indicate its success as a finan-
cial enterprise.
The Western Tract and Book society was organized in
Cincinnati as the American Reform Tract and Book so-
ciety in November, 1852. Its underlying idea was the
application through literature of Christianity to the bet-
terment of personal and national life in practical affairs,
especially to the promotion of the anti-slavery cause,
while temperance and other reforms were not to be neg-
lected. The two noteworthy articles of the constitution
were, as they still are, these :
Art. II. Its object shall be to promote the diffusion of divine truth,
point out its application to every known sin, and to promote the inter-
ests of practical religion by the circulation of a sound evangelical litera-
ture.
''-■;■/,'■ °
cfeobae // cstaAjise/c
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
281
Art. III. It will receive into its treasury none of the known fruits of
iniquity nor the gains of the oppressor.
The first officers of the society were : Rev. John Ran-
kin, president; Rev. C. B. Boynton, corresponding sec-
retary; Rev. J. Cable, recording secretary; T. B. Mason,
treasurer; Rev. A. Benton, Rev. C. B. Boynton, J. K.
Leavitt, J. Jolliffe, M. R. Coney, Joseph Burgoyne, Sam-
uel Lee, Dr. J. P. Walker, T. B. Mason, G. S. Stearns, A.
S. Merrill, William Lee, directors. Of these Messrs. Ran-
kin, Boynton, Walker, and Mason are still living, most of
them in Cincinnati. The officers of the society last
elected at this writing, are : Rev. B. P. Aydelott, D. D."
president; Revs. E. D. Morris, D. D., C. B. Boynton, D.
D., Robert Patterson, D. D., W. H. James, I. N. Stanger
and Messrs. William Summer, H. Thane Miller, S. W.
Haughton, and W. H. Taylor, vice-presidents; Revs. W.
H. French, A. B. Morey, S. W. Duncan, C. H. Daniels,
F. S. Fitch, J. P. E. Kumler, R. H. Leonard, E. D. Led-
yard, A. H. Ritchie, and J. P. Walker, F. Dallas, J. Webb,
jr., W. 'J. Breed, J." Scott Peebles, directors; A. S. Mer-
rill, .recording secretary ; executive officers elected by the
board, Rev. A. Ritchie, editor and corresponding secre-
tary; J. Webb, jr., treasurer; Sutton and Scott, deposita-
ries.
Dr. Aydelott, an old and much venerated clergyman
of Cincinnati, was president of the society during the last
ten years of his life, vacating the chair by his death, Sep-
tember ir, 1880.
The constitution was amended after the close of the
war, August 15, 1865. Since the accomplishment of
emancipation, the anti-slavery feature, so long and influ-
entially prominent in its operations, was dropped, as also
the word "Reform" from its name, although much atten-
tion is still given in its publications to the practical appli-
cations of Christianity. It co-operates with the American
Tract and Book society, keeps a full supply of its pub-
lications in stock, and receives from it and disburses sev-
enteen per cent, of the entire sum appropriated for
charitable distribution. It has thus scattered many mil-
lions of printed pages far and wide in various forms, and
its publications — including a neat little monthly paper
called the Christian Press — make a very respectable list.
The headquarters of the society are fixed by the consti-
tution in Cincinnati, and are located at 176 Elm street.
VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG AND COMPANY.
These gentlemen are the largest publishers of school
books in the world. The founder of the house, over
fifty years ago, was a Cincinnati publisher, Mr. Winthrop
B. Smith. About 1830, the firm of Truman & Smith,
of which he was a member, was that mentioned above,
at the head of the publishers of 1839 here. After Mr.
Truman's retirement, the firm name was Winthrop B.
Smith & Company, which became a famous and pros-
perous house. Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle were their
successors. The senior of this copartnership withdrew
from it in 1868, and the other two gentlemen then
headed the renowned firm of Wilson, Hinkle & Com-
pany. For about ten years this establishment prospered,
when, in 1877, the two leading members, who had been
connected with the house during its various changes for
about forty years, finally retired, and the remaining part-
ners, with others, formed the present house of Van Ant-
werp, Bragg & Company. It consists of Messrs. Lewis
Van Antwerp, Charles I. Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert
T. Leaman, A. Howard Hinkle (son of the former part-
ner), and Harry T. Ambrose. Their operations require
the use of four large buildings, each seven floors, on
Walnut and Baker streets, below Third. Their average
production is about eighteen thousand text-books per
day.
ROBERT CLARKE AND COMPANY.
This house is extensively engaged in bookselling and
publishing at No. 65 West Fourth street, near Pike's
opera house. We find the following notes concerning it
in King's Pocket-book of Cincinnati:
Mr. Clarke has been connected with the house since 1855, when he
bought Tobias Lyon's interest in the firm of Lyon & Patterson; the
style of firm changing to Patterson & Clarke. In 1857 Mr. Clarke
bought Mr. Patterson's interest, and carried on the business in his own
name. At that time the store was in Bacon's building, corner of Sixth
and Walnut streets, and the business was chiefly in second-hand and
foreign books; this being the first house in Cincinnati to import books
direct from London and Paris. In 1858 R. D. Barney and J. W. Dale
united with Mr. Clarke; and the new firm, under the style of Robert
Clarke & Co., bought the business of Henry W. Derby & Co., law
publishers, and dealers in the miscellaneous books published by Harper
& Bros, and Derby & Jackson. They then moved into the store occu-
pied by Derby & Co., 55 West Fourth street, and began business as
publishers of law books, and wholesale and retail booksellers. In 1867
the business was removed to its present quarters. In 1872 Howard
Barney and Alexander Hill were admitted to the partnership. This
house has published over one hundred and fifty volumes of law books,
one of which was the celebrated Fisher's Patent Cases, the highest-
priced law-books ever published in this country, — six volumes at twen-
ty-five dollars a volume; and also about one hundred volumes of mis-
cellaneous books, including the invaluable Ohio Valley Historical series,
edited by Mr. Clarke, and issued in eight handsome volumes. Many
publications of this firm rank equal in style and value to any published
in the United States. The third floor of the establishment is devoted
exclusively to works known as Americana, of whlfch a fine catalogue
has been issued.
BOOKSTORES.
Growth in the business of bookselling, as might rea-
sonably be expected, has kept pace with increase in the
manufacture of books. Every manufacturer is a seller,
but we refer now to the business of keeping wholesale
and retail book-stores, without reference to publishing.
For the history of this, in Cincinnati, we are indebted
almost exclusively to an interesting and valuable article
contributed by "F.'' to the Cincinnati Daily Gazette of
June 12, 1880. The writer is apparently very well in-
formed and entirely trustworthy. It is extracted in full,
barring the introduction and one or two unimportant
passages :
In Cincinnati, eighty years since, Carpenter & Findlay, two eminent
pioneer citizens, publishers of the Western Spy, kept for sale the Terri-
torial Laws and other publications in general demand. For a decade
or two at the beginning of the century the printers and the druggists
retained a large share of the sales of books and stationery. So in i8r4
the firm of D. Drake & Co., Druggists, at their drug-store, Main street,
opposite Lower Market, kept the accustomed supply of books, includ-
ing the Bible, Shakespeare, and ^Esop (these were said to constitute the
library of the pioneer's household), Johnson's Dictionary, Watts'
Psalms and Hymns, Cook's Voyages, Ashe's Travels, Lewis & Clark's
Joumjft and Riley's Narrative.
About 1820 the book and stationery business had increased to such
large proportions that it became dissociated with drugs and medicines
and set up for itself. Messrs. John P. Foote and Oliver Wells had es-
282
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tablished the Cincinnati Type Foundry, which has continued uninter-
ruptedly to this day in the same place and was conducted by them until
1823, when Mr. Foote retired. . While Mr. Foote was as-
sociated with Mr. Wells, he established a book-store at No. 14 Lower
Market street, books and type being almost as germane as books and
drugs. Mr. Foote's stock was well selected and suited to the market.
They were chiefly classical and standard works, with the recent novels,
one or two of Sir Walter Scott's appearing yearly. In 1824 he an-
nounced a new novel, "Quentin Durward," by the author of "Waver-
ly, " for sale. At that date. Scott was the '"Great Unknown," Miss
Edgeworth-being the "Great Known." During that year Mr. Foote
edited and published the Cincinnati Literary Gazette. This, together
with the choice literature on his shelves and the genial and entertaining
disposition of the proprietor, made his book-store a favorite place of
meeting for a coterie of literary men of the day, among whom were
Morgan Neville, Peyton S. Symmes, E. D. Mansfield, N. Guilford,
and Benjamin Drake. They criticised new books and discussed literary
and musical topics, and their decisions had authority.
Mr. Foote was also a prominent member of the celebrated Semi-
colon club, which met alternately at the residences of Messrs. Greene,
Lawler and S. E. Foote. This literary society included within its mem-
bership Rev. E. B. Hall, Timothy Walker, James H. Perkins, N. Guil-
ford, C. Stetson, W. Greene, Harriet and Catherine Beecher, the
Misses Blackwell, Mr. and Mrs. Hentz, E. P. Cranch, U. T. Howe,
Profs. Stowe and Mitchel, C. W. Elliott, Drs. Drake and Richards,
Benjamin and Charles D. Drake, E. D. Mansfield, J. W. Ward, Law-
ler, Meline, C. P. James, D. T. Wright, Joseph Longworth, I. N. Per-
kins, Judge Hall, General King, T. D. Lincoln, W. P. Steele, G. C.
Davies, C. D. L. Brush, and probably a few others. He was a fine
classical and belles-lettre scholar, and edited the Literary Gazette with
ability, a devout member of the Episcopal church, an exemplary man
and good citizen, highly esteemed and respected by his fellow-towns-
mei.. His close resemblance to John Quincy Adams was noted by all
who were acquainted with them; he was, however, a much more ami-
able man than Mr. Adams. He was the author of "The Schools of
Cincinnati," and a " Memoir of Samuel E. Foote, " both gems, as was
everything that emanated from his graceful pen. His dealing in books
was a success, from which he retired in 1828. In 1824 he became one
of the proprietors and managers of the water-works, and continued to
be for sixteen years and until the city became the owner in 1840. Dur-
ing the period named Messrs. Davis, Lawler, Greene, Foote, Graham,
and Johnston were proprietors, and greatly improved them. He was
also a large owner of city property, and, with others, laid out subdivi-
sions of lots.
Nathan and George Guilford succeeded Mr. Foote at No. 14 Lower
Market street, and a few years subsequently removed to Main street,
near the court-house, where they continued the business until about
1840. The senior member of this firm was a distinguished scholar and
lawyer, who had been the law partner of Amos Kendall in Georgetown,
Kentucky, and afterwards of James W. Gazlay in Cincinnati. He was
a member of the Ohio legislature, where he was the leading advocate of
the common school system, and did more than any other member
to secure its adoption. At that period it was far from being popular,
many citizens, even after its adoption, refusing to send their children
to the schools on the absurd idea that they were pauper schools, and
that it was not reputable to send them to charity schools when they
were able to pay for their tuition. Mr. Guilford by personal solicita-
tion induced them to send pupils on trial. Most of our old citizens are
well aware of his meritorious efforts in the successful establishment of
the system, and know that he may with justice be styled the "father of
the public school system of Ohio. He subsequently engaged very
successfully in the type foundry, in connection with Wells, Wilson and
others, to which he gave his personal supervision and care. For his
able and successful advocacy of our school system he deserves a monu-
ment to his memory from the State society. This eminent and honored
citizen died in 1854, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, amid the bene-
dictions of our people, and especially the younger portion of them, who
were largely benefited by his labors in the cause of education.
After the schools were established upon a permanent basis and Mr.
Guilford's time and attention engrossed by other objects, Mr. George
Graham succeeded him in 1831 in the school board, and under his im-
mediate direction the Race street school-house was planned and erected.
This was long the model school edifice, after which most of the others
were built.
Contemporaneous with Mr. Foote were Drake & Conclin, who re-
mained in the business a few years until 1829, when Mr. Drake formed
a business connection With Phillips & Spear, and' connected an exten-
sive paper-mill with it, but, dying the next year, his brother Josiah suc-
ceeded him in the firm. In 1831 the firm was dissolved, Phillips & Spear
taking the paper-mill and Josiah Drake the book-store.
The latter is the brother of the veteran author of the voluminous and
valuable works on the Biography and History of the Indians of North
America, and a few years his junior. He is a native of Massachusetts,
the date of his birth being very near the beginning of this century, and
he is still an active citizen for a gentleman of nearly fourscore years. He
entered largely into the business at No. 14 Main street, in the midst of
the commercial business of the city, and it soon proved profitable and
successful. Thoroughly acquainted with the business, prompt and en-
ergetic, and popular with our citizens, the ascendency he acquired at
the commencement of his mercantile career he retained unlil he relin-
quished it in 1839, and devoted his energies to other pursuits. His
sales amounted to about eighty thousand dollars per annum, one year
amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, which was considered a
large amount for that day.
Mr. Drake employed during the time he was in the book trade about
twenty clerks and salesmen, of whom he can now only recollect the
names of Augustus Haven, Henry Spear, and Cornelius Murphy, the
survivors. And of the large number of his customers who now survive
he can only recall the names of Messrs. E. D. Mansfield,* J. J. Faran,
George Graham,* Joseph Longworth, John Kennett, R. A. Holden, H.
C. Gassaway, Charles H. Kellogg, J. W. Ryland, Rowland Ellis, Wil-
liam Hooper. Judges Fox and Woodruff, H. E. Spencer, John L. Tal-
bot, Dr. Aydelott,* Elder W. P. Stratton, John Frazer, S. Kellogg, G.
K. Shoenberger, R. W. Keys, E. H. Carter, A. H. McGuffey, L. B.
Harrison, S. P. Bishop, Judges Charles D. Drake, A. G. W. Carter,
and Charles P. James.
Upon the decease of Mr. John T. Drake, Mr. Conclin, the junior
partner, succeeded the firm of Drake & Conclin. Mr. William Conclin
was a native of New York, having been born on the banks of the Hud-
son in 1796, and always retained a vivid recollection of the places made
historic by the important events which occurred toward the close of the
revolutionary period. He emigrated with his father's family to Cincin-
nati in 1813, via Olean, the Alleghany, and the Ohio rivers, having to
navigate those streams in a flat-boat, steam navigation at that date not
having been successfully introduced. Shortly after their arrival here his
father died, leaving him, still a youth in his minority, to assume the
charge and care of the family. This duty he faithfully performed. He
was employed by that eminent merchant, Josiah Lawrence, who so
much confided in his ability and integrity that he twice sent him to New
Orleans with cargoes of produce. By his skill and diligence these ven-
tures proved highly satisfactory to his employer. At that time a voyage
to New Orleans was one of peril, toil, and hardship, and not the pleasure-
trip of to-day. On his return he engaged in merchandising for himself
for two or three years, after which he embarked in the book-trade in co-
partnership with John T. Drake. Their business connections continued
until 1830. This was after the establishment of Mr. Foote's store, the
second in Cincinnati devoted exclusively to the sale of books. Mr.
Conclin continued the business at No. 43 Main street for thirteen years.
That kind of merchandising, then in its infancy as it were, was confined
to Main street, which was then considered the most eligible place for it,
Fourth street being then almost wholly occupied with dwelling-houses.
He was succeeded in business by his brother George; upon the decease
of the latter Applegate & Co. succeeded to it, and the present enterpris-
ing firm of A. H. Pounsford & Co. were their successors, and is now
the oldest house of the kind in the city, while Fourth street has almost
wholly monopolized the book-trade to the exclusion of Main street.
Mr. Conclin was an energetic and successful merchant, of the strictest
integrity, a member of the New Jerusalem or Swedenborgian church,
and one of its founders in this city. Prior to his engaging in the book
business, he was married to Louisa, daughter of General Borden, one
of the old and most respected merchants. She proved to be a faithful
and exemplary wife, and the kind and devoted mother of his children.
By her energy and prudence she materially aided her husband in ac-
quiring an ample competence. He was far from being an office-seeker,
and was not fitted by nature to ply the arts of the demagogue; never-
theless, his capacity and sterling integrity made him prominent among
his fellow-citizens, who called him into the service of the county and
the State. He was elected several terms to the Ohio Legislature,
served several years as bank commissioner, and filled similar offices to
the welfare of his constituents and honor to himself. He was a mem-
ber of the noted political firm of Jonas, Cist & Co. ; and, although ex-
tremely unpopular with their opponents, they were uniformly success-
ful at the polls. Impaired health for the last few years of his life com-
* Since deceased.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
283
pelled him to relinquish active business pursuits. He ended his earthly-
career March 20, 1858, in the sixty-third year of his age. His vener-
able widow, now an octogenarian, respected and esteemed by all, re-
sides with her son at the Highlands, near Newport.
There were two or three other book-stores in the decade between
1820 and 1830, but of which I have only a slight recollection. These
were William Hill Woodward, a. Philadelphian, who had a consider-
able stock of books, first in the vicinity of Phillips, Spear & Drake,
Main street, afterward up the street near the court-house, where he
continued for several years.
Thomas Reddish, a well-known citizen, was also in the business in
1820 at 53 Broadway, in connection with the Sun circulating library
and a loan office. He was a native of Britain, and was lost at sea on a
return voyage from his native country.
George Charters, a native of North Britain, had a small book-store,
in connection with a circulating library and pianos, on East Fifth street,
near Main, in 1819.
Many years subsequently Flash & Ryder, at No. 12 West Third
street, were dealers in books, chiefly works of fiction, reviews, and other
periodicals. They also connected a circulating library with their book
trade. They did a prosperous retail business. Their cosy little store
was much resorted to by the literati of the day, and occasionally visited
by foreign authors, such as Miss Martineau, Captain Maryatt, and
other celebrities. They continued in business several years, from 1830
to 1839.
Hubbard & Edmunds, Main street, north of Second, were a firm
from Boston, and had a valuable stock of goods about 1841, but did
not long continue in business. Mr. Edmunds lost his life by the disas-
trous explosion of Pugh's pork-house, corner of Walnut and Canal
streets, February 28, 1843.
Jacob Ernst was many years in the book business on Main sUeet,
above Fifth, afterwards on the same street, above Third, and again
above Sixth, a portion of the time in partnership with Charles W.
Thorp. He was a most skillful book-binder, unsurpassed by any other
in the city in his day.
A. & J. W. Picket, the compilers 9i Picket's series of school-books,
and editors of the Academician, had a bookstore on Pearl street about
1834, for a few years, but they were much more successful in book-mak-
ing than in book-vending. Their school-books were largely used in
the west.
Desilver & Burr for several years very successfully conducted a large
establishment at No. 1 Main street. About 1850 they dissolved their
business connection, and both partners removed to the east.
E. H. Flint, son of Rev. Timothy Flint the author, had a book-
store on Main, above Fourth, and published the Western Review, ed-
ited by his father. This was one of the first journals of the kind, and
was ably edited. It continued to be a leading journal several years
about 1830.
Truman & Smith, booksellers and extensive publishers, were in busi-
ness at No. 150 Main street. They published and introduced the Mc-
Guffey series of school-books, which proved a gold mine to them and
their successors.
Robinson & Fairbanks were also in the book business on Main, near
Fifth, and published the Cincinnati Directory.
Jacob W. Ely was in business a few years at No. 10 Lower Market,
east of Main.
C. & F. Cloud dealt in books several years about i84t, on Front
street, west of Broadway.
Burgess & Crane, on Main street, between Third and Fourth, had
a stock of desirable books, and continued the business four or five
years.
Edward Lucas was proprietor of a good stock of goods and did
a good business on Main street, above Third, for several years. He
was an active and prompt business man and popular with his cus-
tomers.
Williamson & Wood had a considerable stock of goods at 175 Main
street, and did a prosperous business for several years.
Ephraim Morgan, for sixty years a prominent and honored person-
age in our city as a publisher and bookseller, was an honest and just
man, and during a long and blameless life a member of the Society of
Friends. He was the senior member of the firm of Morgan, Lodge &
Fisher, which established the Daily Gazette in 1826, with Charles Ham-
mond as sole editor. It was the first daily newspaper in the State and,
it is believed, the first west of the Alleghanies. He afterwards em-
barked in the book trade and book publishing at No. 131 Main street,
which he carried on very extensively, and was perhaps the heaviest
publishing house in the city at that day. Mr. Sanxy was associated
with him in this branch of business, which they most successfully con
ducted many years.
Mr. Morgan was most scrupulously opposed to all injustice and vice
in every phase. He therefore objected to the publication of the notices
of runaway slaves and lottery notices, and all advertisements of that
class, and refused their insertion into the columns bf the Gazette. This
led to a rupture with his partners, in consequence of which he with-
drew from the publication of that journal.
Conscientious and honest in all his transactions with his fellow men, he
never ceased to command their confidence and respect. He died,
respected and lamented by all, at the venerable and patriarchal age of
eighty-three,, in February, 1873.
Another veteran in the book trade is Mr. U. P. James. Nearly fifty
years since he established the business at No. 26 Pearl street, and
has continued it uninterruptedly to the present time. From Pearl street
he removed lo No. 167 Walnut street, where he continued
years, until 1872, when he removed to his present store, No. 177 Race
street. He has conducted the business for a. much greater length of
time than any other dealer, probably twice as long as any other in this
city. From his long and continuous connection with the business he is
an authority on the subject of books and publishing, and may be safely
consulted upon it. Being an intelligent gentleman, of studious habits
and extensive observation, his studies have not been limited to bibli-
ography alone, but he devotes much time to the natural sciences,
especially to geology. His knowledge of palaeontology in our Silurian
formation is, perhaps, more accurate and extensive than that of any
other naturalist. His published list of fossils is very complete, as is
also his cabinet; and they are both highly commended in our State
geological reports.
Mr. Andrew McArthur established * bookstore at No. 162 Vine
street, in 1856, which he continued for nine or ten years, when he sold
it to Perry & Morton. Although not within the limits of these
sketches, I can not suffer the name of this worthy benefactor of our
city to pass in silence. He was a native of England, and late in life
he embarked in the book trade, a mild, amiable, intelligent and
charitable gentleman. His sole relative was a son, a woithy young
man, who assisted him in the business, and upon whom his warmest
affections concentrated. This beloved son sickened and passed away,
leaving the bereaved father alone and desolate. He, too, soon pined
away. Alone in the world, with a handsome little competency, he had
looked around him for a suitable object upon which to bestow it. Pas-
sing by objects in his native home, which from early attachment might
claim his benefactions, he bequeathed his entire estate to the Young
Men's Mercantile library, to be invested in the purchase of useful
standard works. His wisdom is commended to those who have abun-
dant means to bestow on useful objects for the promotion of the welfare
of their fellow-men, and the diffusion of knowledge among them. In
this way he has secured their gratitude, and at the same time reared for
himself a monument more durable than marble. All honor to the
memory of Andrew McArthur! Among all the benefactors to the insti-
tution he was the greatest; he bestowed his "two mites" — all his estate.
At present two or three of the large publishing houses,
such as the Methodist Book Concern, and Messrs.
Robert Clarke & Co., join general bookstores to their
larger business. Messrs. George E. Stevens & Co., in
1869, bought up a book business dating from 1856, and
established themselves at No. 39 West Fourth street
Mr. Stevens was about that time the author and publisher
of a neat little book descriptive of the Queen City, and
entitled from it. His house joins some publishing with
bookselling. Mr. Peter G. Thomson, formerly with
Clarke & Co., has a popular bookstore at the Vine street
entrance to the Arcade, and is embarking liberally in
general publishing. His more notable publications are
named in our chapter on literature.
Other well-known bookstores are those of Perry &
Morton, above mentioned, at the old McArthur stand on
Vine street; Mr. J. R. Hawley, at the next door, No.
164 Vine, and Alfred Warren, 219 Central avenue. The
two first named make a specialty of newspapers and
periodical literature. The city is also abundantly sup-
284
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
plied with second-hand bookstores, of which at least half
a dozen, all well worthy a visit, are in the central busi-
ness quarter.
CHAPTER XXX.
JOURNALISM.
SMALL BEGINNINGS.
The ubiquitous editor came early to Cincinnati. The
village waited long for many of the institutions and char-
acteristics of civilization; but it did not wait half a dec-
ade for the newspaper. The hopes of those who saw a
Queen City to be, were early justified in the appearance
of one of the chief elements in the growth and mainte-
nance of a wealthy and intelligent metropolis. Still the
beginnings, like all beginnings in the wilderness, were
small.'
In the fall of 1793 Mr. William Maxwell, second post-
master of Cincinnati, procured and set up at the corner
of Front and Sycamore streets, the outfit of a small, rude
printing-office. From it, on the ninth of November,
1793, was issued the first number of a newspaper appro-
priately called the Centinel of the Northwest Territory,
since it was the outpost of journalism on the north side
of the Ohio. The Lexington Gazette had been pub-
lished for some years in Kentucky; but, except for that
and one or two others, we are not aware that any other
public journal then existed between the Alleghanies and
the Pacific coast. This pioneer of Cincinnati newspa-
pers was a weekly, printed on whitey-brown paper, of
half-royal size, each page about as large as a small win-
dow-pane, and the whole no larger than a handkerchief.
It bore the motto, "Open to all parties; influenced by
none." Its advertising was very limited, comprising but
half a dozen small announcements. It had no editorial
articles, no local news, reviews, or poetry. Its "news,"
too, was old enough, that from France dating back to the
tenth of September, 1792. The issue of April 12, 1794,
which has been preserved, has dates from Marietta only
eight days old, from Lexington twenty-one, from Nash-
ville thirty-three, from New York fifty-six, and from Lon-
don to the twenty-fifth of November — four and a half
months before the date of issue. So slowly did intelli-
gence travel in the day of the pioneer, the sailing vessel,
the canoe, and the horseback mail. Naturally much
space was filled, for months before the victory of Wayne
quelled the savage outbreaks, with narratives of Indian
outrage, then the most thrilling and closely interesting
news of the day.
In the summer of 1796 Mr. Edmund Freeman bought
the Centinel from Mr. Maxwell, and continued the publi-
cation of the paper under the happy title of Freeman's
Journal — a designation which served in a single word to
set forth the name of the proprietor, and also to furnish
a fit and significant title for an organ of public opinion
in the young republic. Mr. Freeman published this pa-
per until the beginning of 1800, when, probably moved
thereto by the transfer of the Territorial capital from
Cincinnati to Chillicothe, he removed himself and office
to the latter place, and established the old Chillicothe
Gazette, which is still published. Mr. Freeman died the
same year, October 25, at his father's residence on Bea-
ver creek, in the Mad river settlement.
The first regularly printed journal in Cincinnati, says
Mr. Cist, was the Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette,
the first number of which was issued May 28, 1799, by
Joseph Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter came early to the
place from Massachusetts, and by the favor of his fellow-
citizens was much in public office, both by election and
appointment. As Captain Carpenter, he led out a com-
pany in the war of 181 2, and served faithfully for six
months in 1813 and '14, under the immediate command
of General Harrison, dying in service from exposure en-
dured during a forced march from Fort St. Mary's in
midwinter. He was buried in Cincinnati with military
honor and a great concourse of his fellow-citizens at-
tending his funeral. General Gano, in a certificate of
his service made some years afterwards, said : "Captain
Carpenter commanded his company with high reputation
as an officer, and rendered essential service to his coun-
try; and the officer who inspected his company at Fort
Winchester reported to me that they were as well dis-
ciplined as any militia he fiver saw in service." His was
the most famous of the old newspapers of Cincinnati.
With improvement in mail facilities, news began to arrive
more promptly. The Spy for July 31, 1802, contains in-
telligence from France to May 17, from London to May
10, New York July 9, and Washington July 25 — which
was doing pretty well. The message of President Jeffer-
son to Congress December 15, 1802, appeared in the
Spy January 5, 1803. In the number for April 26,
1802, one Andrew Jackson, who was afterwards con-
siderably heard from, advertises fifty dollars' reward for
the recovery of his negro slave George, who had eloped
from his plantation on the Cumberland River. It
changed hands several times during the first ten years,
but kept its name until Messrs. Carney & Morgan took
charge of it, during whose control its title was changed to
The Whig. Fifty-eight numbers of this were published,
when, the paper passing to other hands, it became The
Advertiser. This expired November 1 1 following, and in
September, 18 10, Mr. Carpenter appeared in journalism
again as editor of a new Western Spy. This was regu-
larly published for some years — at least to the year 18 15,
when it was of super-royal size, was conducted by
Messrs. Morgan & Williams, and had about twelve hun-
dred subscribers. In 1823 it seems to have been again
in existence, and its name was then changed to The Na-
tional Republican and Ohio Political Register.
At the beginning of 1804 the Spy was the only paper
in Cincinnati. December 9 of that year, was started
another weekly newspaper, bearing the sounding title of
Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, the latter half of
which was presently dropped. The Rev. John W.
Browne, enterprising editor, publisher of almanacs, etc.,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
285
preacher, town recorder, bookseller, and occasionally ven-
der of patent medicine, was proprietor of the new ven-
ture, and had rather a troublous time of it, being once or
twice personally attacked by citizens aggrieved by his
sheet. The first number was published " in the cock-
loft " of the log cabin at the southeast corner of Syca-
more and Third. If was of royal size, and manifested
otherwise some improvement upon its predecessors. It
contained, however, no tales or sketches, gems of wit or
sentiment, and but little poetry or editorial matter.
Apart from "leaders" and marriage notices, editor
Browne plied the pen but little. The few advertisements
were much displayed — perhaps to fill space and save
composition. The conductors of Liberty Hall in 18 15
were Messrs. J. .H. Looker and A. Wallace, who were
also book publishers. The paper was now of super-
royal size, and had more than fourteen hundred sub-
scribers.
The issue of the Cincinnati Gazette, ancestor of the
Gazette of to-day, was begun this year, on Saturday,
July 13, by Thomas Palmer & Company; and on the
eleventh of December following Liberty Hall was con-
solidated with the new paper, which carried both names
for a time, as the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette.
It was the first paper in the town with column rules and
other marks of modern typography. The subsequent
history of this journal is detailed hereafter.
In July, 1814, an ephemeral paper called The Spirit of
the West had been started, which survived through forty-
four numbers.
In November, 181 9, Mr. Joseph Buchanan started a
new weekly paper of a somewhat distinctive character,
called The Literary Cadet. After only twenty-three num-
bers it was merged in another paper, which added the
name to its own in the compound title of The Western
Spy and Literaty Cadet, with Mr. Buchanan as editor,
and became a favorite medium through which the bud-
ding literati of Cincinnati could give their prose and
poetry to the world.
In the spring of this year there were thirty-four news-
papers in the State. Four years previously, in 1815,
there were in Southern Ohio, outside of Cincinnati, only
the Western American and Political Censor at Williams-
burg, the Western Star at Lebanon, the Miami Intelli-
gencer at Hamilton, the Ohio Reporter at Dayton, the
Spirit of Liberty at Urbana, and the Ohio Vehicle at
Greenfield. The city papers of 18 19 were the Liberty
Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, semi-weekly and weekly,
published by Morgan, Dodge & Company; the Western
Spy and Cincinnati General Advertiser, weekly, issued by
Mason & Palmer ; and the Inquisitor, also weekly, by
Powers & Hopkins. All were imperial sheets, with six
columns to a page — larger and fuller in their contents
than any others in the State. Each had a good book
and job office attached.
The newspapers of the early day contained very little
editorial matter — often not more than ten lines. Their
pages were, indeed, principally filled with ponderous pub-
lic documents.
The paper for newspaper and book publication here
was at first obtained from Pennsylvania, partly from the
mills at the Redstone Old Fort, which were started in
1800; later supplies were also obtained from Georgetown,
Kentucky. In 1803 the Spy got out of paper, and sev-
eral numbers appeared upon an amusing variety of sizes
and tints of paper. An old German paper-maker named
Waldsmith, who had settled on the Little Miami, near
the present Camp Dennison, was prevailed upon about
this time to start a paper mill on that stream, which he
did with entire success, and thereafter the Cincinnati
offices were well supplied.
JOURNALISM GREW
rapidly after 1820, and periodicals, weekly and monthly,
even daily, rose and fell with astonishing frequency. We
shall attempt to give but some scattered notices of the
more interesting matters in local journalism thence-
forth.
From 1815 to 1820 there had been, at various times,
but one semi-weekly paper and five weekly papers in the
place; but the number increased greatly in the next de-
cade.
In the decade 1821-30 the long and honorable list of
Cincinnati magazines had their beginning. In the early
part of 1 82 1 a serai-monthly, in quarto, called The Olio,
was started by John H. Wood and S. S. Brooks, editors
and publishers, and lasted about a year. It gave the
young writers of the place a good chance ; and among its
contributors were Robert T. Lytle, Sol Smith, Dennis
McHenry, John H. James, Lewis Noble, and other well
known local lights.
In 1822 medical journalism had a beginning here in
The Western Quarterly Reporter, which was edited by
Dr. John B. Godman, and published by John P. Foote.
Six numbers were issued, when it was discontinued, upon
the removal of Dr. Godman to Philadelphia. Other
professional journals of this kind will receive notice in
the next chapter.
Lexington had the honor of issuing the first monthly
periodical in the west — The Western Review and Miscel-
laneous Magazine — the first number of which appeared
in August, 18 1 9, a medium octavo of sixty-four pages, with
William Gibbes Hunt as editor. It was maintained but
two years. In the latter part of 1823 Mr. John P. Foote
projected a journal of literary character, which appeared
on the first of January following, under the cognomen of
the Cincinnati Literary Gazette. It was a weekly, me-
dium quarto, at three dollars a year, and the first journal
of its kind started west of the mountains. A. N. Deal-
ing was its printer, Mr. Foote editor. It was published
on Saturdays at the latter's book-store, No. 14 Lower
Market. The two volumes of it that were issued con-
tain much matter of local historic interest — among other
things discussions of the Symmes theory of concentric
spheres, which was then a fresh topic. The first pub-
lished writings of Benjamin Drake that attracted atten-
tion were in this — notably his Sketches from the Port-
folio of a Young Backwoodsman.
In July, 1827, appeared the first number of The West-
ern Monthly Review, publisher W. M. Farnsworth, editor
286
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Rev. Timothy Flint, author of Ten Years' Recollections
in the Mississippi Valley, and several other reputable
works. It was a medium octavo of fifty-six pages, sub-
scription three dollars per annum. The first issue was
a disappointment to the expectant readers, and subse-
quent numbers for a time did not redeem the failure. At
the beginning of 1833, however, the Western Monthly Mag-
azine, which had been published at Vandalia, Illinois, until
the removal of its editor, the distinguished writer, Judge
Hall, to Cincinnati, was revived here by the judge under
the same name, with Messrs. Corey & Fairbank as publish-
ers. Two years later Messrs. Flash, Ryder&Company took
the financial management of the magazine, and Judge
Hall turned over the editorship to Joseph B. Fry, and
became himself president and cashier of the Commercial
bank. It was already in its decadence, however; and at
the close of this year (1835) the remains of the subscrip-
tion list were sold to James B. Marshall, of Louisville,
who removed it to that city, where we shall presently
hear of it again.
Soon after the discontinuance of the Literary Gazette,
Messrs. Hatch, Nichols & Buxton started the Saturday
Evening Chronicle, a journal of news and literature, ed-
ited by Benjamin Drake. It also became a financial
failure, and was merged in the Cincinnati Mirror, an-
other literary enterprise of the time.
Mr. Richard C. Langdon, some time before 1830,
started a small quarto periodical called The Shield; and
soon afterwards Joel T. Case began the publication of
The Ladies' Museum. Both were short-lived, the latter
surviving but a year or two.
The Cincinnati Times was founded in -this decade, in
1821, as a weekly, by C. W. Starbuck. An historical no-
tice will be given to it below.
In 1826, the first daily paper in the entire country west
of Philadelphia was started in Cincinnati by Mr. S. S.
Brooks, but survived only six months. It was called the
Commercial Register, and was edited by Morgan Neville.
It was printed on a half-sheet royal every day but Sun-
day, at six dollars a year. It was revived again in 1828,
after the apparent success of the daily Gazette, and then
lasted but three months.
A few weeks after the first suspension of the Register, a
party of prominent merchants waited upon the propriet-
ors of the Gazette, and asked the establishment of a daily
issue from their office. The effort was successful; and
the second Cincinnati daily, which still survives in power
and prosperity, made its appearance June 25, 1827, with
the aggregate of one hundred and twenty-five subscrib-
ers. For nearly ten years it was printed upon the old-
fashioned hand-presses, about two hundred and fifty
sheets per hour, until, in 1836, an Adams press, the first
"power press" brought west of the Alleghanies, was pur-
chased for it in Boston. It was run by simple hand-
power, employed in turning a crank and fly-wheel, and
turned out seven hundred and fifty sheets an hour. In
1843 the same journal first enjoyed the facilities of
steam-power, which was applied to a new Hoe press.
Morgan, Lodge & Fisher were the first publishers of the
daily, and Charles Hammond editor. It was of super-
royal sheet, nineteen by twenty-seven inches, published
at eight dollars per year. Its advertising was originally
as limited as its subscription list.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his Memoirs of Dr. Drake,
pays a very warm tribute to the character and services of
Mr. Hammond. His opening remarks refer to the era of
the excited agitation here against the anti-slavery move-
ment, in 1836. He says:
That the public opinion of Cincinnati was corrected, and the press
maintained its independent position, was chiefly due to the intrepid
character and great ability of Charles Hammond, then editor of the
Gazette. He had a detestation of slavery in all its forms, and especially
in that meanest of all oppressions, the reckless violence of a mob or its
counterpart, the overawing of aselfishand unenlightened public opinion.
He had a sturdy independence which nothing could conquer. He was
a very able lawyer, and he wielded the pen with a vigor which, in its
terseness and raciness, was unequalled in this eountry. In the whole
United States I know of but two editors who personally, through the
press, exercised as much positive influence over the most intelligent
minds; and they were altogether different men — Mr. Walsh, of the
National Gazette, and Mr. Gales, of the National Intelligencer.
Neither Duane nor Ritchie, so long and so influentially connected with
the newspaper press, were to be compared to Mr. Hammond, as politi-
cal writers for educated men. Their influence was great ; but it was on a
lower level. . . Mr. Hammond was the ardent friend of
liberty, and, being thoroughly acquainted with the laws of the country,
fought its battle, where only it can be successfully fought, with liberty
by the side of law, and rights protected by the constitution.
Another able editor of this period, but less noted, was
Benjamin Drake, brother of Dr. Daniel Drake. He was
a native Kentuckian, and came here to join his brother
in 1814, in the drug and general merchandise business.
He was already studying law, and was admitted to the
bar ten or twelve years after; but drifted much into jour-
nalism and other literature. He was one of the joint au-.
thors of Drake & Mansfield's book on Cincinnati in 1826,
and the same year, in connection with others, established
the Cincinnati Chronicle, of which he was editor until
1834, and again in 1836, as an assistant to E. D. Mans-
field, after the new Chronicle (upon the basis of the sub-
scription list of the Cincinnati Mirror, into which the old
Chronicle had been merged) had passed from the hands of
the medical department of the Cincinnati College. He re-
mained with it until March, 1840, when his other engage-
ments compelled him to retire; and he died thirteen
months afterwards, at the age of forty-six. He was a
man of limited education in the schools, but was of some
natural parts, and by dint of industry became an accept-
able and forcible writer. He was author of the Tales of
the Queen City, Lives of Black Hawk and Tecumseh,
and other writings which are still read with attention and
interest.
The Independent Press, edited by Sol. Smith, the actor,
was started in 1823. The satirical sketches in rhyme by
Thomas Pierce, entitled "Horace in Cincinnati," were
first published in this paper.
In 1826 there were nine newspapers in the city: The -
Commercial Register, daily; Liberty Hall and Cincinnati
Gazette, the National Reporter and Ohio Political Regis-
ter, the Cincinnati Advertiser, the National Crisis, and
the Cincinnati Emporium, semi-weekly and weekly; the
Saturday Evening Chronicle, the Western Tiller, the
Parthenon, and the Ohio Chronicle (the first German pa-
per in the west), weekly; the Ohio Medical Reporter,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
287
semi-monthly; and the Rev. Mr. Flint's monthly West-
ern Magazine and Review was about to be started.
The Western Tiller, mentioned for the first time in the
last paragraph, was first issued by James W. Gazlay, af-
terwards congressman, in four-page form, as an agricult-
ural and family paper, on Friday, August 25, 1826, from
the southeast corner of Main and Second streets. It
was published during the rest of this year and in 1827.
The Daily Commercial Advertiser was established in
1829, by E. S. Thomas^ whose son, Frederick W., as-
sisted in its management. The elder Thomas also, in
1834, in association with John B. Dillon (afterwards the
distinguished historian of Indiana), and L. S. Sharp, be-
gan the publication of the Democratic Intelligencer, a
daily, tri-weekly and weekly, supporting Justice John Mc-
Lean as a candidate for the Presidency. It had, like the
Advertiser, a brief career — but briefer than that ; and in
1835 the Thomases are found conducting the Daily
Evening Post, a paper which became quite famous for its
notes upon art and artists. It also was discontinued in
1839.
The Hon. E. D. Mansfield, in his Personal Memories,
notes that, between 1825 and 1828, Cincinnati had two
remarkable journalists. One was Moses Dawson, editor
and publisher of the Commercial Advertiser, a Jackson
organ. He was an Irishman by birth, and a very suc-
cessful leader of the rough and uncultured classes in the
city. Opposed to him was Charles Hammond, a Feder-
alist of the old school and an able lawyer, with opinions
of the most prominent and uncompromising character.
Mr. Mansfield says:
Such a man on one side and an Irish Democrat on the other would,
of course, and actually did make a literary and political pugilism
worthy of Donnybrook. Newspaper conflicts have never been confined
to polite usages or tender language. So Dawson and Hammond kept
up a running fight which was more worthy of. Ireland than of America.
There was, however, no equality in the contestants. Hammond was not
only an able lawyer and familiar with the political literature of the day,
but was one of the strongest and most vigorous of writers. While
Hammond was firing rifles whose balls invariably hit the mark, Daw-
son would reply with a blunderbuss, heavily charged, but making more
noise than execution.
In 1828, while occupied in editing the Gazette, Mr.
Hammond also conducted a monthly publication called
Truth's Advocate, published almost a year by the parti-
sans of Clay and Adams to oppose the aspirations of
Jackson to the Presidency. Some valuable historical
and many able editorial and contributed articles appeared
in the Advocate. Hammond was the personal and polit-
ical friend of Mr. Clay, with whom he often practiced in
the courts. He always refused offers of public office —
in one case that of judge of the supreme court, and re-
mained a private citizen. In this capacity, however, he
was a power among many other influences upon his day
and generation doing much to form the anti-slavery sen-
timent.
Mr. Hammond was immediately preceded in the edit-
orial chair of the Gazette by another notable man — the
Hon. Isaac Burnet, brother of Judge Burnet and first
mayor of the city of Cincinnati.
The periodical publications of 1829 were the Gazette
and the Advertiser, daily; Liberty Hall and the National
Reporter, semi-weekly; the Western Tiller, the Cincinnati
Pandect, the Sentinel, the Chronicle and Literary Gazette,
weekly; the Ladies' Museum, semi-monthly; the Western
Review, and the Western Journal of Medical and Phys-
ical Science, monthly.
HALF A CENTURY AGONE.
The periodical literature of 1831, just fifty years ago,
included the Daily Gazette, Advertiser, and National
Republican; Liberty Hall, the Cincinnati Journal, Amer-
ican, Advertiser, Chronicle, and Sentinel and Star, all
weekly; the Western Tiller, the Ladies' Museum, the
Western journal of Medicine, and the Farmers' Reporter.
A baker's dozen of journals, daily, weekly, and monthly,
comprised the list of half a century since.
The Cincinnati Mirror was started this year by John
H. Wood, publisher, who brought for the first time to
Cincinnati, from Xenia, the well-known literary character,
Mr. W. D. Gallagher, as editor. The Mirror 'was a very
neat little quarto of eight pages, published semi-monthly.
It obtained a high reputation, and circulated far and
wide in the Mississippi Valley. Mr. Thomas H. Shreve
became joint owner and assistant editor at the beginning
of its third year. In November, 1833, the publication
was enlarged and changed to a weekly. It obtained
large subscription lists; but, although a literary success,
it was a financial failure. In April, 1835, the Chronicle,
then under the management of James H. Perkins, was
consolidated with the Mirror, which was now edited by
Gallagher, Shreve and Perkins, and published by T. H.
Shreve & Co. The paper was kept up to the end of this
year, when it was sold to James B. Marshall, who
changed its name to the Buckeye, maintained it three
months, and sold it to Flash, Ryder & Company, then
booksellers on Third street. They restored the old
name and retained the editors. Gallagher and Shreve
soon drew out, however; and Mr. J. Reese Fry took the
editorship for a few months, when he in turn abandoned
the sinking craft. Its subscription was presently trans- •
ferred to the Weekly Chronicle.
In the same year was also started the Baptist Weekly
Journal of the Mississippi Valley. A letter to its sur-
viving descendant, the Journal and Messenger, of date
July 22, 1880, the forty-ninth anniversary of the first
issue, by the Rev. John Stevens, D. D., its first editor,
contains the following:
The date of the first number issued was July 22, 1831, at Cincinnati,
John Stevens, editor. It continued to be published at Cincinnati seven
years under the same editorship, and was then moved to Columbus.
The responsible publishers for the first of the seven years were six breth-
ren of Cincinnati, viz: Ephraim Robins, Noble S. Johnson, Henry
Miller, William White, Adam McCormick, and Ambrose Dudley. For
the six years following N. S. Johnson was publisher. It was at first a
folio sheet of four pages, the size of each form or page being about
twenty by thirteen inches. Price two dollars a year in advance, two
dollars and fifty cents after three months, and three dollars after the
close of the year. Number of subscribers at the end of the first six
months, five hundred and sixty; at the end of ten months, seven hun-
dred; at the end of the second year, one thousand two hundred ; toward
the end of the third year, one thousand three hundred. On the pur-
chase and addition of the Cross (the Baptist paper of Kentucky, less
than a year and a half old), March, 1834, the list arose to two thou-
sand three hundred. By the immediate establishment of a new paper
in Kentucky, and other new competitors, the list was soon reduced,
and the loss thus occasioned was less than made up by gain otherwise.
288
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
In July, 1838, at the end of the first seven years, the list was between
one thousand six hundred and one thousand seven hundred.
The early help of contributors was small. The entire amount of
contributed matter, good, bad, and indifferent, inserted in the columns
of the paper the first six months, twenty-six numbers, was only equal
to some sixteen columns of a single issue, considerably less than a sin-
gle column a week. During the last of the seven years it was nearly ten
imes as much.
The cost of publication the first year exceeded the income from sub-
scribers by one thousand nine hundred dollars, which, with the excep-
tion of some three or four hundred dollars subscribed by others, came
out of the pockets of the six responsible publishers before named.
During the following six years the excess of cost borne by the publisher,
N. S. Johnson, was nearly a thousand dollars a year.
In July, 1838, the paper was moved to Columbus and published there
some ten years, and then moved back to Cincinnati, In May, 1842,
the number of subscribers was said to be one thousand three hundred.
The name of the paper, after the Cross was added, became the Cross
and Baptist Journal of the Mississippi Valley. OnJfs removal to Co-
lumbus it was abridged to Cross and Journal, and aTterwards changed
to Western Christian Journal. In 1850, or earlier, it was moved back
to Cincinnati, and the Christian Messenger, the Baptist paper of Indi-
ana, which had for some time been published at Madison and Indian-
apolis, Rev. E. D. Owen, editor, was united with it ; hence the present
name, Journal and Messenger.
While the paper was published at Columbus the editors were George
Cole, D. A. Randall, and James L. Batchelder. Since its removal
back to Cincinnati, previous to the present incumbents, they have been
J. L. Batchelder and T.tJ. Melish.
In January, 1872, the Rev. Mr. Melish transferred his
editorship to Rev. J. R. Baumes, D.D., who presently re-
ceived Rev. Dr. W. N. Wyeth as associate editor, and on
the first of August, 1876, passed his interest in the Jour:
nal and Messenger over to George W. Lasfier, D.D. Drs.
Lasher and Wyeth are the present editors of the paper,
and make it a financial as well as religiously journalistic
success. But five other Baptist papers in the country are
as old.
The famous Methodist Episcopal organ of the North-
west, the Western Christian Advocate, was established by
the Book Concern in the spring of 1834, with Rev. T. A.
Morris, afterwards Bishop Morris, as editor. The Con-
cern also founded the Ladies' Repository and Gatherings
of the West in January, 1841 — Rev. L. L. Hamline,
editor; and also, the same year, the German Advocate, or
Die Christliche Apologete, with Rev. William Nast as edi-
tor. More history of these is written in the section de-
voted to the Methodist Book Concern, in our chapter on
Bookselling and Publication.-
The Western Messenger, a Unitarian publication, was
started in June, 1835, under the patronage of the Uni-
tarians of the west, with the Rev. Ephraim Peabody as
editor, Shreve and Gallagher publishers. It was removed
in its second year to Louisville, and placed under the
editorial care of James Freeman Clarke, now the famous
Boston liberal divine; but finally came back to Cincin-
nati, and was taken in hand by the yet more famous Rev.
W. H. Channing. It was popular in the denomination;
but nevertheless did not pay, and had to be discontinued
in April, 1841.
In 1833 there were twelve newspapers in the city, two
of which were daily.
LITERARY ENTERPRISES
abounded in this decade. In January, 1836, the Family
Magazine, a small monthly at two dollars a year, was
started by Eli Taylor, who was succeeded by J. A. James,
It was published for six years. Mr. Taylor was also for
a time publisher of the Cincinnati Journal, an anti-Cath-
olic and anti-slavery organ.
In July of the same year Mr. W. D. Gallagher, as edi-
tor, issued the first number of his Western Literary Jour-
nal and Monthly Review. It was a magazine of consid-
erable pretension and real excellence, the largesftill then
established in the west, each number being seventy-two
pages royal octavo. It was published by Messrs, Smith
& Day, at three dollars a year. In November, 1836, the
new venture was consolidated with the Western Monthly
Magazine, which had been removed to Louisville and
was still under the charge of James B. Marshall. He
now changed the name to Western Monthly Magazine
and Literary Journal, retaining Mr. Gallagher as editor;
but could not, under any name or editorship, apparently,
make it pay, and it was discontinued in 1837, with the
issue of the fifth number.
Mr. Gallagher went to Columbus, and, in conjunction
with Otway Curry the poet, opened the publication of
The Hesperian, or Western Monthly Magazine, thus
making it, in some sense, a successor of the luckless
Cincinnati and Louisville publications of the latter name.
The first two volumes of the Hesperian were published
in 1838 in Columbus; there seems then to have been a
suspension of six months, for the third volume comprises
the numbers from June to December, 1839. It was pub-
lished in Cincinnati, and then was discontinued. The
Hesperian is accounted to have been the best of all the
early western periodicals, and its files are even now highly
esteemed.
To this era also belong the Literary Register, a short- •
lived folio sheet, issued by S. Penn, jr., as publisher, and
William Wallace; also the Literary News, in quarto, like-
wise a transient publication — Edmund Flagg, editor,
Prentice & Weisinger, publishers — the former, we believe,
the celebrated poet-editor of Louisville thereafter, Mr.
George D. Prentice. "At present," says a Cincinnati,
writer of 1841, "there is not published anywhere in the
west what can with propriety be called a literary paper."
Meanwhile, however, Mr. E. D. Mansfield had con-
ducted for a single year (1839) a very creditable maga-
zine called the Monthly Chronicle. Achilles Pugh was
the publisher. It contains much matter of local and an-
tiquarian interest, besides selected and original matter.
Its files are still greatly prized.
Another publication called The Chronicle; a weekly,
had been started in 1836, with Mr. Mansfield as editor,
assisted by Benjamin Drake. It was really a revival of
the old Chronicle of 1826, which in 1834 had been
merged in the Mirror, and after that was sold to Drs.
Drake and Rives, of the medical department of Cincin-
nati college, partly to become an organ of that institu-
tion ; the former name was restored and maintained for
many years. The medical gentlemen were unsuccessful
in the business management of the paper, and in 1837
it was sold to Mr. Pugh and Mr. William Dodd, printers
and publishers. Mansfield was retained as editor, and
gave the sheet a distinctive character as an anti-slavery
Whig organ, but stopping short of abolitionism. In
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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
289
December, 1839, tne Chronicle became a daily publica-
tion, with the subscription list of the Cincinnati Whig,
thus beginning with two hundred and fifty subscribers,
increasing gradually to the maximum number of six hun-
dred, with which its career as a daily was ended. (The
Whig had been founded some time before by Major
Conover, who obtained the services of Henry M. Spen-
cer as editor. It was strongly opposed to intemperance
and liquor-selling, and would allow no advertisements of
intoxicants in its columns). Mr. Drake dropped out of
the editorship of the Chronicle in March, 1840, and Mr.
Mansfield conducted the paper' alone till 1848, and after-
wards resumed connection with it, until 1850, when the
Chronicle finally lost its identity in the Atlas, a paper
originating with Nathan Guilford, and which survived
through three or four years of financially weak existence.
Miss Harriet Beecher's first printed story appeared in
this paper about 1835, during the residence of her father
and her prospective husband, Professor Stowe, at Lane
Seminary. Other brilliant contributors, as Dr. Black-
well, the Rev. James H. Perkins, Mr. Lewis J. Cist, Mrs.
Sigourney, Mary DeForest, Mrs. Douglass, of Chilli-
cothe, and others, added to the lustre of the Chronicle as
a literary publication. Some of the most notable editors
of the State, as Mr. Boardman, of The Highland News,
published at Hillsborough, had their beginnings in this
office. Mr. Richard Smith, at present editor-in-chief of
the Gazette, also began his journalistic career with the
Chronicle. The first issue of The Price Current, pub-
lished by Mr. Peabody, was made from this office.
The Volksblatt, a German paper, the same now so pros-
perous and influential, commenced its career as a weekly
in 1836, and as a daily also in 1838. Its weekly edition
has for sometime had the designation of Der Westliche
Blatter. During much of its later and more important
history the paper has been under the editorial manage-
ment of the Hon. Frederick Hassaurek.
IN THE FORTIES.
In 1 840-1 there were twenty-five book, newspaper,
and other publishing houses in the city. The English
dailies numbered six, with eight weeklies; the German
weeklies five, with one daily. Four of the issues were
also tri-weekly, and there were two semi-monthlies, ten
monthlies, and one literary periodical of somewhat
irregular appearance.
The Gazette and Liberty Hall, Whig, published a daily
edition of nine hundred, a tri-weekly of four hundred,
and a weekly of two thousand eight hundred copies.
The Chronicle was also Whig, and published four hun-
dred daily and nine hundred weekly copies. The Re-
publican, another Whig organ, had seven hundred daily,
three hundred tri-weekly, and eight hundred weekly sub-
scribers. The Advertiser and Journal, Democratic, is-
sued four hundred daily, one hundred and fifty tri-
weekly, and one thousand six hundred and fifty weekly.
The Times, neutral evening paper, circulated one thou-
sand five hundred; the Public Ledger, penny evening
neutral sheet, one thousand four hundred; the Volksblatt,
Democratic, claimed a daily issue of three hundred and
twelve and weekly of one thousand four hundred; the
Unabhaengige Presse, likewise Democratic, two hundred
and fifty tri-weekly; the Deutsch im Westen, one thousand
five hundred, Wahrheits Freund (Roman Catholic), one
thousand and fifty, the Apologete (German Methodist),
one thousand — all weekly; and the Licht Freund, a
Universalist semi-monthly, five hundred. Some men
then or to become famous were upon the Cincinnati
press — as Dawson, of the Advertiser, L'Hommedieu, of
the Gazette, Mansfield of the Chronicle, Starbuck of
Times, Nast of the _ Apologete, Stephen Molitor of the
Volksblatt and Licht Freund, and others. Besides the
publications enumerated, mostly secular, the Western
Christian Advocate, Methodist weekly, had a circulation
of fourteen thousand; the Cincinnati Observer, New
School Presbyterian, Rev. J. Walker editor, one thousand
three hundred; the Western Episcopal Observer, five
hundred; the Catholic Telegraph, edited by Bishop Pur-
cell, one thousand one hundred; the Star in the West,
Universalist, about two thousand three hundred; the
Philanthropist, an Abolitionist organ, three thousand;
the Western Temperance Journal, six thousand; the
Ladies' Museum, one thousand two hundred; Ladies'1
Repository, seven thousand; Western Messenger (Uni-
tarian), one thousand; Christian Preacher (Disciple),
two thousand five hundred; Precursor (New Jerusalem),
four hundred; The Evangelist (Disciple), one thousand;
Family Magazine, three thousand; the Counterfeit De-
tector, seven hundred and fifty; and there was one other
periodical, the Western Farm and Garden, the circula-
tion of which is not given by Mr. Cist, from whose Cin-
cinnati in 1 841 we have these figures.
The following view of local journalism in the early part
of 1840 is given by the English traveller, Mr. Bucking-
ham, whose books of American travel are repeatedly
cited in this work. It will be seen that his statements
differ from Mr. Cist's in some particulars :
There are thirteen newspapers published in Cincinnati, of which six
are daily— ^four Whig, one Democrat, and one neutral — four published
in the morning, and two in the afternoon. There are three religious
journals, one by the Methodist body, one by the Catholic, and one by
the Presbyterians; and an anti-slavery journal, entitled the Philan-
thropist. In addition to these are two monthly periodicals of great
merit, the Family Magazine, which is in character and utility very like
the Penny Magazine of England, but printed in a smaller size; and the
other is the Western Messenger, a monthly magazine, more light,
varied, and literary in its compilations, but both calculated to exercise
a favorable influence on the reading community. I should add that all
the journals here seem to be conducted in a more fair and generous
spirit, and with more of moderation in tone and temper, than is gen-
eral throughout the United States; and that such of the editors as I
had an opportunity of seeing personally were superior in mind and
manners to the great mass of those filling this situation in other places.
In the fall of 1843 a new weekly literary venture ap-
peared, under the name of The Western Rambler. It
was started by Austin T. Earle and Benjamin St. James
Fry, under whose auspices it flourished for a time; but it
soon went the way of its more distinguished predecessors.
In 1848 a large literary sheet of popular character-
istics, called The Great West, was started by Messrs.
Robinson & Jones, with a corps of Cincinnati editors
and all prominent writers of the Mississippi valley as
paid contributors. It was kept alive during the bigger
290
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
part of two years, but in March, 1850, was consolidated
with the Weekly Columbian, as the Columbian and Great
West, published by E. Penrose Jones and edited by Wil-
liam B. Shattuck. The celebrated Celia M. Burr (Mrs.
Kellum) was its literary editor for a time. A Daily Co-
lumbian was also started, but broke the establishment
down, and all failed together in August, 1853.
THE REST OF THE STORY
is a long one; but it must be made short for this Work.
A great multitude of journalistic enterprises have been
born and have died within the last generation; and we
can make but a few notices of the living and the dead.
In 1850 nine English and four German dailies, most
of them with weekly and some with other editions, also
eleven English and four German weeklies, with two
semi-monthlies, were numbered among Cincinnati peri-
odical publications.
One of the finest issues of this era was a monthly
quarto magazine, embellished with fine steel engravings,
which was published by R. E. Edwards, at 115 Main
street, in connection with the Arts' Union gallery.
In January, 1853, a weekly magazine of sixteen octavo
pages, of somewhat similar character, called The Pen
and Pencil, was started by William Wallace Warden. It
endured the storms of adversity but a year.
The Genius of the West was a promising monthly of
thirty-two octavo pages, started in October of the same
year, by Mr. Howard Dunham, who had been conduct-
ing for some time a semi-monthly musical and literary
journal known as the Gem. It started with a vigorous
life, and embraced among its contributors Miss Alice
Cary, Mr. Coates Kinney, D. Carlyle Maccloy, and
many other western writers of greater or less note.
About the middle of 1854, Mr. Dunham took into edi-
torial partnership Mr. Kinney and Charles S. Abbott;
but soon withdrew to start another periodical of like
character called The Western, of which he was able to
issue but three numbers. W. T. Coggeshall went upon
The Genius as a co-editor in August; the next month
Mr. Abbott drew out, and Mr. Kinney in July, 1855.
In the latter part of that year Mr. Coggeshall sold the
magazine to George K. True, a young poet and essayist
of Mount Vernon, who maintained it for six months,
when it went to join the innumerable caravan of literary
failures. It was a very excellent magazine while it lasted,
but at no time more than paid expenses of printing.
Mr, Cist's last volume on Cincinnati, that for 1859,
enumerates the following list of periodical issues in the
city : Dailies — the Gazette and Liberty Hall, Enquirer,
Times, Commercial, Volksblatt, Volksfreund, Republikaner,
Penny Press, Law and Bank Bulletin. Weeklies — -
Western Christian Advocate, Presbyter, Central Christian
Herald, Journal and- Messenger, American Christian Re-
view, Western Episcopalian, Star 0 the West, New Chris-
tian Herald, Catholic Telegraph, Christian Leader, Sun-
day-School Journal, Wahrheits Freund, Christliche
Apologete, Protestantische Zeitblalter, Hochwachter, Scien-
tific Artisan, Journal, Sunday Dispatch, Railroad Record,
Pvice Current, Helvetia, Israelite and Deborah. Semi-
monthlies— Type of the Times, Presbyterian Witness,
Sunday-School Advocate, Lord's Detector, United States
Bank Mirror, White's Financial and Commercial Reporter
and Counterfeit Detector. Monthly — Bepler's Bank
.Note List, Ladies' Repository, Masonic Review, Odd
Fellows' Casket and Review, Lancet and Observer, Med-
ical News, Cincinnati Eclectic and Edinburgh Medical
Journal, College Journal of Medical Science, Physio-Med-
ical Recorder, Sonntag-Schule Glocke, Young People's
Monthly, Youth's Friend, Sunbeam, Dental Register of
the West. Annual publications were the City Directory,
by C. S. Williams, and the Ordo Divini, a church annual.
Richard Smith was now on the Gazette; James J. Faran
was editor of the Enquirer, Stephen Molitor of the
Volksblatt, Dr. C. Kingsley of the Christian Advocate,
Dr. Montfort of the Presbyter, Dr. Nast of the Apologete,
Bishop Purcell of the Catholic Telegraph, and Drs. J. M.
Wise and M. Lilienthal of the Israelite and Deborah.
In 1867, Mr. James Parton, writing an article on Cin-
cinnati for the Atlantic Monthly, says of Cincinnati
journalism :
Nowhere else, except in New York, are the newspapers conducted
with so much expense. . . Gentlemen who have long
resided in Cincinnati assure us that the improvement in the tone and
spirit of its daily press since the late regenerating war is most striking.
It is looked to now by the men of public spirit to take the lead in the
career of improvement upon which the city is entering. The conditions
of the press here are astonishingly rich. Think of an editor having the
impudence to return the value of his estate at five millions of dollars!
February 2, 1872, the first number of the Evening Star
was printed. It was consolidated with the Times in
June, 1880.
The Freie Presse, a new German daily, evening paper,
issued its first number August 25, 1874, and its last in
December, 1880.
THE GAZETTE.
This famous old journal claims to be the lineal descend-
ant of the Centinel of the Northwestern Territory, the
first newspaper published north of the Ohio river. The
first number of the Cincinnati Gazette, so called, however,
did not issue until Saturday, July 13, 1815, from the office
of the publishers, Thomas Palmer & Company, "on Main
street, near the clerk's office, and the fourth door above
Fifth street." It was a small weekly sheet, with four col-
umns of reading on a page. The subscription rates were
two dollars and fifty cents a year, in advance, three dol-
lars if paid within the year, and three dollars and fifty
cents if payment were longer deferred. The battle of
Waterloo had been fought four weeks before, but this first
number had no news of it, the latest advices from Lon-
don being May 6th, and some of the Continental news
dating back to March. December n, 1815, the Liberty
Hall was consolidated with the Gazette; Looker, Palmer,
and Reynolds, publishers — the new paper bearing both
names. The first New Year's address, that for January
1, 1815, was written by the late Peyton S. Symmes, then
a promising-young poet. The carriers of that year were
Wesley Smead and S. S. L'Hommedieu, afterward dis-
tinguished citizens of Cincinnati. Among its editors dur-
ing the next ten years were Isaac C. Burnet, brother of
Judge Burnet; B. F. Powers, brother of Hiram Powers;
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
291
and Charles Hammond brought the force of his intellect
and scholarship to it in 1825. About two years after-
wards, on Monday, June 25, 1827, the first number of
the Daily Gazette appeared — the second daily in the city,
and the first to live. Its publishers were Morgan, Lodge
and Fisher, and it started with just one hundred and
sixty-four subscribers. It was the Cincinnati Gazette
only, while the weekly, which was of the same size, five
columns to the page, kept the full title of Liberty Hall
and Cincinnati Gazette. Subscription to the daily was
eight dollars a year, payable half-yearly. Mr. Hammond
remained principal editor of the paper until his death,
April 3, 1840, during part of which time he was also in-
terested as a proprietor. This was after the death of Mr.
James Lodge, one of the publishers, in the winter of
1835. Hammond's partners were Stephen S. and Richard
L'Hommedieu, the former of whom had begun his public
career as a carrier of the paper. The firm was L'Hom-
medieu & Company, and the office was on the east side
of Main street, about half way between Fourth and Fifth.
The editor's only assistant was William Dodd, who clipped
the papers, made up the river news as well as the news-
paper forms, and read the proofs. About 1840 the office
was removed down Main street to the new L'Hommedieu
building, between Third and Fourth, and Judge John C.
Wright and his son, Crafts J. Wright, also Dr. L'Hom-
medieu, a cousin of the proprietors, became editorially
connected with it. It was at this time an afternoon
paper. In Mr. Hammond's days it was printed on
an old-fashioned Adams press, moved by man-power ap-
plied to a crank, with a capacity of twelve hundred per
hour. In 1839 the proprietors bought a six-cylinder press,
which could print, at its fastest rate, fifteen thousand
sheets per hour, but only on one side. Finally a double
perfecting press was procured, printing from stereotype
plates, and capable ^of turning out twenty-six thousand
complete copies of the Gazette per hour, folded and ready
for the carrier or mailing clerks.
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER.
This famous journal, in its beginnings, was mainly the
creation of Mr. Moses Dawson, editor of an old-time
Cincinnati paper called the Fhcenix. The Enquirer was
first published on Fifth street, between Main and Syca-
more; then on Third street, and on the corner of Third
and Main; on Main, between Third and Pearl; on Vine,
near Baker, where it shared in the destruction wrought by
the fire of 1866, which destroyed Pike's Opera house;
until it finally found a home in its present quarters on
the west side of Vine street, between Sixth and Seventh,
near the Public library. In 1844 the Hon. James J.
Faran took an interest in the journal, and has to this
day remained the senior member of the firm of proprie-
tors, Messrs. Farari & McLean. Mr. Washington Mc-
Lean purchased the interest of Mr. Derby in the con-
cern, and became an owner jointly with Mr. Faran and
Mr. Wiley McLean. The junior member of the present
firm is Mr. John R. McLean, son of Washington Mc-
Lean; and he and Mr. Faran are the sole proprietors.
He has had entire editorial charge of the paper since
1877, succeeding John Cockerill, who was preceded
from 1867 to 1870 by Joseph B. McCullagh, afterwards
of Chicago. From 1844 to 1867 Mr. Faran was manag-
ing editor. The business growth of this paper has been
very great, and it is now one of the most valuable news-
paper properties in the country. It is printed on two
Bullock presses and a Hoe Perfecting press, which throw
off its immense editions very rapidly.
THE CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL,*
one of the most influential and most widely read of all
western journals, printed and published in the building
at the northeast corner of Fourth and Race streets, was
founded in 1843, and the first number issued by Messrs.
Curtis & Hastings, on the second of October of that
year. It was a bright daily, with a plentiful array of par-
agraphs, some fiction and well selected matter and odds
and ends, including bear and snake stories, and other
items naturally interesting to a young community. Much
attention was paid to local news, and particularly to the
river department, which was at that time of greater im-
portance than at present. Mr. Hastings did not remain
long with the Commercial, and Mr. L. G. Curtis, who
came to Cincinnati from Pittsburgh and married the
daughter of the Rev. Samuel J. Browne, soon after
associated with himself J. W. S. Browne, his broth-
er-in-law. About 1848 Mr. M. D. Potter, a practical
printer, became connected with the paper and was placed
in charge of the job department. He soon evinced such
remarkable talent for business details, for which Mr. Cur-
tis was far less adapted, that his future career was almost
immediately assured, and after the retirement of Mr.
Browne, who became interested in military matters, Mr.
Potter was admitted into partnership, and the firm name
became Curtis & Potter. In 1851 Mr. Curtis died, at
the age of forty-two. His interest was purchased by Mr.
Potter, and refold to Richard Henry Lee, of the Treas-
ury Department, the firm name in 1852 becoming Lee &
Potter. On March 9, 1853, Mr. Murat Halstead was en-
gaged upon the staff. He left the Weekly Columbian,
on which he was then associate editor, to undertake his
new duties. Mr. Potter's health at that time was very
delicate, and Mr. Lee's very robust; but in the summer
of the same year the strong man died and the sick and
ailing recovered. After some negotiations Mr. Henry
Reed was engaged as the leading writer, and on May 15,
1854, Mr. Potter having bought out the interest of Mr.
Lee's representatives, organized the firm of M. D. Potter
& Co. The property and good-will of the paper were
then valued at eight thousand dollars, and the firm was
composed of M. D. Potter, Henry Reed, John H. Strauss,
and Murat Halstead. Mr. Potter had the general direc-
tion of the office and the management of the business;
Henry Reed was the chief editorial writer, Murat Hal-
stead in charge of the news, and Mr. Strauss was book-
keeper. Mr. John A. Gano and Mr. C; D. Miller were
admitted into partnership some years afterwards. Mr.
Strauss subsequently died, and Mr. Reed sold his interest
*This sketch is extracted from D. J. Kenny's Illustrated Cincinnati
and Suburbs, edition of 1879, to which we are indebted for many other
valuable facts.
292
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to Mr. Potter. From the date of the formation of the firm of
M. D. Potter & Company, in 1854, the Commercial made
rapid progress. It was first published at the southeast
and northeast corners of Third and Sycamore streets, the
property of the Rev. S. J. Browne, and the building now
standing on the northeast corner was originally built for
the Commercial office. In 1859 Mr. Potter purchased
the lot on the corner of Fourth and Race, where it is
now published. A removal was made in April, i860, to
the new quarters, which had been built expressly for a
newspaper office, composing and press rooms. In the
spring of that year the roof was torn off by a tornado.
Mr. Potter lived to see the war over, Lincoln assassin-
ated, and Johnson at variance with the Republican
party; and his life, busy almost to the last, was only
closed in 1866. The surviving members purchased Mr.
Potter's interest, and resold a portion of it to Mrs. Pot-
ter and her daughter, Mrs. Pomeroy. The firm of M.
Halstead & Company was founded on May 15, 1866. It
consisted of Murat Halstead, C. D. Miller, John A.
Gano, general partners; Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Pomeroy,
special partners. A change in the firm was made by the
death of Mrs. Pomeroy in January, 1879, and the firm of
M. Halstead & Company dissolved. A joint-stock com-
pany with the same title, was incorporated on the fif-
teenth of May, 1879, a quarter of a century after the
firm of M. D. Potter & Company had been formed, in
1854, Mr. Murat Halstead being the only member of
that firm who had been constantly in the partnership.
The capital stock was fixed at two hundred and thirty-
five thousand dollars. Daily and weekly-editions of the
Commercial are published.
THE TIMES-STAR.
The Times, as already stated, was founded in 182 1,
and is therefore, except the Gazette, the oldest surviving
paper in the city. Upon the death of Mr. Starbuck, it
was purchased by Messrs. Eggleston, Sands, Thomas,
and others, then proprietors of the Daily Chronicle, and
consolidated with their paper under the name of the
Times-Chronicle, from which the latter part of the desig-
nation was presently dropped. In 1879 the Times was
sold to David Sinton, Charles P. Taft, and H. P. Bry-
den. The last-named became editor-in-chief, and made
great improvements in the paper. By the latter part of
June, 1880, the impolicy of maintaining two English
evening papers in the city became so manifest that a
consolidation of the Times and the Star was effected, the
journal, under the new arrangement, taking the name of
the Times-Star.
THE CINCINNATI SATURDAY NIGHT.
This is a journal of comparatively recent foundation,
but is reported to be the leading secular weekly of the
city. It was established July 20, 1872, by Captain L.
Barney and Mr. A. Minor Griswold — the latter widely
known as "Gris," or "The Fat Contributor." It was
originally, indeed, called The Fat Contributor's Saturday
Night, and was intended to be devoted almost solely to
wit and humor. The change to its present title was
made in 1873; and in April of the next year it became
the sole property of Mr. Griswold, who has reaped for it
whatever renown and pecuniary success it has attained
as a family paper and humorous journal.
EDUCATIONAL JOURNALISM
has had a varied history in Cincinnati, as everywhere
else when professional ventures of this kind have been
hazarded. So long since as July, 1831, very nearly half
a century ago, the Academic Pioneer appeared in this
city, the pioneer indeed of all such journals, not only in
Cincinnati, but in the State. It was a monthly maga:
zine, conducted by a committee under the auspices of
the famous Western Academic Institute, or College of
Teachers. Unhappily, it did not survive its second num-
ber, but then died for want of sustenance. Somebody,
nevertheless, had the hardihood to start a Common
School Advocate here in 1837, and courageously to
maintain it till 1841. The Universal Advocate was also
started in the former year; but by whom or how long it
kept up the struggle for existence, history saith not.
March of the same year, too, strange to say, considering
the infancy of educational journalism and the financial
pressure of that time, saw the birth of still another
school paper here — The Western Academician, edited
by the well-known teacher, John W. Picket, and adopted
as the organ of the Teachers' College. It lasted for a
twelve-month. Then, the next year, in July, came the
first number of the Educational Disseminator, published
for a time by S. Picket, sen., and Dr. J. W. Picket, but
soon discontinued. In 7846, stronger and more hope-
ful auspices, at least financially, attended the birth of
The School Friend, which was started in October by
Messrs. W. B. Smith & Company, the leading school-
book publishers of the city. Mr. Hazen White became
editor of this in 1848; and at the beginning of 1850 The
Ohio School Journal, which had been edited and pub-
lished at Kirtland, and afterwards at Columbus, by Dr.
Asa D. Lord, was consolidated with it under the title of
The School Friend and Ohio School Journal. Dr. Lord
was editor, assisted by Principal H. H. Barney, of the
Cincinnati Central High school, and Cyrus Knowlton;
but they all did not save the magazine from suspension
in September, 185 1. The Western School Journal,
a monthly publication devoted to the cause of education
in the Mississippi Valley, was supported by W. H. Moore
& Company, a part of the time without any paid sub-
scription, from March, 1847, to 1849. Subsequent ven-
tures in the same direction were The Ohio Teacher,
started in May, 1859, edited by Thomas Rainey, and
published at Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, but
not long; the Journal of Progress in Education, Social
and Political Economy, and the Useful Arts, published
from January, i860, to August, 1861, by Elias Longley,
with Superintendent John Hancock, of the Cincinnati
public schools, as editor of the educational matter; The
News and Educator, 1864-6, Nelson & Company pub-
lishers, Superintendent Hancock and Richard Nelson
editors; succeeded in January, 1867, by The Educational
Times: An American Monthly Magazine of Literature
and Education, of which Superintendent Hancock edited
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
293
the first number; The National Normal, an organ of the
Lebanon Normal school, started October, 1868, with
Josiah Holbrook at first and Messrs. George E. Stevens
& Company afterwards as publishers, and Mr. R. H.
Holbrook and Sarah Porter as editors, the monthly sur-
viving, at times quite prosperously, until October, 1874;
and The Public School Journal, started in 1870, and
now published at Mount Washington by Professor
F. E. Wilson, with an editorial and business office at
No. 1 1 East Fourth street, Cincinnati. Meanwhile, con-
siderable editorial work has been done by Cincinnati
educators upon The Ohio Journal of Education, which
was started at Columbus in January, 1852, and still sur-
vives in vigor — as by Principal Barney in 1852, Mr. C.
Knowlton in 1853, Joseph Ray 1854-5, and Superintend-
ent Hancock in 1865. The Mathematical Department
in the Journal was for a time in charge of Dr. Ray, then
of Professor F. W. Hurtt of the Woodward High school,
after the death of Dr. Ray.
CHAPTER XXXI.
MEDICINE.*
THE ARMY SURGEONS.
The pioneers of the medical profession in the Queen
City were the surgeons of the regular army of the United
States. "It was the custom of these gentlemen," says
Dr. Drake, "not merely to give gratuitous attendance on
the people of the village, for which many of them are
still [1852] remembered with gratitude by the aged, but
also to furnish medicines from the army hospital chests,
through a period when none were imported from the
East." The first of these was probably Dr. Richard Alli-
son. He was a native of New York State, born near
Goshen in 1757, and seems to have entered the profes-
sion, as was often done in those days, without the diplo-
ma of a medical school. He began in the Continental
army at the age of nineteen as a surgeon's mate, and re-
mained attached to the medical service till the close of
the Revolution. He then practiced as a physician for
some years, but re-entered the army as a surgeon when
the forces were raised for the Western campaigns, and
was out as Surgeon-General with Harmar, St. Clair, and
Wayne. He was in close quarters with the savages at St.
Clair's defeat, being compelled for a time to abandon at-
tendance upon the wounded and join in the fight. His
horse was here struck with a bullet, which remained im-
bedded among the bones of the head; and as the doctor
afterwards rode him through Cincinnati, he would jocosely
remark that that horse had more in his head than some
doctors he had known. He was a general favorite in the
village, where he did much gratuitous service and laid the
foundation of a good practice when he had resigned and
* The materials of this chapter, so far as it relates to the early phy-
sicians of the city, are derived largely from Dr. Daniel Drake's address
on the Early Physicians, Scenery, and Society of Cincinnati.
settled as a regular physician. Between the campaigns
of St. Clair and Wayne he was stationed at a fort oppo-
site Louisville, and rendered much medical aid to the
people of that village. After Wayne's victory he resigned
and practiced here, and in 1799 he began the improve-
ment of a tract of land on the east fork of the Little
Miami, to which he removed. Six years afterwards he
returned to Cincinnati; resumed practice, having his resi-
dence and office on the southeast corner of Fourth and
Sycamore streets; and died here March 22, 181 6, aged
fifty-nine. He was not accounted a profound scientist,
but was modest, kind, suave, and shrewd — a successful
pioneer physician, and a worthy man to be regarded, as
Dr. Drake calls him, "the father of our profession" in
Cincinnati.
Dr. John Carmichuel was another of the army surgeons
who practiced gratuitously in the hamlet of Cincinnati.
Not many particulars are known concerning him; but he
is said by old residents to have been in the army so late
as 1802, when he was discharged upon its reduction, and
personally conducted the baggage and munitions of the
garrison at Fort Adams, below Natchez, where he had
last been stationed, to New Orleans, whither the troops
went to occupy Louisiana after its purchase by the United
States. He then bought a cotton plantation in Missis-
sippi Territory, became wealthy, and lived long in the land.
Surgeon Joseph Phillips has left very kindly recollec-
tions among the old families of Cincinnati. Dr. Drake
said in 1852: "The venerable relict of the late General
John S. Gano (the intrepid surveyor of the route pursued
by St. Clair's army) has, within the last few days, in-
formed me that on the suggestion of General Harrison,
Dr. Phillips was brought in from Fort Hamilton, to
rescue her husband from the hands of a couple of
quacks. She remembered him as a physician of skill
and a gentleman of much personal presence. From his
namesake and distant relative, Mr. H. G. Phillips, of
Dayton, I learn that he was a native of Lawrenceville,
New Jersey; that he came out with Wayne's army, and,
after the treaty of peace, returned to his birthplace.
Resuming his practice, he lived much respected both as
a physician and citizen till his death, which took place
only five or six years since, when he was eighty years old
or upward. He probably was the last to die of all the
early members of our profession; and one feels a sort of
surprise at learning that a physician who practiced in
Cincinnati when it was a mere encampment, should have
been alive so near the present time."
Dr. John Elliot was one of General St. Clair's surgeons,
a New Yorker by birth, and was stationed here several
different times, going out of service finally with his regi-
ment in 1802, when the army was reduced. He did not
remain in Cincinnati, although two daughters were then
residing here, the elder of whom married Hon. Joseph
H. Crane and removed with him to Dayton, where her
father also settled and staid until his death in 1809.
Dr. Drake says: "In the summer of 1804 I saw the
doctor there, a highly accomplished gentleman, with a
purple silk coat, which contrasted strangely with the sur-
rounding thickets of brush and hazel bushes."
294
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
One of Wayne's surgeons, who came with him here in
the spring of 1793, was Dr. Joseph Strong. He was at
the battle of the Fallen Timbers, and in attendance at
the Greenville treaty the next year. He was Connecti-
cut-born and a graduate from the literary department of
Yale college. After his service here, in the army and the
community, he returned east about 1795, settled in Phil-
adelphia, obtained a fair practice, and died there in
April, 181 2, aged- forty-three. Mrs. Colonel Bond, long
of this city, was a daughter of Dr. Strong.
Dr. John Sellman, another of Wayne's surgeons, com-
ing also with the army in the spring of 1793, became a per-
manent resident of Cincinnati until his death in 1827,
when he had attained the age of sixty-three years. He
was born at Annapolis, of an old and reputable Mary-
land family, in 1764, received a good elementary ed-
ucation, and entered the army while still young as a sur-
geon's mate, or, in modern army parlance, assistant sur-
geon. After Wayne's victory he resigned and settled in
Cincinnati, making his residence on Front street, between
Sycamore and Broadway. After the establishment of the
government arsenal and barracks at Newport, he served
the garrison as citizen-surgeon. Dr. Drake well remarks
that "such a recall shows that while in the service he
must have discharged his duty faithfully. He was not a
graduate, and, without attainments in medicine or the
associate sciences above the average of the time at which
he was educated, his native good sense and high gentle-
manly bearing secured to him a large proportion of the
best practice of the town; but, like his contemporary Dr.
Allison, he did not leave behind him any record of his
experience.''
The name of Dr. Adams is traditionally known as that
of another of the army surgeons of the early day, who
' occasionally visited patients in Cincinnati. He was a
Massachusetts man; but no other details concerning him
are on local record.
It is probably not generally known that William Henry
Harrison, who came here a young ensign with the army
at Fort Washington, had taken a course in medicine in
Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania, and was
still engaged upon his studies when his military bent
prompted him to enter the army — which he did as an of-
ficer of the line rather than, as he might have done, of
the medical staff. He never formally entered the ranks
of the healing profession; but, as we have seen in the
case of General Gano, his advice in cases of sickness was
sometimes available, and he occasionally gave personal
attention to them, when a physician was not at hand.
As a public man he always took an active interest in the
welfare and progress of the profession. He was a mem-
ber of the Ohio senate at the session of 18 18-19, when
the bill for establishing the Commercial hospital and
Lunatic asylum of Ohio came up. It met considerable
opposition, and the medical knowledge of General Har-
rison came effectively into play in his advocacy of the
bill, as a means of training competent physicians, by the
facilities it would afford to the medical schools. He was
subsequently, by appointment of the legislature, chairman
of the board of trustees of the Medical college of Ohio.
With the honored name of Harrison the list of medi-
cal men connected with the army at Fort Washington is
closed, so far as it is known at this day.
DOCTOR BURNET.
The first citizen-physician who settled in Cincinnati is
believed to have been Dr. William Burnet, brother of
Judge Burnet, and who came some years earlier than he.
The doctor's arrival, indeed, was almost contemporane-
ous with the settlement of Losantiville, since he came in
1789, with a sufficient equipment of books and medi-
cines to begin practice at once. The "eleven families
and twenty-four bachelors'' then at the place, however, fur-
nished him but a light business, and he spent much of his
time with Judge Symmes at North Bend. In the spring of
1 79 1 he went back to New Jersey, his native State, in-
tending to return ; and while there, being an ardent and
ambitious Free Mason, he procured from the Grand
lodge of that State a warrant for the institution of the
Nova Caesarea New Jersey, Harmony lodge, No. 2,
Cincinnati, of which he was named the first Worshipful
Master. The death of his father during this visit pre-
vented his return, and he remained and died in New Jer-
sey. His medical books, however, were left here, and
some of them are probably still extant. He was of good
classical education; but, like very many practitioners of
his time, not a medical graduate. His father was surgeon-
general, and he a surgeon's mate, in the army of the
Revolution.
DOCTOR MORRELL.
Another Jerseyman, Dr. Calvin Morrell, was associat-
ed with Dr. Burnet in the appointments made for the
lodge of Free Masons here, and was present when it was
organized about three years afterwards, on the twenty-
seventh of October, 1794. It is not known just when
he came or how long he staid; but he removed to the
northward not far from the time designated, and spent
the closing years of his life among the Shakers of Union
Village, near Lebanon. Dr. Drake says: "From all I
have been able to learn, he did not do much business
here nor make any lasting impression on the little com-
munity."
DOCTOR HOLE.
Before Dr. Morrell was Dr. John Hole, believed
to have been an arrival of 1790 or 1791. He had not
much culture or social position, and disappeared from
the community before the close of 1794. He is mainly
remembered for his practice of inoculation here and at
Columbia in the winter of 1792-3, when the small-pox
first made its appearance among the whites of the Miami
country.
A MYSTERIOUS UNKNOWN.
About the same time some timorous doctor put in an
appearance here for a little while, whose name Dr. Drake
good-naturedly suppresses, "for the honor of the profes-
sion." He seems to have been alarmed at the false ru-
mor of Indians, started by some wag, and hurriedly
removed to the Kentucky shore, from whose bourne he
never returned.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI. OHIO.
295
DR. ROBERT M CLURE
came from the Redstone Old Fort, or Brownsville, Penn-
sylvania, about the year 1792, and took a residence on
Sycamore street, between Third and Fourth. His
training in the schools was limited, but he obtained a res-
pectable practice for the time. His wife did much to
commend him to the people by her geniality and kind-
heartedness. In 1 80 1 he went into the back country
and remained some time, thence returning to Browns-
ville, where he passed the rest of his life. Dr. Drake
records that " our aged people relate that in those days
it was customary with the officers of the army to drink
bitters in the morning — those of Dr. Stoughton,. of Lon-
don, being preferred ; but as importations were sometimes
suspended, Dr. McClure made a tincture, and putting it
up in small vials, labeled them 'Best Stoughton's Bitters,
prepared in Cincinnati by Dr. Robert McClure.' The
solecism seems to have been quite an occasion of merri-
ment with the officers of the army. We see from this
anecdote that a business which has since been so profit-
able to certain persons in our city was begun in the days
of its early infancy."
DOCTOR CRAMER.
For about six years after Dr. McClure came, no other
physician seems to have located in Cincinnati. In 1798
Dr. John Cramer arrived, and made his home on the
north side of Second or Columbia street, between Main
and Walnut. He was a native of Pittsburgh, and picked
up an elementary knowledge of medicine about the
office of Dr. Bedford, a prominent physician of that
place. Beginning thus humbly, with small education
and no formal study of the medical authorities, he never-
theless became a fairly successful physician and a citizen
of considerable influence. He made steady advance-
ment in reputation and business for thirty-four years, or
until his death by cholera in 1832. He was then the
last remaining here of all the physicians who practiced
in Losantiville or Cincinnati before 1800'.
DOCTOR GOFORTH.
The most renowned local physician of the early years
of this century amply deserves the more extended notice
which his friend and pupil, Dr. Drake, gives him. We
copy the whole of it, assured that the interest of the
account will justify the occupntion of the space :
Dr. William Goforth, of whom I know more than of all who have
been mentioned, was born in the city or town of New York, A. D. 1766.
His preparatory education was what may be called tolerably good. His.
private preceptor was Dr. Joseph Young, of that city, a physician of
some eminence, who, in the year 1800, published a small volume on the
universal diffusion of electricity, and its agency in astronomy, physiol-
ogy, and therapeutics, speculations which his pupil cherished through-
out life. But young Goforth also enjoyed the more substantial teach-
ings of that distinguished anatomist and surgeon, Dr. Charles Mc-
Knight, then a public lecturer in New York. In their midst, however,
A. D. 1787-8, he and the other students of the forming school were
dispersed by a mob raised against the cultivators of anatomy. He at
once resolved to accompany his brother-in-law, the late General John
S. Gano, into the west; and on the tenth of June, 1788, landed at
Maysville, Kentucky, then called Limestone. Settling in Washington,
four miles from the river, then in population the second town in Ken-
tucky, he soon acquired great popularity, and had the chief business of
the county for eleven years. Fond of change, he determined then to
leave it; and in 1799 reached Columbia, where his father, Judge Go-
forth, one of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers of Ohio, re-
sided. In the spring of the next year, 1800, he removed to Cincinnati
and occupied the Peach Grove house, vacated by Dr. Allison's removal
to the country. Bringing with him a high reputation, having an influ-
ential family connection, and being the successor of Dr. Allison, he
immediately acquired an extensive practice. But without these ad-
vantages he would have gotten business, for on the whole he had the
most winning manners of any physician I ever knew, and the most of
them. Yet they were all his own, for in deportment he was quite an
original. The painstaking and respectful courtesy with which he tieated
the poorest and humblest people of the village seemed to secure their
gratitude, and the more especially as he dressed with precision, and
never left his house in the morning till his hair was powdered by our
itinerant barber, John Arthurs, and his gold-headed cane was grasped
by his gloved hand. His kindness of heart was as much a part of his
nature as hair-powder was of his costume; and what might not be given
thiough benevolence could always be extracted by flattery, coupled
with professions of friendship, the sincerity of which he never ques-
tioned. In conversation he was precise yet fluent, and abounded in
anecdotes, which he told in a way that others could not imitate. He
took a warm interest in the politics of what was then the Northwestern
Territory, being at all times the earnest advocate of popular rights.
His devotion to Masonry, then a cherished institution of the village,
was such that he always embellished his signature with some of its em-
blems. His handwriting was peculiar, but so remarkably plain that his
poor patients felt flattered to think he should have taken so much
pains in writing for them. In this part of his character many of us
might find a useful example.
To Dr. Goforth the people were indebted for the introduction of the
cow-pox at an earlier time, I believe, than it was elsewhere naturalized
in the west. Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, of Boston, had received infec-
tion from England in the year 1800, and early in 1801 Dr. Goforth re-
ceived it and commenced vaccination in this place. I was myself one
of his first patients, and seeing that it has extended its protecting influ-
ence through fifty years, I am often surprised to find medical gentlemen
shying off from a case of small-pox.
At the time Dr. Goforth was educated in New York, the writings of
Dr. Cullen had not superseded those of Boerhaave, into whose system
he had been inducted. Yet the captivating volume of Brown had fallen
into his hands, and he was so far a Brunonian as to cherish an exceed-
ing hostility to the copious depleting practice of Dr. Rush, which came
into vogue in the beginning of this century. In fact, he would neither
buy nor read the writings of that eminent man. Yet his practice was
not that of Brown, though it included stimulants and excluded evacu-
ants, in many cases in which others might have reversed those terms.
In looking back to its results, I may say that, in all except the most
acute forms of disease, his success was creditable to his sagacity and
tact.
Fond of schemes and novelties, in the spring of the year 1803, at a
great expense, he dug up, at Bigbone lick, in Kentucky, and brought
away, the largest, most diversified and remarkable mass of huge fossil
bones that was ever disinterred at one time or place in the United
States ; the whole of which he put into the possession of that swindling
Englishman, Thomas Ashe, alias D'Arville, who sold them in Europe
and embezzled the proceeds.
Dr. Goforth was the special patron of all who, in our olden time,
were engaged in searching for the precious metals in the surrounding
wilderness. 'They brought their specimens of pyrites and blende to him,
and generally contrived to quarter themselves on his family, while he got
the requisite analyses made by some black or silversmith. In these re-
searches Blennerism, or the turning of the forked stick held by its
prongs, was regarded as a reliable means of discovering the precious
metals, not less than water. There was also in the village a man by
the name of Hall, who possessed a glass through which he could see
many thousand feet into the earth — a feat which I think has not been
surpassed by any of those whom our modern Cincinnati has feted for
their clairvoyance.
The clarification of ginseng and its shipment to China was at the be-
ginning of this century a popular scheme, in which the doctor eagerly
participated, but realized by it much less than those who have since ex-
tracted from that root an infallible cure for tubercular consumption.
This failure, however, did not cast him down ; for about the time it
occurred the genuine East India Columbo root was supposed to be dis-
covered in our surrounding woods, and he immediately lent a hand to
the preparation of that article for market. It turned out, however, to
be the Frasera verticillata, long known to the botanist and essentially
distinct from the oriental bitter.
296
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
While these various projects were keeping the doctor's imagination in
a state of high and pleasurable excitement, he became enamored with
the Mad River country, to which, in the very infancy of its settlement,
he made a winter visit. Beyond where Urbana has since been built
was the Indian village of Mechacheek, at which he arrived at night, ex-
pecting to find inhabitants ; but found none. Being without the means
of kindling a fire, and unable to travel back in the dark, he came nigh
perishing from the cold. Subsequently he made another visit in the
month of June; and took me with him. It required four days to reach
King's creek, a few miles beyond the present Urbana, which then had
one house and Springfield another. The natural scenery, after passing
the village of Dayton, was of such exquisite beauty that I was not sur-
prised at the doctor's fascination ; but a residence there was not in
store for him— he had a different destiny.
The time at length arrived when young Cincinnati was to lose the
most popular and peculiar physician who had appeared in the ranks of
her infant profession, or indeed ever belonged to it ; and the motives
and manner of the separation were in keeping with his general char-
acter.
The French Revolution of 1789 had exiled many educated and ac-
complished men and women, several of whom found their way into the
new settlements of the west. The doctor's political sympathies were
with the Revolutionists ; but some of the exiles reached the town of
Washington, where he resided, and their manners and sufferings tri-
umphed over his repugnance to aristocracy, till pictures of the beauty
and elegance of French society began to fill his imagination. Thus im-
pressed he came to Cincinnati, where Masonry soon made him ac-
quainted with an exiled lawyer of Paris, who resided on the corner of
Main and Third streets, where the banking edifice of the Trust com-
pany now stands. This gentleman, M. Menessier, planted the vine-
yard of which I have spoken and carried on a bakery in the lower story
of his house, while the upper was the lodge room of Nova Caesarea Har-
mony No. 2. The doctor's association with this member of the beau
monde of course raised his admiration for Gallic politeness still higher;
and just at the time when he began, in feeling, to prefer French to
Anglo-American society, President Jefferson purchased- Louisiana
from Bonaparte, first consul of the Republique Francahe. The en-
chanting prairies of Mad River were now forgotten, and he began to
prepare for a southern migration. Early in the spring of 1807 he de-
parted in a flat-boat for the coasts and bayous of the Lower Mississippi,
where he was soon appointed a parish judge, and subsequently elected
by the Creoles of Attakapas to represent them in forming the first Con-
stitution of the State of Louisiana ; soon after which he removed to New
Orleans. During the invasion of that city by the British he acted as
surgeon to one of the regiments of Louisiana volunteers. By this time
his taste for French manners had been satisfied, and he determined to
return to the city which he had left in opposition to the wishes of all his
friends and patients. On the first of May, 1816, he left New Orleans,
with his family, on a keel-boat ; and on the twenty-eighth of the next
December, after a voyage of eight months, he reached our landing. He
immediately re-acquired business ; but in the following spring he sank
under hepatitis, contracted by his summer sojourn on the river.
Many years after Dr. Drake uttered his reminiscences
of Dr. Goforth, the Hon. E. D. Mansfield, at a meeting
of the Cincinnati Pioneer society, submitted some of his
recollections, which were thus briefly reported for the
press :
The speaker gave some of the characteristics and experiences of the
pioneer doctors and lawyers. Dr. Goforth, of Cincinnati, was a gentle-
man of the old school ; he wore a powdered wig, and carried a gold-
headed cane. The doctor, like others of his profession, would ride five,
eight, or ten miles of a dark night, to visit a patient, and receive, with-
out complaint, the regular price of a visit— feed for his horse, and a cut
quarter in cash. Dr. Goforth emigrated to Louisiana, and wrote a
long letter to the senior Mansfield, in which, among other things, he
said that "if ever there was a hell upon earth, New Orleans was the
place. "
DOCTOR DRAKE.
The first student of medicine in Cincinnati was the
same Dr. Daniel Drake' whtr-came to the town from the
wilds of Kentucky, in 1800, a boy of fifteen, to become
a physician. He entered the office of Dr. Goforth, which
was also a drug store, and remained nearly four years
most of the time compounding and dispensing medi-
cines, while he read ponderous books in the intervals.
Long afterward he recalled his experience of this village
drug store in these remarks:
But few of you have seen the genuine old doctor's shop or regaled
your olfactory nerves in the mingled odors which, like incense to the
god of physic, arose from brown paper bundles, bottles stopped with
worm eaten corks, and open jars of ointment not a whit behind those
of the apothecary in the days of Solomon. Yet such a place is very
well for the student. However idle, he will always be absorbing a little
medicine, especially if he sleep beneath the greasy counter.
In May, 1804, young Drake began practice in partner-
ship with Dr. Goforth, and in about two months was able
to write .hopefully to his father that their business was
rapidly increasing, and that they entered as much as
three to six dollars per day upon their books, though he
wisely doubted whether a quarter of it would ever be
collected. In the fall of 1805, poor as he still was, he
resolved to seek larger advantages of professional educa-
tion, and pushed to Philadelphia as a student in Penn-
sylvania university. He had not money enough to take
a ticket at the Hospital library, and had to borrow books ;
but studied and heard lectures nearly eighteen hours out
of the twenty-four, and got on rapidly. He came back
to Cincinnati the next spring, practiced at the old home
in Mayslick, Kentucky, for a year, and then made his
final residence in this city. In 1815 he returned to finish
his course in the University of Pennsylvania, when he
was thirty years old, and received his degree the follow-
ing spring, the first of any kind bestowed by that institu-
tion upon a Cincinnatian. Young Drake had before
received a unique autograph diploma, given him by his
preceptor upon his first departure for Philadelphia in
1805, setting forth his ample attainments in all branches
of the profession, and signed by Goforth with his proper
title, but unusual in such connection, as "surgeon-gen-
eral of the First division of Ohio militia." It was con-
sidered by Dr. Drake to be the first medical diploma
ever granted in. the Mississippi valley. Drake, after his
graduation in 1816, had before him a long, honorable,
and highly useful career, which is noticed in part under
other heads. He was early called away from the full
practice of his profession by the demands upon him for
medical teaching here and elsewhere. The Medical
College of Ohio was the creation, in the first instance, of
Dr. Drake, who did much in his day for Cincinnati and
for medical science. While yet a young man, in 181 7,
he was called to a professorship in the medical depart-
ment of the Transylvania university, at Lexington, and
spent one winter lecturing there. Cincinnati was then a
town of but seven thousand people; but Dr. Drake
thought that if Kentucky and Lexington could sustain a
university, Ohio and Cincinnati should support at least a
department of one. In December, 1818, he obtained a
charter for the medical college from the legislature, with
himself and Drs. Brown and Coleman Rogers as corpor-
ators. In November of the second year thereafter, the
year after that in which Cincinnati became a city, the
school opened with twenty-five students. Dr. Drake,
president by the charter, delivered an inaugural address,
which was published with a memorial to the legislature
injijy AW*'1
cfeelae *r. ■-J%as-t<&.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
297
asking the endowment of the college by the State. He
appeared personally with this, which was signed only by
himself, before the house of representatives the next
winter, and secured a grant of ten thousand dollars for
the erection of a hospital in Cincinnati, in which the
college professors "were to be ex officio the medical at-
tendants, and in turn to have the privilege of introducing
the pupils of the college." The sum was paid in depre-
ciated bank paper; but was sufficient for a beginning,
and by it was laid the foundation of the old Commercial
hospital, the predecessor of the present magnificent Cin-
cinnati hospital, in which the provision for medical pro-
fessors and students remains substantially as in the origi-
nal act of 1821.
In November, 182 1, the college opened its second
course of lectures with thirty students — an increase of
twenty-five per cent. At the end of this term the con-
nection with it of Dr. Drake, its founder and president,
temporarily ceased. He had unwittingly prepared the
way for his own dismissal in a provision of the charter
making the faculty also the regents of the institution;
and so, when the majority was against him, he had no
recourse but to retire. Internal dissensions arose among
the professors; and the closing scene is thus graphically
described in Dr. Drake's own words :
At eight o'clock we met, according to a previous adjournment, and
transacted some financial business. A profound silence ensued ; our
dim taper shed a faint light over the faces of the plotters ; and every
thing seemed ominous of an approaching revolution. .On trying oc-
casions Dr. — is' said to be subject to a disease not unlike St.
Vitus' dance ; andon this he did not wholly escape. Wan and trembling
he raised himself (with the exception of his eyes), and in lugubrious ac-
cents said : "Mr. President, in the resolution I am about to offer, I
am influenced by no private feelings, but solely by a reference to the
public good." He then read as follows : "Voted, that Daniel Drake,
M. D., be dismissed from the Medical College of Ohio." The por-
tentous stillness recurred, and was not interrupted until I reminded
the gentlemen of their designs. Mr. , who is blessed with
stronger .nerves, then rose; and adjusting himself to a firmer balance,
put on a proper sanctimony, and ejaculated : "I second the motion. '•
The crisis had now manifestly come ; and learning that the gentlemen
were ready to meet it, I put the question, which carried, in the classical
language of Dr. , "Nemo contradicente." I could not do more
than tender them a vote' of thanks, nor less than withdraw ; and per-
forming both, the Doctor politely lit me down stairs.
Dr. Drake was thus legally, but unjustifiably, ousted
from the institution which was mainly his creation, and
which was still the darling of his ideals. He waited a
few months, publishing a pamphlet or two in his defense,
until it became certain that he could not be reinstated,
and then accepted another invitation to the chair of
Materia Medica in the Transylvania University. His
introductory lecture, upon resuming the chair, was upon
the Neccessity and Value of Professional Industry. He
remained with this school about four years, and then re-
turned to the practice of his profession, and in 1827 also
began the publication of The Western Medical and
Physical Journal, of which he was in charge for many
years. The same year he established an Eye Infirmary
in Cincinnati, partly as a charitable institution, which
met with much success, but did not become permanent.
In 1830, after declining a Professorship of Medicine in
the University of Virginia, he accepted a place in the
Faculty of Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia —
38
only, however, that he might enjoy superior opportuni-
ties for the selection of professors for a new institution
which he meditated forming in Cincinnati. It was or-
ganized the following year, as a Department of Miami
University ; but, before it opened as such, a consolida-
tion was effected with the older institution, the Medical
College of Ohio, in virtue of which Dr. Drake again be-
came connected with it. He remained only a year,
however, sustaining meanwhile the duties of two profes-
sorships, one of them that of Clinical Medicine, the es-
tablishment of which he had suggested as a means of
permanently uniting the schools, and volunteered to take
its added burdens upon himself. The hospital wards at
that time afforded limited facilities for such a professor-
ship in practical operation; and Dr. Drake, seeing that
his new chair could not be sustained, preferred to with-
draw from the institution. He published, about this time,
a volume of Practical Essays on Medical Education and
the Medical Profession in the United States, dedicating
it to his class. The little book has been highly praised
by the profession.
Dr. Drake was a many-sided man; and, besides his
books on medicine, he was the author of the quite re-
markable volumes, for the time, entitled Notices Con,-
cerning Cincinnati, published 18 10, and also of the Pic-
ture of Cincinnati, in 1815. He delivered an important
address, which was published, before the Kentucky
Literary Convention, November 8, 1833, On the Im-
portance of Promoting Literary and Social Concert in
the Valley of the Mississippi, as a Means of Elevating
its Character and Perpetuating the Union. He was also
active, in 1820, in securing the establishment of the
Western Museum, in the College building on Walnut
street, and fifteen years afterwards in promoting the con-
struction of a railroad from Cincinnati to Charleston,
South Carolina — a project which at last culminated, sub-
stantially, in the building of the Southern Railroad.
Still another medical school was founded through the
exertions of Dr. Drake, in June, 1835, as a branch or de-
partment of the Cincinnati college, then altogether qui-
escent for a number of years, as regards literary or scien-
tific instruction. He had taken a lively interest in and
assisted in the beginnings of the college, in 1818-20;
and now, wholly on a private foundation, witheut endow-
ment, he undertook to extend its usefulness by establish-
ing a medical department within it. Drs. Drake, S. D.
Gross, Landon C. Rives, and Joseph N. McDowell, were
its projectors; and they derived little or nothing in the
pecuniary way from it during the four years it lasted, the
expenses of the school swallowing up almost the entire
revenue from their lectures. The celebrated Dr. Willard
Parker was professor of surgery in it for a time, and when
he withdrew, in the summer of 1839, to take a chair in
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the city of
New York, it struck a fatal blow to the institution. One
after another the remaining professors felt constrained to
withdraw, and presently Dr. Drake stood alone, when
the school ceased to exist. He was then elected to a
place among the faculty of the Louisville Medical insti-
tute, afterwards the University of Louisville, and held it
298
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
for ten years. The trustees of the institute having passed
a regulation in effect dismissing a professor when he had
reached the age of sixty-five years, Dr. Drake, albeit he
was still three years short of that limit, thought proper to
withdraw, although the trustees willingly abrogated the
rule in his favor. It was now 1849, and he was at once
invited to a chair in his original institution, the Ohio
Medical College, where he lectured during a single ses-
sion, and then yielded to urgent requests from his former
associates at Louisville that he would return there. For
two sessions he served the Medical Institute again; but
finally, in hope yet of doing something to build up his
first professional school, he came back to the Medical
College of Ohio, and there did his last work. He was
almost sixty-seven years old when, November 5, 1852,
just at the re-opening of the college for the session, death
by congestion of the lungs arrested and closed his long,
varied, and honorable career. Two years before this he
had completed his truly great Treatise on the Principal
Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America — an
invaluable work, which brought him small financial bene-
fit, in comparison with the immense labor he bestowed
upon it. There have since been many eminent men in
the annals of medicine in Cincinnati; but Daniel Drake
is still the clarum et vetterabile nomen in the past of the
profession here. Professor Whitaker, of the Medical
college, in his Historical lecture introductory to the pre-
liminary course, on the fourth of September, 1879, savs
of him :
Dr. Drake's moral character was without a stain. He was uncom-
promising in the maintenance of what he believed to be right. Will-
fully, he injured no man ; but he was of so ardent a temperament, his
ambition was so great, and his opposition to what he thought wrong so
determined, that he doubtless was often to blame for the many strifes
and misunderstandings that made him hosts of bitter enemies and drove
him from positions -of honor which were his due. His friends were as
devoted as his enemies were bitter. He was the recipient of many
tokens of honor from scientific bodies at home and abroad. He was
an earnest advocate of temperance, and gave to it his great eloquence
and energy.
He died in Cincinnati November 5, 1852, ast. sixty-seven. His
grave is at Spring Grove. His monument is this college. It stands
like Sir Christopher Wren's. Of this great architect it was said : "Si
queris Tnonumentum, circumspice" — "If you seek his monument, look
around you."
DOCTOR STITES.
In 1802 came Dr. John Stites, jr., from Philadelphia,
and with him so much of a new departure in medical
science as had been made by Dr. Benjamin Rush, of that
city, then called the Sydenham of America and exercising
a powerful influence upon the profession in this country.
Stites had a number of the writings of Dr. Rush and his
pupils, and was himself a youth of twenty-two, fresh from
a partial course of medical training in the Quaker City,
and full of the ideas that had begun to prevail there. He
formed a partnership with Dr. Goforth, the preceptor of
Drake, who thus had easy access to the new books, de-
voured them with avidity, and imbibed the new doctrines,
which Goforth, as we have seen, indignantly scouted. Dr.
Stites remained here less than a year, and then went to
Kentucky, where he died five years after his removal to
the west, at the early age of twenty-seven. He was a
native of New York State.
DR. JOHN BLACKBURN
was the next medical immigrant to Cincinnati, coming in
1805, from Pennsylvania, where he was born,, in Lancas-
ter county, in 1778. He had no advantage over most
other early Cincinnati physicians as a graduate from a
medical school; but had respectable acquirements in va-
rious departments of learning. Two years after he came,
when the regiment was raised in Hamilton county to repel
an expected Indian attack under the Prophet, Dr. Black-
burn accompanied it as surgeon during its short service.
He staid here only until 1809, and then removed to a farm
in Kentucky, opposite Lawrenceburgh, whence he remov-
ed into Indiana, and there died in 1837.
DR. SAMUEL RAMSAY
was a native of York county, Pennsylvania, and had at-
tended medical lectures, but was without a diploma of
graduation. He came to Cincinnati in 1808 and formed
a partnership with Dr. Allison, which was maintained un-
til the death of the latter in 181 5. Dr. Drake says that
"Dr. Ramsay, though not brilliant, had a sound medical
judgment, united with regular industry, perseverance, and
acceptable manners. Thus he retained the practice into
which his connection with Dr. Allison had introduced
him, and continued in respectable business up to the pe-
riod of his death in the year 1831, when he was fifty years
of age."
A MORTALITY LIST.
Dr. Drake notes the interesting fact that, of the seven-
teen physicians who practiced in Cincinnati during the
first thirty years of its existence, but two died here, and
none of them, here or elsewhere, of pulmonary consump-
tion; while in the succeeding thirty years, or a little more,
about fifty died in the city, many of them at a compara-
tively early age, and a number from consumption. The
earlier physicians, except Dr. Drake, left no memorials of
their practice nor any record of their observations here,
probably in consequence of their defective general and
professional education.
THE EARLY PRACTICE.
Near the close of his elaborate discourse, Dr. Drake
brings in an interesting sketch of the practice of the early'
day, which we gladly transfer to these pages:
In the times of which I speak the extinct village of Columbia, and
the recently awakened and growing town of Newport, with the sur-
rounding country on both sides of the river, were destituteof physicians
and depended on Cincinnati. A trip to Columbia consumed half a
day, and when Newport asked for aid, the physician was ferried over
the river in a canoe or skiff, to clamber up a steep icy or deep mud
bank, where those of the present day ascend, from a steamboat, in their
carriages on a paved road. Every physician was then a country prac-
titioner, and often rode twelve or fifteen miles on bridle-paths to some
isolated cabin. Occasional rides of twenty and even thirty miles were
performed on horseback, on roads which no kind of carriage could
travel over. I recollect that my preceptor started early, in a freezing
night, to visit a patient eleven miles in the country. The road, was
rough, the night dark, and the horse brought for him not, as he
thought, gentle; whereupon he dismounted after he got out of the vil-
lage, and, putting the bridle into the hands of the messenger, reached
his patient before day on foot. The ordinary charge was twenty-five
cents a mile, one half being deducted and the other paid in provender
for his horse or produce for his family. These pioneers, moreover,
were their own bleeders and cuppers, and practiced dentistry not less,
certainly, than physic— charged a quarter of a dollar for extracting a
single tooth, with an understood deduction if two or more were drawn
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
299
at the same time. In plugging teefh tin-foil was used instead of gold-
leaf, and had the advantage of not showing so conspicuously. Still
further, for the first twelve or fifteen years every physician was his own
apothecary, and ordered little importations of cheap and inferior medi-
cines by the drygoods merchants once a year, taking care to move in
the matter long before they were needed. . . . From four
to five months were required for the importation of a medicine which,
at this time, being ordered by telegraph and sent by express, may be
received in two days, or a sixtieth part of the time. Thus science has
lengthened seconds into minutes. The prices at which these medicines
were sold differed widely from those of the present day. Thus an
emetic, a Dover's powder, a dose of Glauber's salt, or a night-draught
of paregoric and antimonial wine— haustus anodynus, as it was learned-
ly called — was put at twenty-five cents, a vermifuge or blister at fifty,
and an ounce of Peruvian bark at seventy-five for pale and a dollar for
best red or yellow.
On the other hand, personal services were valued very low. For
bleeding, twenty-five cents; for sitting up all night, a dollar; and for a
visit, from twenty-five to fifty cents, according to the circumstances or
character of the patient.
Many articles in common use then have in half a century been super-
seded or fallen more or less into neglect. I can recollect balsam of sul-
phur, balsam of Peru, balsam tolu, Glauber's salt, flowers of benzoin,
Huxham's tincture, spermaceti (for internal use), melampodium, flowers
of zinc, ammoniaret of copper, dragon's blood, elemi, gamboge, bitter
apple, nux vomica, and red, pale, and yellow bark. On the other hand,
we have gained since that day the various salts of quinine and morphine,
strychnine, creosote, iodine and its preparations, hydrocyanic acid, er-
got, collodion, sulphate of magnesia, and chloroform. Indeed, in half
a century our materia mcdica has undergone a decided change, partly
by the discovery of new articles and partly by the extraction of the ac-
tive principle of the old. The physician often carried medicines in his
pocket, and dealt them out in the sick-room ; but the common practice
was to return home, compound and send them out.
Probably the most remarkable case ever treated, simply
but efficaciously, by the profession in Cincinnati, was a
case of witchcraft. Dr. Drake thus humorously relates it :
Witches were not then extinct, and some of them were actually
known. One, of the most mischievous lived a few miles back in the
country, and bewitched a woman on the river bank. Her husband came
at dusk in the evening for assistance, and went into the lot to assist in
catching my horse, which of course we failed to do, and he ascribed the
failure to the witch having entered the animal. It only remained to give
him a paper of medicine, which he afterwards assured me was the best
-he had ever tried, for, as he entered the door of his cabin the witch es-
caped through the small back window and fled up the steep hill to the
woods. He carefully preserved the medicine as a. charm, and found it
more efficacious than a horse-shoe nailed over the door, which, before
the united skill of Dr. Goforth and myself had been brought to bear on
this matter, was the most reliable counter-charm.
In 1817 Dr. Drake's practice amounted nominally to
seven thousand dollars a year. The place then had*
about ten thousand inhabitants, with fifteen to twenty
physicians; and his practice, which would now be thought
light by a leading practitioner, was considered a very
good one.
THE LATER PHYSICIANS.
The following-named are all the doctors of medicine
noted in the directory of 18 19 as then belonging to Cin-
cinnati: Daniel Drake, John Sellman, John Cranmer,
Coleman Rogers, Daniel Dyer, William Barnes, Oliver
B. Baldwin, Thomas Morehead, Daniel Slayback, John
A. Hallam, Josiah Whitman, Samuel Ramsay, Edward
Y. Kemper, John Douglass, Ithiel Smead, John Woolley,
Trueman Bishop, Ebenezer H. Pierson, Jonathan Easton,
Charles V. Barbour, Vincent C. Marshall.
To these were added, by the directory of 1825, William
Barnes, John E. Bush, Jedediah Cobb, Addison and
George W. Dashiell, Oliver Fairchild, Isaac Hugh, Lo-
renzo Lawrence, James M. Ludlum, Samuel Nixon,
George T. Ratire (M. D. and dentist), Abel Slayback,
Jesse Smith, Edward H. Stall, Guy W. Wright, Daniel
P. Robbins, Michael Wolf.
The same act of general assembly of 1826, which is
cited in the next chapter as imposing a tax upon attor-
neys, also taxed to the same amount per capita the phy-
sicians and surgeons of that day; and the docket entry of
the Hamilton court of common pleas accordingly supplies
the following list as exhaustive of the medical profession
in the county in February, 1827:
Samuel Ramsey,
Jesse Smith,
Guy W. Wright,
Lorenzo Lawrence,
Jedediah Cobb,
Beverly Smith,
C. W. Barbour,
John Morehead,
James W. Mason,
F. C. Oberdorf,
E. Y. Kemper,
Edward H. Stall,
Daniel Drake,
E. H. Pierson,
V. C. Marshall,
John Woolley,
J. W. Hagerman,
Josiah Whitman,
Isaac Hough,
John Cranmer,
John Sellman,
Abel Slayback,
J. M. Ludlum,
C. Munroe,
J. E. Smith,
William Barnes.
In December, 1844, it was believed by Mr. Cist, who
copied this record into his Miscellany, that Drs. More-
head, Drake, Oberdorf, and Ludlum were all of the roll
of 1827 who then survived. Dr. Cobb, however, had re-
moved from the city, and is not mentioned as living or
dead. Mr. Cist pertinently inquires: "What is to account
for the greater mortality among the medical than in the
legal class?"
The physicians of 1831, members of the Medical
Society, according to the Directory of that year, were:
Isaac Hugh, William Barnes, John Woolley, Daniel B.
Robbins, Josiah Whitman, James M. Mason, John More-
head, James M. Ludlum, Lawton Richmond, Jesse Smith,
William Mulford, Joseph K. Sparks, Melancthon Rogers,
Vincent C. Marshall, Lorenzo Lawrence, Roswell P.
Hayes, Charles Woodward, E. W. Bradbury, Joseph
Challen, Cunningham S. Ramsey, Jedediah Cobb, John
E. Bush, A. Slayback, Joseph N. McDowell, George Pat-
terson, Robert Morehead, James Warren, Welcott Rich-
ards, Edwin A. AtLee, William S. Ridgely, Rowland Wil-
lard, M. D. Donellan, James C. Finley, Daniel Drake,
Landon C. Rives, Charles Barnes, Thomas S. Towler,
John T. Shotwell, George B. Walker, J. L. Do*sey, James
Killough, Holmes Parvin, H. H. Sherwood, Hugh Bon-
ner, James M. Staughton, Benjamin S. Lawson, John F.
Henry.
DOCTOR WRIGHT.
In 1838 a notable physician of Columbus, Dr. Marma-
duke B. Wright, was invited to Cincinnati as professor of
Materia Medica in the Medical College of Ohio. In
1840 Dr. Morehead resigned the chair of Obstetrics in
that institution, and Dr. Wright was transferred to it.
This Dr. Morehead was one of the old practitioners, and
is designated as "Professor Pill" in the satires of "Horace
in Cincinnati." In the spring of 1850, with others, Dr.
Wright was removed by the Board of Trustees, but remain-
ed in Cincinnati as a practitioner. He was one of the first
physicians in the West to use chloroform in parturition
cases, which he did with success at the Commercial hos-
3°°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
pital as early as 1848. In 1852 he took the opportunity
of a European tour to visit the most famous hospitals of
England and France. He was, to some extent, a poetical
writer, and occasionally prepared New Year's addresses
for the city papers. He also wrote much in prose for the
medical journals and the daily press, and read many papers
and discourses before various learned bodies. His most
famous production was a prize essay on Difficult Labors
and their Treatment, read to the Ohio State Medical So-
ciety in 1854. His last public effort was at the opening
of the Amphitheatre of the Cincinnati hospital, October
1, 1877, when he delivered a masterly address, to which
we acknowledge indebtedness elsewhere. In i860 Dr.
Wright was restored to the Faculty of the Medical col-
lege, and retained his chair until 1868, when increasing
infirmities prompted his resignation. He was made a
member of the Board of Trustees and emeritus professor
of obstetrias, and for many years was observing and con-
sulting obstetrician to the hospital. In 1861 he was
health officer of the city, and was at one time president
of the State Medical society, and had an influential mem-
bership in many other associations. Dr. Wright died in
October, 1879.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE
the number of allopathic physicians in Cincinnati was
one hundred and fifty-one; of eclectic, nineteen; homoeo-
pathic, sixteen; botanic, five; Indian, one; unclassified,
seven.
A prominent old Cincinnati physician and professor in
the Ohio Medical and Dental colleges died Sunday,
November 21, 1880, of blood-poisoning. Dr. Thomas
Wood was born at Smithfield, in this State, August 22,
1814, studied medicine and graduated in the same at the
University of Philadelphia; practiced three years in an
asylum in that city and for a time in Smithfield, coming
to Cincinnati in 1845. Here he rose to eminence as a
practitioner and a professor in various medical colleges
during the next thirty-five years. He also owned and
conducted for a time the Western Lancet and Observer.
During the war he did useful medical service in the field,
and after the battle of Shiloh contracted blood-poisoning,
which cost him the removal of a part of his thumb in
order to save his life. After the disaster on the Cincinnati,
Hamilton & Dayton railroad, October 20, 1880, he was
employed to attend ten of the wounded, and in handling
their cases he was poisoned a second time, with the ulti-
mate loss of his life. He was very highly esteemed in
the profession, as well as by the community.
THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF OHIO.
The beginnings of this institution were undoubtedly
outlined in the mind of Dr. Daniel Drake during his
short incumbency of the chair of Materia Medica in the
Transylvania University at Lexington, in the winter of
1816-17. The next year he announced a series of bo-
tanical lectures at Cincinnati, to which a subscription of
forty-four names was obtained. About that time Dr.
Drake, with Dr. Coleman Rogers and Rev. Elijah Slack,
then principal of the Lancasterian Seminary, made up
their minds to undertake a short course of medical in-
struction, and began lectures to a class of twelve. The
Lexington people took alarm at this germ of a new
medical college so near them, and offered Dr. Drake the
best professorship in their university, if he would make
permanent removal thither; but his heart was fixed upon
Cincinnati and his own projects, and he declined to re-
move. This was in 18 18. In the winter of this year he
went to Columbus with his drafts of charters for the
medical college and a hospital to be connected there-
with, and a charter for the Cincinnati college, into which
the Lancasterian Seminary was to be merged. He was
thoroughly successful before the legislature in the pres-
entation of all his schemes, and the charters were ob-
tained in January, without special difficulty. Everything
seemed favorable for the inauguration of the medical
school at once; but the intrigues of some of his profes-
sional brethren, to secure control of the institution at
the very outset, delayed its opening for a year. In Janu-
ary, 1820, however, its organization was completed, and
a circular prepared by Dr. Drake, head of the college by
its charter, was issued to the public. The principal parts
of that document are as follows :
The medical college of Ohio is at length organized, and full courses
of lectures on the various branches of the profession will be delivered in
the ensuing winter {1820-21]. The assignment of the different depart-
ments for the first session will be as follows, viz. :
The Institutes and Practice of Medicine, including Obstetrics and the
Diseases of Women and Children — Daniel Drake, M. D.
Anatomy and Surgery — Jesse Smith, M. D.
Materia Medica and Pharmacy — Benjamin S. Bohrer, M. D.
Chemistry — Elijah Slack, A. M. , President of Cincinnati College.
Assistant in Chemistry — Robert Best, Curator of the Western
Museum.
Medical jurisprudence will be divided among the professors, accord-
ing to its relations with the different branches which they teach.
After the termination of the session, should a sufficient class be con-
stituted, a course of Botanical Lectures will be delivered, in which the
leading object will be- to illustrate the Medical Botany of the United
States.
The considerations which originally suggested the establishment of a
medical college, and which doubtless induced the general assembly to
give its sanction, were— first, the obvious and increasing necessity for
such an institution in the western country; and, secondly, the peculiar
fitness and advantages of this city for the successful execution of the
project. These are its central situation, its northern latitude, its easy
water communications with most parts of the western country, and,
#above all,, the comparatively numerous population. This already ex-
ceeds ten thousand — more than double the number of any other inland
town in the new States; and, from the facility of emigrating to it by
water, the proportion of indigent immigrants is unusually great. The
professo'rs placed on this ample theatre will, therefore, have numerous
opportunities of treating a great variety of diseases, and thus be able
to impart those principles and rules of practice which are framed from
daily observations on the peculiar maladies which the student, after the
termination of his collegiate course, will have to encounter.
The same state of things has compelled the guardians of the poor to
assemble their sick into one edifice, and thus to lay the foundation of a
permanent hospital, the care of which is confided to one of the profes-
sors. In this hospital, which is at no time without patients, the stu-
dents will have many opportunities of hearing clinical lectures and of
witnessing illustrations of the various doctrines which are taught in
this college.
Finally, every medical man will perceive that, amidst so mixed and
multiplied a population, the opportunities presented to the western
student for the study of practical anatomy will altogether transcend any
which he can enjoy, without visiting and paying tribute to the schools
of the Atlantic States.
The first session opened in the fall of this year with an
attendance of thirty members. The two professors, Drs.
Smith and Bohrer, were new men in the community,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
301
having been invited from eastern cities to their chairs.
These were originally designed for two others, Cincinnati
physicians, who were named in the charter among the
original corporators ; but the intrigues which delayed the
opening of the college for a year had made it necessary
to remove them in order to organize a faculty for the
school. But the new men in their turn soon took ground
against Dr. Drake, and, as we have seen, actually expelled
the founder from the institution. Another session was
attempted the following winter, by two professors only,
and a corporal's guard of pupils; but it was poor work,
and the college would probably with that have ended its
small usefulness, had not the legislature, at the session of
1822-3, amended the charter and appointed a board of
trustees, with General Harrison at the head, and with sole
power of electing and dismissing members of the faculty.
The college was revived the next winter, but with an at-
tendance of only fifteen, while Lexington the same year
had two hundred and thirty-four. The next year there
were thirty; the next year eighty; then, in successive
years, one hundred and one, one hundred and one, one
hundred and seven, one hundred and twenty-four, one
hundred and thirty-one, seventy-two, one hundred and
two, and eighty-three, making one thousand and nine-
teen in the sixteen years of the chartered existence of the
college, 1819-34. The first and fifth years, however,
there were no students; and of the rest an average of
twelve per year, from 1826 to 1833, or ninety-six in all,
were beneficiaries, and contributed nothing to the sup-
port of the college.
During the same period of sixteen years, the attend-
ance at the medical college in Lexington aggregated
three thousand and twenty. The comparative weakness
and inefficiency of the Ohio Medical college excited the
attention and inquiry of the profession generally in south-
ern Ohio, and at the legislative session of 1834-5 a Pet'-
tion for reform in its management was sent in, numerous-
ly signed, not only by physicians of Cincinnati, but by
those of Dayton, Xenia, Circleville, and other places.
The assembly elected a new board of trustees, which
through a committee sent out a circular dated April 14,
1835, asking physicians to whom it was addressed what,
in their judgment, were the causes of the inefficiency of
the college. Answers were returned by a large number,
and the committee, after a careful digest of them, re-
ported the reasons of the decline of the institution to
be "the dissensions of the individuals composing the fac-
ulty at different periods, and the want of scientific repu-
tation in the teachers." In the effort at reconstruction
and reform, Dr. Drake was offered the . chair of theory
and practice, and two other places in the faculty were
opened to his friends; but, since three or four of the
former professors, who had been virtually condemned by
the report, were to be retained, Dr. Drake declined to co-
operate, and went instead into the new medical depart-
ment of Cincinnati college, of which he was also founder.
The older institution, however, maintained its existence,
and prospered fairly. In 1841 its library contained over
two thousand volumes, and it also possessed large cabi-
nets among which was a cabinet of comparative anato-
my more extensive and containing rarer specimens than
any other in the country. Its faculty was now composed
of Dr. John T. Shotwell, professor of anatomy and phy-
siology, and dean of the faculty; Dr. John Locke, profes-
sor of chemistry and pharmacy; Dr. Reuben D. Mussey,
professor of surgery ; Dr. David Oliver, professor of ma-
teria medica and lecturer on pathology; Dr. M. B. Wright,
professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and chil-
dren; Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, professor of theory and
practice.
In 1851 a new building was put up for the college,
being, with enlargements, that now occupied by it near
the corner of Sixth and Vine streets. It is of brick, cast-
iron and freestone, in the collegiate Gothic style, one hun-
dred and five by seventy-five feet, and forty-eight feet
high. The original building here was only fifty-four by
thirty-six feet. Mr. John P. Foote, in his Schools of Cin-
cinnati, writing in 1855, says: "The internal arrange-
ments furnish accommodations for professors and pupils
which are said, by persons competent to speak ex cathedra
on the subject, to be unsurpassed, in extent of conve-
nience, by any institution of the kind in the United States."
A valuable History of the Chair of Practice in this in-
stitution was given to the profession and the public by
Professor James F. Whitaker, M. D., of the college
Faculty, in an introductory lecture September 4, r87Q.
It includes many valuable notices of the older and later
practitioners and medical professors here, and is amply
worth transfer bodily to these pages. We omit, however
the preliminary matter, and the sketch of Dr. Drake's
career, with which the notices begin. The whole was
printed in the Cincinnati Lancet and Observer for Oc-
tober, 1879:
Dr. John Morehead was born in the county of Monaghan, Ireland
in 1784. He graduated at the University of Edinburgh, and shortly
after entered the medical service of the regular British army. In 1820
he crossed the ocean and came to Cincinnati. Dr. Morehead was ap-
.pointed to the chair of Theory and Practice in the Medical College of
Ohio in 1825, and held this position six years, when on a re-organiza-
tion of the faculty he was appointed to the chair of Obstetrics and Dis-
eases of Women and Children. For nine years he lectured in this
field and then resigned and went to Ireland to visit his father, who was
one of the nobility, and proprietor of large landed estates. In 1842 he
returned to the old field of his labors, from which even the prospect of a
coronet could not entice him, and was in the same year appointed Pro-
fessor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. He'now made annual
trips to Ireland, going over in the spring and returning every autumn to
fill his winter course. In 1849 his father died, and Dr. Morehead left
our city and college, abandoned the practice of medicine, returned to
Ireland, and became Sir John Morehead. He died in 1873, over eighty
years of age. The old practitioners of this city are most of them his
students. They speak of him with veneration. He was a remarkably
lucid lecturer, a keen diagnostician, and a sound practitioner of the old
school.
Jared Potter Kirtland, M. D., LL. D., was born in Wallingford,
Connecticut, November 10, 1793. At an early age he was adopted into
the family of his grandfather, Dr. Jared Potter, a distinguished physi-
cian of Wallingford, and there received his early education. In 1803
his father removed to Poland, Mahoning county, Ohio, leaving his son*
in the family of his grandfather while pursuing his studies in the acad-
emies of Wallingford and Cheshire. At the age of twelve young Kirt-
land was an expert at budding and engrafting; and a student of the
Linnaean system of botany. He also, with some assistance, managed
the extensive orchard of white mulberry trees established by his grand-
father for the cultivation of silkworms. In 1810 his father, being dan-
gerously ill, sent for him to come west. He left home in May, travel-
ling on horseback, and reached his father's house in June, who in the
3°2
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
meantime had recovered. Young Kirtland began teaching school soon
after his arrival. In 1811 his grandfather died, leaving him his medical
library and means to attend the medical school in Edinburgh. He re-
turned at once to Wallingford and began the study of medicine in the
office of Dr. John Andrews, and later in that of Dr. Sylvester Wells, of
Hartford, both of whom had been pupils of his grandfather. In 1813
he was ready to enter Edinburgh university, but the war with Great
Britain prevented, and, as the medical department of Yale college was
to open the following winter, his name was recorded first on the matric-
ulation book of that institution. While at Yale he received private
instructions in botany from Professor Ives and in mineralogy and geol-
ogy from Professor Silliman, and made great progress in zoology with-
out a teacher. After one year at Yale his health required him to take a
vacation, which was passed at Wallingford, during a time of general
sickness. He practiced during this time with success. In 1814 he at-
tended lectures at the university of Pennsylvania. In this year he re-
turned to Yale college, and graduated there in 1816. He began prac-
tice at once in Wallingford.
In 1818 he journeyed to Poland, Ohio, and made arrangements to
take his family there. During his absence from home he was elected,
against his will, probate judge. He performed the duties of this office
until he settled as a physician in Durham, Connecticut. At this place
he remained until 1823, when the death of his wife and daughter oc-
curred. He then returned with his father to Ohio. Though it was not
his intention to practice, but to be a farmer and a merchant, calls were
constantly made upon him, and he finally became associated with Dr.
Eli Mygath, an able physician. In 1828 he was elected a representative
to the legislature, where he succeeded in putting an end to close con-
finement in the penitentiary and to deriving profit from the labors
of convicts. He continued in the legislature for three terms. During
this time he carried through the bills chartering the Ohio and Pennsyl-
vania canal. In 1834 he announced the existence of sex in the naiads
(Vid. American Journal of Art and Science, vol. xxvi). He decided that
the fresh-water shells of Ohio were of different sexes, not hermaphrodite,
as has been supposed. The translators of the Encyclopaedia Icono-
graphie attempted to refute his statements. Professor Agassiz said,
"Dr. Kirtland's views are entirely correct, and have been sustained by
my own and the German naturalists' observations. " In 1837 he accepted
the chair of theory and practice in the Medical college of Ohio, and
continued in this institution until 1842.
He was the colleague of Cook, Harrison, Locke, Mussey, Oliver, Shot-
well, and Wright. In 1842 he resigned and accepted the same chair in
Willoughby Medical college, where he remained one year. In 1843 he
was elected to the same chair in the medical department of Western
Reserve college, Cleveland. He continued in this school until 1864.
In 1848, when the first geological survey of Ohio was made, he took
part as assistant in the natural history department. His report em-
braces a catalogue of the fishes, birds, reptiles and mollusks of Ohid,
and was published in the Boston Journal of Natural Sciences and in
the Family Visitor. He commenced a cabinet of Ohio mammals,
birds, reptiles, and insects, and a cabinet of the land and fresh-water
shells of the State. The legislature stopped the survey, and ultimately
he donated his collections to the Kirtland Society of Natural History,
of Cleveland. He was president of the State Medical society in 1849
and one of its vice-presidents in 1851. In 1861 Williams college con-
ferred on him the degree of LL. D. During the war he was detailed to
examine several thousand drafted men. He donated all his pay to the
bounty fund of Rockport and to the Soldiers' Aid society. He was
called "the Sage of Rockport." For many years he was president of
the Cleveland Academy of Natural Sciences and of the Kirtland Society
of Natural History. He received the title of Philosopher from the
American Philosophical society in 1875. At the age of seventy he de-
clined to lecture on any subject. Of his long life and great labors more
than half were given to the public without compensation. When by
long and tedious experiment he found fruits especially adapted to Ohio,
seeds, slips, and young trees were gratuitously distributed throughout
the country. He gave himself no rest as long as his physical condition
permitted him to work. He had printed over his table the motto,
"Time is money ; I have none of either to spare." He was one of that
band who move in the van of science, and by personal observation and
unremitting study add to the sum of human knowledge and to the ele-
vation of the race. .
He died in Cleveland December io, 1877, aged eighty-four years.
Dr. John Eberle was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, Jan-
uary, 1788. His parents were of the early German population of Lan-
caster county, and cultivators of the soil. Of his early training little
is known; certainly he had no collegiate education. He began the
study of medicine about 1806, and graduated at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1809. Disappointed in not immediately acquiring a
lucrative business in a shoit time, he undertook the editorship of a po-
litical paper in the midst of a gubernatorial contest. This soon de-
privedhim of medical practice, but involved him in the practices of po-
litical demagogues, which were nearly his utter ruin. Alarmed at his
danger, he quit politics and his home and located in Philadelphia,
where he began again the struggle for existence. In 1818 he published
the first number of the American Medical Recorder, which for years
enjoyed great popularity. In 1822 he published Eberle's Therapeutics,
which was acknowledged at home and abroad as the best work then
extant on the subject. It was in two volumes. Dr. Eberle was one of
the founders of the Jefferson Medical College. During his connection
with that school he published his work on Theory and Practice, in two
volumes. The demand for it was great, and it reached a fifth edition.
In the summer of 1830 he was invited to take the Chair of Materia
Medica and Botany in the Medical Department of Miami University,
then being formed in this city. He reached Cincinnati in the fall of
i83r. At that time the new school had merged into the Medical Col-
lege of Ohio, and Dr. Eberle became one of the professors. During
his connection with the Medical College of Ohio he published his work
on Diseases of Children. He was co-editor with Drs. Staughton and
Mitchell of the Western Medical Gazette. In 1837 Dr. Eberle was
elected to the Chair of Theory and Practice in the University at Lex-
ington* with a salary of four thousand dollars, guaranteed for three
years. The highest expectations had been raised in Lexington of the
coming man ; but trials and disappointments had completely broken
him down mentally and physically, and his efforts there resulted in
failure. He died in Lexington February 2, 1838, before the close of the
first session, set. fifty.
Dr. John P. Harrison was born in Louisville, Kentucky, June 5,
1796. He began the study of medicine in that city, but the principal
part of his pupilage was spent in the office of Professor Chapman, in
Philadelphia. He graduated'in the Medical Department of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania in 1819, and began immediately the practice of
his profession in his native city. There he remained sixteen years.
Much of this time he was physician to the Marine Hospital. In 1835
he removed to Philadelphia, but having received the appointment of
Professor in the Cincinnati College, he came the same year to this city.
He remained in that school until it suspended in 1839. In 1841 he was
elected Professor of Materia Medica in the Medical College of Ohio.
In 1847 he was transferred to the Chair of Practice, but after two ses-
sions, in 1849, at his own request, he was restored to his former Chair.
This position he held at the time of his death. He was President of
the Medical Convention of Ohio in 1843, Chairman of the Committee
on Medical Literature in the American Medical Association in Balti-
more in 1848, and Vice-President of the same body at Boston in 1849.
During his connection with the Cincinnati College he was one of the
editors of the Western Journal of Medicine. In 1847 he became one
of the editors of the Western Lancet.
His more important works were Essays and Lectures on Medical
Subjects, and his work on Materia Medica, in two volumes, published
in 1845. He died of cholera, in this city, September 1, 1849, aged
fifty-three. He fell like a soldier in the line of duty, with his face to
the foe.
Of his successor I can find but the following note, taken from the
Medical News and Library, October, 1872:
"There died in this city, August 19th, at the mature age of seventy-
two years, Dr. John Bell. Dr. Bell is well-known as a contributor to
medical literature. He is the author of a work on Baths and Mineral
Waters, which has gone through several editions. He edited, with ad-
ditions, Stokes' Treatise on the Practice of Physic, Combe's Treatise
on the Physical and Moral Management of Infancy, etc. , and contrib-
uted very many papers to different periodicals, and reports to societies.
He lectuied for several years in the Phiadelphia Medical Institute, and
occupied for one session the Chair of Theory and Practice in the Ohio
Medical College. For several years his health had been declining and
had incapacitated him from active professional duties."
Samuel G. Armor, M.D., now of Brooklyn, New York, was born
January 29, 1818, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish
parentage. While young his parents removed to Ohio. He received
his collegiate educatidn at Franklin college, New Athens, Ohio, and the
degree of LL.D. was conferred on him in the same institution at its
commencement in June, 1872. He studied medicine with Dr. James S.
Troine, of Millersburgh, Ohio, and graduated in the Missouri Medical
college of St. Louis in 1844. Soon after his graduation he located in
Rockport, Illinois. In 1847 he accepted an invitation to deliver a
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3°3
special course of lectures on physiology in the Rush Medical college of
Chicago, Illinois, and the following year he was tendered the chair of
physiology and pathology in the same institution, which he declined for
the reason that he had just accepted the same chair in the medical de-
partment of the Iowa university, located at Keokuk, Iowa. He sub-
sequently resigned his chair in this institution, and accepted the chair
of the natural sciences in the Cleveland university, in the meantime de-
voting himself to the general practice of his profession. In July, 1853,
the Ohio State Medical society awarded to Dr. Armor a prize for his
essay upon the Zymotic Theory of the Essential Fevers, and during the
same year he resigned the chair of the natural sciences in the Cleveland
university and accepted the chair of physiology and pathology in the
Medical College of Ohio. During the following year he was transferred
to the chair of pathology and practice of medicine and clinical medi-
cine, made vacant by the resignation of Professor L. M- Lawson, which
chair he continued to fill during his connection with the school. In
May, 1855, Dr. Armor was married to Mary M. Holcomb, of Dayton,
Ohio, and soon after resigned his position in the Medical College of
Ohio and transferred his residence to that city. Immediately after his
resignation in the Medical College of Ohio he was elected to the chair
of pathology and clinical medicine in the Missouri Medical college of
St. Louis, of which institution he was an alumnus. In 1861 he was ten-
dered the chair of institutes of medicine and materia medica in the
University of Michigan, which position he accepted, making his home
in Detroit. In 1866, he accepted the chair of therapeutics, materia
medica, and general pathology in the Long Island College hospital of
Brooklin, New York, and in the following year he was transferred to
that of practice of medicine and clinical medicine, made vacant by the
resignation of Professor Austin Flint, which position he still occupies.
Dr. Armor has been a frequent contributor to the current medical lit-
erature of his time.
Leonidas Moreau Lawson was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky,
September 12, 1812. He received his early education in what after-
wards became Augusta college. In 1830, at the age of eighteen, he
received a license to practice medicine in the first medical district of
Ohio. He removed soon after to Mason county, Kentucky, where he
engaged in practice until 1837, when he attended lectures at Transylva-
nia university, Lexington, graduating there in the spring of 1838. In
1841 he removed to Cincinnati. In 1842 he founded the Western Lan-
cet, and continued its sole editor and proprietor until 1855. In 1844
he commenced to reprint Hope's Pathological Anatomy. During the
same year he received a call to a chair in Transylvania university. In
1845 he spent several months in the hospitals of London and Paris.
On his return he removed to Lexington, where he delivered two courses
of lectures. He edited the Western Lancet in that city while lecturing
there. In 1847 he accepted the chair of materia medica and general
pathology in the Medical college cf Ohio. This position he held until
1853, when he was appointed professor of the principles and practice
of medicine and of clinical medicine. In 1855 he disposed of his
interest in the Western Lancet to Dr. Thomas Wood. In 1854 and
1855 he delivered two courses of lectures in the Kentucky School of
Medicine, at Louisville, Kentucky. In 1856 he returned to the Medi-
cal college of Ohio, where he remained until his death. In 1861 he
published his work on Phthisis Pulmonalis, a work to which he had
given six years of earnest labor and which was a standard work long
after its publication. He died in Cincinnati, January 21, 1804, mt.
fifty-one, of the disease whose pathology he had done so much to
establish. I was myself at that time a student upon the benches, and
well remember the long line of student-mourners who filed out of the
college down to the church, and from the church to the grave. The
short remnant of his course was filled out by Dr. C. G. Comegys, of
this city, at that time professor in the college of the Institutes of Medi-
cine, as the chair of physiology was then called.
Dr. James Graham died only a few days ago [October, 1879] at the
ripe, age of sixty-one, and we have just had opportunity to observe in
what veneration he was held in this city and school. He entered this
college in 1854, and lectured continuously in it for twenty years. He
was dean of the college for ten or fifteen years. He was born at New
Lisbon, Ohio, in 1818 ; but very little is known of his early history. He
was educated at Jefferson college, Washington county, Pennsylvania,
and graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Phila-
delphia. He came to us friendless and unknown. He raised himself
to the highest position that could be reached in medicine, and held it
with honor to himself and to his profession for a full quarter of a
century, resigning it then, under protest of all his colleagues, because
he felt that his day was done. One day in his early youth he stood
up in the Medical society and made a report of a case. His report
was sharply criticised, and he defended himself with an ability in
singular contrast with his age and experience. A few days afterwards
a far-sighted old physician, who was conducting a medical college,
came to him and requested him to fill a chair in it. The students in
the other schools thought it a joke, and they made up a crowd to go
and give him a reception. They went down armed with paper-wads
and such other missiles of juvenile aggression. They came pouring in
at the door. Dr. Graham was just at his desk, and was stopped by
the noise. For a moment he was thoroughly confused, then straighten-
ing himself he begged for a few moments' attention. Forthwith he
commenced his subject and as, stimulated by the opposition, he con-
tinued his lecture, he poured out such a stream of simple eloquence as
won every heart. Cheer after cheer went up as he closed. The whole
class was won. In a few years more he was at the post he held for
twenty years in the Medical College of Ohio.
Dr. Graham had been sick so long that the youngest generation of
medical men never knew him personally. But they knew of him. The
name of no teacher of medicine in this city has ever come down with
such a halo about it as that of Dr. Graham. It is the universal testi-
mony of students of medicine, who have sat at his feet while he taught,
that he had no equal as a lecturer on the practice of mdHicine. It was
not that his vocabulary was so great. On the contrary his words were
few, but they were so perfectly clear and choice as to convey, with the
greatest force, precisely what he meant to say. Dr. Graham was master
in the art of exposition. His style was perfectly simple. He stood
straight as an arrow before his class and spoke, at first gently, win-
ning^, and then warmly, until his face glowed like a poet's and music
fell from his lips. Dr. Graham had but one affectation. He would
always pretend, not so much in words as manner, a kind of amusing
indifference to the statements of Continental authors ; but if there hap-
pened to be on the benches a scholarfamiliar with their works, he soon
discovered that they had been ransacked for new points in pathology
before the lecture was begun. An inexperienced listener would often
wonder at the perfect flow of facts upon such short preparation, or
seemingly none at all, but it was well known that Dr. Graham never
went before his class without thorough investigation of the best and
latest books. Thereupon would follow that lucid exposition of the
subject which gave the student a knowledge of disease he could not
learn from books.
But it was as a lecturer in clinical medicine that Dr. Graham stood
head and shoulders above others. It was at the bedside rather than at
the desk that he forgot' himself, and made the student forget himself,
in the subject being studied. It was indeed a rare privilege to hear Dr.
Graham lecture on a case of heart-disease, so systematically and suc-
cinctly could he make a diagnosis, and so clearly and convincingly es-
tablish the principles of its treatment. Men who had been abroad and
listened to the best clinicians of Europe, would say invariably on their
return, " I have never heard the equal of Dr. Graham as a clinical lect-
urer." Profounder scholars were abundant, more thorough patholo-
gists everywhere, but better clinicians none. Dn Graham had in his
prime a keen insight, a woman's intuition, a fine instinct, which enabled
him to fix upon the disease at once, and he had, as only the children of
genius have, the gift of making it plain to the commonest understand-
ing. The country students fresh from the plough, and the college
graduate fresh from the halls of learning, sat with equal pleasure and
profit at his feet. As a physician he was emphatically a "doctor for
doctors."
Dr. Graham seldom wrote. Had he written as he talked his death
would have been felt as a national loss. He leaves few relatives to
mourn him. But there are a thousand men in this State to-day, his
pupils in the past, who will feel such grief at the announcement of the
death of James Graham as the wider world felt at the death of Charles
Dickens.
Robert Bartholow, A. M., M. D., the recently elected professor of
materia medica in Jefferson Medical college, was born November 18,
1831, in Howard county, Maryland. He is now, therefore, at forty-
eight, in the full maturity of life. We learn from the Biographical
Encyclopedia of Ohio that he completed his education at Calvert col-
lege, in his native State, and in due course of time received fi om this
institution the degree of master of arts. He began the study of medi-
cine immediately upon leaving college, and in the year 1852 graduated
from the university of Maryland. He attended subsequent courses of
lectures, however, in the years 1855 and 1856. In 1857 he entered the
United States army by competitive examination, passing first in his
class. He remained in the army "in various capacities, at one time hav-
ing charge of one of the large hospitals in Washington until 1846,
when he resigned to take a position_in the faculty of the Medical col-
3°4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
lege of Ohio. It was during his army service that the monograph on
the enlistment of soldiers was written, a work that still remains official;
and it was at this time also that he contributed an instructive series of
papers to the sanitary commission and published his work on sperma-
torrhoea.
Dr. Bartholow was tendered, immediately upon his entrance into
Cincinnati, the only position in the college then vacant, viz. , the chair
of medical chemistry. This chair had been hitherto filled for the most
part by professional chemists rather than physicians, and the appoint-
ment of a physician, pur et simple, was regarded rather' with disfavor
by that large class opposed to innovations. Dr. Bartholow entered
upon his new duties with characteristic zeal. He began to teach chem-
istry in its application to practical medicine. Instead of inorganic was
substituted organic chemistry. The staid and placid sessions of the
Academy of Medicine, which had been hitherto occupied in the nar-
ratives of the experiences of the older physicians, about as profitable
as the "class meetings" of some of the churches, began to be dis-
turbed by reports on the analysis of drinking water, of cholera excreta
— Dr. Bartholow was at this time put in charge of the Cholera hospital
— on sewerage, ventilation, ozone, etc. It was in this chair of chem-
istry and in these studies that Dr. Bartholow laid the deep foundations
of his education.
In 1869 he was transferred to the chair of Materia Medica, where he
commenced the course which has since given him his fame. For his
concise work on therapeutics is really simply the condensation of his
course of lectures. His lectures were illustrated with experiments ex-
hibiting the action of drugs on the lower animals, and his abundant
writings at this time display, in every direction, the widest research and
the utmost fertility of invention. It was about this time that he wrote
his Manual of Hypodermic Medication, his Russell prize essay on
Quinia, his American Medical association prize essay on Atropia, and
his Fiske prize essay on the Bromides. It is safe to say that he took
the prize whenever he contended for it.
With the retirement of Professor Graham in T874, Dr. Bartholow
naturally drifted into the chair of Theory and Practice in the col-
lege, which position he has held and upheld to the present time. We
can readily imagine that the question of accepting the call to Phila-
delphia must have been long and deliberately studied before it was ac"
cepted. Dr. Bartholow had by far the largest and most lucrative
practice ever attained in Cincinnati, and, what is even dearer to the
heart of the true physician, enjoyed in a singular degree the confidence
as well as the esteem of his patients. It is safe to say that Dr. Barthol-
ow left all these allurements that he might have leisure to prosecute
his studies. The Appletons are now publishing for him a.large work
upon Practice, which will represent the crowning efforts of his profes-
sional career.
Personally Dr. Bartholow is a man of average height, substantia]
build, reserved manner, intensely active, even restless habit. In lecture
narrative, or debate he is singularly cool and calculating. He is choice
of word, undemonstrative, incisive. An especial characteristic is his
capacity for work. He was at one time pathologist to one hospital,
clinician to another, and regular lecturer in the college. He was at the
same time editor of The Clinic, the first medical weekly published in
the west, was indeed one of the founders of it, was examiner and referee
for a life insurance company, was contributor to all the new and many
of the old journals, meanwhile attending to the ceaseless and often har-
assing demands of a rapidly growing practice. But he was always
ready for a new case, a new lecture or course of them, a new debate in
the academy, a new paper for a journal, a new chapter in a book. Dr.
Bartholow is, in short, the type of a modern physician, and they who
know him best, have no doubt of his success wherever he may go or in
whatever work he may engage.
With this sketch our record is complete to date. These are their
works, and these are the individuals [including Dr. Drake] who succes-
sively filled the chair of Practice in the Medical college of Ohio for
sixty years, from October 1, 1819, to October 1, 1879. We may safely
challenge any other institution or any other branch of learning, in this
city or in the west, to show as bright a page of history.
The Medical College of Ohio has now grown to be
one of the greatest institutions of the kind in the world.
Its Sixtieth Annual Catalogue and Announcement, made
for the session of 1880-1, bears the name often full pro-
fessors in the Faculty of the College, with six assistants
and one instructor, two demonstrators and one assistant,
and two lecturers, with a catalogue of nearly two thousand
graduates. One hundred and twenty-one- — the largest
graduating class in the history of the college — were grad-
uated at the Commencement of 1880, while the entire
number of matriculants for the year was three hundred
and twenty-six. The Faculty have exclusive charge of
the Good Samaritan hospital, on the southeast corner of
Sixth and Lock streets, which is managed by the Sisters
of Charity. The students also receive clinical instruction
in the College dispensary and in the Cincinnati hospital,
to the latter of which the students of all medical colleges
in the city are admitted. A new Clinical amphitheatre
has been erected in connection with the College, for the
students of the Ohio Medical. A liberal system of
prizes and hospital appointments also opens superior ad-
vantages to the ambitious student. The Public Library,
in the immediate vicinity of the College, contains a large
medical library, which is open to the students gratui-
tously during all library hours.
THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF CINCINNATI COLLEGE.
This was organized in 1835, under the charter of the
College, giving it full powers to establish such branch.
The reasons for its establishment appear, with sufficient
fullness for the purposes of this History, in the resolu-
tion presented at a meeting of the trustees of the Col-
lege, in May of this year, at the instance of Dr. Joshua
Martin, a physician of Xenia and mover of the resolu-
tion :
Whereas, The recent attempts of the medical profession and the
General Assembly of Ohio to re-organize and improve the condition of
the Medical College of Ohio have, as we are informed, been unsuccess-
ful (the Board of Trustees having adjourned sine die, leaving two or
three of its professorships vacant) ; and whereas, there is the utmost
danger that Ohio will lose the advantages of a medical institution,
unless immediate measures be taken to organize a substitute for said
college; — therefore, be it
Resolved, That this Board- will forthwith proceed to establish a Med-
ical Department of the Cincinnati College.
The resolution was referred to Trustees Martin,
Ephraim Morgan, Albert Picket, Dr. William Mornit,
and William R. Morris. Their report thereon was that,
"from the peculiar situation in which the Medical Col-
lege of Ohio is placed at this time, the interests of the
State, and especially of this community, require that this
Board should immediately create a Medical Department
and appoint a Medical Faculty."
This proved to be the sense of the Board; the De-
partment was accordingly formed, and the following-
named Faculty announced the next month:
Dr. J. N. McDowell, special and surgical anatomy.
Dr. Samuel D. Gross, general and pathological
anatomy, physiology, and medical jurisprudence.
Dr. Horatio G. Jameson, surgery.
Dr. Landon C. Rives, obstetrics, and diseases of women
and children.
Dr. James B. Rogers, chemistry and pharmacy.
Dr. John P. Harrison, materia medica.
Dr. Daniel Drake, theory and practice of medicine.
John L. Riddle, M. A., adjunct professor of chemistry.
Three of these were professors from the Faculty of the
Medical College, chosen, it would appear, as a measure
of policy, in the nature of a hint to the trustees of the
Medical college to adopt the new Faculty themselves,
«?£
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3°5
and thus avoid the alternative of another school of the
kind in connection with the Cincinnati college. The
hint was not taken, however, and the department was
duly opened the next fall. Dr. Jameson did not fulfill
his appointment, and the chair was taken by that distin-
guished surgeon and scientist, Dr. Willard Parker. After
the first session Mr. Riddle vacated his place, and Dr.
Cary A. Trimble, afterwards a prominent physician in
Chillicothe and a member of congress, was appointed
demonstrator in anatomy. The chair filled by Dr. Gross
was the first of the kind founded in the United States,
and the abilities and reputation of its occupant contrib-
uted to give it distinction. The Faculty as a whole was
considered a very able one.
The new department at once took respectable rank,
and considerably led the older medical college in the at-
tendance of students, having eighty the first year and
one hundred and twenty-five the next, then standing sec-
ond in this particular among the western schools of
medicine. Its history was inevitably short, however.
Four sessions it lasted, and there was an end. Mr.
Mansfield says, in the Life of Dr. Drake:
The cause of the dissolution of the medical department at that time
was one which has extinguished the hopes and promise of many literary
institutions in this country. It was simply the want of funds to sup-
ply the apparatus, library, hospital, and other material means necessary
to carry on scientific instruction. The day is gone when any unin-
spired man can, by human learning or eloquence, go out into the
fields and draw crowds around him, as was once the case in the middle
ages, when learning emerged from the tomb of centuries. The world
now requires the luxurious arts of instruction, and is no longer willing
to receive the lessons of Gamaliel divested of the dross and drapings of
his profession. Nor is science any longer the simple and unadorned
thing it once was. It comes now not only with man's arts, but with
complications and collaterals which require a scientific machinery for
adaptation and illustration. In fine, to establish a scientific institution
and give instructions in all its parts, requires buildings, apparatus,
libraries, and laboratories, which in turn require the investment of large
snms of money. The faculty of Cincinnati college undertook to do this
for themselves, found it too great a burden and gave it up.
Dr. Gross, who was with the school from the begin-
ning almost to the end, adds :
The chief burden fell upon the four original projectors — Drake, Riv-
ers, McDowell and myself. They found the edifice of the Cincinnati
college, erected many years before, in a state of decay, without appara-
tus, lecture-room, or museum; they had to go east of the mountains for
two or three professors, with onerous guarantees; and they had to en-
counter no ordinary degree of prejudice and actual opposition from the
friends of the medical college of Ohio. It is not surprising, therefore,
that after struggling on, though with unusually increasing classes and
with a spirit of activity and perseverance that hardly knew any bounds,
it should at length have exhausted the patience and even the forbear-
ance of its founders; What, however, contributed more, perhaps,
than anything else to its immediate downfall was the resignation of
Dr. Parker, who, in the summer of 1839, accepted the corresponding
chair in the college of physicians and surgeons of the city of New York,
an institution which he has been so instrumental in elevating, and
which he still continues to adorn by his talents and his extraordinary
popularity as a teacher and a practitioner. The vacation of the surgical
chair was soon followed by my own retirement and by that of my other
colleagues, Dr. Drake being the last to withdraw. . . The
school had cost each of the original projectors about four thousand
dollars, nearly the amount of the emoluments of their respective chairs
during its brief but brilliant career.
In its four years the department had in all about four
hundred students, in the last year of its existence its
classes numbering nearly double those of the medical
college.
One notable episode of the short existence of this de-
partment was the purchase, by its executive committee,
of a literary periodical, the Cincinnati Mirror, as an organ
of its interests — a proceeding which would nowadays be
considered at least a very queer one. The Mirror was
bought of its publishers, Messrs. Flash & Ryder, for one
thousand dollars, and its name was changed to the
Chronicle, which had been the name of a paper started
in 1826 by Benjamin Drake, brother of Dr. Drake, and
lasted till 1834, when it was merged in the Mirror. Mr.
E. D. Mansfield was engaged to edit the new Chronicle,
and it started off quite hopefully. The subscription list
rapidly fell off under the new auspices, and of those that
remained not one-half paid anything; the medical
men tired of the burden, and sold out to Messrs.
Pugh & Dodd, the senior of whom was also publisher of
Dr. Bailey's abolition paper, and so added to the un-
popularity of whatever he handled; and the Chronicle
had hard work to live. It became a daily paper, how-
ever, in December, 1839, and in one shape or another
lasted for several years longer.
THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF MIAMI UNIVERSITY
was established in Cincinnati in 1830, and went into
operation during the fall of the next year. The lectures
were delivered partly in the hall of the Mechanics' Insti-
tute, then on Walnut street, and partly in a new building
near the corner of Race and Longworth streets. The
present
MIAMI MEDICAL COLLEGE
was established in 1852. It occupies its own building on
Twelfth street, conveniently near the Cincinnati Hospital;
has a staff of seventeen prominent physicians, one of the
largest and best medical museums in the land, the oppor-
tunity of daily clinics at the hospital, and the extensive
Miami College dispensatory, where about eight thousand
patients annually are treated by the faculty and students.
ECLECTIC MEDICAL INSTITUTE.
This school, as its name implies, is devoted to instruc-
tion in the eclectic practice of medicine. It was organ-
ized in 1843, and chartered two years thereafter, with
seven professorships — in anatomy, physiology and insti-
tutes of medicine, materia medica and therapeutics, sur-
gery, obstetrics, and chemistry and pharmacy. The stu-
dents have the privileges of the clinics at the Cincinnati
Hospital. The building now occupied by it, on the north-
west corner of Plum and Court streets, was erected in
187 1, upon the site of an old building formerly used
by it.
THE PULTE MEDICAL COLLEGE
is the only school of homeopathy in the city, and occu-
pies one of the largest and most fully appointed medical
colleges in the country, at the corner of Seventh and
Mound streets. It was organized in 1872, and owes its
foundation mainly, as it does its name altogether, to Dr.
Joseph Pulte, a leading physician of his doctrine in the
city. Its faculty comprises nine professors, two lectur-
ers, and one demonstrator of anatomy. Great attention
is given tojpractical clinical teaching, which occupies
39
3°6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
nineteen out of thirty-nine lectures per week. The an-
nual announcement of the college says :
Pulte College was the first to establish a thorough course of clinical
instruction, which it was enabled to do. from the very large attendance
of cases at the dispensary in the college building, under the charge of
the clinical professors ; and the advantages have been abundantly de-
monstrated by the success of the college alumni all over the country.
While, therefore, this department receives such close attention, didactic
instruction is by no means neglected. Students are therefore thoroughly
drilled in the science and art of medicine. While these advantages are
enjoyed by every matriculant, opportunity is afforded to those who wish
to pursue a special line of study to fit themselves as specialists.
Whatever of trial and opposition the college has had to encounter,
has served more firmly to unite its present faculty, -and rally its friends
in its support. Possessed of one of the finest college edifices in the
country; absolutely owing no man anything, and a surplus in its treas-
ury; conducting one of the largest free dispensaries in the country;
backed and supported by an efficient board of trustees, composed of
representative business men, and with a faculty earnest, competent, and
of large experience in the lecture field, the friends of Homeopathy and
the college need have no fear of the perpetuity and continued success
and usefulness of the Pulte Medical College.
The clinics are conducted at both the college and the
Cincinnati hospital. Ladies are admitted to matricula-
tion, but are taught separately in some of the branches.
The school has already two hundred and twenty-one
graduates, of whom twenty-two were graduated last year.
THE CINCINNATI COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY
was founded in 185 1, by physicians of the "regular" or
allopathic school of practice. It is situated on the south
side of George, between John and Smith streets, and, un-
like some other medical schools, has two sessions a year,
one from October to March, and the other from March to
May, inclusive.
THE PHYSIO-MEDICAL INSTITUTE,
teaching "the doctrines of a vital force and the rejection
of poisons," is situated on the northwest corner of Seventh
and Cutter streets.
THE CINCINNATI COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
is one of but nine such colleges in the United States
whose diplomas, conferring the title of Graduate of
Pharmacy, are granted only when the student possesses,
in addition to the theoretical or scientific knowledge ac-
quired by study, a practical acquaintance with the apothe-
cary business, obtained by actual experience for several
years previous to examination; and whose certificates of
proficiency in chemistry and materia medica are granted
to students having had several years' experience in the
wholesale drug or chemical manufacturing business pre-
vious to passing examination. It was founded in 1870,
and occupies a fine building on the southwest corner of
Fifth and John streets. It has three professors, who give
six evening lectures per week, and also laboratory instruc-
tion. Its matriculants and graduates, to the close of the
session of 1879-80, numbered two hundred and twenty-
five,
THE OHIO COLLEGE OF DENTAL SURGERY
can fitly receive notice here. An excellent historical !
sketch of the institution was prepared for the first annual
meeting of the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and af- ;
terwards published in the Dental Register for May, 1879.
We abridge from it the following account :
Dental colleges accord with no new rule in regard to human progress;
but the thought was ripe in the minds of those giving their entire pro-
fessional attention to the mouth and its adjacent organs. This thought
assumed practical shape first in the State of Maryland, resulting in the
establishment of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. But the
dentists of the west, though fewer in number, and more widely dis-
persed, were equally ripe for action; and this action asserted itself in
the organization of our Alma Mater, the Ohio College of Dental Sur-
gery.
The charter or act of the legislature of Ohio, by which the institution
came into legal existence, was passed January 21, 1845, and constituted
B. P. Aydelott, Robert Buchanan, Dr. Israel M. Dodge, William
Johnson, J. P. Cornell, and Calvin Fletcher, of Cincinnati, Dr. G. S.
Hampstead, of Portsmouth, and Dr. Samuel Martin, of Xenia, and their
successors, a Board of Trustees, with power to establish a College of
Dental Surgery in the city of Cincinnati.
In the spring of 1845 the trustees met and organized by the appoint-
ment of B. P. Aydelott, M. D., D. D., president, and Israel M.
Dodge, M. D., secretary; and then organized the Ohio College of Den-
tal Surgery by the creation of the following departments, viz. :
Dental Anatomy and Physiology, of which Jesse W. Cook, M. D.,
D. D. S., was made professor.
Dental Pathology and Therapeutics, of which Melancthon Rogers,
M. D., D. D. S., was elected professor.
Practical Dentistry and Pharmacy, of which James Taylor, M. D.,
D. D. S., was appointed professor.
Jesse P. Judkins, M. D., was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy;
and Professor Taylor agreed, for the present, to discharge the duties' of
Demonstrator of Practical Dentistry.
The Faculty elected Professor Cook Dean. He issued the first an-
nual announcement; and the college session, for its first course of lec-
tures, opened on the first Monday of November, 1845, and closed on
or about the twentieth day of February, 1846, four young men receiv-
ing degrees, two of whom are yet alive and in active practice. Presi-
dent Aydelott delivered the opening address, conferred the degrees,
and, in behalf of the college, gave each graduate a copy of the Holy
Bible (a custom which has been observed ever since) . Professor Cook
gave the valedictory address to the graduates. And thus ended the
first voyage of our Alma Mater on the sea of science.
For the second session the venerable Christian philosopher, Elijah
Slack, D. D., LL. D., was appointed lecturer on chemistry, and, it is
believed, delivered the first course of lectures on this science ever given
to dental students.
In 1847 Professor Cook resigned his chair, and the trustees filled it
by electing J. F. Potter, M. D., and the faculty appointed Dr. William
M. Hunter demonstrator of mechanical dentistry.
In 1848 Professors Rogers and Potter resigned, and George Menden-
hall, M. D, , was elected professor of dental pathology and therapeu-
tics, and John T. Shotwell, M. D., professor of anatomy and physi-
ology. The faculty appointed A. M. Leslie, D. D. S., demonstrator of
mechanical dentistry, and Charles H. Raymond, lecturer on chemistry.
In the department of anatomy Professor Shotwell was succeeded by
Thomas Wood, M. D.; he by C. B. Chapman, M. D. ; he by Charles
Kearns, M. D.; he by William Clendenin, M. D. The character and
standing of the professors elected to teach this science, show the high
estimate placed upon it by the trustees and stockholders of the college.
In 1850 a professorship of mechanical dentistry was created, and A.
M. Leslie, D. D. S., was elected to the new chair, which place has
since been held by John Allen, D. D. S., H. R. Smith, D. D. S., M. D.,
Joseph Richardson, M. D., D. D. S., C. M. Wright, D. D. S., J. A.
Watling, D. D. S., William Van Antwerp, D. D. S., M. D., N. S, Hoff,
D. D. S., and J. R. Clayton, D. D. S., whom to name is to eulogize
our Alma Mater.
The department of chemistry struggled for existence. After Dr. Ray-
mond, G. L. Van Emon, D. D. S., was appointed lecturer in 1851.
And in 1853 George Watt, M. D., succeeded him as lecturer; and he
was in turn succeeded by George M. Kellogg, M. D. In 1855 the
science was regarded as worthy of a professorship, a new chair was cre-
ated, called "Chemistry and Metallurgy, "and George Watt, M. D., D.
D. S., was elected to fill it. The position has since been filled by H. A.
Smith, D. D. S., S. P. Cutler, D. D. S., J. G. Willis, M. D., D. D.
S. (?), and J. S. Cassidy, M. D., D. D. S., who is the present incum-
bent.
The chair of -pathology, after the resignation of Professor Menden-
hall, was filled by. the election of J. B. Smith, M. D.; and this posi-
tion has been subsequently held by George Watt, M. D., Edward
Rives, M. D., F. Brunning, M. D., and A. O. Rawls, D. D. S., the
present incumbent.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3°7
In 1851 a chair of operative and mechanical dentistry was created,
and John Allen, D. D. S., was elected to fill it. In 1853 this was divid-
ed, leaving the department of operative dentistry to Professor Alien,
who in 1854 resigned the chair, and was succeeded by Jonathan Taft,
D. D. S., who occupied the place till March, 1878.
A chair of clinical dentistry was established (at a dale not now recol-
lected), and was filled at various times by W. T. Arlington, D. D. S.,
J. A. Watling, D. D. S., C. R. Butler, D. D. S., William Taft, D. D.
S., M. D., H. M. Reid, D. D. S., J. I. Taylor, D. D. S., and H. A.
Smith, D. D. S., the present incumbent.
Additional studies, other than those indicated by the names, were
added to most, if not all the departments, such as dental hygiene, mi-
croscopy, histology, metallurgy, materia medica, etc. , and special pro-
fessorships were from time to time provided for the departments of oral
surgery, irregularities, etc. And besides these, special clinical instruct-
ors have been selected for many years, from among those in the dental
profession of high repute as operatois. It is probably that our college
was the pioneer in this direction ; but, at any rate, the example has been
well and profitably followed.
Previous to the session of 1831 the duties of the college were dis-
charged in a building leased for the purpose. True, it had been mainly
built by the distinguished educator, John L. Talbot, with special refer-
ence to the wants of this college. The lease, for ten years, included
the privilege of purchase. By correspondence and personal solicitation,
arrangements were made to buy the building, shares of stock having
been issued, which were promptly taken by members of the profession
and a few others interested in dental education. It would be unjust
should we fail to give Professor Taylor due credit for this effort. Ac-
cordingly, in November, 1851, the college session was opened in a
building owned by the profession, and specially dedicated, for all time,
to the cause of dental education, which was another new thing under
the sun.
The stockholders held their first regular meeting in the lecture-room
of the college, February 19, 1852. Dr. Charles Bonsall was called to
the chair, and Dr. Thomas Wood was appointed secretary. Drs.
Thomas Wood, H. R. Smith and James Taylor, were appointed to
report a draft of a constitution for an Ohio college dental association,
which, after some modifications, was adopted.
The first election of officers resulted in the selection of James Tay-
lor, President; W. M. Wright, First Vice President; Thomas Wood,
Second Vice President; Charles Bonsall, Secretary; Edward Taylor,
Treasurer. And thus was the Association organized and equipped for
action; and it has had virtual control of the College ever since, in its
educational as well as in its financial aspects. Eighteen members were
present, and signed the cdtiHtitution.
At this first meeting the stockholders generously relinquished their
interest on stock, for the good of the college, for three years; and this
principle of generosity has ruled ever since. New shares of stock were
issued and taken.
In 1854 the old building, purchased from Mr. Talbot, having been
found inadequate to the growing wants of the College, the stockholders
took steps toward the erection of an entirely new edifice. As the loca-
tion, College street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, was central, it
was decided to rebuild on the same ground. With marvellous energy
and promptness the new building was erected and furnished in time for
the opening of the ensuing course of lectures. This is the first building
erected for the sole and special purpose of dental education.
In 1865 a change in the charter and general management of the Col-
lege occurred. Progress has ever been, and still is, the watchword of
our Alma Mater. One object of the change was to bring the institu-
tion more directly under the immediate supervision and control of the
College association. A new act, adapted to this end, and in pursuance
of it, was passed by the legislature.
Three trustees, of a board of nine, are now annually elected by and
from the members of the College association.
A radical and advanced step, in the cause of dental education, was
taken by the College association and board of trustees, on the fifth of
March, 1867. This is of sufficient importance to be given in full, and
is accordingly here appended :
"REGULATIONS
of the Ohio Dental College, adopted by the Dental College Association
and Board of Trustees, March 5, 1875.
"1st. An extension of the session to five months.
"2d. A preliminary examination, the requirements of which shall be a
good English education.
"3d. There shall be two classes, junior and senior; the first shall con-
sist of first course students, the second of those who are candidates for
graduation.
' ' 4th. The studies of these classes shall be arranged as follows :
' ' First year or junior class — Anatomy, embracing dissections, Physiol-
ogy, Histology, Inorganic Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Mechanical
Dentistry.
"Second year or senior class — Histology, Pathology, Dissections,
Organic Chemistry, Therapeutics, Operative Dentistry, and Dental
Hygiene.
"5th. Members of the junior class will be required to pass an exam-
ination on the branches studied before entering the senior class. This
may be at the close of the junior or the beginning of the senior course,
at the option of the student. When this examination is satisfactory, a.
certificate of the fact, bearing the seal of the college, shall be given to
the student, which shall entitle him to enter the senior class.
"6th. Applicants for admission to the senior class must pass a satis-
factory examination of the junior course, except when, in special cases,
the faculty may allow them to take a part of the junior course in con-
nection with the senior, in which case this part of their examination will
be deferred till the close of the senior term."
The division of the course with "junior" and "senior" studies, and
the requirements in the first clause of the fifth section, viz: " Members
of the junior class will be required to pass an examination on the
branches studied before entering the senoir class," were at this time,
probably, new features in collegiate study.
The influence of this college on the dental profession, and on society
in general, can never be over-estimated. It is not claiming too much
when we state that her alumni have done their full share of solid think-
ing for our profession, especially in the last thirty years. They have
furnished leading text-books, leading writers for the periodical press,
leading speakers and thinkers in the dental associations, leading inves-
tigators and experimenters, while they have not fallen behind any in
collateral science and social qualities. It will be noticed at a glance
that the professorships in our Alma Mater, through all the changes
made necessary by time and circumstance, have been mainly held by
her own alumni, except where it was thought best to fill certain special
chairs from the medical profession. She always knew where to find
the men she needed, and the thoroughness of her teachings rendered it
quite unnecessary to go beyond the pale of her own family. Other
dental schools also found in the ranks of her sons the teachers wanted
for their new institutions.
The faculty of the college comprises seven professors,
five demonstrators, two lecturers, and one instructor,
besides fifteen clinical instructors. Clinics for instruc-
tion in practical dentistry are given in the college infirm-
ary every afternoon. The surgical and other clinics at
the Cincinnati hospital are also open to the students.
Three hundred and ninety-three graduates were enumer-
ated to the close of the session of 1879-80, of which
thirty-one were then graduated.
DENTAL INTERESTS
in the city are also cared for by the Cincinnati Dental
society and by the Dental Register, a monthly periodical
now in its thirty-fifth volume. It was started in 1847, as
the Dental Register of the West, by Dr. James Taylor,
of the Dental college, as a quarterly.
THE CINCINNATI MEDICAL SOCIETY
was organized during or before 181 9. All else that we
have been able to learn of it is that Elijah Slack was
president in the year given; O. B. Baldwin, vice-presi-
dent; John Woolley, secretary; and William Barnes,
treasurer. Several of these honored names reappear in
the official connections below.
THE MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOQIETY.
One of the earliest medical societies in Cincinnati had
this euphonious name. It was formed at a meeting of
local physicians, held January 3, 1820, in the lecture-
3o8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
room of the museum. Dr. Marshall was chairman and
Mr. Higgins secretary. The zealous and ever-ready Dr.
Drake had a constitution in hand, and without delay it
was taken up, and, after some amendment, adopted by a
large majority as the organic act of the society. It pro-
vided that its name should be the Cincinnati Medico-
Chirurgical society; that its meetings should be held at
Cincinnati ; that its members should be in two classes,
honorary and junior — "the former to consist of practi-
tioners of physic and surgery, or gentlemen eminent in
its collateral sciences, residing in the Western country,
and especially in the State of Ohio; and the latter to be
composed of students of medicine, who shall be admit-
ted in such manner and under such regulations as the
society may approve;" that a dissertation should be se-
cured for each meeting, suitable for discussion, "or at
least a debate on some professional topic, in which it shall
be the duty of the member proposing the topic to parti-
cipate;" that provision should be made for the publication
of the most worthy of the papers submitted; that a lib-
rary of journals of medicine, surgery, and the auxiliary
sciences should be formed, "embracing those hereto-
fore published and still continued, both in Europe and
the United States;" and the usual provisions as to officers
and members of the society were made. Article 7 pro-
vided that "every motion for the removal of an officer
or the expulsion of a member must be made in writing
by two members, at a meeting previous to that at which
it is acted on, and must receive the suffrages of three-
fourths of the members to render it valid."
The by-laws of this body, submitted by a committe
and adopted at a subsequent meeting, provided for week-
ly meetings of the society from November to February
inclusive, and monthly meetings the rest of the year, the
latter "at twilight in the evening;" and that "no session
shall be protracted beyond ten o'clock." Medical gentle-
men kept early hours in those days. Every candidate
for junior membership must, under the by-laws, pass the
inquest of a committee of three members into his moral
character and scientific attainments; and even upon their
favorable report he was not to be admitted or balloted for
until he produced and read a dissertation on some med-
ical subject and sustained an examination upon the same
before the society. He was to be formally advised of
the objects of the institution when he was introduced by
the secretary and notified of his election by the presid-
ing officer. He was then to pay two dollars into the
treasury. It was no small matter to go through all the
circumlocution necessary to get into this pioneer guild of
the medicine-men. Members were not to be interrupted
while speaking, except upon a mistake or misstatement,
when the chair was entitled to call them to order. No
member could retire from a session of the society except
upon permission granted by the chair. Twenty-five cents
fine was imposed for each case of non-attendance upon
the stated meetings of the society.
The first officers-elect of the society were: Dr. Daniel
Drake, president; Mr. Elijah Slack, senior vice-president;
Dr. V. C. Marshall, junior vice-president; Dr. B. F. Bed-
inger, corresponding secretary; Dr. John Woolley, re-
cording secretary; Dr. C. W. Trimble, librarian and
treasurer.
At the adjourned meeting of the society January 7,
1820, a paper was read by Dr. Bedinger on the bilious
epidemic fever which appeared in Kentucky in the year
1 818; and the following question was proposed for dis-
cussion: "Are medicines absorbed and carried into the
circulation?" The first stated meeting was held a week
from that date, when Dr. Drake read a paper on the
modus operandi of medicines, and Dr. Marshall offered
for the next meeting a paper on cholera infantum. Other
papers read at succeeding sessions were: Obstructed
Glands, by Dr. Vethake; Life, by Dr. Bedinger; Hydro-
cephalus, by Mr. O'Ferrall; Death, by Dr. Vethake; Ty-
phus Fever, by Mr. Wolf; the Management of and Im-
proved Apparatus for Fractures of the Thigh, Dr. Hough;
Scrofula, Mr. Wolf; Bilious Remittent Fever, Dr. Hough;
and other topics of similar importance were treated, by
both honorary and junior members. Some of the questions
debated were: "Is scrofula an hereditary disease?" "Is
the opinion that supposes inflammation to consist in de-
bility of the capillary vessels sufficient for the explanation
of the phenomena of that disease?" "Is the proximate
cause of primary and secondary inflammation the same?"
"Does nosology constitute a necessary or useful part of
the education of a physician?" "Can respiration be con-
tinued independent of volition?" "Is the theory that
supposes cuticular absorption founded on fact?"
Twenty-five regular meetings seem to have been held
with tolerable regularity during the winter months, but
none in the warm seasons. The last meeting of which
record is made was held "March the — , 1822." Few
members were then present; yet it was voted as "expedi-
ent that the society should continue its meetings for the
next six months at the usual hours." Notwithstanding
this heroic resolve, the society disappears from history
after this meeting.
The list of books accumulated for the society's library
is a short one. It included simply several volumes and
single numbers of Dr. Drake's Western Journal of Med-
ical and Physical Sciences; some numbers of the North
American Medical and Surgical Journal; the Aphorisms
of Hippocrates; Three Dissertations on Boylston Prize
Questions, by Drs. George, Cheyne, and Shattuck; Wil-
son Phillips' Treatise on Indigestion ; one volume of the
Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Journal ; and one of
the American Medical and Philosophical Register; and
one medical thesis in manuscript.
SUNDRY MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
A sort of academy of medicine was formed here by a
voluntary association of physicians in the spring of 1831,
for the benefit of medical students who spent the sum-
mer in the^city. It began operations April 1st, of that
year, with Dr. James M. Staughton giving instruction in
the institutes of surgery, Isaac Hough in operative sur-
gery, Joseph N. McDowell in anatomy, Wolcott Richards
in physiology, Landon C. Rives in the institutes of medi-
cine and medical jurisprudence, Daniel Drake in the
practice of medicine and materia medica, John F. Henry
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3°9
in obstetrics, and Thomas D. Mitchell in chemistry and
pharmacy. The society or academy does not appear to
have been long lived.
In the winter of 1832-3 was incorporated the Cincin-
nati Medical society. Its officers were well-known and
reputable physicians of the city, as Dr. Landon C.
Rives, president; Drs. John F. Henry and Charles
Woodward, vice-presidents ; Dr. R. P. Simmons, chair-
man; C. Hatch, secretary; Dr. John T. Shotwell, treas-
urer; Dr. J. S. Dodge, librarian; Dr. Isaac Colby,
curator of the herbarium ; Dr. A. Hermange, curator of
the cabinet.
A society for discussing medical topics, the Ohio Medi-
cal Lyceum, was accustomed to meet in the medical col-
lege edifice about the years 1833-4. Its president at
that time was Dr. John Eberle; Drs. Samuel- D. Gross
and Isaac Colby, vice-presidents; Dr. Richard Steele,
corresponding secretary; J. P. Arbuckle, recording secre-
tary; T. S. Pioneer, treasurer; Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, orator
for the year 1834.
A Medical Library association was formed in 1852
and a reading-room opened June 9, with the addresses of
Dr. Drake upon the Early Physicians, Scenes, and Soci-
ety of Cincinnati, and, on the following evening, upon
the Origin and Influence of Medical Periodical Litera-
ture and the Benefits of Public Medical Libraries. It is
the former of these which we have copiously cited in the
first part of this chapter. An attempt had been made
many years before to found such a library in Cincinnati,
but it had failed and the effort of 1852 met a like fate in
the fullness of time.
At a meeting of physicians held in the lecture-room of
Bacon's building, on the northwest corner of Sixth and
Walnut streets, the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati
had its birth, March 5, 1857. Dr. J. B. Smith was chair-
man; Dr. C. B. Hughes, secretary. A constitution was
adopted, and the following named officers elected:
Dr. R. D. Mussey, president; Drs. J. B. Smith and
Robert R. Mcllvaine, vice-presidents; Dr. C. B. Hughes,
recording secretary; Dr. C. G. Comegys, corresponding
secretary; Dr. William Clendenin, treasurer; Dr. Jesse
P. Judkins, librarian.
Meetings were held regularly in the same place till
March 7, 1859, when the society removed to Dr. J. F.
White's office, northwest corner of Fourth and Race, and
thence on the sixth of February, i860, to its hall in the
Dental college on College street, between Sixth and Sev-
enth. A proposition was made in 1858 for union with
the Cincinnati Medical society and the Medico-Chirur-
gical society, the objects of all being similar; but the
movement did not succeed. The old medical society,
however, expired no great while after the academy was
organized. In 1869 the academy was incorporated, and
Drs. Mcllvaine, J. J. Quinn, and J. P. Walker were
chosen trustees. It is still maintained, and includes in
its membership nearly one hundred and fifty members,
who are chiefly graduates of the Medical. College of Ohio.
Its meetings are weekly, on Monday evening, in the am-
phitheatre of the Dental college.
A new Cincinnati Medical society was formed in 1874,
by about twenty seceders from the Academy, as the re-
sult of a disagreement upon a point of medical ethics or
etiquette. It also meets weekly, but only during the
autumn, winter, and spring months.
A Miami Valley medical society, composed of physi-
cians of Hamilton, Warren, and Clermont counties, was
organized at a meeting in Loveland, June 13, 1877.
MEDICAL JOURNALISM.
In 1818-19 Dr. Daniel Drake, then a prominent phy-
sician in Cincinnati, and about to found the Ohio medi-
cal college, issued a prospectus for a journal of the pro-
fession, and secured two or three hundred subscribers,
but found the pressure of other duties too strong to al-
low him to undertake its publication.
The first number of a medical organ in Cincinnati,
however, saw the light in March, 1822, when the initial
number of the Western Quarterly Reporter was issued.
Dr. John P. Godman, who had just resigned the chair of
surgery in the medical ■ college, was its editor, \and John
P. Foote, publisher. It lasted through six numbers,
when it expired, upon Dr. Godman's return to the East.
In the spring of 1826 Doctors Guy W. Wright and
Jamfes M. Mason ventured into this field of journalism,
starting a semi-monthly called the Ohio Medical Reposi-
tory. At the end of the first volume the interest of Dr.
Mason was transferred to Dr. Drake, and the title changed
to the Western Medical and Physical Joural, and the
publication made a monthly. At the end of another vol-
ume Dr. Drake took sole charge of the magazine, greatly
enlarging it, changed it to a quarterly, and made another
change of name, this time expanding the title to the West-
ern Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, and
adding the motto, "e sylvis nuncius.'' He had presently
an assistant editor in Dr. James C. Finley; then Dr. Wil-
liam Wood; and finally Drs. Harrison and Gross. When
the medical department of Cincinnati college came to an
end, in 1839, Dr. Drake took the journal with him to
Louisville, and there merged it in the Louisville Journal
of Medicine and Surgery, which became a permanent
publication.
A semi-monthly periodical called the Western Medical
Gazette was started by the Faculty of the Medical Col-
lege in the fall of 1832, with Professors John Eberle,
Thomas D. Mitchell, and Alban G. Smith as editors. It
lasted only nine months at first; but was resuscitated and
made a monthly five months afterward by Dr. Silas
Reed, Dr. Samuel D. Gross being added to the editorial
staff. In April, 1835, upon the completion of the second
volume, the editors dissolved their connection with it,
and it was consolidated with the Western Medical and
Physical Journal.
In September of the same year Dr. James M. Mason
issued the first number of a new Ohio Medical Reposi-
tory, giving it the same name as the journal he had
started with Dr. Wright in 1826. He printed it semi-
monthly, but it hardly lasted a single year.
The Western Lancet, the original of the present Lan-
cet and Clinic, was begun in 1842 by Dr. Leonidas M.
Lawson, afterwards a professor in the Medical College of
3io
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Ohio, and the surviving Nestor of the profession in Cincin-
nati. He was sole proprietor and generally sole editor of
the Lancet until 1855, when his interest was transferred to
Dr. Thomas Wood. It was published monthly for many
years as the Lancet and Observer; but in 1878 was con-
solidated with The Clinic, and has since been known as
The Lancet and Clinic, and is published as a weekly
journal of medicine and surgery, edited by Drs. J. C.
Culbertson and James G. Hyndman.
.Dr. Hyndman was editor of the Clinic at the time^of
the merger. That paper had been issued weekly since
187 1, in fourteen portly octavo volumes, which are now
much esteemed in the profession. It was the first medi-
cal weekly started in the western country.
The medical journals of 1859 in Cincinnati were The
Lancet and Observer, The Medical News, The Cincin-
nati Eclectic and Edinburgh Medical Journal, The Col-
lege Journal of Medical Science, and the Physio-Medical
Recorder.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE BENCH AND BAR.
PIONEER LAWYERS.
To Thomas Goudy is usually accorded the honor of
being the first lawyer in Cincinnati. But it should not
be forgotten that in the very first boat-load of Losanti-
ville voyagers, among those who landed, as he himself
testified much later, "on the twenty-eighth day of De-
cember, 1788," was the most prominent lawyer and mag-
istrate of Cincinnati's first decade. He was a worthy
man to lead the long and distinguished roll of the bench
and bar of the Queen City.
WILLIAM M'MILLAN
was born near Abingdon, Virginia, of Irish stock, the
second of nine children. He was graduated at the
renowned old college of William and Mary, and left it,
as his nephew and eulogist, the late Hon. William M.
Corry, said long after, "not only with the diploma, but
with the scholarship of a graduate whose distinction
became important to the institution and more than re-
flected her benefits." Until his removal to the Miami
Purchase, he divided his attention between intellectual
and agricultural pursuits. He was the first justice of the
court of general quarter sessions of the peace, commis-
sioned by Governor St. Clair for Hamilton county, in
1790, and was an active, energetic, public-spirited citizen
here from the beginning. In 1799 he was elected as a
representative of the county in the territorial legislature,
and was chosen delegate of the territory in Congress
after the resignation of General Harrison. While at
Philadelphia, then the seat of Government, he was com-
missioned United States district attorney for Ohio; but
was prevented by declining health from assuming the
duties of the office for more than a short time. He died
in Cincinnati in May, 1804. He had been one of the
most zealous and influential members of Nova Cssarea
Harmony lodge, No. 2, of Free and Accepted Masons;
and that lodge, nearly a quarter of a century after his
decease, October 28, 1837, dedicated a monument to his
memory, at which a glowing and eloquent eulogy was
pronounced by William M. Corry, esq. We extract the
following tribute to his merits as a lawyer :
During his professional career, there was no higher name at the
western bar than William McMillan. Its accomplished ranks would
have done honor to older countries; but it did not contain his superior.
Some of our distinguished lawyers of that day were admirable public
speakers: he was not. Some of them were able in the comprehension
of their cases, and skilful to a proverb in their management. Of these
he ranked among the first. His opinions had all the respectability of
learning, precision, and strength. They commanded acquiescence;
they challenged opposition when to obtain assent was difficult and to
provoke hostility dangerous.
The succeeding remarks strongly and no doubt cor-
rectly characterize the local bar of his day:
The profession in those times are conceded to have held high charac-
ters for attainments and intellect. Their recorded history demonstrates
the fact, and those who have 'survived to this day still receive the trib-
ute of unqualified praise for what they are, as well as what they were.
It was not easy to obtain the district attorneyship in that day, when
men were chosen and appointed to office from amongst formidable
competitors by the test of honesty and capacity, as well as patriotism.
The front rank of the law, then, as much as now, was inaccessible to the
weak or the idle, and offices of gift went to the deserving, instead of
the dishonest.
Judge Burnet, in his Notes on the Settlement of the
Northwestern Territory, has this to say of Mr. McMillan :
He possessed an intellect of a high order, and had acquired a fund o^
information, general as well as professional, which qualified him for
great usefulness in the early legislation of the territory. He was a na-
tive of Virginia, educated at William and Mary, and was one of the
first adventurers to the Miami valley. He was the son of a Scotch
Presbyterian of the strictest order, who had educated him for the min-
istry, and who was, of course, greatly disappointed when he discovered
that he was unwilling to engage in that profession, and had set his
heart on the study and practice of the law. After many serious discus-
sions on the subject, the son, who understood the feelings and preju-
dices of the fattier, at length told him that he would comply with his
request, but it must be on one condition — that he should be left at per-
fect liberty to use Watts' version of the Psalms. The old gentleman
was very much astonished, and rebuked his son with severity, but never
mentioned the subject to him afterwards.
THOMAS GOUDY,
however, has undoubtedly the right to precedence as be-
ing the first member of the legal profession who put out
his shingle in Cincinnati. Indeed, he was here before
Cincinnati was, coming, like McMillan, while the place
was yet Losantiville, but later in the year 1789, it is said.
In 1790 he was one of the settlers who formed Ludlow's
Station, in what is now the north part of Cumminsville,
and his name appears occasionally in the Indian stories
of that period. Three years afterwards he was married
to Sarah, sister to Colonel John S. Wallace. Among his
children was the venerable Mrs. Sarah Clark, now resid-
ing with Mr. Alexander C. Clark, her son, upon his farm
in Syracuse township, north of Reading. Goudy 's office
was originally upon the corner of an out-lot, on the pres-
ent St. Clair square, between Seventh and Eighth streets;
but he found it altogether too far out of town for a law-
office. It was long abandoned, and came near falling a
prey to the flames in the first fire that occurred in Cincin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3ii
nati — one that swept the out-lot of pretty much every-
thing else upon it. This was the only building put up
for several years upon the spacious tract between Sixth
and Court streets, Main and the section line on the west,
about where John street now is. The lots were then sur-
rounded by a Virginia or "worm-fence.''
SAMUEL FINDLAY.
Contemporary with McMillan and Goudy, as a Cin-
cinnati lawyer, was Ezra Fitz Freeman; and early came
also an attorney of reputation, of whom Judge Carter has
the following pleasant recollections:
He was an intelligent man and a good lawyer; but he became fonder
of politics, and engaging in them most earnestly and prosperously, he
was sent to Congress from the Hamilton county district once or twice
in the latter twenties. He was a first-rate man in every sense, and we
are glad to put him down in our reminiscences, I remember him as I
saw him and knew him in very boyhood — a burly, portly form, largely
developed frontal head, adorned with sandy hair; and he had the mien
and manners of a finished gentleman.
DANIEL SYMMES,
another early member of the Hamilton county bar, was a
nephew of Judge Symmes and brother of Captain John
Cleves Symmes, the advocate of the theory of concentric
circles and polar voids. His father, Timothy Symmes,
only full brother of the hero of the Miami Purchase,
was himself judge of the inferior court of common pleas
in Sussex county, New Jersey, but came west soon after
his older brother, and was the pioneer at South Bend,
where he died in 1797. Daniel was born at the ancestral
home in 1772, graduated at Princeton college and came
out with his father; was made clerk of the territorial
court; studied law and practiced some years; after Ohio
was admitted was a State senator from Hamilton county
and speaker of the senate; upon the resignation of Judge
Meigs from the supreme bench in 1804 was appointed to
his place and held it until the expiration of the term,
when he secured the post of register of the Cincinnati
land office, and performed its duties until a few months
before his death, May 10, 1817.
JACOB BURNET.
Judge Burnet has received incidentally so many other
notices in this work that he need have but brief mention
here. He was born in 1770 — son of Dr. Burnet, of New
Jersey, who distinguished himself in the Revolutionary
war — and in 1796 followed his brother, Dr. William
Burnet, to the hamlet in the wilderness opposite the
mouth of the Licking, and here made his beginnings as a
lawyer and magistrate. In about two years he was at
the head of the legislative council for the Northwest
territory — the man, scarcely beyond twenty-eight years
old, who in influence and usefulness stood head and
shoulders above all others in the first Territorial legisla-
ture. His long and honorable career thereafter, ending
only with his death in 1853, at an advanced old age, need
not be recapitulated here. He retired from active
practice in 1825. Judge Carter indulges in the following
reminiscence of him :
Judge Jacob Burnet, as he was called, after he became a judge of the
supreme court, was a very early lawyer of the Ohio bar. Having come
to the city of Cincinnati from the State of New Jersey, toward the close
of the last century, and engaging in very early practice of the law in
our courts, and becoming one of the most expert and learned and able
lawyers of the bar, he may justly be esteemed the pioneer lawyer of the
old court-house, and his name deservedly stands at the head of the list
of its members of the bar.
When the hapless Blennerhasset was to be tried as
an accessory to the high treason of Aaron Burr, he was
advised by the latter to employ in his defense Judge
Burnet, and also Richard Baldwin, of Chillicothe. It
was expected that the trials would occur in the State of
Ohio. Blennerhasset followed the advice, and presently
wrote to his wife: "I have retained Burnet and Baldwin.
The former will be a host with the decent part of the
citizens of Ohio, and the latter a giant of influence with
the rabble, whom he properly styles his 'blood-hounds.'"
Some reminiscences of Judge Burnet's own, extracted
from his Notes on the Settlement of the Northwestern
Territory, will have interest here:
From the year 1796, till the formation of the State government in 1803,
the bar of Hamilton county occasionally attended the general court at
Marietta and at Detroit, and during the whole of that time Mr. St.
Clair, Mr. Symmes, and Mr. Burnet never missed a term in either of
those counties.
The journeys of the court and bar to those remote places, through a
country in its primitive state, were unavoidably attended with fatigue
and exposure. They generally traveled with five or six in company,
and with a pack-horse to transport such necessaries as their own horses
could not conveniently carry, because no dependence could be placed
on obtaining supplies on the route ; although they frequently passed
through Indian camps and villages, it was not safe to rely on them for
assistance. Occasionally small quantities of corn could be purchased
for horse feed, but .even that relief was precarious, and not to be re-
lied on.
In consequence of the unimproved condition of the country, the routes
followed by travellers were necessarily circuitous and their progress
slow. In passing from one county seat to another, they were generally
from six to eight, and sometimes ten, days in the wilderness. The
country being wholly destitute of bridges and ferrries, travellers had
therefore to rely on their horses, as the only substitute for those conve-
niences. That fact made it common, when purchasing a horse, to ask
if he were a good swimmer, which was considered one of the most valu-
able qualities of a saddle horse. Strange as this may now appear, it
was then a very natural inquiry.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THREE TO EIGHTEEN HUN-
DRED AND TEN.
Mr. James McBride, in his Pioneer Biography, notes
as the Cincinnati lawyers who were wont to attend the
Butler county courts during and between these years,
Judge Burnet, Arthur St. Clair, jr., Ethan Stone, Nicho-
las Stone, Nicholas Longworth, George P. Torrence, and
Elias Glover. He adds: "The bar was a very able one,
and important cases were advocated in an elaborate and
masterly manner."
ST. CLAIR AND HARRISON.
The "Mr. St. Clair" named in Judge Burnet's first par-
agraph, was Arthur St. Clair, jr., son of Governor St.
Clair, and a man of some ability, who came within two
votes of defeating General Harrison at the first election,
by the Territorial legislature, of a delegate to Congress.
Harrison was also a lawyer, as well as doctor, farmer, sol-
dier, and public officer, and sometimes appeared in a
case; but won no distinction whatever at the bar. His
chief prominence in the courts was simply as clerk of the
Hamilton county court of common pleas, from which po-
sition he was elected at one bound to the Presidency of
the United States. His knowledge of the law, of course,
312
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
was of much use to him in his various public and private
employments.
Harrison was, it should be noted, one of the very few
temperate lawyers and public men of his time. Judge
Burnet recorded in his Notes many years afterwards that,
of the nine lawyers that were contemporaries with him
in his earlier days in Cincinnati, all but one went to
drunkard's graves. It was an age, as we have seen else-
where, of high conviviality and destructive good fellow-
ship. Harrison's own son, it is said — the junior William
Henry Harrison, a young lawyer of brilliant talents, elo-
quent and witty — fell an early victim to intoxicants.
Apropos of the morality of the bar in the olden day,
there is a tradition that two of the lawyers, named Clark
and Glover, made full preparations to fight a duel over
some personal or professional difference. The affair was
settled without bloodshed, but not until one of them had
pulled off his shoes, to fight the more conveniently in his
stocking feet.
EARLY JUDGES.
Hon. A. H. Dunlevy, son of Judge Francis Dunlevy,
of Columbia, in an address before the Cincinnati Pio-
neer society, April 7, 1875, gave tne following reminis-
cences of the bench of 1804-5:
Among these early judges, besides my father, then the presiding
judge, were Luke Foster, James Silver, 1 think, and Dr. Stephen
Wood. Judge Goforth was also on the bench, but lived in the city.
Here, too, I frequently met Judge John Cleves Symmmes. In the early
part of court he was always thronged with purchasers of his lands, and
I have seen him while supping his tea, of which he was excessively
found, writing deeds or contracts, and talking with his friends and
those who had business with him, all at the same time.
OTHER EARLY LAWYERS.
John S. Will, a native of Virginia, born in 1773, and
admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. In 1798
he went from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and attended the
first session of the common pleas court of the territory
there. In 1809 he removed to Franklinton, now a part of
Columbus, and died there April 27, 1829. He was not
an eminently successful attorney, and is said often to
have appeared as defendant, rather than counselor and
advocate, in actions for debt.
David Wade was more prominently identified with the
early bar here. He was public prosecutor in 1809, and
for a long time afterwards.
Moses Brooks came to Cincinnati in 181 1, was at first
an innkeeper, but studied law and was admitted to prac-
tice. He abandoned the profession in 1830 from ill
health, and became a successful merchant. He was also,
as we have seen under another head, an occasional writer
of some note for the press.
Nicholas Longworth came from Newark, New Jersey,
to the west, and soon became a Cincinnati lawyer, but
more for wealth than fame, and did not remain perma-
nently in the profession. Judge Carter says:
He came to Cincinnati from Jersey in very early times and commenced
operations as a shoemaker and afterwards studied law and was admit-
ted to practice law at the earliest bar, but he did not practice law very
much, though he was very capable and possessed an acute and astute
mentality, and he was always a good and clever gentleman, as singular
and eccentric as he was sometimes. His position as a lawyer affording,
him great facilities, he became mostly engaged in property specula-
tions, and eventually became by far the largest real-estate holder in
this city and in the western country, and the richest man. He was, in
a sense, the Croesus of the west, for his wealth increased and increased
so much in the great growth of Cincinnati that he hardly knew what to
do with it, and certainly did not know all he owned.
For a rich man, though peculiar, particular, and eccentric, he was a
good and clever man, in both the American and English sense.
Mr. Longworth was reputed to have died worth twelve
millions. He was the father of Joseph Longworth, of
the court of common pleas, who has had a long and hon-
orable career as a lawyer and judge in Hamilton county.
THE LYTLES.
William Lytle, a captain in the Pennsylvania line in
the old French War, was an immigrant to Kentucky in
1779. His son, also William, was a pioneer in southwest-
ern Ohio, where he became famous in the border war-
fare, and an extensive landholder in Clermont county,
where he then resided, and elsewhere. An intimate per-
sonal friend of President Jackson, he had no difficulty
in obtaining from him the post of surveyor general of
public lands. Many of his later years were spent in Cin-
cinnati, whither he removed early in this century.
Robert T. Lytle was the son of General William Lytle,
and was a native Cincinnatian. He was early admitted
to the bar, and gave great promise as a young lawyer;
but the attractions of politics and his rare gifts as an ora-
tor soon took him into public life and long ruined him
as a practitioner. He was but a youth when sent to the
legislature, to which he was repeatedly returned, and then
twice sent to Congress (the first time when but thirty-two
years old) as a Democratic representative from this district.
President Jackson made much of him at Washington.
He spoke often and well in the house, and achieved
national repute. As a stump orator also, he was hardly
excelled at that time by any man of his years in the coun-
try. Lytle sided with Jackson on the United States bank
question, and this led to his defeat in 1834, by Judge
Storer. He gave great promise as a lawyer and public
man, which was defeated by his early death.
William H, son of Robert T. Lytle, studied law with
his uncle, E. S. Haines, and also cultivated literature suc-
cesfully. He was an officer in the Mexican war, and
held a general's commission in the war of the Rebellion,
during which he lost his life in action at Chickamauga.
JUDGE WRIGHT,
in early life a school-teacher, came to Cincinnati in 1816.
He was a graduate of Dartmouth college, and was ad-
mitted to the bar the following November term of the
supreme court of Ohio. He married a niece of Judge
Burnet, and succeeded early in getting a good practice.
For many years he was distinguished at the bench and
bar, and in the Cincinnati Law school. Says Judge Car-
ter:
One of the best examples of a real and genuine lawyer of the old
school and of the old bar, was Nathaniel Wright. He came in early
times from the east to this city, thoroughly educated in academies and
in the law. He obtained and maintained a good legal practice for many
years, and, unlike some of his fellows, never was diverted from or went
out of the way of his professional limits. He was strictly a lawyer
and because of this he was reputed and relied upon as a counselor
learned in the law, and became the Mentor of many of the lawyers.
He was a rigid man in his moral and religious principles, and I doubt if
anything was ever said or could be be said against him. His reputation
as the soundest and safest of lawyers was much extended, and he was a
uei^i
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3i3
great credit to the bar of early Cincinnati. He was the father of our
present D. Thew Wright, lawyer and judge, and good and clever fellow
and lived to venerable age, and died recently among us, respected by
every one.
PEYTON SHORT SYMMES,
grandson of Judge Symmes, began his career in Cincin-
nati. He never made so much figure in law as in lit-
erature and public life. In 1817, and for many years
afterwards, he was register of the land office here. In
1831-3 he was a member of the city council; 1833-49,
an active member of the board of education, preparing
some of its most elaborate reports; 1830-50, a member
of the board of health, exhibiting special activity during
the cholera year of 1849. He was a trustee of the old
Cincinnati college, and took a lively interest and intelli-
gent part in the transactions of the Western College of
Teachers and in nearly all the local literary societies of
that time. He wrote much and well, as the Carrier's Ad-
dress-— poetry, of course — for the Cincinnati Gazette
of New Year's Day, 1816, and many articles in the Lit-
erary Gazette of 1824-5, the Chronicle of 1826, and the
Mirror of 183 1-5, in both prose and verse. He is said
to have had in preparation a biography of his distin-
guished ancestor, Judge Symmes; but, if so, the matter
prepared has never been recovered. He died July 7,
1 86 1, at the residence of his son-in-law, Charles L. Col-
burn, on Mount Auburn.
TIMOTHY FLINT'S VIEW.
The Rev. Timothy Flint, who spent the winter of
1815-16 in Cincinnati, says in his book of Recollections :
At the bar I heard forcible reasonings and just conceptions, and dis-
covered much of that cleverness and dexterity in management, which
are so common in the American Bar in gcneial. There is here, as else-
where in the profession, a strong appetite to get business and money
I understood that it was popular in the courts to be very democratic;
and, while in the opposite State a lawyer is generally a dandy, he here
affects meanness and slovenliness in his dress. The language of the
Bar was in many instances an amusing compound of Yankee dialectj
southern peculiarity, and Irish blarney. "Him" and "me," said this
or that, "I done it," and various phrases of this sort, and images
drawn from the measuring and location of land purchases, and figures
drawn from boating and river navigation, were often served up as the
garnish of thin speeches. You will readily perceive that all this has van-
ished before the improvements, the increasing lights, and the higher
models, which have arisen in the period that has elapsed between that
time and this.
THE LAWYERS OF 1819.
Farnsworth's Directory of 1819, the first issued for Cin-
cinnati, gives the following as the entire roll of the attor-
neys of that time in the city :
Thomas Clark. William M. Worthington.
David Shepherd. Francis A. Blake.
William Corry. Nathaniel Wright.
Elisha Hotchkis,s. Nicholas Longworth.
Samuel Q. Richardson. Samuel Todd.
James W. Gazlay. Nathaniel G. Pendleton.
Chauncey Whittlesey. Benjamin M. Piatt.
Richard S. Wheatley. David K. Este.
Joseph S. Benham. Thomas P. Eskridge.
David Wade. John Lee Williams.
Hugh McDougal. Stephen Sedgwick.
Nathan Guilford. Daniel Roe.
Bellamy Storer.
The names of Judge Burnet and General Harrison
are strangely omitted from this list. They were undoubt-
edly entitled to enrollment in the Hamilton county bar,
and they have their proper place in the catalogue given
by Judge Carter.
Mr. Gazlay came about this year to Cincinnati from
New York State, and entered upon a distinguished career
in law and politics. In 1824, as a Jackson man, he was
elected to Congress over no' less a competitor than Gen-
eral Harrison, he representing, as his friends put it, ple-
beian or popular interests against aristocratic. Having
voted, however, against the proposed appropriation from
the Federal Treasury as a gift to General Lafayette, then
on a visit to this country, Mr. Gazlay was relegated to
private life at the next election of Congressman. He
practiced but little at the bar after this, but retired to the
country and spent much of his time in literary work. He
was much respected through a long life, and died at the
good old age of eighty-nine.
David K. Este was a graduate of Princeton College,
came from New Jersey to Cincinnati about 18 13, and
was a very successful practitioner here. Mr. Mansfield
says he was "a good lawyer, but chiefly distinguished for
courtesy of manners, propriety of conduct, and success
in business. Like Burnet, he was one of those cool,
careful temperaments, which are incapable of being ex-
cited beyond a certain point, and who never commit
themselves out of the way. . . . An Epis-
copalian in the church, a gentleman in society, and a
Republican in politics." He lived a long and honored
life here, having grown very wealthy through the rise of
real estate, in which he had invested the savings of his
lucrative practice. He was Judge of the old Superior
Court, organized in Cincinnati in 1838; but resigned in
1845, fr°m insufficient salary. He was also for several
years presiding Judge of the old Court of Common
Pleas. He survived until recent days, dying at last at
the age of ninety years.
William Corry was accounted a sound lawyer, and was
the first Mayor of the village of Cincinnati, remaining
in the office until the village became a city. He, too,
was neatly depicted at the hands of the Cincinnati
Horace :
Slow to obey, whate'er to call,
And yet a faithful friend to all;
In person rather stout and tall,
In habits quite domestic}
Devaux in elegance is found
To run the same unvaried round,
Ne'er groveling lowly on the ground,
Nor stalking off majestic.
He was father of the late Hon. William M. Corry, who
was an attorney of brilliant talents and a fine orator.
Mr. Hotchkiss was a practitioner of much reputation,
a portly man of distinguished appearance, who also be-
came Mayor after Cincinnati received a city charter.
Mr. Guilford had some repute as a lawyer, but was
better known in journalism and education, and as a pro-
moter of public enterprises.
Mr. Roe, besides being a lawyer, was occasionally
preacher to the Swedenborgian or New Jerusalem church,
then worshiping on Longworth street.
Mr. Pendleton came at a very early day from Virginia,
and in due time married a daughter of Jesse Hunt, the
citizen who gave to the county the lots upon which the
40
314
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
present court house is situated. He was a very reputable
practitioner, and became prosecuting attorney. He was
a successful candidate for Congress on the Whig ticket
in 1840, defeating Dr. Alexander Duncan. A strong re-
semblance in personal appearance was noticed between
him and Thomas Corwin, on account of his swarthy
complexion. He was a thoroughly polite gentleman, and
a worthy progenitor of the distinguished Cincinnatians of
that family name.
Judge Storer came from Maine in 18 17, and had a
highly successful career in this part of the west. Mr.
Mansfield says "he had a remarkably quick and sprightly
mind; also a certain species of humorous wit." In 1825
he was generally taken to be one of the two dozen or
more editors of the Crisis and Emporium newspaper,
published by Samuel J. Browne. In 1832 he was elected
to Congress as a Whig, over Robert T. Lytle, the Jack-
sonian candidate. His title was derived from his judge-
ship in the new Superior Court of Cincinnati, created in
1854, which post he filled very ably. He was a learned
and eloquent advocate, and a very popular man in the
community. His services to education here will also be
long and gratefully remembered.
Mr. Benham was one of the most remarkable charac-
ters at the early Bar. He was father of Mrs. George D.
Prentice. Mr. Mansfield says he was "an orator, and
few men were more imperial in power and manner.''
He makes a figure of this kind in the Satires of Horace
in Cincinnati:
With person of gigantic size,
With thundering voice and piercing eyes,
When great Stentorius deigns to rise,
Adjacent crowds assemble,
To hear a sage the laws expound
In language strange, by reasoning sound,
Till, though not yet guilty found,
The culprits fear and tremble.
Mr. Benham died somewhat early for his best fame and
usefulness. Judge Carter, to whose entertaining book
on the Old Court-house we are indebted for the material
of most of the above notices, has this to say of him :
The great and convivial Joseph Benham I am reminded of — an elo-
quent advocate and an able lawyer. He was a large and portly man,
standing near six feet in his shoes, with large head and dark auburn
flowing hair, broad shoulders, and capacious and "unbounded stom-
ach," covered by a large buff vest and a brown broadcloth frock coat
over it, and with a graceful and easy position and delivery. Before a
jury he was indeed a picture to look upon. His voice was a deep basso,
but melodious, and its ringing tones will never be forgotten by those
who ever heard him. He sometimes spoke on politics out of the bar, in
the open air, to his Whig friends and partisans; and then he was always
able and eloquent. He was also, I think, an editor of a Whig paper
once; but it was at the bar he mostly distinguished himself. He was a
Southerner, and had all the manners of the South of the days of yore.
On the occasion of the visit of General Lafayette to
Cincinnati in the month of May, in the "year 1825, Joseph S. Benham
was selected by the citizens to deliver the address of welcome to the
great American-Frenchman and French-American; and well, exceeding-
ly well, did he perform his part of the great ovation to the immortal
Lafayette. It was upon the old court house grounds that Benham's
great oration to Lafayette was pronounced before the most numerous
concourse of people — men, women, and children — of this city and
State, and from all parts of the west ; and it was pronounced by the
multitude, with one accord, that the tribute of genuine eloquence to
Lafayette was great and grand, and fully entitled Lawyer Benham to
be enrolled among the chief orators of the land. The occasion was
certainly a memorable one, and his selection to the position of orator
of the occasion manifests to us in what eminent esteem the eloquence of
Benham was held in those early days. He was of national repute as a
lawyer.
TORRENCE.
At this time the president-judge of the court of com-
mon pleas was the Hon. George P. Torrence, who had
as associates under the old system Messrs. Othniel
Looker, John Cleves Short, and James Silvers — these
gentlemen not being necessarily lawyers. Of Judge Tor-
rence many pleasant things are related. The History of
Clermont county, published a few months ago, says of
him:
From 1820 to 1822 the dignified arid popular George P. Torrence, of
Cincinnati, presided with a courtly grace and dignity unequalled, his
imposing presence lending charm to his descisions. ... In
1826 the dignified and popular George P. Torrence ascended the wool-
sack and sat as judge for the seven following years; and many of Cler-
mont's older people remember with pride his pleasant stories at the
hotel when court had adjourned, and his apt way of making and retain-
ing friends.
The following notice of another well-known judge, from
the same work, may as well be given here:
In 1833 John M. Goodenow presided — a clear-headed jurist from
Cincinnati, to which place he had moved some two years previous from
Jefferson county. . . . He made a splendid judge, and
for many years was a leading attorney, and one of the best advocates in
Hamilton county.
THE ROSTER OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.
The roll of attorneys at the local bar in 181 9 num-
bered twenly-seven. In six years it had increased nearly
fifty per cent., then numbering thirty-nine. But fifteen
of the old names, however, re-appear upon this list —
those of
Joseph S. Benham,
David K. Este,
Wm. H. Harrison, sen.
Nicholas Longworth,
Benjamin M. Piatt,
David Shepherd,
Daniel Roe,
William Corry,
James W. Gazlay,
Nathan Guilford,
Nathaniel G. Pendleton,
Hugh McDougal,
Bellamy Storer,
David Wade, and
Nathaniel Wright.
The new names of 1826 were —
William Brackenridge,
Edward L. Drake,
Charles Fox,
E, S. Haines,
Elijah Hayward,
John Henderson,
Samuel Lewis,
Jacob Madeira,
Jacob Wykoff Piatt,
Arthur St. Clair,
Daniel Van Matre,
Isaiah Wing, and
Moses Brooks,
Samuel Findlay,
William Greene,
Charles Hammond,
Wm. H. Harrison, jr.,
Jesse Kimball,
J. S. Lytle,
Samuel R. Miller,
Benjamin F. Powers,
Dan Stone,
Elmore W. Williams,
John G. Worthington.
In 1826, by act of the Legislature, attorneys and coun-
sellors-at-law were subjected to a tax of five dollars
apiece. This was the occasion of a docket entry in the
Court of Common Pleas for Hamilton county, February
20, 1827, which includes the following list of attorneys
as then at the bar of the county. This list numbers but
thirty-two. Some names in the roll of 1825 are not here;
and one new name, that of Mr. D. J. Caswell, appears :
David K. Este, Bellamy Storer, Joseph S. Benham, Nathaniel
Wright, David Wade, William Greene, William Corry, Charles Ham-
mond, Samuel R. Miller, Nicholas Longworth, Thomas Hammond,
Samuel Lewis, Dan Stone, Charles Fox, Elijah Hayward, Jesse Kim-
ball, John S. Lytle, J. W. Piatt, N. G. Pendleton, E. S. Haines,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
315
y. G. Worthington, W. H. Harrison, jr., Samuel Findlay. Moses
Brooks, J. Madeira, Daniel Van Matre, Isaiah Wing, Nathan Guil-
ford, Benjamin F. Powers, James W. Gazlay, D. J. Caswell, Hugh
McDougal.
Republishing this record in his Miscellany in 1844,
Mr. Cist is moved to say:
What changes have seventeen years brought in this list ! Of the at-
torneys, Este, Longworth, Lewis, and Pendleton have retired from pro-
fessional business. Stone, Hayward, and Powers have removed from
Cincinnati ; Brooks, Wing, and Guilford have changed their profession,
and, with the exception of the ten in italics, who still survive, the resi-
due are no longer living.
Some remarkable men were in the lists of 1825 and
'27. We shall give sketches of two or three of the most
prominent :
JUDGE FOX.
The name of Charles Fox, the Nestor of the Cincin-
nati bar, appears for the first time in the catalogue of at-
torneys in the city directory in that of 1825. He had
then been admitted to the bar for two years. He came •
to the Queen City — an Englishman born, and already in
this country some years — about 1820, and labored as a
carpenter here for a time. He was also a singing-master,
and had considerable knowledge and talent in other de-
partment of thought and work He studied law, was
admitted, and soon formed an honorable and profitable
partnership with Bellamy Storer, under the firm name of
Storer & Fox, which lasted a long time and did a large .
business. Judge Carter says :
Perhaps there was, and now is, no lawyer who has had and has at-
tended to more law business than Charley Fox, as he used to be so
familiarly called. I remember the time when he used to be on one side
or the other of every important case in court, and he was always re-
garded by his brethren of the bar as a wide-awake and sometimes for-
midable adversary. His extended experience made him most learned
in the law, and particularly in its practice ; and he used to be sought
for, for advice and counsel, in many questions of law practice, and the
judges of the bench were in the habit frequently of interrogating lawyer
Fox as to what was the true and right practice in given cases.
Mr. Fox became one of the judges of the local courts,
and served ably and faithfully. He is still in practice,
notwithstanding he passed his eighty-third year Novem-
ber 11, 1880.
CHARLES HAMMOND.
One of the strong men then at the bar here — strong in
law as in journalism and everything else he undertook —
was Mr. Hammond. He came to the town in 1822
from St. Clairsville, Belmont county, as a full-fledged
practitioner, and the next year was made reporter for the
supreme court, when that office was created. He retain-
ed it until 1838, publishing the first nine volumes of the
Ohio Reports, when he retired from the bar. He had
already gone into journalism, and finally became absorb-
ed in it, and was totally lost to the legal profession. We
again take pleasure in referring to Judge Carter for rem-
iniscences of him:
In this city he became both lawyer and editor, and he was excellent
as each, or both. He practiced law for a dozen years, perhaps; and
then, in the increase of our city and the duties and labors of his news-
paper, he relinquished the practice and devoted himself to it alone.
He had wit and humor in himself, and was sometimes the occasion of
them in others. My friend Mr. Robert Buchanan, of this city, told me
this good one of him. Hammond had an important case once in court
for him as client and as president of the Commercial bank, the only
bank then in the city. The case was a quo warranto against Mr. Bu-
chanan, to find out by what authority he was exercising the functions
of president and director of the bank. Mr. Hammond told Mr. Bu-
chanan that the law was against him, but he would see what could be
done. "You," said Mr. Hammond, "need not appear in court."
Mr. Buchanan did not appear, but went "a-fishin'." Case came on,
but no Mr. Buchanan present. Hammond moved for a postponement
vociferously, but not with purpose to accomplish it particularly— he
knew what he was about — on account of absence of Buchanan. Oppo-
site counsel, not perceiving the cat in the meal, insisted, as Hammond
thought he would, on immediate trial, and gained his point. Trial
was had; "and now," said Mr. Hammond to adversary counsel,
"bring forward your witnesses." He did bring them forward, and
proved all he could; but as there was no one except Mr. Buchanan
himself to prove the corpus delicti, and he was absent, of course the quo
warranto proceeding was thrown out of court, as it ought to have been,
being, as it seemed, a piece of spite-work upon the part of some men in-
terested against Mr. Buchanan.
After the success, client met Mr. Hammond, his lawyer, to pay his
fee. " How much?" "Fifty dollars; but I gained the case by a little
pettifogging, which I didn't like at all. " Mr. Bnchanan handed his
lawyer a check for one hundred dollars, and Hammond taking it and
looking at it, exclaimed: "What is all this for?" Buchanan replied:
"For yourself and your partner, the pettifogger." Hammond, laugh-
ing and taking the check: ' ' I shall dissolve with that scamp, and have
nothing more to do with him hereafter."
The following anecdote, among others, is related of
him by Mr. Roswell Marsh, of Steubenville, who pre-
pared and published a pamphlet memoir of Mr. Ham-
mond :
About a year before his death, after he had relinquished legal busi-
ness, two men called upon him to get his opinion on a case. As a favor
to his son-in-law he granted them an interview. When they were seated
he turned from his writing-table, raised his glasses on his forehead, and
requested them to state their case. It was this:
An honest old farmer in Indiana had loaded a flat-boat on the Wa-
bash with produce for New Orleans, and had effected an insurance on
the boat and cargo for seven hundred dollars. The boat and cargo
had been wrecked and totally lost in descending the Wabash, and the
owner had nearly lost his life in strenuous efforts to save his property.
It was his all, and reduced him to poverty. He had a family to sup-
port, and they must suffer if the insurance was not paid. But the
terms of the policy required the owner, in case of loss, to make a pro-
test. This, from oversight or ignorance, the old man had not done.
The question propounded to Mr. Hammond, on behalf of the insur-
ance company, was whether the company would be justified in paying
the money. During the statement tears were observed on Mr. Ham-
mond's cheeks. When they had concluded, he asked somewhat
sharply if they came to him for his opinion expecting to put money in
their pockets. This was admitted reluctantly. He then required a fee
of twenty dollars, which was paid. Turning to his son-in-law, he said :
"Take this money and send it to the orphan asylum." Turning
again to the gentlemen, he said: "From your account the man has
acted the honest part. My advice is that you go home and do like-
wise."
Mr. Hammond made a very notable plea in the case
of Osburn et al. vs. United States Bank, which
is reported in 9 Wheaton, 738. Hammond was against
the bank, and his argument was made before the su-
preme court of the United States, of which Marshall
was then chief justice. Referring to it, Judge Marshall
said that "he had produced in the case the most re-
markable paper placed on file in any court since the days
of Lord Mansfield," and that he had almost persuaded
him (Marshall) that wrong was right in this case.
BENJAMIN F. POWERS
was a brother of Hiram Powers the sculptor. He began
practice hopefully, but was soon diverted into journalism
as a co-proprietor and principal editor of the Liberty Hall
and Cincinnati Gazette, winning far more distinction from
his connection with the press than with the bar.
3i6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
WILLIAM GREENE
was born in Rhode Island in 1823 or 1824. He was an
able and learned man, and did a large business. He be-
came somewhat noted for his numerous opinions on
points of constitutional law, and was often called "Con-
stitutional Billy Greene." Once or twice he was a candi-
date for Congress, but unsuccessfully.
E. D. MANSFIELD,
himself educated in part at the Litchfield Law school,
then kept by Professors Reeve and Gould, undertook the
practice of law in Cincinnati during most of the years
between 1825 and 1836, when for two academic years
he filled the chair of constitutional law and history in the
Cincinnati college. Law and literature, in his case at
least, did not thrive well together; and he never made a
great figure at the bar. In his book of Personal Memo-
ries he says of the associates of his earlier professional
career that they numbered not more than forty, of whom
three or four were retired from practice. But, he says,
"in this small body were several men of mark and influ-
ence— men of mind, weight, and character — some of
them had influence upon the nation." Jacob Burnet was
then reckoned at the head of the local bar.
BENJAMIN DRAKE,
brother of the celebrated Dr. Daniel Drake, and asso-
ciate of Mr. Mansfield in the preparation of Drake and
Mansfield's little book on Cincinnati in 1826, began the
study of the law in his nineteenth year, at the old home
in Mayslick, Kentucky, whence he came to Cincinnati
to take a place in the drug store of his brother. He
finished his preliminary studies about 1825, and began
practice with William R. Moses. The firm did a good
business, in which young Drake bore a full part, though
much engaged in journalism and general literature, until
his untimely death in April, 1841, alter a long and pain-
ful sickness.
A NEWSPAPER NOTICE.
An interesting little editorial article, in regard to the
bar and its business, appeared in the Saturday Evening
Chronicle of July 9, 1827, from the pen of Moses Brooks,
esq., who was himself lawyer as well as editor. It runs
as follows:
At the late term of the supreme court of Ohio for Hamilton county,
there were one hundred and sixty cases on the docket. There are at
the bar in Cincinnati forty lawyers. Supposing the business in the su-
preme court to be equally divided among this number, it would give to
each four oases. If there be any truth in the old adage that legal busi-
ness is just in proportion to the number of lawyers, it would seem that
those in our city have but little talent or else a great deal of honesty
among them. For ourselves, we are disposed to refer the slender
docket to the latter cause. One fact, illustrative of the peculiar advan-
tages which Cincinnati possesses, may be drawn from the following
statement. We refer to the extreme cheapness of subsistence in this
place. Most of the lawyers of our city present an embonpoint by no
means corresponding with their docket. Other members of the legal
profession who may contemplate an immigration to Cincinnati need
not, therefore, be discouraged. There is little danger of starvation if
they have but three or four suits in the supreme court in each year.
Mr. Mansfield, in his Personal Memories, says of the
Cincinnati bar of this period: "In no larger number
than forty, it certainly had as large a proportion of gifted
and remarkable men as perhaps ever adorned a similar
body." Among them proved to be some remarkable
examples of longevity, as no less than eight were living
fifty years afterwards. There were then surviving four
out of a dozen members of a little society of attorneys
formed in 1825 for mutual improvement.
SIX YEARS LATER.
By 1831, with the rapid growth of the city in popula-
tion and business, the number of lawyers had also largely
increased. The following named are mentioned in the
directory of that year :
Jacob and Isaac G. Burnet, David K. Este, Nicholas Longworth,
William Corry, Joseph S. Benham, B. Ames, James W. Gazlay, Na-
thaniel Wright, Samuel Lewis, Daniel J. Caswell, Henry Starr, Ben-
jamin Drake, William R. Morris, John G. Worthington, Benjamin F.
Powers, Daniel Van Matre, E. S. Haines, David Wade, Charles Ham-
mond, Jeptha D. Garrard, Bellamy Storer, Charles Fox, Moses Brooks,
Hugh Peters, J. Southgate, J. Lytle, B. J. Fessenden, Vachel Worth-
ington, Thomas Longworth, James F. Conover, Thomas J. Strait, S.
P. Chase, D. H. flawes, Thomas Morehead, Robert T. Lytle, R.
Hodges, Jesse Kimball, N. Riddle, J. W. Piatt, H. Hall, B. E. Bliss,
Daniel Stone, H. S. Kile, S. Y. AtLee, F. W. Thomas, Isaiah Wing,
William Greene, Talbot Jones, Stephen Fales, N. G. Pendleton, E.
Woodruff, H. E. Spencer, H. P. Gaines, S. Findlay, Henry Orne.
Judge Carter adds the names of Judges John M.
Goodenow and Timothy Walker. These make, with the
others, fifty-eight— an increase of nineteen upon the roll
of 1825. But four of them were known here to be liv-
ing in 1880 — Judge Fox, residing in Cincinnati, and still
practing; Judge Woodruff and Henry E. Spencer, also in
the city, but retired from business; and Mr. AtLee, of
Washington city.
JUDGE CHASE.
In the spring of 1830 young Salmon P. Chase made
his advent in Cincinnati, from Washington, where he had
kept a classical school for boys. He began a profitable
practice at once, and by and by published his edition of
the statutes of Ohio, which gave him wide repute and
brought him a large practice. In 1834 he became solici-
tor of the Branch Bank of the United States, gnd soon
after of another city bank, which proved to be lucrative
connections. In 1837 he added materially to his fame
by his eloquent and able defense of a colored woman,
claimed as a slave under the Fugitive law of 1793. The
same year he made a famous argument in behalf of James
G. Birney, editor of the Philanthropist, for harboring a
runaway slave. His strong anti-slavery bent eaily took
him into politics, and his subsequent career as governor.
United States senator, secretary of the treasury, and
chief justice of the Federal supreme court, is well known
to the world.
JUDGE WALKER
came about 1831, married fortunately, and soon won
name, fame and money. Judge Carter has some pleas-
ant things to say of his old preceptor:
He was a most worthy man and a most worthy lawyer. He had not
genius, however; he had abundance of talent, and chiefly of acquire-
ment. He was learned in the law and out of the law. He could de-
liver a good lecture and a good speech anywhere and almost on any
topic, if you would give him time for his own preparation.
He was the author of Walker's Introduction to American Law, one of
the best of law books for the legal studies of American law students.
He served as presiding judge of our old court of common pleas for a
time, by appointment of the governor; and in every relation of life,
public or private, he was a gentleman and a scholar. He was full of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3i7
good points intellectually, and good parts generally. He never reached
political distinction — he never sought it. He was not ambitious; he
was, perhaps, aspiring. He will always be well remembered by those
who knew hiin.
HAWES AND STRAIT.
Daniel H. Hawes, a practitioner here between 1827
and 1834, made a beginning in business as a peddler of
cakes, which he pushed about in a wheelbarrow. After
his admission he obtained a partnership with Thomas J.
Strait, and the firm commanded a large business. In
1832 he was chosen to represent the county in the legis-
lature, though his opponent was the renowned but some-
times defeated General Harrison.
Mr. Strait was a country schoolmaster in Miami town-
ship before removing to Cincinnati, where he became a
quite prominent attorney. • He also, like most lawyers,
went into politics, and was once an unsuccessful candi-
date for congress. He removed finally to Mississippi, and
died there.
JOHN M. GOODENOW
came to Cincinnati very early, from Steubenville. In
February, 1832, he was elected judge of the common
pleas court, over Judge Turner.
THE WRIGHTS.
Crafts J. Wright, now of Wright's Grove, near Chicago,
came with Judge Goodenow, but shortly went into part-
nership with Charles Hammond, and in 1836 transferred
his association to Judge Fox, whom he left after a time
to take a place on the Daily Gazette. He was in this a
partner with Mr. Hamilton, with whom he was very in-
timate, and was afterwards president of the Gazette com-
pany.
Judge John C. Wright, who had been a judge of the
supreme court, and member of congress from the
Steubenville district, came about 1834, and entered into
partnership with Timothy Walker. He succeeded Ham-
mond as editor of the Gazette, and was known as one of
General Harrison's "conscience-keepers" — that little
body of Harrison's friends who took it upon themselves
to see that he shoujd say or write nothing indiscreet while
the presidential canvass was pending. He was also the
author of Wright's series of the Supreme Court Reports.
Crafts J. Wright was his son, and another son, Benjamin
T. Wright, came with him, and proved a successful young
lawyer, but died prematurely.
JAMES H. PERKINS.
One of the lawyers of the middle period here was Mr.
Perkins. He, however, remained but a short time in the
profession. Coming from Boston in February, 1832, he
entered the office of Judge Walker, and was admitted in
1834. The next year he undertook a manufacturing
enterprise at Pomeroy, in this State, but abandoned it in
a year or two, and returned to Cincinnati in the autumn
of 1837. He soon got into journalism, was for a year or
two editor of the Chronicle, and then became minister of
the Unitarian church, where, and as a literary man, he
made much reputation. One of his little fugitive pieces
in the Chronicle, entitled "The Hole in My Pocket," is
believed to have been copied in nearly every newspaper
than existing in the country. He was compiler of the
large octavo volume known as the Annals of the West,
which is still greatly esteemed as furnishing the materials
of history. For years he was also a sort of city mission-
ary in Cincinnati, and was of great service to the sick
and poor. Mr. Perkins died comparatively young, and
his loss was very much regretted. His death occurred
December 14, 1849.
SUNDRY NOTICES.
Vachel Worthington immigrated from Kentucky at
some time before 1831, and gained some eminence at
the bar for industry, learning, and ability. He was
strictly a lawyer, decling to be drawn aside into politics
or literature, and giving the most careful attention to his
business, in which he naturally succeeded very hand-
somely.
About the same time came Henry Starr Easton, an old
man when he began practice here, but a fair lawyer, who
soon made his way into practice.
In 1830 came Frederick W. Thomas, a young attorney
from Baltimore. He was devoted mainly to literature
and educational matters, and practiced quite irregularly.
He lived in Washington between 1841 and 1850, and
afterwards served in Cincinnati for some time as a Meth-
odist preacher. He died here in 1867.
Henry E. Spencer was a son of Oliver M. Spencer,
and grandson of Colonel Spencer, of the Columbia
pioneers. He was mayor of the city for a number of
years, and then president of the Fireman's Insurance
company. His brother, Oliver M. Spencer, jr., was also
an attorney at the Hamilton county bar.
Harvey Hall was the compiler and publisher of the
Directory of 1825, the second published in the city. He
prepared it with great care, and carried the same assi-
duity and patience into his subsequent practice of law,
in which he achieved much success. An interesting relic
of his residence is a three-story brick building, remarka-
ble for its very small windows, which is still standing on
Eighth street, near Main.
Edward Woodruff, son of Archibald Woodruff, one of
the pioneers, was in his day judge of the probate and
common pleas courts. He is still living, but altogether
retired from practice.
Thomas Longworth, a cousin of Nicholas, was much
respected as both lawyer and citizen, but did not remain
permanently in practice.
Thomas Morehead shared the good Scotch blood of
his brothers, Dr. John and Robert Morehead, and was
accounted a good lawyer.
James F. Conover, although a lawyer, was better known
as a politician and as editor of The Daily Whig. He is
remembered by the veterans of the bar as a scholar and
a gentleman.
1831-49.
Judge Carter, in his book of Reminiscences of the Old
Court-house, has taken pains to collect the names of the
large number of practitioners in Cincinnati during about
eighteen years after the publication of the last roll we
have copied— that of 183 1. This list, evidently carefully
prepared, is as follows:
3i«
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
George W. Allen, Charles Anderson, Larz Anderson, John W. Ap-
plegate, William C. Barr, C. P. Baymiller, James Boyle, Charles
Bohne, J. Blackburn, William G. Birney, C. P. Bishop, William K.
Bond, Joshua H. Bates, Henry B. Brown, D. V. Bradford, Charles D.
Brush, A. L. Brigham, Charles H. Brough, John Brough, Peter Bell,
Augustus Brown, Milton McLean, Nathaniel McLean, James S. Brown,
Charles S. Bryant, Jacob Burnet, jr. , Edward Harrington, William B.
Caldwell, Samuel F. Cary, Louis Carneal, John Collins, S. S. Carpen-
ter, A. G. W. Carter, Samuel S. Cox, John W. Caldwell, William Bebb,
Charles L. Telford, Manley Chapin, • Loomis, Flamen Ball, Stephen
Clark, A. D. Coombs, Martin Coombs, William M. Corry, Edward
P. Cranch, Joseph R. Gitchell, Samuel F. Howe, Jacob T. Crapsey,
Newman Cutter, Jacob H. Clemmer, S. C. Carroll, Doddridge & Ram-
sey, Thomas B. Drinker, Aaron R. Dutton, James H. Ewing, Samuel
Eels, James J. Faian, Ira D. French, Jacob Flinn, Jozaf Freon, William
T.Forest, Fisher A. Foster, Timothy D. Lincoln, Frederick D. Lincoln,
John Frazer, Thomas J. Gallagher, Charles W. Grames, Henry H.
Goodman, Frederick Colton, William S. Groesbeck, Herman Groes-
beck, John H. Groesbeck, Benjamin F. Gurley, Albert S. Hanks,
Samuel M. Hart, Jordan A. Pugh, George E. Pugh, Thomas J. Hen-
derson, Joseph Howard, David P. Hull, Charles P. James, Steele,
William Johnson, Jeremiah Jones, John Joliffe, William Rankin, Tal-
bot Jones, Edward Kenna, Rufus King, Edward King, Othniel Looker,
William M. McCarty, Alexander H. McGuffey, Edward D. Mansfield,
O. M. Mitchel, Abraham E. Gwynne, James F. Meline, Patrick Mc-
Groarty, William P. Miller, Thomas G. Mitchell, Charles D. Coffin,
Thomas Morris, Eben B. Reeder, Nelson B. Rariden, Cyrus Olney,
George H. Pendleton, William Phillips, jr., Donn Piatt, John L. Pen-
dery, Charles S. Pomeroy, Thomas Powell, Andrew J. Pruden, Frank
Chambers, David Quinn, Raymond & Dumhoff, Edward C. Roll,
James Riley", Henry Roedter, R. W. Russel, James W. Ryland, John
L. Scott, Thomas C. H. Smith, Henry Snow, Joseph Cox, Oliver M.
Spencer, James W. Shields, Richard M. Corwine, John W. Herron,
Isaac C. Collins, John M. Stuart, John Stille, Richard H. Stone, Llew-
ellyn Gwynne, Robert D. Handy, J. J. Collins, George C. Perry, John
F. Hoy, William Cunningham, William W. Fosdick, Alphonso Taft,
Thomas M. Key, Patrick Mallon, Joseph G. Gibbons, James W. Tay-
lor, William C. Thorpe, John M. Guitteau, Washington Van Hamm,
Peter J. Sullivan, Patrick Collins, John B. Warren, William H. Wil-
liams, William Y. Gohlson, John P. Cornell, Truman Woodruff, John
Kebler, C. F. Dempsey, John C. Wright, Crafts J. Wright, John L.
Miner, Joseph McDougal, E. A. Ferguson, Peter Zinn, C. C. Murdock,
Nathaniel C. Read, Oliver S. Lovell, Adam Hodge, Robert B. War-
den, George Hoadly, jr., Abijah Miller, A. Ridgely, Samuel W. Irwin,
George W. Woodbury, John H. Jones, Eli P. Norton, F. W. Miller,
Stephen Gano, J. G. Forman, Henry Morse, W. E. Bradbury, Joseph
S. Singer, Thomas Hair, Thomas Bassford, Matthew Comstock, A.
F. Pack, George H. Hilton, Stephen Hulse, Calhoun Benham, E. L.
Rice, J. B. Moorman, David P. Jenkins, J. H. Getzendanner, Henry
Gaines, Andrew McMicken, Rufus Beach, Edward R. Badger, T. O.
Prescott, James B. Ray, Mason Wilson, Alex. M. Mitchell, H. H.
Smith, L. B. Bruen, David Lamb, Robert S. Dean, Asa H. Townley,
James Burt, William M. McCormick, Charles C. Pierce, F. C. Bocking,
Moses Johnson, M. T. Williamson, W. E. Gilmore, C. W. Gilmore,
Robert S. Hamilton, Claiborne A. Glass, A. Monroe, S. T. Wylie, J.
M. Wilson, Thomas C. Ware, J.J. Layrhan; Alexander Van Hamm.
About fifty of all this large number, the judge thinks,
were still alive in 1880; and of the survivors many have
turned their attention to other pursuits.
Speaking of the court house and bar of the second gen-
eration in Cincinnati, Mr. Scarborough says in his Histor-
ical Address :
The bar numbered not less than one hundred and twenty-five mem-
bers. The location of the court house was then more inconvenient even
than it is now. Some few of the law offices were, as at present, in its
neighborhood ; but the most of them were on Third street, between Syc-
amore and Walnut streets, while several were to the south of Pearl
street, on Main, Columbia [Second], and Front streets. The offices of
Storer & Gwynne and Charles Fox were of this number, the former
being on the west side of Main, about half way from Pearl to Second
street, and the latter on the southeast corner of Main and Columbia
streets. The office of T. D. Lincoln, afterwards Lincoln, Smith &
Warnock, was a little to the east, on Columbia street, where it remained
until about 1865.
The lawyers of that time who had their offices near the court house
were not all book men, and no one of them had any considerable
library. Necessarily, the books then used in court were carried from
day to day to and from the court house and the down town offices.
"To tote" is an active verb, and generally believed to be not of purely
classic origin. The lawyers of that day, as well as the court messen-
gers, came to know its signification in the most practical way. The
green satchel was used by every lawyer, and was almost as essential to
him as the ear of the court. Nevertheless, it is well remembered that
in all sharply contested trials, prominent features were delays while
authorities were sent for, and statement and altercation as to cases cited
and not produced in court.
The bar at that time was conspicuous for its ability — Judge Burnet,
Judge Wright, Nathaniel Wright, and Henry Starr had retired, or
were about retiring, from practice. Judge Este had just left the bench
of the old superior court, and Judge Coffin had become his successor.
The late Chief Justice Chase, Judges T. Walker, O. M. Spencer, W.
Y. Gholson, and Bellamy Storer, and T. J; Strait, not to make mention
of their compeers yet living, were then active members of the bar in full
practice. .
Scarcely less brilliant or richly gifted were the younger members of
the bar. Some are still with us, among the leaders of to-day ; others,
as B. B. Fessenden, Jordan A. Pugh, C. L. Telford, A. E. Gwynne,
and T. M. Key, are deceased.
But among the more notable members of the bar were two not yet
mentioned — William R. Morris and Daniel Van Matre. Visitors to
the court rooms of that day rarely failed, in the morning hour, to find
them there, or to be attracted and favorably impressed by their deport-
ment and marked, though dissimilar peculiarities. Morris was a man
of energy and push, of high spirit and great manly beauty. Van
Matre was thoroughly genial, singularly quiet and unobtrusive, and
guileless as a child. Withal he was cultured, and unusually exact and
painstaking in the fulfillment of his purposes. They were both good
lawyers, and alike cherished their profession, and desired to do what-
ever they could to ennoble it.
THE ANDERSON BROTHERS.
Judge Carter gives the following appreciative notice of
these gentlemen :
Lawyer Larz Anderson belonged to the bar of the old court-house,
but, having married a daughter of the millionaire, Nicholas Longworth,
he gave little or no attention to law except as it concerned the affairs of
Mr. Longworth's large estate. Larz Anderson was a good lawyer,
however, and a polished gentleman, and was much liked by the old
members of the bar. His brother Charles, whom I knew as a fellow-
student at Miami University, became quite a distinguished lawyer as
well as a polished gentleman, and also became of some account in poli-
tics, and was once elected by the people of Ohio as their lieutenant-
governor. They were both Kentuckians, but came to this city in young
age, and settled permanently among us. Charles was much given to
the drama, and at a great benefit for the poor of Cincinnati, in the
month of February, 1855, he appeared in the character of Hamlet, en-
acting the scenes of the third act. This was at the old National-
theatre of this city. Some ten years after this, at another benefit for
the poor, given at Pike's opera house, he enacted the whole of Hamlet,
with great approbation and eclat. So that it was well said of him, he
was as fit for the winsome walks of the drama as he was for the perilous
paths of the law. In either capacity, as lawyer or actor, he acted well
his part and there the honor laid ; and it used to be said of him, he was
a first-rate actor in both professions— law and the drama— notwith-
standing an indignant adversary advocate in court once directly pointed
at him before the court and jury, and proclaimed, by way of manifest-
ing some contempt for the way he managed his cause, "Lo ! the poor
actor!" But Charles Anderson was a good lawyer as well as good
actor, and a gentleman in every sense of the term.
TELFORD.
One of the ornaments of the local bar, for a short time
in the middle period, was Charles L. Telford. He was
a superior young man— "in no way a common person,"
writes Mr. E. D. Mansfield; "he had uncommon talents,
both of nature and self-culture, tall, erect, with dark hair
and clear, dark eyes, his carriage was manly, dignified,
and commanding. In this respect he was one of a few
whom nature has- formed not to be reduced to the ordi-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3i9
nary level by the want of gravity and dignity." He was
graduated at Miami University, and became professor of
rhetoric and belles lettres in Cincinnati college, upon the
re-organization of its literary department in 1835. While
performing the duties of his chair he read law, was ad-
mitted to the bar and to a partnership with William S.
Groesbeck, obtained a good practice, and about 1847-8,
with Mr. Groesbeck, became a professor in the Law
school. He died comparatively young, however, the fell
destroyer, consumption, claiming him for its own.
FOSDICK.
Judge Carter gives the following little sketch of Fos-
dick, the lawyer-poet:
The Western poet, William W. Fosdick, was a lawyer and a member
of the bar of the old court-house in its later days. Given to poets and
poetry as he was, he was not very much given to the law, but he was
quite capable, though he never practiced the law a great deal. He was
a good-souled, jovial fellow, and full of wit and humor, and was always
a companion. He was very fond of puns from others and of punning
himself. He was a punster, and stirred up a great many puns, and
often in company he became the very life ot it. A coterie of lawyers
were one day engaged in the old court-room of the old court-house dis-
cussing the Mexican war, when Fosdick was asked his opinion and ex-
pression. He readily replied : "Gentlemen, I can easily express my
sentiments in a single poetic line from Addison's Cato. It may be a
new reading, but them's my sentiments : ' My voice is still — for war ! ' "
HODGE.
Again from the Old Court House :
Adam Hodge, as a lawyer, had very few superiors among the
young members of the old bar. He was distinguished for learning and
legal sharpness and acumen, and was very successful in his practice.
He was a tall, thin , spare man, long arms and long legs and long body,
and long but very agreeable and pleasant face, which, when he was argu-
ing a case at bar, lit up with peculiar, fascinating illumination ; and his
eloquence attracted all his listeners, who were pleased with his use of
language and his mellow bass and tenor tones of voice. Adam also
had wit and humor in him, and frequent sallies issued forth from his
brain, with the applause of his auditory and to the discomfiture of his
adversary. He was a clever gentleman and a clever lawyer, and no one
who had the pleasure of knowing will soon forget him. He was en-
gaged in the defence of many prisoners in the criminal department of
the court; and he seemed to love to defend such, and would gloat with
positive delight whenever he succeeded in getting any defendant ac-
quitted.
ZINN.
One of the most remarkable men of the bar of the old
court house, and mentioned in Judge Carter's list, died
November 17, 1880, at his home in Riverside, of tetanus
or lock-jaw, induced by a surgical operation. Peter Zinn
was born in Franklin county February 23, 1819, and
came to Cincinnati in 1837 as a journeyman printer;
published the Daily News in 1839 ; read law with Judge
Storer and William M. Corry, and was admitted in 1849;
became a partner with Charles H. Brough, then with
John Brough, and with Judge Alexander Paddack ; rep-
resented a city district in the State legislature 185 1-2,
and again in 1861 ; was major in the Fifty-fifth Ohio vol-
unteer infantry, rendered signal service during the "siege
of Cincinnati," and was then appointed to command
Camp Chase;- after the war obtained distinction as a
lawyer, especially in conducting for the plaintiff the cele
brated case of the Covington & Lexington railroad (now
Kentucky Central), against R. B. Bowler's heirs el al., and
author of Zinn's Leading Cases on Trusts; retired from
the bar a few years ago, to give attention to his extensive
rolling-mill in Riverside and other private interests; and
there ended his active and successful career.
THE KINGS.
The Hon. Rufus King, of New York, is well known in
American history as a distinguished minister of the
United States Government at the Court of St. James, a
United States Senator, and candidate of the Federal
party for the Presidency in 1804, 1808, and 1816. Ed-
ward King, his fourth son, was born at Albany, March 13,
1795, and came to Ohio twenty years afterward, making
his home first in Chillicothe, then the capital of the
State. He had followed his graduation at Columbia col-
lege with a course at the celebrated Litchfield Law
school, was admitted to practice the year after his removal
to Ohio, and by his talents and popular qualities soon ac-
quired a large practice. At Chillicothe he married
Sarah, the second daughter of Governor Thomas Worth-
ington. Returning to Cincinnati in 1831, he practiced
here with eminent success until his death, February 6,
1836. His most notable association here was with the
Cincinnati Law school, which he helped to found in
1833; and when the college was re-established two years
afterwards, he was selected by the trustees to fill the,chair
of the law department, which his failing health compelled
him to decline. He had been attacked the previous Oc-
tober with dropsical disease, and had taken a southern
trip for it, but without material benefit. He returned
much discouraged, unable to resume his business, and
grew rapidly more feeble until death relieved him. While
in Chillicothe he was four times elected a representative
to the legislature from Ross county, and during two of
his terms served the house as speaker. Colonel Gilmore,
of the Chillicothe bar, in a notice of Mr. King in the
History of Ross and Highland Counties, says:
There was a great deal to admire in Edward King's abilities, and a.
great deal to love in his character. He was quick and acute in percep-
tion, of active and vivid imagination, abounding in good-natured wit,
was fluent and pleasant in speech, graceful and often forcible in decla-
mation, and always gentle and polished in manners. He was generous
to a fault — if that be possible — cheerful, frank, cordial to all acquain-
tances, high or low, learned or ignorant, rich or poor. No wonder,
then, that his praise was in all men's mouths.
Rufus King, son of Edward, became in his turn an
eminent Cincinnati lawyer, besides rendering the pub-
lic great service in education and other lines of duty. He
is still living, and in full practice.
ALLEN LATHAM
was another Chillicothe lawyer who removed to this city,
and spent his later years here. He was born in Lyme,
New Hampshire, March 1, 1793, came early to Ohio and
was admitted to the bar at New Philadelphia, removing
to the old State capital about 181 5. At Chillicothe he
did something in law practice, but more in land specula-
tion, for which his office as surveyor-general of the mili-
tary land district gave him special facilities. He was
also a prominent Democratic politician, represented Ross
county in the State senate in 1841-2, and in 1838 was
defeated as a candidate for congress by only one hundred
and thirty-six votes. He removed to Cincinnati in 1854,
and died here March 28, 1871, being then seventy-eight
years old.
320
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
THE BROUGHS.
John and Charles H. Brough came from Lancaster to
this city in the winter of 1840-1, purchased the Adver-
tiser from Moses Dawson, changed its name to the Cin-
cinnati Enquirer, and started the paper on its wonderful
career. Both were successful lawyers and public men.
John, as is well known, became auditor of State and one
of the famous war governors of Ohio. He was not ad-
mitted to the bar until 1845, and did not acquire so
much business as a lawyer as he did in journalism and
politics. His voice was remarkably clear and strong, and
when he spoke, as he sometimes did during the war, on
the river-bank or from a steamer on the Cincinnati side,
he could be heard easily in Covington. Charles Brough
became prosecuting attorney of the county, colonel of
one of the Ohio regiments in the Mexican war, and
afterwards presiding judge of the court of common
pleas. He died here of cholera in 1849.
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
was a young legal immigrant of 1849. He became part-
ner with Richard M. Corwine, forming the firm of Cor-
wine & Hayes, to which William D. Rogers was present-
ly added, the partnership then becoming Corwine, Hayes,
& Rogers. The firm soon commanded a large business.
Hayes became prosecuting attorney, went to the war of
the Rebellion as a major, was elected to represent the
second district in congress while still in the field, and
subsequently governor tor three terms and President of
the United States. His great case here was that of
Nancy Farrar, the poisoner, in whose defence he labored
with great assiduity and ability, and finally with success.
CHARLES D. COFFIN
came to the city about 1842, and remained until his
death, at the advanced age of seventy-six, which occurred
but a few years ago. He was judge of both the old and
the new superior courts of the city.
DONN PIATT.
This eccentric Washington editor, a member of the
famous Piatt family of Cincinnati and the Miami valley,
was a lawyer here many years ago. After the resignation
of Judge Robert Windom from the bench of the com-
mon pleas, Piatt was appointed by the governor to the
vacant place. His professional brethren thereanent said
of him that, as he knew nothing of" law, he would go to
the bench without any legal prejudices. Judge Carter,
however, testifies that he was a good lawyer and made
a good judge.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE
the bar of Cincinnati included one hundred and eighty-
three lawyers and law-firms. Some of the most famous
names of the local bar are in this list; as Hayes, Groes-
beck, Taft, Long, Pugh, Anderson, and others. We
have said little in this chapter of the living still in prac-
tice of the later generation of lawyers, and of the equally
distinguished not heretofore referred to — as Stanley Mat-
thews, Judge Hoadly, Job E. Stevenson, and many'
more — the limitations of this chapter and book compel-
ling us to deal almost exclusively with the past; but we
must find room here for one remarkable anecdote told
by Judge Carter of the late
GEORGE E. PUGH.
On one occasion he was all alone, engaged in the defence of a cele-
brated case involving a great part of the Elmore Williams estate; and
on the plaintiff's side, against him, were those two distinguished lawyers
Thomas Ewing and Henry Stanberry. The long table before the bench
was filled with a hundred law-books, placed there by the plaintiff's
lawyers; and fiom them, taking each one up and reading, Mr. Stanberry
cited his cases, and occupied several hours in so doing. Mr. Pugh re-
plied to Mr. Stanberry, and, without brief or notes, or taking up or
reading from a single" law-book, he cited from his own memory all that
Mr. Stanberry had quoted, and then, in addition, cited more than thirty
different law-books — cases, principles, and points, and names of cases,
and pages of books, where they were to be found on his own side of
the case, without in a single instance using books, notes, or briefs. It
was truly a most unique and remarkable mental performance; and after
he got through the presiding judge of the court called Mr. Pugh to him
to the bench and asked him "how in the world he did it." Pugh mod-
estly replied : "Oh, for these matters I always trust to my memory;
and while that serves me, I want no books or briefs before me. " What
a valuable memory ! By it, too, Pugh won his case, as he did many
others.
THE OLD GUARD.
Judge Carter gives the following list of survivors of the
old court house (burned in 1849) at the time his book was
published in 1880:
Charles Anderson, Samuel York At Lee, James Boyle, Joshua H.
Bates, Jacob Burnet, jr., Fiamen Ball, Samuel F. Black, Calhoun Ben-
ham, Oliver Brown, Robert W. Carroll, Samuel F. Cary, Samuel S.
Carpenter, A. G. W. Carter, Samuel S. Cox, John W. Caldwell, Ed-
ward P. Cranch, Jacob T. Crapsey, Jacob H. Clemmer, Frederick Col-
ton, Nelson Cross, Joseph Cox, Aaron R. Dutton, William Dennison,
James J. Faran, William T. Forrest, John Frazer, E. Alexander Fergu-
son, Charles Fox, William S. Groesbeck, Joseph G. Gibbons, John M,
Guitteau, Stephen Gano, W. E. Gilmore, C. W. Gilmore, John W.
Herron, Robert D. Handy, John F. 'Hoy, George Hoadly, George Hil-
ton, Robert S. Hamilton, Rutherford B. Hayes, Charles Hilts, George
B. Hollister, Samuel W. Irwin, Charles P. James, William Johnson,
Rufus King, John Kebler, Timothy D. Lincoln, Frederick D. Lincoln,
Oliver S. Lovell, J. Bloomfield Leake, Thomas Longworth, Nathaniel
C. McLean, Alexander H. McGuffey, Edward D. Mansfield, Patrick
McGroarty, Patrick Mallon, Charles C. Murdock, Andrew McMicken,
John B. McClymon, William McMaster, Stanley Matthews, M. W.
Oliver, George H. Pendleton, William Phillips, jr., Donn Piatt, John
L. Pendery, Andrew J. Pruden, Alexander Paddack, James W. Ryland,
Thomas C. H. Smith, Richard H. Stone, Peter J. Sullivan, John B.
Stallo, W. S. Scarborough, Henry E. Spencer, Alphonsp Taft, James
W. Taylor, William C. Thorpe, Samuel J. Thompson, John B. War-
ren, James S. White, Crafts J. Wright, Robert B. Warden, Edward
Woodruff, D. Thew Wright, Peter Zinn.
Not all of these reside in Cincinnati, but a number, as
ex-Governor Dennison, Judge Crafts J. Wright, and others,
live elsewhere. M.r Zinn has died since Judge Carter's
book was published.
AT THIS WRITING
the Cincinnati bar numbers not less than six hundred
attorneys. In this fact alone may be seen the impossi-
bility of giving anything like a full biographical history of
the profession here. Among them are many practition-
ers and public men of national reputation. Judge Carter,
closing the pages of his toilful and interesting volume,
proudly yet worthily vaunts the local bar in these terms:
It has furnished two Presidents of the United States— Harrison and
Hayes.
It has furnished two justices of the supreme court of the United States
—McLean and Chase— and one of them Chief Justice.
It has furnished two attorney generals of the United Slates— Stan-
berry and Taft.
It has furnished Burnet, Hayward, Wright, Goodenow, Read, Cald-
S. F. COVINGTON.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
321
ou ^den' Gholson, and Okey, and Wright, as supreme judges of
me'OW" State' and quite a great number of the judges ot our own nu-
erous courts at home. It would make a big catalogue to name them.
„f .Ihas/urnished. I believe, one judge of the superior court of the city
of New York, even.
It has furnished two Secretaries of the Treasury of the United States
— Corwm and Chase.
It has furnished several governors of our State-Corwin, Bebb, Den-
mson, Brough, Hayes, Anderson and Young.
It has furnished several United States Senators, and any quantity of
congressmen, and legislators innumerable.
We have had, too, from our bar, divers ministers and consuls abroad ;
and we have now a minister at the court of France.
We have furnished other officials of importance and consequence.
THE LAW LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.*
The need of a convenient and ample library of refer-
ence was sharply felt by the bar of Cincinnati, as it grew
in number and business, about the middle period of the
history of the city. Few of the lawyers had any large
collection of books, and the labor of carrying such as were
in hand and needed in cases, to and from the court house
and offices, was by no means small. Serious delays in
important trials often occurred while awaiting the pro-
duction of authorities. At one time, when Judge Cald-
well, of the court of common pleas, desired to consult
some authorities not at hand, he called up a member of
the bar, Mr. George E. Pugh, in open court to inquire
what had been done toward the formation of a bar
library, and, not satisfied with the progress made, lent his
personal efforts thereafter to the procurement of subscrib-
ers to the fund.
In 1834 a charter for the incorporation of the Cincin-
nati Law Library was obtained, Messrs. Edward King,
E. D. Mansfield, Jacob W. Piatt, O. M. Mitchel, S.
York AtLee, and other well-known members of the Bar
of that day, being named as corporators. Nothing fur-
ther of account was done, however, until 1846, when
not less than one hundred and twenty-five attorneys were
at the Hamilton Bar, and the need of a library at the
court house had become imperative. In September of
that year a meeting was called in the court room of the
old Superior Court, and it was resolved that an effort
should be made to establish a library. Messrs. William
R. Morris, Daniel Van Matre, William M. Corry, Al-
phonso Taft, and George E. Pugh, were appointed a
committee to devise a plan and raise the money to exe-
cute it. A subscription paper was drawn up by Mr.
Morris, which is still in existence, and headed by him-
self, his partner, and Mr. Andrew McMicken, who then
occupied a desk in their office. It provided that —
The undersigned, members of the Cincinnati Bar, for the purpose of
raising a fund for the purchase of law-books for the use of the Bar of
said city, hereby mutually agree to form a Library Association on terms
to be settled and determined, from time to time, as shall be deemed ad-
visable hereafter, and also agree to pay, for that purpose, to the com-
mittee of the Association, the sum of twenty-five dollars each, payable
as follows : Ten dollars when called oh; five dollars at the end of six
months ; five dollars at the end of twelve months ; and the balance
eighteen months from the time of making the subscription.
Septembers, 1846.
This was signed ultimately by one hundred and five
*The materials for this section have been drawn mostly from the
careful and elaborate historical address of W. S. Scarborough,' esq., be-
fore the Law Library association, June 12, 1875, and published in a
neat pamphlet.
persons, the last subscriptions bearing date 1849 an^
1850. Judge Burnet gave fifty dollars as a donor, not
as a member. With this the total amount subscribed
was two thousand six hundred and fifty dollars — a very
fespectable beginning, truly. About December 1st Mr.
Van Matre, now chairman arid acting treasurer of the
committee, began to collect the subscriptions, and in
about six months realized one thousand and ninety-three
dollars and twenty-seven cents therefrom. Books had
been bought in January, 1847, of Messrs. Derby, Brad-
ley & Company, then principal law book-sellers in town,
to the value of one thousand four hundred dollars, of
which seven hundred dollars was paid down, and the rest
was secured by the note of the committeemen. Seventy-
five dollars' worth of books had also been bought of
Rufus King and' other members of the bar. In these,
the nucleus of the superb library since formed, were
Bibb's & Munford's works, Dane's Abridgment, and five
volumes of State Papers on Public Lands. A large
book-case was bought for ninety-four dollars and fifty
cents, and set up in the court-room of the Common
Pleas, just at the right of the entrance. Mr. Bernard
Bradley was appointed librarian February 8; and the
great usefulness of the Cincinnati Law Library began.
In the spring of 1847 the association was formally or-
ganized, though against the opposition of Mr. Corry, Mr.
Pugh, and perhaps others, under the "act to regulate lit-
erary and other societies," passed by the legislature
March 11, 1845. A constitution was adopted and
signed by the subscribers; but at the. meeting of the cor-
porate body held on the first Saturday in June, 1847, at
the Superior Court room, for the election of trustees,
but twenty-four members were present. The association
now owed seven hundred and twenty-one dollars, and
had less than one hundred and fifty dollars in its cash-
box. Twenty members still owed the first installment of
their subscriptions; eighty-eight had not paid their assess-
ment of five dollars voted February 19, 1847; and eighty-
seven had not paid the second installment. The large
sum of two thousand and fifty-five dollars was due, or
about to become due, from the members.
The trustees elected at the June meeting were W. R.
Morris, Oliver M. Spencer, Daniel Van Matre, Alphonso
Taft, and Jordan A. Pugh, with R. B. Warden. They
organized as a board by electing the first-named presi-
dent, the second vice-president, and the third treasurer.
For four years thereafter, no record appears of any meeting
of stockholders or trustees, though there is extrinsic evi-
dence that the former held a meeting June 4, 1849, and as-
sessed ten dollars per share upon the stockholders, at the
same time raising the shares to forty dollars each. It is said,
moreover, that the annual meeting was regularly held, and
the board and secretary regularly re-elected, except Jor-
dan A. Pugh, who died of yellow fever in New Orleans,
whither he had removed, and was displaced upon the
board in 1849 by Judge Timothy Walker. June 7, 185 1,
there was a general reconstruction of the board, Messrs.
A. E. Gwynne, Rufus King, George E. Pugh, Jacob Bur-
net, jr., and Thomas G. Mitchell being elected trustees,
and Peter Zinn clerk. The three gentlemen first-named
322
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
were chosen, respectively, as president, vice-president,
and treasurer. Mr. Pugh, however, became attorney-gen-
eral of the State and resigned his office in the association
late in the year, when it was conferred upon Mr. Burnet.
When the old court house was burned, in the summer
of 1849, the books of the library were saved, with some
exceptions, and in pretty good condition. The book-
cases were lost, however, and one hundred dollars were
soon after recovered from the Columbus Insurance com-
pany for them, and one hundred and ninety dollars
for books destroyed. The library then went with the
courts to James Wilson's four-story brick building, on the
north side of Court street, west of St. Clair alley; and a
small room was obtained for it on the third floor. The
collection now comprised one thousand and eighty vol-
umes— eighty-three of American Federal reports, five
hundred and forty-seven State reports, two hundred and
thirty-eight English reports, fifty-one digests, fifty-nine
of statutes, and one hundred and two text-books, trea-
tises, etc. About one-half of the English reports were in
the imperfect American reprints, and have since been
largely displaced by original editions. Many of the books,
particularly text-books, had been lent or given to the li-
brary.
At the meeting of June 16, 185 1, it was resolved that
the price of shares be reduced to twenty-five dollars and
all assessments after June 1st of that year; that the library
be accessible to all lawyers not three years in practice,
upon the annual payment in advance often dollars; and
that any member who should pay sixty dollars into the
treasury, in addition to the forty dollars previously paid,
should have a perpetual membership, without further
charge or assessment. The reduction in the value of
shares worked badly, and a considerable number of
shares practically lapsed.* There was but small increase
of membership, and on the fifth of June, 1852, but eighty-
nine had a share paid up or any interest in a share. Says
Mr. Scarborough:
Such was the condition of the Association at the end of five years
from the time of its organization. The membership lacked coherence
and growth. If not declining, and somewhat rapidly, it was at a stand-
still. But the library, on the other hand, though small in fact, was
large for its years, and for its purpose was a good one. The getting
together of one thousand and eighty volumes as a beginning, at the
time and under the circumstances in which they were coliected, was
most creditable to all connected with it. It was an achievement for
the institution, as I think, far greater than any that, in the same length
of time, has since been wrought.
In 1852 the Association published its first catalogue,
showing the number of books then on hand to be one
thousand three hundred and eighty. It was still some-
what in debt, and few books had been added to the li-
brary for some time; the trustees were therefore directed
to make all collections possible. A new code of by-
laws, in relation to shares and life-memberships, was
adopted July 10th, the second of which read as follows :
Any person may become a life-member on paying such sum as, in
addition to any previous payments made by him, will amount to one
hundred dollars ; provided that the amount which shall be paid, in ad-
*The share of R. B. Hayes, then a young member of the Cincinnati
bar, taken in 1S52, though not forfeited, was practically surrendered to
the association 1865 — also that of General W. H. Lytle.
dition to the payments before made and assessments due, shall not be
less than fifty dollars.
This over-liberal by-law was changed, and life-mem-
berships practically cut off June 4, 1864, by an amend-
ment moved by Stanley Matthews, as follows:
That the existing by-law regulating the form of certificates of life-
membership be amended so that hereafter the sum to be paid therefor
at any given time, shall be the amount of the original stock, together
with all subsequent assessments made thereon to that period, and the
additional sum of one hundred dollars — all payments of original stock
and assessments to be credited thereon.
Since the passage of this no life-members have been
added to the Association.
The receipts and disbursements for the library, from
June 5, 1852, to June 2, 1866, averaged per year about
three hundred and thirty-six dollars from new members,
six hundred and fifty-one dollars from assessments, thirty-
six dollars and forty-three cents from non-members for
use of the library, and one hundred and twenty-three
dollars from the law school in the college building.
From life-members one thousand one hundred and
twenty-five dollars in all were received (five hundred and
fifty dollars in 1852), and from all sources seventeen
thousand two hundred dollars and forty-seven cents, or one
thousand two hundred and twenty-eight dollars per year,
on an average. The average disbursements were three
hundred and twelve dollars for current expenses, and nine
hundred and twenty-one dollars for books. The total
membership June 2, 1866, was one hundred and thirty-
nine, of whom nineteen were life-members — 1852,
Flamen Ball, Timothy Walker, Alphonso Taft, James T.
Worthington, W. Y. Gholson, M. H. Tilden, T. D. Lin-
coln, Charles Anderson, George H. Pendleton; 1853,
Thomas J. Strait, G. B. Hollister; 1855, M. E. Curwen;
1856, E. F. Strait, Aaron F. Perry; 1858, George H.
Hilton; i860, J. P. Jackson; 1863, Jacob Wolf, Anthony
Shonter, Samuel Caldwell. Sixty-five shares had been
forfeited or surrendered. The new members in fourteen
years numbered one hundred and fifteen; so that but a
few, comparatively, of the original members were left at
the end of twenty years.
During the next ten years the membership increased
rapidly, as well as the library. Judge Hoadly and Mr.
W. S. Scarborough were long before appointed purchas-
ing committee, and were industrious and enterprising in
getting the best books the means of the association would
allow. They bought many valuable volumes at the sales
of lawyers' libraries, as when the library of Judge Pur-
viance, of Baltimore, was broken up and sold in 1855, and
that of Judge Cranch in Cincinnati in 1863. Many
purchases were also made from attorneys in practice
here, of such Reports as were wanted. In 1854, when
about one hundred and fifty volumes of the American
Reports were wanting, Judge Hoadly was instructed to
get them upon the best terms he could, and at the same
time the trustees resolved to keep up full sets of the
Statutes of the several States — a work of very great dif-
ficulty. It has been so successfully accomplished, how-
ever, that it is believed no other collection in the country,
except the congressional library, is fuller in statute law.
In June, 1875, tne library contained one thousand five
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
323
hundred and sixty-five volumes of Statutes — a truly
splendid collection — with two thousand four hundred
and twenty-six volumes of State Reports, one hundred
and ninety-nine of United States Reports, one thousand
one hundred and fifty-eight of. British and Canadian
Reports, and treatises, digests, etc., enough to swell the
total number to nine thousand one hundred and fifty-
one. Mr. Scarborough says: "Doubtless mistakes
have been made in the selection and purchase of books,
yet I know of no library that is so absolutely free from
lumber and rubbish as this. Our elementary works, owing
to the early policy of confining the purchases mainly to
reports and statutes, are mostly of recent editions." The
first invoice of imported works was received in 1856,
through Messrs. Little, Brown & Company) of Boston,
and consisted of Irish Reports, and Reports of the
House of Lords, and Privy Council decisions. The
largest addition was made in the year 1864-5, being four
hundred and thirty-nine books, of which fifty-five were
reports, the rest consisting mainly of bound volumes of.
The Law Magazine, The Law Reporter, American State
Papers, Annals of Congress, and other congressional
documents. The next year three hundred and ninety-
five volumes were bought, of which over two hundred
are text-books. On the 2d of June, 1866, the library
contained about five thousand three hundred volumes,
having increased nearly three hundred a year for fourteen
years. The increase was more rapid thenceforth, and
was largely of imported books, some of them rare and
costly. The current American- reports, and all valuable
treatises appearing in this country, were bought as fast as
they came out. In 1869, a heavy importation was
made, amounting to one thousand one hundred and
eighty-eight dollars and fifty .cents, completing the sets of
English Chancery, House of Lords, Ecclesiastical, and
Admiralty Reports, with other valuable sets. In 1870-1
the Scotch Appeals and Irish Reports were bought in
considerable number, also the Crown Cases, some Nisi
Prius reports, and two hundred and forty- four other vol-
umes. Large additions have since been made, and the
library now musters the magnificent total of fifteen thou-
sand volumes. In the spring of 1 854 it was moved into the
best room available in the new court house; and in the
summer of 1857, upon the completion of the third story,
it was taken to its present spacious and well-lighted
quarters, where it has since found a comfortable and fit-
ting home. The county officials have always manifested
a friendly feeling to the library, and provided for it as
best they could without rent or other charge. A written
obligation now secures both parties against probable dis-
turbance.
The librarians in charge have been : Bernard Bradley,
1847-8; A. A. Pruden, 1848-9; Joseph McDougall,
1849-50; John Bradley, 1850-61; M. W. Myers, 1861
to the present time. N. B, Bradley, son of John Bradley,
was the assistant of Mr. Myers for two years and a half
after Mr. Myers' appointment.
THE LAW SCHOOL.
Cincinnati college, by its original charter, was virtually
a university, with the saving clause that no particular
theology could be taught therein, which of course cut off
a theological department. Any other school, however,
undergraduate or post-graduate, could be legally estab-
lished as a branch of it, and when Dr. Drake and others,
in 1835, instituted the medical department of the college,
they -interested themselves also in the founding of a law
department and the revival of the literary department or
faculty of arts. A respectable law school was already in
existence in the city, having been founded in May, 1833,
by General Edward King, John C. Wright, and Timothy
Walker, esq., three of the leaders of the Cincinnati bar.
This was the first law school established west of the
Alleghanies. Its founders were themselves graduates of
law schools at the east, and thought that similar advan-
tages should be afforded to the rising generation of law-
yers in the northwest. Its first term began October 7,
1833. The school drew together a considerable number
of students, whom the founders taught ably and success-
fully. General King died, and Mr. Walker was persuaded
to incorporate the school with Cincinnati college as its
law department. Another lecturer was engaged, and
at the opening of the department the faculty stood as
follows :
Timothy Walker, professor of constitutional law and
the law of real estate.
John C. Wright, professor of practice, pleading and
criminal law.
Joseph S. Benham, professor of commercial law and
the law of personal property.
Under their auspices the department opened with a
good number, of students, and has maintained itself pros-
perously to this day, now more than forty-five years, be-
ing indeed all there is now and has long been of Cincin-
nati college, as an agency of formal instruction. In
strength and reputation it is among the very first in the
land. It has a large library and all necessary conveni-
ences for its work. Among its professors have been the
Hon. William S. Groesbeck, E. D. Mansfield, Bellamy
Storer, Judge James, M. E. Curwen, and several other
gentlemen of distinction. Ex-Governor Jacob D. Cox is
now at its head. The remainder of the faculty is con-
stituted as follows :
Rufus King, LL. D., professor of the law of real prop-
erty, evidence, and institutes.
George Hoadly, LL. D., professor of the law of civil
procedure.
Henry A. Morrill, professor of the law of contracts .
and torts.
Manning F. Force, professor of equity jurisprudence
and criminal law.
Hon. John W. Stevenson, professor of commercial law
and contracts.
At the session of 1879-80 the number of students
aggregated one hundred and twenty-five — fifty-six juniors,
sixty-nine seniors. The graduates of the school number
more than a thousand. Among them are many who
became distinguished in various walks of public life — as
Senator Chafles D. Drake, of St. Louis, Judges Joseph
Longworthand Jacob Burnet, jr., Generals S. F. Caryand
William H. Lytle, Judge Stallo, Hon. William Cumback
324
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of Indiana, Robert Kidd the elocutionist, A. T. Goshorn,
Thomas L. Young, Milton Sayler, Julius Dexter, Samuel
F. Hunt, Ozro J. Dodds, and many others. The diploma
of the school entitles the graduate to admission to the
Cincinnati bar without further examination. The lectures
are delivered in the college building, on Walnut street.
Fifteen hundred dollars are appropriated annually by the
college corporation for the library.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MANUFACTURING.
The writer of this history has many times experienced
a sensation of despair as he has confronted a large topic
with a long and interesting story, which would in itself fill
a portly volume, but which must be compressed into the
limited space of a chapter. This feeling has not elsewhere
been so pronounced as at the outset of this division of
our narrative. It would be an immense — literally im-
measurable— affair to relate the whole tale of the rise
and progress of the industries of Cincinnati, which manu-
facturing has mainly made great in wealth, population
and fame. We can give here, as in some other chapters
of this work, but the merest outline of the subject in
hand.
It is believed that the first manufactory in Cincin-
nati was one of earthenware, started by William Mc-
Farland, in October, 1799. At the same spot James and
Robert Caldwell took up the same business in February,
1801.
Manufactories belonging to Cincinnati men were
opened in the adjacent country almost as soon as here.
In a local newspaper for July 9, 1800, Messrs. Lyon &
Maginnis advertise desks, escritoires, dining-tables, plain
and veneered, etc., at their shop, eleven miles out on the
Hamilton road.
Probably the first notice of the industries of the
Queen City, in the larger way, was made by Mr. John
Melish, the Englishman who was here in 181 1, and sub-
sequently published two volumes of Travels in America.
In the second of these he has the following :
This is, next to Pittsburgh, the greatest place for manufactures and
mechanical operations on the river, and the professions exercised are
nearly as numerous as at Pittsburgh. There are masons and stone-
cutters, brick-makers, carpenters, cabinet-makers, coopers, turners,
machine-makers, wheelwrights, smiths, and nailers, coppersmiths, tin-
smiths, silversmiths, gunsmiths, clock and watchmakers, tanners, sad-
dlers, boot and shoemakers, glovers and breeches-makers, cotton-spin-
ners, weavers, dyers, taylors, printers, bookbinders, rope-makers, comb-
makers, painters, pot and pearlash-makers.
These branches are mostly all increasing, and afford good wages to
the journeymen. Carpenters and cabinet-makers have one dollar per
day and their board, masons have two dollars per one thousand for lay-
ing bricks and their board, when they board themselves they have about
four dollars per one thousand. Other classes have from one to one dol-
lar twenty-five cents per day, according to the nature of the work.
Wool and cotton carding and spinning can be increased to a great
extent ; and a well organized manufactory of glass bottles would suc-
oeed. Porter brewing could'be augmented, but it would first he neces-
sary to have bottles, as the people here prefer malt liquors in the bottled
state. A manufactory of wool hats would probably succeed, and that
of stockings would do remarkably well, provided frame smith work were
established along with it — not else. As the people are becoming
wealthy and polished in their manners, probably a manufactoiy of
piano-fortes would do upon a small scale. '
There are ample materials for manufactures. Cotton is brought
from Cumberland river, for from two to three cents. Wool is becom-
ing plenty in the country and now sells at fifty cents per pound, and
all the materials for glass-making are abundant ; coal has not been
found in the immediate neighborhood, but can be laid down here at a
pretty reasonable rate ; and it is probable the enterprising citizens will
soon introduce the steam engine in manufactures. Wood is brought to
the town at a very low rate, There is a very considerable trade be-
tween New Orleans and this place, and several barges were in the river
when we visited it. One had recently sailed upwards over the falls.
There was, then, already, within little more than twenty
years from the founding of Cincinnati far in the depths
of the wilderness West, with a demand and market for
her manufactures yet to be wholly created, a consider-
able industry .in the village, with many lines of operation
and a most hopeful future. The first pork-packer in
Porkopolis, Mr. Richard Fosdick, was already on the
ground, having arrived the year before, and was soon to
begin operations. Two years afterwards, in 1813, a
beginning was made here of the great industry of plow-
making by Mr. George C. Miller, who at first laboriously
hammered out his shares upon the anvil, and then sent
them out to Madison (now Madisonville), to be stocked
by a weaver named Bran — so limited were still the
facilities for this kind of work in Cincinnati. Twelve
years thereafter, in 1825, Mr. Miller constructed the first
steel-spring gig seen in the city, which was naturally a
great curiosity. Two sons of Mr. Miller afterwards built
up a large business in manufacturing in the city.
The great steam-mill on the river-bank, east of Broad-
way, was erected shortly after. Mr. Melish's visit, in 1812-
14. It was the architectural and industrial wonder of its
day, and is noted by Dr. Drake in 1815, in his Picture of
Cincinnati, as "the most capacious, elevated and perma-
nent building in this place." It was built by William
Greene, an ingenious mason and stone-cutter — the same,
we presume, who is mentioned in a following chapter by
Judge Storer in a most interesting connnection — upon
plans prepared by George Evans, one of the proprietors.
Its situation upon the river-bank allowed its founda-
tions to be laid upon a bed of solid limestone rock, and
it was so close to the stream that in time of high water
the current swept its entire length. The foundations
were sixty-two by eighty-seven feet, and about ten feet
thick. On the river side the height of the structure was
one hundred and ten feet, comprising nine stories— two
of them above the eaves. The walls were "battered" or
drawn in to the height of forty feet, and then carried up
perpendicularly. The cornice was of brick, and the roof
wood, in the common style. The limestone in the build-
ing (six thousand six hundred and twenty perches) was
quarried in the bed of the river close by. Brick was
used to the amount of ninety thousand; timber, eighty-
one thousand two hundred cubic feet; and lime, four-
teen thousand eight hundred bushels. The total weight
of all the materials was estimated at five thousand six
hundred and fifty-five tons. Ninety windows and twenty-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
325
four doors were needed for the great edifice. From
foundation to roof a partition wall divided each story into
unequal apartments. One side was occupied by a flour-
ing-mill ; the other was designed for woolen and cotton
mills, linseed-oil and fulling-mills, and other machinery.
No accident occurred during the whole course of erec-
tion; and when its stately proportions stood complete
and ready for use, the noble building towered aloft, the
enthusiastic pride of the young Cincinnati. The ma-
chinery, put in by. Oliver Evans, was moved by a seventy-
horse-power engine. Four pairs of six-foot burrs were in
the flouring department, with ability, when all running,
to turn out seven hundred barrels of flour per week, of
excellent quality. The mill was occupied with varying
success for about ten years, and then perished by fire
one ill-starred day — November 3, 1823. Its loss was
justly felt to be a public calamity.
The Cincinnati manufacturing company by this time
(i8i5)had a number of buildings erected on the bank
above Deer creek — the main manufactory one hundred
and fifty feet long and twenty to thirty-seven feet wide,
and two to four stories high. It was engaged in manu-
facturing red and white lead, of which six or seven tons
were turned out per week. It was the third white-lead
factory started between the Alleghanies and the Missis-
sippi. Its product is noted by Dr. Drake as of excellent
quality, and with no mixture of whiting, which alloyed
most of the white lead then imported into this region.
A large frame saw-mill, seventy by fifty-six, and three
Stories high, was also at this time in operation. It had
four saws in separate gates, running at the speed of eighty
strokes per minute, and each sawing two hundred feet of
boards per hour. Its machinery otherwise was of the
best then used in such mills. Logs were brought in rafts
upon the river to the mill, and thence drawn up the bank to
the saws by an engine. Some other but smaller branches
of manufacturing were carried on in this building.
It is remarked by Dr. Drake that in this mill, as also in
the works of the Cincinnati Manufacturing company, the
Evans patent of steam engine was used, which dispensed
with a condenser, and instead of it poured a current of
cold water upon the waste steam, thus heating water for
the boilers, and so economizing fuel.
Cotton and wool manufacturing had been introduced
here as early as 1809. Six years thereafter there were in
one factory twenty-three cotton spinning mules and
throstles, carrying thirty-three hundred spindles, with
seventy-one roving and drawing heads, fourteen cotton
and ninety-one wool-carding machines, and wool-spinning
machines to the amount of one hundred and thirty spin-
dles. Twisting machines and cotton gins had also been
made. An extensive woollen manufactory was to be
added the next winter to the works of the Cincinnati
manufacturing company, capable of producing sixty yards
of broadcloth per day. There were four cotton spinning
establishments, mostly small, and all together run-
ning about twelve hundred spindles, by hores-power.
There Vas but a small product of fabrics as yet; but the
doctor observes that several had had pieces of carpeting,
diaper, plain denim, and other cotton fabrics made.
In 1814 a mustard manufactory was established some-
where above the town, but did imperfect work, and had
but a light and poor product.
In the spring of 1815 an establishment for the prepar-
ation of artificial mineral waters was started, but only
operated a few weeks, when the owners stopped to enlarge
their works and begin again the next year.
A building for a sugar refinery was begun in 1815, and
operations were started therein the latter part of the year.
Six tanyards were in operation, giving abundant facili-
ties for the extensive manufacture of boots and shoes and
saddlery. Skins were then dressed in alum. The various
workers in leather and related materials made trunks' cov-
ered with deerskin or oilcloth, gloves, brushes in great
variety and of excellent quality, blank books, and all kinds
of common and extra binding, executed in good, style.
Wool hats were not yet made in Cincinnati; but fur
hats were turned out in sufficient quantity to supply a sur-
plus for exportation to the Mississippi river country, where
they were chiefly used in barter for pelts.
Two rope walks, considered "extensive" at the time,
were producing cables, various small cordage, and spun
yarn. One of them had been exporting its products for
some years.
Several breweries were in full operation. The first had
been built in 1809, in the lower part of town, and used
the river water. Others, farther back from the stream,
were smaller, and used water from wells and cisterns.
The former, with one other, consumed thirty thousand
bushels of barley per annum. Their products were beer,
porter and ale, which was exported to the Mississippi,
even as far as New Orleans, and they are said to have
borne changes of climate remarkably well. The distilla-
tion of cordials for home use, and the rectification of
spirits, were also carried on to some extent. Four shops
were manufacturing tobacco and snuff.
A considerable export of pot and pearl ashes, soaps,
and candles was already made from the still small facto-
ries in Cincinnati.
There was yet no iron foundry, but a good supply of
blacksmiths was maintained, who did much work usually
turned over to the "whitesmiths," as Dr. Drake calls
them. Several shops made by hand processes enough
wrought and cut nails to supply the town and surround-
ing country, but none for export. Stills, tea-kettles, and
a great variety of other copper and tinware, were made in
abundance. Already rifles, fowling pieces, pistols, gun-
locks, dirks, and the like, were made in satisfactory quan-
tity and quality. Swords, bowie-knives, and dirks were
mounted in any desired form, and plated or gilt. Many
articles of jewelry and silver-ware were made, "after the
most fashionable modes and handsomely enchased," 'says
the Picture of Cincinnati. Clocks were manufactured,
but watches could only be repaired as yet. Plain sad-
dlery and carriage mounting of all kinds, home-made,
was in the market.
In stone-cutting sills, chimney-pieces, monuments* and
many other things, were executed neatly and tastefully.
Common pottery of good quality was made, but only
enough at present for home consumption. A manafaG-
326
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tory of "green window-glass'' and hollow-ware was pres-
ently to begin operations, and another of white flint-glass
was expected for the next summer. Clean white sand
for the purpose could be procured north of the mouth of
the Scioto, but crucible clay had still to be brought from
Delaware.
Sideboards, secretaries, bureaus, and other articles of
cabinet work of superior excellence, were made of "our
beautiful cherry or walnut," or of mahogany brought up
the Mississippi and Ohio — also fancy chairs and settees,
"elegantly gilt arid varnished." Wagons, carts and drays,
coaches, phaetons, gigs, and other pleasure carriages,
were manufactured in some quantity; likewise plane-
stocks, weaver's reeds, and much turned work, as wheels,
screws, parts of chairs, and the like. Coopers' work had
been much facilitated by the machine of William Baily, of
Kentucky, patented in 1811. Horse-power was used to
shave and joint shingles, and also to dress and joint
staves, to an amount per day of twelve hours sufficient
for the manufacture of one hundred barrels. The pro-
prietors of the machine used here were perfecting arrange-
ments to export dressed staves to New Orleans.
Dr. Drake modestly records that the fine arts in Cin-
cinnati did not yet present anything deserving a boast;
but all kinds of sign and ornamental painting, labeling,
together with the engraving of copper and other seals,
cards of address and vignettes, were executed with much
taste and ability.
He also notes that only two or three brickyards were
in existence here before 1805, but that the immigration
about that time became so large that the number had in-
creased within three years to eight. The market was kept
well supplied when he wrote his Picture of Cincinnati.
a traveller's notes in 181 7.
In June of this year the Englishman Palmer, whose
Travels in America is cited in our annals of the Third
Decade, was in Cincinnati, and used his observing pow-
ers to some purpose upon the manufactories of that day.
He notes the great mill and the steam saw-mill upon the
river bank, saying of the latter: "The mill works four
saws, and I was astonished to see the disposition of the
machinery. Four large trees, about twenty-five feet long,
are cut into inch-plank in about an hour." The several
factories mentioned by Dr. Drake, whose work was evi-
dently before the traveller, are remarked by him. He
now found two glass-houses in operation; also a saw-mill
worked by two pairs of oxen, treading upon an inclined
wheel of forty feet diameter; a smith's shop where the
bellows was worked by a single ox upon a similar but
smaller wheel; a foundry "on a large scale," and "an-
other now building;" an air-furnace " now constructing
on a new and expected powerful constitution;" two or
more distilleries, with brickyards and many other small
manufactories in grain, skins, wood, clay, and other ma-
terials. He concludes his notices by saying: "The cen-
tral situation of Cincinnati, and very rapid increase of
the inhabitants in the neighboring States, prove it to be
an eligible spot for manufacturing companies and individ-
uals."
THE OX SAW-MILL.
is mentioned in the directory of 1819 as the first of the
kind known to have been established on the principle of
an animal-motor. It had then become common to drive
these smaller mills by means of cattle treading upon in-
clined wheels — a device invented by Mr. Joseph R. Rob-
inson, of Cincinnati, and introduced, our authority says,
into several mills and manufactories in the city and its
vicinity. . This' mill was then cutting about two thousand
feet of boards per day, or nearly eight "hundred thousand
feet per year.
1817-19.
The Cincinnati bell, brass, and iron foundry was es-
tablished by William Greene in 1817. About a year af-
terwards the pecuniary strength and business influence
of his venture was greatly increased by receiving into
partnership some of the foremost citizens of Cincinnati
— General Harrison, Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, and
John H. Piatt, under the firm name of William Greene
& Company. He was thus enabled greatly to enlarge
the operations of the foundry, and in 18 19 its buildings,
with their appurtenances, covered nearly an entire square.
They included two spacious structures, in and about
which one hundred and twenty workmen were employed.
The establishment consumed forty thousand bushels, of
coal per annum, and turned out three thousand pounds'
weight of castings a day.
The success of this very likely led to the starting of
the Phoenix foundry in 1819. There were also in the
city this year six manufacturers of tinware, four copper-
smiths, nine silver and three "white "and two gunsmiths,
one nail factory, one maker of fire-engines, one each of
patent cut-off mill-makers, copper-plate engravers, gilders,
and makers of sieves and lattice work.
Besides these, there were fifteen cabinet-shops, em-
ploying eighty-four workmen; sixteen cooper-shops; nine
coach and wagon-makers; four chair makers; between
eighty and. one hundred boss carpenters and joiners, with
about four hundred apprentices and journeymen ; several
ship-carpenters and boat-builders, with sixty to seventy
hands; one ivory and wood clock factory; one each of sad-
dletree, plough, pump and block, spinning-wheel, window-
sash, bellows, comb, whip, fanning-mill, and "Rackoon
burr mill-stone" makers; twenty-six shoemaker, twenty-
three tailor, eleven saddler, six tobacconist and five hatter
shops; twenty-five brick and six tanyards; one steam and
one or two horse grist-mills ; fifteen bakeries ; two brew-
eries.; nine distilleries ; three potteries ; two stone-cutting
establishments; three rope-walks; seven soap-boilers and
tallow-chandlers; two wood-turners; five bookbinders;
five painters and glaziers; two brush-makers; two uphol-
sterers; two last-makers; one hundred bricklayers, thirty
plasterers, fifteen stone-masons, eighteen milliners, one
dyer, ten barbers, and ten street-pavers. All together
employed one thousand two hundred and thirty-eight
hands, and the amount of their products for one year
1818-19— was one million fifty-nine thousand four hun-
dred and fifty-nine dollars ; the two foundries, the wool-
len factory, glass-works, steam mill, sugar refinery, oil-mill,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
327
and several manufactories of less importance, not being
included in the footings.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX
it was observed that local industries had greatly increased
within two years, and that the manufacturers and me-
chanics had become the most prosperous classes in the
city. The steamers built at Cincinnati were afloat upon
all navigable streams of the Mississippi valley; and steam
engines, castings, furniture, hats and caps, and many
other things, were sent from the factories of the city to
Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and
■Louisiana — "where they are sought after," says Drake
& Mansfield's Cincinnati in 1826, "and admired, not
less for their beauty than for their more substantial qual-
ities." By this time had been started a steam mill for
sawing stone; a manufactory for turning out tubs, buck-
ets, kegs, and shoe-trees, from solid logs. The foundries
were the Phcenix, the Franklin, Etna, and Eagle, with
Goodloe & Harkness' copper foundry. Other important
industries were Kirk's & Tift's steam engine and finish-
ing establishments, R. C. Green's steam engine factory,
Allen & Company's chemical laboratory, the Cincinnati
and Phcenix paper mills, a powder mill, the woollen fac-
tory (but not just now in operation) of the Cincinnati Man-
ufacturing Company, the sugar refinery and white lead
factory before mentioned, the Wells type foundry and
printers' warehouse, three boat yards for steamer building,
employing two hundred hands and producing during the
year a value of one hundred and five thousand dollars;
nine printing establishments, issuing about seven thou-
sand two hundred papers a week or one hundred and
seventy-five thousand a year, and seven hat factories,
among which A. W. Patterson's and J. Coombs' establish-
ments were conspicuous. The hat business had become
a large one here, and its products made a considerable
figure in the exports of the city. There were also eleven
soap and candle factories, with fifty-one thousand five
hundred dollars produced that year; as many tanneries,
producing to the value of seventy-six thousand five hun-
dred dollars ; thirteen cabinet factories, sixty-seven thou-
sand nine hundred and fifty dollars; four rope-walks,
twenty-three thousand dollars; two breweries, twenty
thousand nine hundred dollars; twenty-nine boot and
shoe shops, eighty-eight thousand five hundred dollars;
two wall paper factories, eight thousand four hundred
dollars; ten saddle and trunk factories, forty-one thousand
nine hundred dollars; three tobacco and snuff factories,
twenty-one thousand two hundred dollars; nine tin and
coppersmiths, forty-eight thousand eight hundred dollars;
one oil mill, eleven thousand seven hundred dollars;
two wool carding and fulling mills, six thousand five hun-
dred dollars; six chair factories, twenty-one thousand
nine hundred and seventy-three dollars; three wood turn-
ers two thousand nine hundred and twenty-five dollars;
eleven cooper shops, twenty-nine thousand seven hundred
dollars ; one clock factory, twenty thousand dollars ; three
plow factories, ten thousand four hundred and seventy-
five dollars ; eight carriage and wagon factories, twenty
thousand two hundred and eighty dollars; two potteries,
four thousand five hundred dollars; two small woollen
and cotton factories, four thousand one hundred dollars;
two boot and shoe-tree makers, one thousand one hundred
dollars; two plane-stock, hit, and screw-makers, eleven
thousand one hundred and forty-five dollars; two comb
factories, one thousand six hundred dollars ; one looking-
glass and picture-frame maker, two thousand dollars ; one
sieve-maker, three thousand four hundred dollars; one
chemical laboratory, two thousand four hundred dollars;
six book binderies, eleven thousand nine hundred and
seventy-one dollars; seven silversmiths, eight thousand
six hundred dollars; ten bakeries, twenty-nine thousand
four hundred dollars; one paper mill, twenty-two thou-
sand dollars; twenty- two smiths, forty-eight thousand dol-
lars; five hundred carpenters, one hundred and sixty-five
thousand dollars; thirty painters, thirteen thousand nine
hundred dollars ; thirty-five tailors and clothiers, one hun-
dred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and fifteen
dollars; one cotton spinning establishment and brass
foundry, twenty-two thousand dollars; one mattress fac-
tory, one thousand dollars; one white lead factory, three
thousand six hundred and seventy-two dollars ; four stone-
cutting works, eleven thousand one hundred dollars;
one hundred and ten bricklayers, stone masons, and plas-
terers, thirty-seven thousand six hundred and fifty dollars;
and one distillery.
In all the manufactories of the city about two thousand
one hundred and ninety hands were employed, and the
total product for the year had a reported value of one
million six hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars.
There was also an estimated product of one hundred
thousand dollars' value from the sugar refinery, the three
copper-plate engravers, one miniature and three por-
trait painters, one cotton and wool carder, two steam
saw-mills, four carpet and stocking weavers, one
powder mill, two crockery and stoneware factories,
one wood carver, forty milliners, two brush-makers, one
"wheat-fan" factory, one pump and bell maker, one sad-
dle-tree maker, four other chemical laboratories, one
sash maker, two blacksmiths otherwise unreported, two
piano-makers, one organ builder, five shoemakers, two
tailors, One distiller, two upholsterers, one cutter, nine
confectioners, two gunsmiths, three lime burners, and two
bakers. The amount of sixty-eight thousand dollars could
also rightfully be added for the Pugh & Teeter glass-
works at Moscow, Dewalt's paper mills at Mill Grove,
and three cotton and spinning establishments — all out of
the city, but owned and managed in Cincinnati. The
total product of the manufactures of the city for the year
was figured up to one million eight hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.
ENGINE BUILDING.
About 1828 a great stimulus to steam-engine building
was given in Cincinnati and to all the manufacturing
centres in the Ohio valley. During this industrial
"boom" were started the Hamilton foundry and steam-
engine factory, Goodloe & Borden's,* and West & Stone's
steam-engine works. Fox's well-known steam-mill was
also started about this time.
The Queen City early acquired a great reputation for
32?
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
its engines and its machinery generally. Between 1846
and 1850, of three hundred and fifty-five engines and
sugar-mills erected in Louisiana, two hundred and eighty-
one, or about eighty per cent, of the whole, were of Cin-
cinnati manufacture. Mr. Cist expressed the opinion, in
his Cincinnati in 1851, that probably within two or three
years not a sugar-mill or engine would be constructed for
v the States of Texas or Louisianna, or for Cuba, except in
Cincinnati. These machines, manufactured here, could
be delivered in New Orleans ten per cent, cheaper than
the machinery of eastern manufacturers.
It is pretty well known that one of the earliest steam
fire-engines — indeed, the first of such machines that was
at the same time light enough to be moved readily (al-
though it weighed twelve tons, and required four horses
to drag it to a fire) and prompt in its performance, was
made in Cincinnati, 1852-3, by Mr. A. B. Latta, with the
result of revolutionizing the entire fire service, as
will be seen more fully in our chapter on that depart-
ment. This pioneer engine is thus described in The
Great Industries of the United States, page 755-6:
The first of these engines built by Cincinnati was peculiar in the
method of its construction. It had a square fire-box, like that of a lo-
comotive boiler, with a furnace open at the top, upon which was placed
the chimney. The upper part of the furnace was occupied by a contin-
uous coil of tubes opening into the steam-chamber above, while the
lower end was carried through the fire-box, and connected with a
force-pump, by which the water was to be forced continually through
the tubes throughout the entire coil. When the fire was commenced
the tubes were empty, but when they became sufficiently heated, the
force-pump was worked by hand and water was forced into them, gen-
erating steam, which was almost instantly produced from the contact
of the water with the hot pipes. Until sufficient steam was generated
to work the engine regularly, the force-pump was continuously operated
by hand, and a. supply of water kept up. By this means the time oc-
cupied in generating steam was only five or ten minutes; bufthe objec-
tions to this heating the pipes empty and then introducing water into
them are too well known to be insisted upon.
The engipes built upon this pattern were complicated and heavy, but
were efficacious, and led to their introduction in other cities, and also to
a quite general establishment in cities of a paid fire department in place
of the voluntary one, which had theretofore prevailed. The lightest
steam fire-engine constructed upon this method weighed about ten
thousand pounds. It was carried to New York upon exhibition, and
upon a trial there threw, in 1858, about three hundred and seventy-five
gallons a minute, playing about two hundred and thirty-seven feet
through a nozzle measuring an inch and a quarter, and getting its supply
through a hydrant. The same engine is said to have played in Cincin-
nati two hundred and ten feet through a thousand feet of hose, getting
its supply from a cistern.
THE PORK BUSINESS.
As this is the industry for which Cincinnati has been
chiefly famous, an entire and somewhat elaborate section
will be given to it here. We have already noted the ad-
vent of Richard Fosdick, the first local packer, in 1810.
He was warned beforehand that beef and pork could not
be so cured as to keep sound in this climate; but he
courageously made the experiment, and succeeded.
There were "millions in it" for himself and his long line
of successors.
Another account says that Mr. John Shays was the
progenitor of the business here, and that it was begun
about the year 1824.* He was still packing in 1827. Mr.
Cist says:
I well recollect cart-loads upon cart-loads of spare-ribs, such as could
not be produced anywhere at the east or beyond the Atlantic, drawn to
the water's edge and emptied in the Ohio, to get rid of them. Even
yet [this was written in 1845] a man may get a market-basket filled with
tenderloins and spare-ribs for a dime.
By- 1826 the business of pork-packing was here equal
to or greater than that of Baltimore, and it was thought
might not at that time be excelled anywhere in the world.
Within the three months between the middle of Novem-
ber, 1826, and the middle of February, 1827, forty thou-
sand hogs were packed in the city, of which three-fourths
were slaughtered here. It was remarked that less beef
was packed and exported than should be.
Mrs. Trollope came to Cincinnati two or three years
after this. The porcine aspects of the city of course did
not escape her notice ; and in her book, published after
her return to England, she made the following amusing
entry :
It seems hardly fair to quarrel with a place because its staple com-
modity is not pretty; but I am sure I should have liked Cincinnati
much better if the people had not dealt so very largely in hogs. The
immense quantity of business done in this line would hardly be believed
by those who had not witnessed it. I never saw a newspaper without
remarking such advertisements as the following :
" Wanted, immediately, four thousand fat hogs."
"For sale, two thousand barrels of prime pork."
But the annoyance came nearer than this. If I determined upon a
walk up Main street, the chances were five hundred to one against my
reaching the shady side without brushing by a snout fresh dripping from
the kennel. When we had screwed our courage to the enterprise of
mounting a certain noble-looking sugar-loaf hill that promised pure air
and a fine view, we found the brook we had to cross at its foot red with
the stream from a pig slaughter-house ; while our noses, instead of
meeting. " the thyme that loves the green hill's breast," were greeted
by odors that I will not describe, and which I heartily hope my readers
cannot imagine; our feet, that on leaving the city had expected to press
the flowery sod, literally got entangled in pigs' tails and jaw bones ;
and thus the prettiest walk in the neighborhood was interdicted forever.
At that time, and for many years afterwards, the
slaughter-houses were mainly in the Deer creek valley,
in the eastern part of the city; and its waters were in
consequence very greatly polluted, the nearness of the
mouth of that stream to the water-works thus relating the
pork business closely to the water supply of Cincinnati.
The packing-houses were more scattered about the city;
and for some years one of them on Court street, near
the market, was occupied by the courts and county of-
fices, after the burning of the old court house and pend-
ing the much-delayed building of the new. Nowadays
the establishments for both slaughtering and packing are
nearly all up the valley of Mill creek; and improved ma-
chinery and processes enable them to conduct their ope-
rations with much less offense to the public than was the
case of old.
The older slaughter-houses will be further noticed be-
low. It will be entertaining here to record the observa
tions of the poet Charles Fenno Hoffman, in his account
of a Winter in the West. He was here in 1834. It is
seldom that such elegant, even dainty English is ex-
pended upon so prosaic a subject. Mr. Hoffman says :
The most remarkable, however, of all the establishments of Cincin-
nati are those immense slaughter-houses where the business of butcher-
ing and packing pork is carried on. The number of hogs annually
slaughtered is said to exceed one hundred and twenty thousand; and
the capital employed in the business is estimated at two millions of dol-
lars. Some of the establishments cover several acres of ground; and
one of the packing-houses, built of brick and three stories high, is more
than a hundred feet long and proportionably wide. The minute divis-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
329
ion of labor and the fearful celerity of execution in these swinish work-
shops would equally delight a pasha and a political economist; for it is
the mode in which the business is conducted, rather than its extent,
which gives dignity to hog killing in Cincinnati and imparts a tragic
interest to the last moments of the doomed porkers that might inspire
the savage genius of a Maturin or a Monk Lewis. Imagine a long,
narrow edifice, divided into various compartments, each communicating
with the other and each furnished with some peculiar and appropriate
engine of destruction. In one you see a gory block and gleaming axe;
a seething caldron nearly fills another. The walls of a third bristle
with hooks newly sharpened for impalement; while a fourth is shrouded
in darkness, that leaves you to conjure up images still more dire.
There are forty ministers of fate distributed throughout these gloomy
abodes, each with his particular office assigned him. And here, when
the fearful carnival comes on, and the deep forests of Ohio have con-
tribuled their thousands of unoffending victims, the gauntlet of death
is run by those selected for immolation. The scene commences in the
shadowy cell whose gloom we have not yet been allowed to penetrate.
Fifty, unhappy porkers are here incarcerated at once together, with
bodies wedged so closely that they are incapacitated from all move-
ment. And now the grim executioner — like him that battled with the
monster that wooed Andromeda — leaps with his iron mace upon their
backs and rains his ruthless blows around him. The unresisting vic-
tims fall on every side; but scarcely does one touch the ground before
he is seized by a greedy hook protruded through an orifice below. His
throat is severed instantly in the adjacent cell, and the quivering body
is hurried onward, as if the hands of the Furies tossed it through the
frightful suite of chambers. The mallet, the knife, the axe, the boiling
cauldron, the remorseless scraping-iron, have each done their work;
and the fated porker, that was one minute before grunting in the full
enjoyment of bristling hoghood, now cadaverous and " chopfallen, "
hangs a stark and naked effigy among his immolated brethren.
In 1 843, forty-three per cent, of all the pork packing
which was done in Ohio was accomplished in Cin-
cinnati, and the percentage rapidly increased for a
few years until it amounted in 1850--1 to eighty per
cent, or four-fifths of the entire pork- business of the
State. It was now by far the principal hog market in
the United States, and, without excepting even Cork and
Belfast, Ireland, then also great centres of this industry,
the greatest in the world. Its favorable situation as the
chief place of business for an extensive grain growing
and hog raising region was proving the key to untold
wealth.
The following is a comparative statement of the number
of hogs packed here from 1832 to 1845, when the business
first became important enough to demand statistics.
(It will be understood that the years named respectively
designate the first part of the pork year for which returns
were made, as 1832 stands for the season of 1832-3, etc.)
1832, 85,000; ^833, 123,000; 1834, 162,000; 1835, 123,-
000; 1836, 103,000; 1837, r82,ooo; 1838, 190,000;
1839, 95,000; 1849, 160,000; 1841, 220,000; 1842, 250,-
000; 1843, 240,060; 1844, 173,000; 1845, 275,000. In
1850-1 the number was 324,539. During four years
about this time the yearly average was 375,000— one
year as many as 498,160 had been packed. There were
in the city thirty-three large pork and beef packers and
ham and beef curers, besides a number of small packers.
A paragraph from Sir Charles Lyell's Book of Travels in
North America relates in part to these gentlemen. Sir
Charles was here in 1845.
The pork aristocracy of Cincinnati does not mean those innumerable
pigs which walk about the streets, as if they owned the town, but a
class of rich merchants who have made their fortunes by killing annu-
ally, salting, and exporting, about two hundred thousand swine. There
are, besides .these, other wealthy proprietors, who have speculated suc-
cessfully in land, which often rises, rapidly in value as the population in-
creases. The general civilization and refinement of the citizens is far
greater than might have been looked for in a State founded so recently,
owing to the great number of families which have come directly from
the highly educated part of New England, and have settled here.
As to the free hogs before mentioned, which roam about the hand-
some streets, they belong to no one in particular, and any citizen is at
liberty to take them up, fatten, and kill them. When they increase too
fast the town council interferes and sells off some of their number. It
is a favorite amusement of the boys to ride upon the pigs, and we were
shown on 2 sagacious old hog, who was in the habit of lying down as
soon as a boy came in sight.
Mr. Cist's volume on Cincinnati in 1859 has some
valuable remarks on the pork industry, which we tran-
scribe at some length :
The hogs- raised for this market are generally a cross of Irish Grazier,
Byfield, Berkshire, Russia, and China, in such proportions as to unite
the qualifications of size, tendency to fat, and beauty of shape to the
hams.
They are driven in at the age of from eleven to eighteen months old,
in general, although a few reach greater ages. The hogs run in the
woods until within five or six weeks of killing time, when they are
turned into the corn-fields to fatten. If the acorns and beech-nuts are
abundant, they require less corn, the flesh and fat, although hardened
by the corn, is not as firm as when they are turned into the corn-fields in
a less thriving condition, during years when mast, as it is called, is less
abundant.
From the eighth to the tenth of November the pork season begins,
and the hogs are sold by the farmers direct to the packers, when the
quantity they own justifies it. Some of these farmers drive, in one sea-
son, as high as one thousand head of hogs into their fields. From a
hundred and fifty to three hundred are more common numbers, how-
ever. When less than a hundred are owned, they are bought up by
drovers until a sufficient number is gathered for a drove. The hogs are
driven into pens adjacent to the respective slaughter-houses.
The slaughter-houses of Cincinnati are in the outskirts of the city,
are ten in number, and fifty by one hundred and thirty feet each in ex-
tent, the frames being boarded up with movable lattice-work at the
sides, which is kept open to admit air in the ordinary temperature, but
is shut up during the intense cold, which occasionally attends the pack-
ing season, so that hogs shall not be frozen so stiff that they cannot be
cut up to advantage. These establishments employ each as high as
one hundred hands, selected for the business, which requires a degree of
strength and activity that always commands high wages.
For the purpose of farther illustrating the business thus described,
let us take the operations of the active season of 1847-48. There is
little doubt that an estimate of five hundred thpusand hogs, by far the
largest quantity ever yet put up in Cincinnati, is not beyond the actual
fact. This increase partly results from the growing importance of the
city as a great hog market, for reasons which will be made apparent in
a later page, but more particularly to the vast enlargement in number
and improved condition of hogs throughout the west, consequent on
that season's unprecedented harvest of corn. What that increase was
may be inferred from the official registers of the hogs of Ohio, returned
to the auditor of State as subject to taxation, being all those of and
over six months in age. These were one million seven hundred and
fifty thousand, being an excess of twenty-five per cent., or three hun-
dred and fifty thousand hogs, over those of the previous year.
Those of Kentucky, whence come most of our largest hogs, as well as
a considerable share of our supplies in the article, exhibited a propor-
tionate increase, while the number in Indiana and Illinois greatly ex-
ceed this ratio of progress.
Of five hundred thousand hogs cut up here during that season, the
product, in the manufactured article, will be :
Barrels of pork 180,000
Pounds of bacon 25,000,000
Pounds of lard 16,500,000
The buildings in which the pork is put up, are of great extent and
capacity, and in every part thoroughly arranged for the business.
They generally extend from street to street, so as to enable one set of
operations to be carried on without interfering with another. There
are thirty-six of these establishments, beside a. number of minor im-
portance.
The stranger here during the packing, and especially the forwarding
season of the article, becomes bewildered in the attempt to keep up
with the eye and the memory, the various and successive processes he
33°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
has witnessed, in following the several stages of putting the hog into
its final marketable shape, and in surveying the apparently interminable
rows of drags which at that period occupy the mam avenues to the
river in continuous lines, going and returning, a mile or more in length,
excluding every other use of those streets from daylight to dark. Nor
is his wonder lessened when he surveys the immense quantity of hogs-
heads of bacon, barrels of pork, and kegs of lard, for which room can
not be found on the pork-house floors, extensive as they are, and which
are, therefore, spread over the public landing and block up every va-
cant space on the sidewalks, the public streets, and even adjacent lots
otherwise vacant.
These are the products, thus far, of the pork-houses' operations
alone. That is to say, the articles thus referred to are put up in these
establishments, from the hams, shoulders, leaf-lard, and a small portion
of the jowls — the residue of the carcasses, which are taken to the
pork-houses, being left to enter elsewhere into other departments of
manufacture. The relative proportions, in weight of bacon and lard,
rest upon contingencies. An unexpected demand and advance in the
price of lard would greatly reduce the disparity, if not invert the pro-
portion of these two articles. A change in the prospects oi the value
of pickled pork, during the progress of packing, would also reduce or
increase the proportion of barreled pork to the bacon and lard.
The lard made here is exported in packages to the Havana market,
where, besides being extensively used, as in the United States, for
cooking, it answers the purpose to which butter is applied in this
country. ' It is shipped to the Atlantic markets also, for local use, as
well as for export to England and France, either in the shape it leaves
this market or in lard oil, large quantities of which are manufactured
at the east.
The years 1874 to 1877, inclusive, will long be remem-
bered as constituting a period of great depression in the
pork trade, caused by the high price of hogs and the low
price of the manufactured products. The last year, that
of 1876-7, was especially disastrous, on account of the
remorseless speculation, which held firmly the shrinkage
in prices and caused immense losses, and also from the
general depression and shrinkage of the year. Mess
pork, for example, which sold at $45.00 per barrel in war-
time, was sold at times during the late panic for $12.75®
13.00, and in the year cited actually ran down to $7.50®
7.75. There was a measurable recovery of the market in
1877-8, and by this time the great interest of Cincinnati is
again in a fair way of return to its traditional prosperity.
Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, however, secretary of the
Pork-packers' association of Cincinnati, in his report to
the annual meeting of that body, October 4, 1880, said:
The past year, to the pork-packers of Cincinnati, while free from dis-
aster, has not fulfilled the expectations which were early entertained.
Stimulated by the marked improvements which were manifest in nearly
all departments of business, the prospects of a year of general pros-
perity in the country and large wants in the Old World, hogs were pur-
chased throughout the West at prices largely in excess of the preceding
year. In Cincinnati the average price paid for the winter hogs was
$4.36 per one hundred pounds gross, compared with $2.83.8 in 1878-79,
an increase of fifty-three per cent. The season had scarcely reached a
■ conclusion before' the consequences of thus largely adding to the aggre-
gate cost of the product was manifest. There were foreign exports
without a parallel, but there was also to be slaughtered during the year
an enormous crop of hogs. The season, generally, save towards the
the close, was unsatisfactory to the packers. The closing months of
the year brought a very favorable turn to affairs, but this occurrSd after
, most of the product had changed hands. It is true that the packers,
( generally, have come through with fair returns for the season's work,
, but it is .traceable more to favorable purchases of the product, made at
periods when prices were below what the winter prices for hogs would
"have warranted, than to anything that was favorable about the actual
packing of the year.
The latest return of this industry made by Colonel
Maxwell, at hand when this chapter goes to press, is a
verbal report made by him to the chamber of commerce
March 1, 1881, that the number of hogs packed in Cin-
cinnati from November i, 1880, to that date — the season
of 1880-1 — was 522,425, a decrease of 12,314 from the
returns of the previous season.
MANUFACTURING IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-
FIVE.
Over fifty steam engines were now in successful oper-
ation here, besides four or five in Newport and Coving-
ton, and all together were moving an immense amount
of machinery. During the year there were built in Cin-
cinnati more than one hundred steam engines, about two
hundred and forty cotton-gins, over twenty sugar mills,
and twenty-two steamboats, many of them of the largest
size. The value of the productive industries of the three
places — virtually one for the purposes of manufacturing
— was roundly estimated at half a billion of dollars.
The contributor "B. D." — probably Benjamin Drake —
of an article on Cincinnati to the Western Monthly Mag-
azine and Literary Journal for January, 1836, said that
the city had then "but few, if any, overgrown manufac-
turing establishments, but a large number of small oues,
confided to individual enterprise and personal superin-
tendence. These are distributed among all classes of
the population, and produce a great variety of articles
which minister to the wants and comforts and luxuries of
the people in almost every part of the Mississippi valley.
In truth, with the exception of Pittsburgh, there is no
city in the west or south that, in its manufactures and
manufacturing capacity, bears any approach to Cincinnati
and her associate towns."
FIVE YEARS LATER.
In 1840, the manufactures of Cincinnati in wood,
wholly or principally, occupied the energies of two hun-
dred and twenty-seven establishments, with one thousand
five hundred and fifty-seven hands, and gave a product
for the year of $2,222,857 value. In iron, wholly or
or chiefly, there were one hundred and nine factories,
with one thousand two hundred and fifty hands, and a
product of $1,728,549; in other metals, sixty one work-
shops, four hundred and sixty-one hands, $658,040;
leather, entirely or partly, two hundred and twelve work-
shops, eight hundred and eighty-eight hands, $1,068,700;
hair, bristles, and the like, twenty-four workshops, one
hundred and ninety-eight hands, $366,400; cotton, wool,
linen, and hemp, thirty-six workshops, three hundred and
fifty-nine hands, $411,190; drugs, paints, chemicals, etc.,
eighteen workshops, one hundred and fourteen hands,
$458,250; earth, fifty-one workshops, three hundred and
one hands, $238,300; paper, forty-seven workshops,
five hundred and twelve hands, $669,600; food, one
hundred and seventy-five workshops, one thousand five
hundred and sixty-seven hands, $5,269,627; science and
the fine arts, fifty-nine workshops, one hundred and thir-
ty-nine hands, $179,100; buildings, three hundred and
thirty-two workshops, one thousand five hundred and
sixty-eight hands, $953,267; miscellaneous, two hundred
and fifty-nine workshops, one thousand seven hundred
and thirty-three hands, $3,208,790. The total number
of manufacturing operatives was ten thousand six hun-
dred and forty-seven, with a product for the year of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
33i
$17,432,670. The capital invested in local manufactures
was $14,541,842.
The next year Mr. Cist, from whose Cincinnati in 1841
we derive these statistics, wrote that manufacturing was
"decidedly our heaviest interest, in a pecuniary and
political sense, and inferior to few others in a moral one.
Most of the machinery was then moved by water-power
derived from the canal or by hand-power, notwithstand-
ing the comparatively large number of steam engines
above noted. About two persons were employed in
mauufacturing for every one operative in Pittsburgh.
The iron- foundries had become a very heavy industry,
and there were eight brass and bell foundries — the Cin-
cinnati bells having already acquired a high reputation.
Four establishments were making mathematical and phil-
osophical instruments. Remarkable success had been
achieved in making and selling stoves and hollow ware.
EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY.
Three years subsequently, in the compilation of his
Cincinnati Miscellany, Mr. Cist inserted an editorial note
which has especial value at this day, as illustrating the
rise — or rather early progress — of one of the most inter-
esting and important industries of the Queen City :
Winter's Chemical Dioeama.— Our townsman, R. Winter, has re-
turned from the east with his chemical pictures, which he has been ex-
hibiting for the last thirteen months in Boston, New York, and Balti-
more, with distinguished success. He is now among his early friends,
who feel proud that the defiance to produce such pictures as Daguerre's,
which was publicly made by Maffel and Lonati, who exhibited them
here, was taken up and successfully accomplished by a Cincinnati ar-
tist. Nothing can be more perfect than the agency of light and shade,
to give life and vraisemilan.ce to these pictures.. They are four in num-
ber. The Milan Cathedral at Midnight Mass, the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem, Belshazzar's Feast, and the Destruction of
Babylon. These are all fine, each having its appropriate excellencies;
but the rich, yet harmonious coloring in the two last has an incompar-
able effect, which must strike every observer. But the pen cannot ade-
quately describe the triumphs of the pencil: the eye alone must be the
judge.
ABOUT EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE,
Cincinnati was visited by the renowned philosopher edi-
tor, Mr. Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, who
carried the observing eye and thoughtful mind whitherso-
ever he went, especially where industries or agriculture
was to be observed. In one of his remarkable letters of
that time he wrote of this city :
It requires no keenness of observation to perceive that Cincinnati is
destined to become the focus and mart for the grandest circle of manu-
facturing thrift on this continent. Her delightful climate; her unequal-
led and ever-increasing facilities for cheap and rapid commercial inter-
course with all parts of the country and the world; her enterprising and
energetic population ; her own elastic and exulting growth, are all ele-
ments which predict and insure her electric progress to giant greatness-
I doubt if there is another spot on the earth where food, fuel, cotton'
timber, iron, can all be concentrated so cheaply — that is, at so moder-
ate a cost of human labor in producing and bringing them together — ■
as here. Such fatness of soil, such a wealth of mineral treasure — coal>
iron, salt, and the finest clays for all purposes of use — and all cropping
out from the steep, facile banks of placid though not sluggish navigable
rivers. How many Californias could equal, in permanent worth, this
Valley of the Ohio?
Manufacturing in Cincinnati had increased one hun-
dred and eighty per cent, in the ten years 1840-50. In
tne former year 8,040 employes were engaged, producing
in one year $16,366,443; in 1850, 28,527 persons were
employed, with aproduct of $46,789,279.
At this time the largest chair factory in the world, that
of C. D. Johnston, was located in this city, on the south
side of Second, between John and Smith streets.
The vinegar business had increased from a product of
less than a thousand barrels in 1837, to $168,750 worth
from twenty-six factories, employing fifty-nine hands, be-
sides some establishments that were making vinegar in
connection with other business.
The whiskey product in and near Cincinnati now ag-
gregated 1,145 barrels per day, or $2,857,900 worth dur-
ing the year.
The wine industry in 1851 was employing about five
hundred persons and producing $150,000 a year. Nearly
a thousand acres about the city were already in grapes, of
which Nicholas Longworth alone had one hundred and
fifteen, with a wine-cellar forty-four by one hundred and
thirty-five feet in dimensions, four and a half stories high,
and too small at that. Robert Buchanan, Thomas H.
Yeatman, and others, were also producing in considera-
ble quantity.
Oil-cloth was also becoming an important article of
manufacture. It had not been made here until 1834, ex-
cept some coarse stuff printed on wooden blocks. In
the year named Messrs. Sawyer & Brackett began print-
ing with copper blocks, and their products soon com-
manded the premium at several industrial and- agricul-
tural fairs. In 1847 they began making transparent oil-
painted window shades.
The Cincinnati type foundry, which was regularly char-
tered January 12, 1830, employed in 1850 one hundred
hands, and produced a value of $70,000 a year. Every
description of type made in the east was now manufac-
tured here. The foundry had two thousand fonts on its
shelves. Fancy type were cast by steam and under pres-
sure, hardening the product and making it heavier. An-
other house, Messrs. Guilford & Jones, was likewise in
the business, and employing twenty-one hands.
In the comparatively little matter of zinc wash-boards,
it was noted by Mr. Cist that Cincinnati produced fifty
more this year than any State of the Union other than
Ohio, or than any other city in the world.
WILLIAM CHAMBERS' NOTES.
In 1853, as noted in the annals of Cincinnati's Sev-
enth Decade, the city was visited by the celebrated Edin-
burgh publisher, Mr. William Chambers. Some peculi-
arities of the manufacturing business here seem especially
to have attracted his notice. He remarks in his book of
Things as they Are in America :
Like all travellers from England who visit the factories of the United
States, I was struck with the originality of many of the mechanical con-
trivances which came under my notice in Cincinnati. Under the
enlightenment of universal education and the impulse of a great and
growing demand, the American mind would seem to be ever on the
rack of invention to discover fresh applications of inanimate power.
Almost everywhere may be seen something new in the arts. As regards
carpentry-machinery, one of the heads of an establishment said, with
some confidence, that the Americans were fifty years in advance of
Great Britain. Possibly, this was too bold an assertion ; but it must
be admitted that all kinds of American cutting-tools are of a superior
description, and it is very desirable that they should be examined in a
candid spirit by English manufacturers. In mill-machinery the Ameri-
cans have effected some surprising improvements. At one of the
332
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
machine-manufactories in Cincinnati, is shown an article to which I
may draw the attention of English country-gentlemen. It is a portable
flour-mill, occupying a cube of only four feet ; and yet, by means of
various adaptations, capable of grinding, with a power of three horses,
from fourteen to sixteen bushels per hour, the flour produced being of
so superior a quality that it has carried off various prizes at the agri-
cultural shows. With a mill of this kind, attached to the ordinary
thrashing-machines, any farmer could grind his own wheat, and be able
to send it to market as finely dressed as if it came from a professional
miller. As many as five hundred of these portable and cheap mills are
disposed of every year all over the Southern and Western States.
Surely it would be worth while for English agricultural societies to pro-
cure specimens of these mills, as well as of farm implements generally,
from America. A little of the money usually devoted to the over-
fattening of oxen would not, I think, be ill employed for such a pur-
pose.
IN 1859,
According to Mr. Cist, Cincinnati was considered the
most extensive manufacturing centre in the Union,
except Philadelphia. Trade and commerce were carried
on to the amount of about eighty million dollars a year,
with an average profit of twelve and one-half per cent,
or ten millions of dollars; while manufacturing and
mechanical operations produced ninety millions a year,
and a profit of thirty millions, or thirty-three and one-
third per cent. Fifty-six hundred persons were engaged
in the former pursuits, forty-five thousand in the latter.
Twenty establishments, employing six hundred and,
twenty hands, were making agricultural machines and
implements, and turning out a value of one million three
hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars for the year —
four of them engaged solely upon plows and plow molds.
Nine manufactories of alcohol and spirits of wine, with
one hundred and forty hands, were capable of pro-
ducing six hundred and sixty-four barrels a day, but made
but one hundred and ten thousand in the year, worth
twenty dollars a barrel, or a total of two million two
hundred thousand dollars. Thirty-six breweries turned
out, in the single article of lager beer, eight millions of
gallons — two-thirds of which, it may be further remarked,
were consumed in Cincinnati. Clothing was now the
largest business in the city, which furnished the greatest
market in this country for ready-made clothing. Forty-
eight wholesale and eighty-six retail houses were engaged
in it, employing seven thousand and eighty seamstresses,
and producing fifteen million dollars' worth a year. Other
industries were catalogued, and statistics given by Mr.
Cist, in his Cincinnati in 1859, as follows:
Establishments. No. Hands. Product.
Animal charcoal 1 15 $ 30,000
Artificial flowers 3 40 24,000
Awnings, tents, etc., 8 66 52,000
Bakeries* 220 656 960,280
Band and hat-boxes, etc 6 36 42,000
Brass founders and finishers 10) Bells, 100,000
Bell foundries 2 J Brass castings, 225,000
Bellows 3 9 20,000
Belting 2 a'6,000
Bill tubes 2 125 342,000
Blacking paste 3 24 36,000
Blacksmiths 125 345 397,200
Venetian blinds 7 45 60,000
Blocks, spars, and pumps 5 20 25,000
Boiler yards 10 80 363,000
Bolts 2 60 65,000
'The manufacture of baking-powders had been introduced but eight or
ten years before.
Establishment. No.
Bookbinding 30
Boots and shoes 474
Boxes, packing 6
Brands, stamps, stencils, etc , . 10
Bricklayers, masters 290 1
Plasterers 40 J
Brickyards 60
Brooms 2
Bristle-dressing and curled hair 2
Brittania ware 2
Brushes 15
Bungs and plugs 1
Burning fluid 3
Butchers 210
Candles, lard oil, etc 6
Candy ;. 13
Cap and hat bodies 2
Caps 7
Carpenters and builders 310
Carpet-weavers 15
Carpenters' tools 1
Carriages 32
Carvers, wood 4
Charcoal pulverizers 3
Cistern-builders 3
Chemicals 8
Cloaks, mantillas, etc 5
Coffee-roasting and grinding., 2
Coopers 130
Copper, tin, and sheet-iron 115
Copper and steel-plates 2
Cordage, hemp, manilla, etc 6
Cotton yarn, batting, twine, etc 5
Corned-beef, tongues, etc 14
Cutlery, surgical instruments, etc 10
Dental furniture 1
Dentists 40
Die sinkers 3
Drug-grinding 2
Dyeing 15
Edge-tools and grinding 19
Engraving, seal papers, etc 8
Files 2
Florists, nurserymen, and seed dealers. 25
Flour and feed mills 21
Foundries — iron 42
Dentists 40
Furniture 120
Fringes, tassels, etc 4
Gas-fitting n
Gas-generator 1
Gilding n
Gilding on glass 1
Glassworks 1
Grease factory 1
Gloves 3
Glue 6
Gold leaf and dentists' foil r
Gold pens 2
Guns, etc 6
Hat blocks 1
Horse-shoeing Iz
Ice 20
Rolling mills JO
Iron bridges 1
Japanning and tinners' tools 1
Ladders 6
Lever bolts, etc to
Lightning rods 3
Lead pipe, etc 1
Liquors 40
Lithographers 6
Machinery, wood-working 2
Malt
Marble-works 22
Mathematical and other instruments . . 5
Hands.
Product.
380
$ 326,000
2.745
1,750,450
75
210,000
3°
22, OOO
1,112
640,700
500
285,000
25
25,O0O
150
140,000
40
100,000
85
125,000
6.000
20
195,000
1,100
4,370,000
142
114,500
132
262,000
20,000
160
120,000
3.424
2,760,000
70
75,000
10
8,000
45°
460,OO0
20
30,000
18
30,000
3°
75,000
240
250,000
45
225,000
1.756
1,510,000
760
6lO,OCO
22
48,000
140
234,000
580
600,000
300
225,500
5°
8o,0OO
9
IO.OOO
40
I25,OO0
6
7.500
12
6o,000
45
6o,0O0
72
I30,060
20
30,000
19
l8,000
300,000
45
2l6,000
5.218
6,353,400
40
I25,OO0
2,850
3,656,000
5°
66,OO0
56
IIO.OOO
'5
50,000
75
60,000
5
10,000
80
100,000
120
130,000
40
30,000
40
36,000
7
15,000
5
6,500
3°
45.°oo
4
4,000
40
50,000
130
250,000
1,825
4,334,000
75
1,000,000
74
130,000
12
20,000
60
75.000
35
175,000
61,000
240
1,600,000
66
165,000
82
175,000
•
589,400
290
320,000
20
40,000
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
333
Establishment. No.
Mats i
Mattrasses, bedding, etc 15
Masonic and Odd Fellows' regalia 4
Medicines, patent 15
Millinery 35°
Mineral waters, artificial 10
Morocco leather 10
Mouldings 2
Musical instruments 5
Music publishing, etc 1
Oil, castor ,. 1
Oil, coal 4
Oil, cotton seed 1
Oil, linseed 3
Paints 3
Painters and glaziers 94
Paper mills 7
Pattern making
Perfumery, fancy soaps, etc 12
Photographs, etc 45
Pickles, preserves, sauce, etc 2
Planes and edge tools 1
Planing machines 3
Plating, silver 4
Plating, electric 4
Plumbers .... 24
Pocket combs, etc 2
Pork and beef packing 33
Pottery 12
Printing ink 2
Publishing, book and news
Pumps, etc 1
Railway chairs, spikes, etc 1
Ranges, cooking, etc 3
Refrigerators 2
Roofing, tin, composition and metallic 18
Saddlery, collars and harness 56
Saddle-trees 1
Safes, vaults, etc •. 2
Sash, blinds and doors 20
Sausages 28
Sawed lumber, laths, etc 12
Saws 2
Scales, platforms, etc 7
Screw plates 3
Shirts, etc 25
Show cases 2
Silver and goldsmiths 5
. Spokes, felloes and hubs 1
Stained glass 2
Starch 6
Steamboat yards 3
Stocking weavers 4
Stone cutters 20
Stone masons 50
Stucco workers 4
Sugar refineries 4
Tailoring 160
Tanners and curriers 30
Tapers 1
Terra cotta work 1
Tobacco, cigars, etc 93
Trunks, valises, and carpet bags 12
Trusses, braces, and belts 8
Turners 18
Type and printing materials 5
Undertakers 24
Upholstery and window-shades 18
Varnish, copal 3
Veneers 1
Vermicelli, maccaroni, etc 4
Vinegar "... 20
Wagons, carts, etc 52
Wall paper stainers and hangers 2
Washboards, zinc 2
Whiskey
Hands.
Product.
3
8,000
no
108,000
18
25,000
5°
960,000
1,120
1,750,000
80
176,000
167,000
16
30,000
34
49,000
75
200,000
S
30,000
53
350,000
185
418,000
810
456,500
616,000
50
27,000
75
190,000
"3
150,000
12
35i°oo
25
30,000
32
80,000
25,000
20
35.000
210
406,000
20
40,000
2,45°
6,300,000
70
90,000
10
20,000
1,230
2,610,050
25
30,000
35
360,000
45
75,000
80
75,000
15°
360,000
300
663,000
5
10,000
135
408,000
410
1,380,000
180
215,000
ISO
820,000
30
95,000
40
85,000
18
21,000
200
575,000
6
6,000
So
110,000
80
125,000
6
9,000
So
230,000
400
400,000
18
18,000
23S
1,125,000
435
775,000
16
18,000
106
750,000
1.340
2,035,000
380
1,520,000
3o
93,600
18
25,000
2,010
1,667,000
27s
650,000
60
56,000
50
95,000
220
310,000
50
140,000
210
160,000
16
200,000
20
100,000
10
24,000
80
200,000
170
210,000
30
18,000
90
210,000
5.315.73°
Establishment. No. Hands. Product.
Wigs ' 3 7 10,000
Wines and brandy, catawba 880 600,000
Wire-working 5 60 150,000
Wood and willow-ware 15 90 50,000
Wool carding, etc 3 10
Writing inks 5 50 100,000
Wrought nails 4 12 12,000
THE LAST TWENTY YEARS.
The manufacture of tobacco was not begun in Cincin-
nati until 1863. It is now one of the great industries of
city.
During the year ending March 31, 1869, one hundred
and eighty-seven classes of manufactured articles were
produced in Cincinnati and its immediate neighborhood,
by 3,000 establishments, employing 55,275 hands and a
cash capital of $49,824,124, and turning out an aggre-
gate product for the year worth $104,657,612. For the
year i860 the returns had shown 2,084 manufactories,
30,268 hands, $18,983,693 capital invested, and a pro-
duct of $46,995,062. Pitting 1869 against i860, an
increase in nine years is shown of one hundred and twen-
ty-three per cent; against 1840, an increase of five hun-
dred and forty per cent.
The census of i860 exhibited three hundred and forty
occupations as pursued in Cincinnati, of which two
hundred and thirty were those of mechanics, artisans, and
manufacturers. There was an increase, as against 1850,
of fifty varieties of occupation not before practiced here.
There was now, according to the Hon. E. D. Manfield,
State commissioner of statistics, twenty more occupations
pursued in Cincinnati than in Chicago, and fifty more than
in the entire State of Indiana.
In 1869 the principal branches of productive industry
returned about as follows: Workers in iron, all kinds,
$5,500,000; furniture, all kinds, $17,000,000; meats,
$9,000,000; clothing, $4,500,000; liquors, $4,500,000;
soaps and candles, $1,500,000; oils, lard, resin, etc.,
$3,000,000; mills of all sorts, $2,000,000.
In 1867 Cincinnati was the third manufacturing city in
the Union — the fourth in the production of books. This
position was maintained six years later, in 1873, as to rela-
tive position in general manufacturing. Of the thirty-seven
medals awarded to the United States at the Vienna ex-
position of the year, thirteen, or more than one-third,
came to Cincinnati manufacturers. The value of their
products was, in round numbers, $143,000,000.
The Board of Trade report for 1870, made by" Colo-
nel Harry H. Tatem, then secretary, exhibited the follow-
ing comparative statements of the increase of manafac-
turing industries in Cincinnati:
Number of Hands Employed. Value of Products.
1850 28,527 1850 $46,789,279
i860 30,268 i860 46,995,062
1870 59.354 1870 119,114,089
Increase in No. of Hands. Increase in Products.
From 1850 to i860 1,741 From 1850 to i860 $ 205,783
From i860 to 1870 29,086 From i860 to 1870 72,145,027
That year brought the terrible panic, which largely pros-
trated the industries of the manufacturing centres.
Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent of the cham-
ber of commerce, in his report for 1875-6, said of this:
334
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Cincinnati, in the midst of this general depression, was peculiarly-
situated. Alone, among the great cities of the country, she was the
centre of a large district which had sustained tremendous losses from
the storms of the previous harvest. In some places crops had been lit-
erally ruined and in others badly damaged. It was nothing short of a
great agricultural disaster in nearly the whole locality upon which Cin-
cinnati draws for her local trade. In the light of these circumstances
must be read the detailed result of the year, for it reveals facts concern-
ing the prosperity of this city which, if not exceptional among the
great centres of business, are remarkable, and speak for the enterprise
of the merchants of the city, the stability of our manufacturers, and
the solidity of our commercial foundations so forcibly that it should
silence all croakers and be a subject for general congratulation among
our whole people.
In volume the business of Cincinnati has not only suffered little
diminution, but in some departments it has been more than maintained.
The aggregate value is considerably less than in the preceding year,
but this. grew mainly out of the steady and in many cases great shrink-
age in prices. The number of pounds, yards, and packages, in gen-
eral, is the only fair test of relative trade, and with this measure there is
little but encouragement to the business men of Cincinnati. The sea-
son certainly has not been a money-making one, but with constantly
shrinking prices good profits could not be expected.
The volume of business in pig-iron and coal this year,
notwithstanding the financial pressure, was greater than
had been known in the history of the city. The sales of
iron were one hundred and thirty-seven thousand six
hundred and forty-six tons, against one hundred and
seventeen thousand two hundred and twenty-five the
previous year, an increase of twenty thousand four hun-
dred and twenty-one tons. There was also a material
increase in the cotton business, and some in hog pro-
ducts, grain and other of the leading articles.
The manufacture of oleomargarine was commenced in
this city in April, 1877.
During the year ending January 1, 1879, the total pro-
duction of manufactured articles here reached a value of
one hundred and thirty-eight million seven hundred and
thirty-six thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars,
against one hundred and thirty-five million one hundred
and twenty-three thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight
the previous year, and only seven million six hundred
and ninety-five thousand one hundred and eighty-nine
below the highest production in the best year Cincinnati
had known, notwithstanding the great depreciation in
values which then prevailed. The number of establish-
ments in operation (five thousand two hundred and
seventy-two), and the hands employed (sixty-seven thou-
sand one hundred and forty-five), were both greater in
number than ever before. Cash capital invested in
manufactures, fifty-seven million five hundred and nine
thousand two hundred and fifteen dollars; value of real
estate occupied, forty-five million two hundred and forty-
five thousand six hundred and eighty-seven dollars.
In the manufacture of school-books the city was now
second to no city in the world. In the production of
law-books it was excelled by but one other. In the mat-
ter of clothing, Cincinnati was the fifth city for volume of
product.
Colonel Maxwell says in his report for 1880:
The aggregate value of the products of our manufacturing industry,
the number of hands employed, the value of real estate occupied, the
cash capital invested, and the number of establishments engaged in
Cincinnati, for each year in which statistics have been compiled touch-
ing these particulars, will be found in the following table :
YEARS.
2
a n p
a n 3
a" o-
_ CfB
: tro
O
-. p
0
f- |.
: E.
<
•a a S.
: S2,
■ 0
' D *
■ 0 a
; c p.
2
-■51b
• a
'■ ?°
c c
0 a
i's,
: tp
: °
" " 185O
" " i860.
*
*
*
*
3.971
4.118
4,469
4>693
5,003
5,183
5.272
5.493
*
*
9,040
28,527
30,268
59.354
59.827
58,443
58,508
55.015
60,999
62,218
60,723
64,709
67.145
74.798
$16,366,443
46,189,279
46,995,062
119,140,089
127,459,021
135,988,365
145,486,675
127,698,858
143,207,371
146,431,354
140,583,960
135.123,768
158,736,165
148,957,280
*
*
" " 1869
" " 187O
" " 1871
" " 1872
" " 1873
1874
1875
" " 1876
" " J877
" 1878
" l879
$45,225,586
51,673.741
50,520,179
55,265,129
54,377.853
63,149,085
64,429,740
61,883,787
57,868,592
57,509,215
60,523,350
$36,853,783
37,124,119
4°.443.553
45.164,954
47.753,133
52,151,680
53,326,440
5i.55o,933
47.464.792
45,245,687
48,111,870
* Not reported.
The aggregate production for 1879 was by several
millions the largest ever reported in the history of Cin-
cinnati. It was thought that the products of manufact-
uring industry in the city for 1880 would reach one
hundred and seventy-five to two hundred millions.
Colonel Maxwell says further in his masterly reports :
It is a noticeable feature of Cincinnati that they who are managing
our industrial establishments are generally men who are thoroughly ac-
quainted with the practical features of their business. They are me-
chanics themselves, who did not commence to build at the Jpp of the
structure, but at the bottom, when they had small means. These oaks,
whose great spreading branches now shelter so many families of work-
ingmen, were once small producers, who have grown up by degrees,
gathering skill with experience and strength with their skill. The re-
sult is a large intelligence in the prosecution of business. Then, as a
sequel to this, we find that the capital used by our manufacturers con-
sists largely of the accumulations from their business. Their surplus
has not been committed to the treacherous waves of speculation, but
has been turned into their business to enlarge their usefulness.
Again, our manufacturers largely own the real estate which they oc-
cupy. Among the great producers, those who are manufacturing under
the roofs of other people are limited in number. These conditions se-
cure a stability which is not attainable under other circumstances, an
endurance during periods of financial distress which is peculiar, and an
ability to accommodate production to reduced wants, without impair-
ing, in any way, the capacity of the manufacturer for promptly and ad-
vantageously providing for increased demand, when such demand may
be warranted by the improved condition of the country.
We generally associate with the idea of manufactures, colossal es-
tablishments, and in some districts the productive industry manifests
itself before the world through such great agencies only. But these
giants among producers are not all that exist. Manufactures, in their
most comprehensive sense, embrace everything in which material and
labor, more or less skilled, are combined for the production of some-
thing to meet the wants of men. The business may be conducted on
a very small scale. It may be done by a single man, and yet such
man is a manufacturer. In this city the business is distributed to an
unusual degree. It is not conducted by a few great firms or companies,
that hold in the realm of production imperial sway, and whose failure
would carry with them wide-spread disaster. To the contrary, it con-
sists of a large number of establishments, many of them by no means
large, not a few really small, that make up, in their united industries,
the mighty aggregate which has given this city such a prominent posi-
tion among the manufacturing districts of this country. The whole
number of establishments in this city and immediate vicinity in the year
ending January i, 1877, was five thousand and three. In the city of
Philadelphia, in 1870, the whole number of establishments was eight
thousand two hundred and sixty-two; but these produced an aggregate
value of three hundred and thirty-eight million one hundred and sixty-
eight thousand four hundred and forty-six dollars, in comparison with
one hundred and forty million five hundred ahd eighty-three thousand
nine hundred and sixty dollars produced by the whole number in Cin-
cinnati.
We all recognize the fact that a diversity of production secures a
more sure and steady prosperity. Here again is found an element of
strength at Cincinnati. Our manufactures extend to a great variety of
articles, many of them entirely distinct from each other. They embrace
productions from wood, metal, stone,, animals, earth, paper, leather,
grain, vegetable fibre, tobacco, drugs, and other articles differing widely
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
335
in their nature and in the wants and localities they are called upon to
supply. The number of different kinds of goods made here is beyond
the estimate of many of the best informed. If anything of a surprising
nature were revealed by our industrial displays, it was the scope of our
production. The statistician finds it difficult to pursue the vocations.
Men are working in their own houses. They are in obscure places.
They are doing their business in a small way, but are swelling produc-
tion. The kinds of manufactures are steadily increasing in number.
You will hear of producers in unlooked-for localities, commeucing the
manufacture of new articles, doing it in an unpretending manner, but
laying the foundation of great future usefulness to the city.
The classes of goods manufactured here, without descending to the
subdivisions of the distinct classes, number one hundred and eighty-
two. Embraced in each, in numerous instances, are many products
which might with propriety have separate mention. Thus, in iron,
though our manufactures extend to a great variety of. articles, the
classes number but thirty. Candles, soaps, and oils are embraced under
one head. Many kinds of machinery are in one class, and so on through
the list. . . In this department, the largest item is machinery,
embracing stationary and portable engines, wood working machinery,
sugar mills, steam fire engines, steam gauges, and an almost infinite
variety of articles of a like nature. In wood working machinery, in-
cluding machines for planing, moulding, mortising, sawing, boring, and
working generally in wood, Cincinnati has no superior, if she has a
peer. She has [1878] three establishments producing annually of these
goods alone, about five hundred thousand dollars. Over two hundred
different kinds of machines are manufactured, which find a market not
only in this country generally, but, with two or three minor exceptions,
in every nation in Europe, in Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand,
South America and the West India Islands, and for their qualities have
received distinguished recognition wherever exhibited or known.
In endeavoring to reach some idea of the relation which our manu-
factures sustain to the future progress of the city, it may be well to
consider briefly what has been accomplished in the past. In the year
1840, the total product of our manufactures was sixteen million three
hundred and sixty-six thousand four hundred and forty-three dollars;
that is, only thirty-seven years ago, our total product of all kinds was
less than was either the single department of iron, wood, food or
liquors in 1876. Our total product for the year ending J anuary r, r877, it
will be remembered, was one hundred and forty million five hundred and
eighty-three thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars having increased in
that period seven hundred and fifty-eight per cent. The growth mainly
having been steady, it is difficult to realize how amazingly we have pro-
gressed. This has all been accomplished within the recollection of
many in this audience. Now, if the same ratio of increase should be
exhibited in the coming thirty-seven years, the result would be still more
astonishing, for it would in the year 1915 reach one billion two hundred
and six million two hundred and ten thousand five hundred and eighty-
six dollars, or an amount equal to more than one-fourth of the entire
manufactured product of the United States in the year'r870. Now,
the average product to the operative in 1876 was two thousand three
hundred and fifteen dollars. If in 1915 the relation should remain the
same, it would render necessary for the production five hundred and
twenty-one thousand and forty-one hands, making, in operatives alone,
a number larger than the present entire population of Cincinnati, Cov.
ington and Newport, with their suburbs. The increase from 1840 to
1850 was, in the aggregate product, one hundred and eighty-two per
cent. From 1850 to i860, there was, according to the Federal census,
less' than two per cent. From i860 to 1870, it was one hundred and
fifty-three per cent. What the increase has been from 1870 to the pres-
ent time is the more difficult to ascertain, on account of the great de-
cline which has taken place in values. What that decline actually has
been is not easily reached. From an extensive inquiry, I think thirty-
three per cent, a low estimate. This would make for the year 1876, the
production equivalent to two hundred and ten million eight hundred
and seventy-five thousand nine hundred and forty dollars, showing an
increase, even in times of great depression and commercial distress, Of
sixty-five per cent, in a period of six years. But goods in 1870, com-
pared with i860 as well as 1876, were above their relative value, so that
it would probably be more fair to compare the year i860 with 1876.
This would show an increase of one hundred and ninety-nine per cent.
It must be remembered, too, that, notwithstanding, a part of this period
embraces the war, with its abnormal activity in many departments, it
also comprises a period in which the industries of the country have
been prostrated, and in which the inducements to manufacture have
been well nigh alone found in a purpose only to maintain business and
to save manufacturing property from decay and ultimate ruin. Admit-
ting than our manufactures in 1880 will be no greater than now, it
would show that on the average our production about triples itself every
twenty years.
DIVISION OF LABOR.
More expressive and impressive than figures to the av-
erage mind, as illustrating the immense development and
wonderful subdivision of industries in the great city, is
the classification and list of employments pursued by its
citizens, as exhibited in any recent directory. The face
of one of the "business men" of Losantiville, if it could
be recalled to earth and confronted with the voluminous
pages that record the vast diversity of vocations in these
late days, in the metropolis whose humble industrial be-
ginnings he witnessed, would be a study indeed. The fol-
lowing are the headings in the business directory of 1880.
Some of them are exceedingly curious in themselves, and
all have value, as representing the present business stat-
us of Cincinnati. Each of the heads and sub-heads, of
course, of course indicates one or more persons — in some
cases very many — engaged in the business indicated by it :
Abattoir and ware-house company, abstractors of titles, acid manu-
facturers, accountants, advertising agents, agricultural implements,
ague pads, alcohol, ale and porter, ammonia manufacturers, animal trap
manufacturers, anvils, apiarists, apparatus and supplies for schools,
apple butter, aquariums, archery and sporting goods, architectural iron
works, architectural ornament manufacturers, architects, art emporium,
art publishers, artesian wells, artificial eyes, artificial flowers, artificial
limbs, artists, artists' materials, associated press, asbestos felting, assay-
ers of gold and silver bullion, astrologists, attorneys at law, auctioneers
(book trade sales, boots and shoes, clothing, dry goods, furniture, gen-
tlemen's furnishing goods, glassware, groceries, hardware, hats and
caps, notions, real estate, miscellaneous) auger manufacturers, average
adjuster, aurists, awning frames, awnings, tents, etc:, axle grease, Bab-
bit metal, badges, baggage checks, bagging, bags, bakeries, bake-oven
builders, baking powder manufacturers, baking powder sifters, band-
box manufacturer, band uniforms, bankers' agents, banks and bankers,
bank locks, bank vaults, banner and flag manufacturers, bar fixtures,
barbed wire fencing, baiber chairs, barber shops, barbers' sundries, bar-
rel manufacturers, barrel dealers, base-ball depot, basket manufacturers,
bath-houses, baunscheidists, bed lounges, bed bottoms, bedstead man-
ufacturers, bee-keepers' supplies, beef packers, beer bottlers, beer cooler
manufacturers, beer faucets, beeswax, bellows manufacturers, bell-hang-
ers, bells, bell and brass foundry, belting and hose, belts and bands,
Bible publishers, bill-posters, billiard-ball turner, billiard-table manu-
facturer, billiard-tables, billiard-table repairer, billiards, bird-cage man-
ufacturer, bird fancier, bitters, blacking manufacturers, blacksmiths'
supplies, blacksmith shops, blank-book manufacturers, blank-book
cover manufacturers, bleacheries, blind manufacturers, blocks and rig-
ging, Blue Lick water, boarding houses, boat-builders, boat-house,
boat-stores, boiler compound, boiler coverings, boiler feed pumps,
boiler feeders, boiler inspector, boiler manufacturers, boiler remover,
boiler plate, boiler tubes, steam boilers, bolting cloth, bolts, bond-bro-
kers, bonnet- and hat-blocks, book-binders' materials, book-binders'
tools, book-binders' veneer, booksellers, publishers, and stationers,
boot-crimper, boot-legs, shoe-uppers, etc. , boots and shoes (manufac-
turers, wholesale and retail dealers) , boring shop, bottle-dealers, bowling
alleys, box manufacturers, box-strap manufacturers, brackets, brand and
stamp cutters, brass castings, brass founders, white brass manufacturers,
bretzel bakeries, breweries, brewers' supplies, brewers and builders' iron
work, bricklayers, brick-wheel manufacturers, brickyards, bridge-build-
ers, bridge castings and bolts, bristles, brittania ware manufacturers,
brokers (chemical, commission, cotton, drug, flour, grain, iron, liquors,
merchandise, money, note, bond and stock, patent, produce, provision,
real estate), broom corn, broom handles, broom manufacturers, brush
block manufacturers, brush manufacturers, brackets and paint pails,
buggy dash manufacturers, builders' hardware, building material, bung
manufacturers, burglar alarm, burial case manufacturers, burning
brands, burr dressing machines, business agency, business colleges,
butchers, butchers' tools and supplies, butter and eggs, button-hole
manufacturers, fancy cabinet ware, cabinet makers, cabinet makers'
hardware, cabinet makers' lumber, calcium lights, calico print works,
candle machinery, candy manufacturers, cane mills and evaporators,
336
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
canned goods, car springs, car and car wheel manufacturers, car trim
mings, carpenters and builders, carpet warp, carpet weavers, carpet
cleaners and beaters, carpets, oil cloths, etc., carriage body makers,
children's carriages, carriage gearing manufacturers, carriage hardware,
carriage manufacturers, carriage ornaments, carriage painters, carriage
top props, carriage and wagon materials, carvers, carving school, carv-
ing tables, cement for repairing chinaware, etc. , cement felting, cement,
lime, and plaster, centre tables, chair backs, chair frames, chair
stock, chair tops, chair manufacturers, easy and rocking chairs, char-
coal, cheese, chemical works, chemists, analytical chemists, chewing
gum, chimney hoister and remover, chimney sweeps, chimney caps,
chimney tops, china, glass, and queensware, china decorator, chiropo-
dists, chromos, church ornaments, church furniture, cider, cigar box
lumber, cigar box tables, trimmings, etc., cigar box manufacturers, cigar
flavors, cigar mould manufacturers, cigar manufacturers and dealers,
cigarette manufacturers, cistern builders, cistern and well pumps, civil
engineers and surveyors, claim agents, clearing house, cloaks, clocks,
bronzes, and Paris fancy articles, clothes wringers, clothiers, clothing
(youths' and boys', wholesale), clothing stores, clothing renovators,
cloth examiner and measurer, cloths and. cassimeres, coal dealers, coal
elevators, coal gaugers, coal harbor, coal oil, coffee essence, coffee and
spice mills, coffee pot manufacturers, coffee roaster, coffin manufactur-
ers, coffin trimmings, coin collector, collar manufacturers, collectors
comb manufacturers, commission, forwarding and produce merchants,
commissioners of deeds, United States commisioners, United States
court of claims commission, conductors' punches, confectioners' flavors,
confectioners, conservatories of music, contractors, cooper shops, coop-
ers' stuff, coppersmiths, copying house, cordage, corks, corn shellers,
cornice brakes, cornice manufacturers, corresponding agents, corset
manufacturers, costume manufacturers, cotton cordage, cotton factors
(batting, wadding), cotton manufacturers, cotton mills' supplies, cotton
compressing, cotton and seine twines, cotton ties, cotton warp,
cotton waste, cotton yarns, counter manufacturers, counterfeit de-
tector, courtplaster manufacturers, cracker manufacturers, crackling,
creasing machines, cuppers and bleachers, curled hair, curtain goods,
cutlery, cyclopaedia, daily markets and meat stores, dairies, dancing
academies, decalcomania, dental college, dentists, dental goods, de-
signers, desk manufacturers, detective agencies, diamonds, diamond
setters, die sinkers, dies, directory, distillers' agents, distillers' supplies,
distillers, door plate manufacturers, door and gate springs, drain pipe,
drain valve, draining instruments, drawing school, dress patterns, dress
makers, dress trimmings, drill manufacturers, drug brokers, drug mills,
druggists' paper boxes, druggists' sundries, druggists' glass labels, drug-
gists, druggists and apothecaries, drum and fife manufacturers, dry
dock, dry goods commission merchants, dry goods, dye stuffs, dyers,
earthern ware, edge tools, corrugated elbows, electric belt and battery
manufacturers, electric lights, electricians, electrical apparatus, electro
platers, electrotypes, electrotype metal, elevators (steam and hydraulic),
elevator builders, embossers, embroideries, employment offices, enamel-
ing works, encyclopaedias, engine and boiler trimmings, engine build-
ers, engineers, engineers' supplies, engravers' wood, engravers (card,
seal and door-plate, general, jewelry, glass and seal stone, map, metal,
wood), engravings, envelope manufacturers, essences, excelsior manu-
facturers, exchange dealers, express companies, extension tables, eye,
ear, and throat infirmary, facing mills, factory supplies, fancy goods,
faucets, feather dusters, feather dealers, feather renovators, feed stores,
felting, fertilizers, fifth wheel manufacturers, file works, financial agents,
fire brick and clay, fire engine builders, fire engine hose and suctions,
fire plug manufacturers, firemen's goods, fireworks manufacturers, fire-
works, fish dealers, fishing tackle, flag manufacturers, flat boat dealers,
flavoring extracts, flouring mills, florists, flour mills, flour inspector,
flour mills manufacturers, self-raising flour, flour mill machinery, flour
packer manufacturers, flour sacks, flour sifters, flour dealers, preservers
of flowers, flue and stove linings, fluting machines, fly nets, flytrap
manufacturers, forgers, forge manufacturers, forwarding agents, fossils,
foundries (art, iron, bronze), foundry facings, freight agents, freight
lines, freight and switch locks, fresco artists, fringes, tassels, cords, etc.,
fruit can manufacturers, fruit and jelly presses, fruit dryer, fruit jars,
fruit preserving apparatus, fruits (canned, foreign, domestic), furnace
builders, furnaces (boiler, hot blast, smokeless, warm air), furniture
(office, school, steamboat), furniture exchange, furniture cars, furniture
frames, furniture machinery, furniture repairers, furniture springs, fur
manufacturers, furs, galvanic appliances, galvanized cornice makers'
tools, galvanized iron cornice works, galvanized iron pipe, galvanized'
sheet iron, gas apparatus, gas burners, gas and waterworks engineer,
gas enrichers, gas fitters and fixtures, gas governors, gas holders, gas
machines, gas meters, gas pipe, gas stoves, gas tips, gas works builders,
gas works supplies, gasoline burners, gasoline stoves, iron and steel
gates, gentlemen's furnishing goods, geographic models, geological and
archaeological agency, gilders, ginger ale manufacturers, ginseng, glass,
glass blowers, glass cutters, glass gilders, glassware manufacturers,
glass oilers, polished plate glass, glass signs, glass stainers, globes,
maps, and school supplies, gloves, glove dyers and cleaners, glove
manufacturers, glue, gold beaters, gold pen manufacturer, gold and
silver beaters' skins, government goods, grain bags, grain dealers, grain
elevators, grainers, grate bars, grate and mantle trimmings, grates,
grease factories, grinding shops, grindstones, grist-mills, grocers' drugs,
grocers' exchange, grocers' sundries, grocers, gum belting, hose and
packing, gummer, gunpowder, guns and pistols, gunsmiths, gymnasi-
um, hair and bristles, hairdressers, hair goods, hair jewelry, hair mats,
hardware, hardware and cutlery, hardware manufacturers, hat manu-
facturers (silk), hats and caps (cloth), hat racks, hats and caps, hat tip
printer, health lift, hearses, heat reflectors, heating apparatus, hides and
furs, hill-top resorts, hobby horse manufacturers, hoisting machinery
manufacturer, homcepathic pharmacies, honey dealer, hoop poles, hoop
skirt manufacturer, hops, horns, hoofs and bones, horse auctions, clip-
pers, horse collar manufacturers, horse nail maker, horse shoes, hose
and belting, hose, packing and belting, hosiers, hospitals, hotels, private
hotel, hotel for infants, house furnishing goods, house movers, house
raisers, hub manufacturers, hydrant manufacturers, hydraulic elevators,
hydraulic engineers, hydraulic machinery, hydraulic presses and pumps,
ice chests, ice cream freezers, ice cream depots, ice dealers, ice machines,
India rubber goods, Indian relics, indigo blue manufacturers, injectors,
inks (printing, writing), ink hand stamps, inlaid works, insect powder,
instruments (mathematical, philosophical, and optical; surgical and
dental; surveyors' and engineers'), insurance agents (accident, boiler,
fire, life), insurance companies (accident, steam boiler, home fire, home
life, foreign fire, foreign life), iron bracket manufacturers, 'iron doors and
shutters, iron founders, iron furnace, galvanized sheet iron, iron grat-
ings, iron hull manufacturers, iron manufacturers, iron measures, iron,
hails and steel, iron ores, iron paint pails, pig iron, iron pipe, iron plan-
er, iron railing, iron roofing, iron show cards, iron and steel perforator,
jail work, japanned ware, japanners, jeans pants manufacturers, jewel-
ers' boxes, jewelers' findings, manufacturing jewelers, jewelers' tools,
jewelry tray manufacturer, kaolin manufacturers, kindling wood, knit-
ting machines, knitting mills, lace cleaners, lace cutters, lace leather,
laces, ladies' furnishing goods, ladies' suits, ladies' wigs, lamp posts,
lamps and chandeliers, lamp and lantern manufacturers, lanterns, lard
packers, lard tank manufacturers, last manufacturers, lathes, laundries,
laundry machiners, law and commercial agency, law school, lead pipe,
leather and findings, leather belting, leather varnishes, legal directory,
lever compressors, lightning rods, lime-kilns, lime, plaster and cement,
superphosphate of lime, linens, liquor flavors, liquors, lithographers,
live stock dealers, liver pads and plasters, livery stables, loan offices,
loan and dower association, lock manufacturers, locks (pad, switch, and
car), locksmiths and bell hangers, lodging houses, low-water indicators
for steam boilers, looking glasses, lubricators, lubricating compound,
lumber dealers, macaroni, machinery removers, machinery, machinists,
machine forgers, machine twist, machine knives, machinists' supplies,
machinists' tools, malt kilns, malt, malt extract, malt shovels, manifold
paper and supplies, manufacturers' agents, manufacturers' supplies,
mantel and grate setters, mantles and grates, maps, globes, and school
supplies, map mounters, marble works, Masonic supplies, masquerade
costumes, master commissioners, match manufacturer, mattresses and
bedding, measures (carpenter work, lumber, stone work), meat choppers,
mechanical draughtsmen, mechanical engineers, medals and badges,
medical colleges, patent medicines, melophine manufacturers, mercan-
tile agencies, metal goods (light) manufacturers, metal signs, metal
spinner, metals, middlings purifiers, midwives, military goods, millin-
ery, milliners; mills (crushing and grinding, portable corn and flour),
mill gearing, mill and factory supplies, mill machinery, mill picks, mill-
stones, millers' supplies, millwrights, mince meat and jellies, mineral
water manufacturers, mineral waters, mining companies, mining en-
gineers, mining machinery, mining supplies, model makers, molding
bit manufacturers, moldings, monuments, moroccos, morocco tanneries,
moss, mucilage, musical band uniforms, sheet music, music book pub-
lishers, music teachers, musical instruments, musical college, mustard,
nails, naval stores, necktie manufacturers, ladies' neckwear, newsdealers'
newspapers and publishers (daily— English and German— weekly— Engl
lish and German— semi-weekly, monthly, semi-monthly, quarterly, an-
nual), newspaper printers, notaries public, notions, novelties, oculists,
self oilers, oils (coal, carbon, essential, headlight, lard, linseed, lubricat-
ing, machinery, neat's foot, railway, resin, vegetable), oil cans, oil cups,
oil dressed belting, oleomargarine manufacturers, omnibusjine, omni-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
337
bus manufacturers, opticians, organ builders, orthopaedic appliances,
ostrich feather manufacturer, ostrich cleaners and dyers, oysters, fish,
and game, packing and hose, painters, paint manufacturers, paints,
oils, and glass, paint pails, paper bags, paper box manufacturers, paper
box manufacturers' tools and machinery, paper dealers and manufac-
turers, paper goods, paper hangings, paper mill supplies, paper stock,
parlor furniture, parlor games, passe partouts, paste manufacturer,
patent agencies, patent attorneys, patent solicitors, patented articles,
pattern makers, dress patterns, asphalt pavements, pavements, pavement
and skylight plates, pawnbrokers, peanuts (wholesale), pen and pencil
case manufacturer, pension attorneys, perfumery manufacturer, pharma-
ceutical college, phonographic publisher, photographic album manu-
facturer, photographic supplies, photographic galleries, physicians and
surgeons, piano tuners, pianos and organs, piano stool manufac-
turers, pictures and picture frames, pig iron, pig feet's packers, pile
driving machinery, pipe cutting and screwing tools, pipe fittings,
plaiters, plane manufacturers, planing mill machinery, planing mill,
plaster castings, plastering hair, plasterers, strengthening plasters,
plate glass, playing card manufacturers, plow manufacturers, plumba-
go, plumbers, plumbers' supplies, pocketbook manufacturers, popcorn
manufacturer, pork and beef packers, portrait painters, antique pottery,
potteries, poultry breeders, preserve works, presses, book and job print-
ers, printers' ink, printers' supplies, printers' roller composition, protec-
■ tive association, protective union, provision inspectors, prussiate of
potash manufacturer, public weighers, pumice stone, pumps, steam
power and hand pumps, purchasing agents, rags, railroad con-
tractor, railroad supplies, railroad tanks, railroad ticket brokers,
railroad water machinery, ranges, rawhide lace leather, real estate,
reapers and mowers, rectifying coal manufacturers, redistillers, redis-
tillers' supplies, refrigerators, regalias, registers in bankruptcy, restau-
rants, rolling mills, roofing machines, roofing materials, roofing tile,
roofers, root beer manufacturers, ropes and cordage, rubber goods and
rubber stamps, ruchings, saddlery hardware, saddle tree manufacturers,
saddles and harness, saloons, salt, salve manufacturers, sample and pool
rooms, sand dealers, sand paper manufacturers, sash weight manufac-
turers, sash, doors, and blinds, sausage casings, sausage machines,
sausage manufacturers, saw manufacturers, saw machines, sawmills,
sawmill manufacturers, sawmill machinery, sawing machinery, scales,
scenic artist, school furniture, school-house ventilating stoves, school
supplies, school-book publishers, scissors manufacturers, screw manu-
facturers, screws (wooden, hand, and bench), scroll saws, scroll sawing,
sealing wax, seal presses, second-hand building material, second-hand
stoves, reeds, selter's water manufacturers, sewer tappers, sewer pipe
sewing machine attachments, sewing machine casters, sewing machine
needles, sewing machines, sewing machine repairers, sewing silks,
shears manufacturers, sheet iron workers, shells, ship chandlers, ship-
yards, shirt front manufacturers, shirt manufacturers, shoddy manu-
facturers, shoe cutting dies, shoe machinery, shoe manufacturers, shoe
patterns, shoemakers' tools, ladies' shoes, shooting galleries, short-hand
reporters, show-cards, show-card mounters, show-case manufacturers,
sidewalk tile manufacturers, sign painters, silk and straw goods, silver
manufacturers, silver and plated ware, silver, gold, and nickel platers,
slate pencils, slate roofers, slaughter-houses, slipper manufacturers,
smelting works, smoke consumers, smut machine, snuff manufacturers,
fluid soap manufacturers, soap stamps and moulds, soap manufacturers,
society goods, soda ash, caustic soda, etc., soda water materials, soda
fountains and mineral water machinery, soda water manufacturers, solid
gold jewelry and diamond settings, spectacle makers, spice mills, spool
cotton, spring bed manufacturer, spring manufacturers, spring saddle
manufacturers, stair builders, stamp cutters, stamping and embroider-
ing, stamp manufacturers, stationery packages, stationers' specialties,
stationers, statuary, stave manufacturers, steamboat agents, steamboat
blacksmiths, steamboat builders, steamboat carpenters, steamboat fur-
nishers, steamboat furniture and bedding, steamboat joiner, steamboat
machinery, steamboat painter, steamboat supplies, steam engines (port-
able, stationary), steam fire engine manufacturers, steam fitters' sup-
plies, steam gauge manufacturers, steamboating apparatus, steam pack-
ing, steam pipe fitters, steam pipe manufacturers, steamship agents,
steam pumps, stearine manufacturers, steel, steel stamps, stencils, stere-
otypers, stereotype metals, stills and mash tubs, stockyards, stocking
manufacturers, stogie manufacturers, stoveware, stoveware pipe, stove
works, patent airtight stoppers, stove fixtures, stove manufacturers,
stove and tinware, stove patterns, stovepipe elbows, stove polish manu-
facturers, street car trimmings manufacturers, street sprinklers, sub-
scription book publishers, suspender manufacturers, sweet potatoes,
American plated tableware, tackle blocks, tags, tailors, tailors' trim-
mings, tallow Tenderers, tanbark, tank manufacturers, tanneries, tan-
ners' apparatus, tanners' and curriers' tools, tanners' materials, taps,
tar, taxidermists, teamsters, teas, telegraph companies, telegraph sup-
plies, telephone exchanges, tent makers, terra cotta building material,
theatrical agency, theatrical goods, linen and cotton thread, threshing
machines, tile manufacturers, timber bending company, timber dealers,
tinware, tin boxes, tin cans, tinners' tools and machines, tin plate, tin--
ners' stock, tobacco, tobacco leaf, tobacco manufacturers, tobacco box -
manufacturers, tobacco machinery, tobacco pail manufacturers, toilet
powders, tools, towboats, tower clock manufacturers, toys, tract socie-
ties, transfer companies, transfer ornaments, travelling bags, tress
hoops and trimmings, truck manufacturers, trunks, trusses and crutch-
es, tubewell supplies, turners, twine, type foundries, umbrellas and
umbrella repairer, undertakers, undertakers' supplies, upholsterers' ma-
terials, upholsterers, variety goods, varnish, varnish manufacturers,
vases, vault cleaners, velocipedes, veneer, Venetian blinds, vermicelli
manufacturers, vermin exterminator manufacturers, veterinary surgeons,
vinegar manufacturers, violin strings, vocal school, wagon makers, .
wagon makers' supplies, walking canes, warm air furnaces, washboard
manufacturers, washine, washing blue, washing compound, washing
machines, watch case manufacturers, watch chain makers, watch move-
ments, watchmakers' tools and materials, watches, jewelry, etc., water-
closet manufacturers, water columns, waterproof and oil finish leather
belting, waterworks supplies, waterworks machinery, wax art empo-
rium, weather strip manufacturers, well drivers, wheel manufacturers,
wheel and carriage machinery, whip manufacturers, whiskey, white
lead, window curtain balances, window glass, window shades, window
shade fixtures, wines, wire manufacturers, wire goods manufacturers,
wire rope, wood dealers, woodworking machinery, wooden and willow-
ware, wool dealers, woolen machinery, woolen mills, woolen mill sup-
plies, yams, yawl builders, yeast manufacturers, oxide of zinc.
THE LATEST STATISTICS.
The United States Industrial Census, taken in 1880,
exhibits three thousand six hundred and fifty-two manu-
facturing establishments in the city. Among them were
three hundred and sixty-three boot and shoe shops and
factories, two hundred and thirty-four bakeries, two
hundred and forty-seven cigar-factories, two hundred and
forty-six clothing-establishments, one hundred and twenty-
five slaughterers and butchers, one hundred and twenty-
six boat-builders and block, tackle and spar-makers, one
hundred and eighteen tin and copper-workers and metal-
roofers, one hundred and twenty boss-carpenters and
builders, one hundred and seventeen furniture and
cabinet factories and repair shops. The average number
of hands employed in all kinds of manufactures num-
bered forty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy-
two males and eleven thousand four hundred and ninety-
eight females over sixteen years of age, and four thou-
sand five hundred and thirty-five children and youth — in
all fifty-nine thousand eight hundred and five. The
greatest number employed at any one time was sixty-eight
thousand eight hundred and forty-six. The total amount
of wages paid during the year ending May 3r, 1879,
was $21,348,796. The capital, real and personal, in-
vested in the business was $61,139,841; the value of
material, including mill supplies and fuel, $81,021,672;
of the gross product, $138,526,463. The number of
boilers used for steam-power was eight hundred and
twenty-eight; of engines, seven hundred and eight; of
horse-power therein, twenty-one thousand and fifty-nine.
Establishments renting their power, two hundred and
twenty-nine; employing no hands, three hundred and
eighteen.
Besides these, a number of manufactories in the coun-
try, which are owned and conducted by Cincinnati pro-
prietors, may properly be included in the returns of
43
33«
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
local manufactures. They are in the villages or town-
ships of Lockland, Delhi, Avondale, Colerain, Columbia,
Harrison, Millcreek, Miami, Riverside and Whitewater,
and their principal statistics are as follows: Number of
establishments, one hundred and fifteen; capital invested,
$2,647,000; greatest number of hands employed, one
thousand one hundred and sixty; wages paid, $990,700;
material, $5,760,000; gross product, $8,320,000. Also,
reckoned as belonging virtually to the Cincinnati manu-
facturing centre are the establishments in the Ken-
tucky towns of Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton,
West Covington and Ludlow. Their returns are estim-
ated as follows : Number of establishments, four hundred
and seventy-nine; capital employed, $9,017,000; greatest
number of hands employed, seven thousand nine hundred
and sixty; wages paid, $3,981,000; material, $18,741,000;
product, $27,622,600. There is thus figured up for Cin-
cinnati and its belongings the following magnificent totals :
Number of establishments, four thousand two hundred
and forty-six; capital invested, $72,803,841; number of
hands employed, seventy-seven thousand nine hundred
and sixty-six; wages paid, $26,320,496; material used,
$165,522,672; gross product, $174,469,063. With these
we may proudly close the statistical portion of our nar-
rative, and conclude these outlines with the eloquent re-
marks of Colonel Maxwell, closing his well-known lec-
ture before the Women's Art Museum association some
years ago, on the manufactures of Cincinnati :
I am fond of contemplating the future of this city. Already she oc-
cupies a proud position among the cities of this great country. She has
made progress which may well encourage pride in the hearts of her
whole people. Her foundations are singularly strong. No city in the
country has so successfully passed through the financial convulsions
which at times have shaken the country to its centre. The credit of
her business men is second to no class in the Union. Business has
been and is now conducted, to an unusual degree, on the capital of
those conducting it. The number of real estate owners is singularly
large, and in general they are not at the mercy of mortgagees. Her
public schools are laying broad and deep the foundations of popular
education. Her university, with its well-established professorships, its
Astronomical Observatory and its School of Design, which has received
such honorable recognition at home and abroad, has an assured exist-
ence. Her law, medical, theological, and literary institutions have well-
earned reputations. Her Mechanics' Institute has been and is laboring
earnestly in the field of mechanic arts. Her public libraries are richly
stored, and are making steady acquisitions to their means of bringing
the circles of science, history, philosophy, and literature within the
reach of all. Her dramatic culture is well known. Her musical re-
sources place her at the head of all American cities. Thanks to the
splendid liberality of one of our most beloved citizens, a Music Hall,
having no equal on this continent, is soon to be dedicated to the divine
art. The exhibitions of her varied industries have made the city famous
and have indicated to other cities the possibility of similar displays.
She, in this regard, has been a public educator. Her Zoological Gar-
den is well provided with the denizens of the land and the air. Her
private picture galleries possess rich treasures. Her suburbs challenge
the admiration of travelers from all lands. Her benevolent and re-
formatory institutions have a reputation as wide fts the country. Her
topographical position as a city is peerless. Her population, no longer
content with living amid manufactories and stores and shops, have
scaled the battlements of these surrounding hills. Science and me-
chanical skill have lifted our population to a higher plane of domestic
comfort. Four inclined railways are daily engaged in carrying our busi-
ness men, mechanics, and laborers from the highlands to the busy
scenes of this mighty workshop and back again, after the labors of the
day, to homes made triply comfortable by freedom from soot and noise,
and by air akin to mountain freshness and purity. Her hilltop resorts
have, in a single season, obtained a national reputation. They have
shown our people how easy it is to remain at home in the sultry days
of midsummer. They have impressed into our service the best orches-
tras of the country. They have invited the people of other districts,
and have literally made that part of the year when the population of
other cities flee from the scorching rays of August suns, the gayest of
the year.
But these enjoyments and advantages have not come by chance,
neither do they perpetuate themselves. Beneath them all, largely, are
the industrial and commercial interests of the city. The economical
administration, the fair dealing, the sagacity, public spirit, and enter-
prise of our business men of all classes have laid broad the foundations
of what we now enjoy. These qualities of the fathers, exercised by the
sons, will continue the superstructure. Our commercial relations will
strengthen. The scope of our manufactures will widen. The world,
for our products, will become our customer. Our position will invite
capital and our enterprise and necessities will secure to us, from other
localities and countries, steady additions to our army of skilled artisans.
Then these hills will be peopled by hundreds of thousands. These
slopes will be thickly studded with homes of comfort. These crests
will be richly fringed with splendid residences, tasteful dwellings, and
cosy cottages. In a comparatively short time every available place,
that now overlooks one of the most splendid panoramas in our country,
will be occupied. Thousands upon thousands, now here, will have fled
with their families, not before the avenging wrath of an offended deity,
but before the steady march of our manufacturing industries. The
singular healthfulness of the city will more and more invite persons
from other localities. Our sources of amusement will multiply. Our
permanent industrial exhibitions will become great show-windows for
the exhibition' of the results of our mechanical and artistic skill — a
school for the education of the people — a constant furnace from which
the young minds will be fired with an ambition to become themselves
producers. To our schools will be added schools ; to our libraries,
books ; and to our other institutions, a museum, having for its object
the cultivation of the masses, by bringing within their reach the best
facilities for encouragement to larger effort in the field of mechanics and
the arts, for the prosecution of study, for the formation of a correct
taste, and for the promotion of all that ennobles and refines.
It is no ideal picture which has been drawn. It is no revelation of
prophetic vision. It is the natural sequence of fostered, diversified,
economically, and skillfully conducted industries, that are steadily crea-
ting wealth, increasing power, enlarging usefulness, and fitting the peo-
ple for wider influence as well as for deeper enjoyment. Let us see to
it that in all our relations we do all we can to augment the splendors of
the day, of which the morning already gives such abundant promise.
The Cincinnati Board of Trade was organized in 1869,
and the Board of Transportation in 1876, with special
reference to united effort in dealing with questions re-
lating to the movement of freights to and from the city.
The directors' report, published in the Eleventh Annual
Report of the Board of Trade and Transportation, says:
"In the summer of 1878 the subject of a union of the
two Boards was broached, and a formal request for the
appointment of a joint committee for the consideration
of the project was passed by the Board of Trade August
17, 1878. The similarity of the objects of the two or-
ganizations seemed to indicate that this was the natural
and proper course to take. The Board of Trade has
always taken a deep interest in matters relating to trans-
portation, and one of the most important labors it had
achieved was the breaking of the freight blockade at
Louisville, a work that was only effected by means of a
considerable outlay of money and the establishment of a
special agency at that point, which was of the greatest
importance to Cincinnati shippers. ... A
formal consolidation of the two Boards was effected on
April 7, 1879, u«der the title of the 'Cincinnati Board of
Trade and Transportation.'"
The objects of the present Board are defined by the
secretary of the Board, in his report for 1879-80, as "to
collect, preserve, and circulate valuable and useful infor-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
339
mation relating to the business of Cincinnati, and es
pecially the facts relating to its manufacturing interests;
to encourage wise and needful legislation, and to oppose
the enactment of laws likely to be prejudicial to the
manufacturing and commercial interests; to study the
workings of our system of transportation, upon which our
commercial prosperity so much depends, and endeavor
to remedy by all proper means the defects and abuses
existing therein; to secure fair and equitable rates of
freight to and from the city; the discontinuance of vexa-
tious and unjust overcharges and prompt settlement of
damages on goods shipped; to facilitate the adjustment
of differences, controversies, and misunderstandings be-
tween its members and others; and to strive in all ways
to promote the manufacturing, commercial, and other
industrial interests of the city."
The presidents of the board have been: 1869-70,
Miles Greenwood; 1870-1, P. P. Lane; 1871-2, Josiah
Kirby; 1872-3, Robert Mitchell; 1873-4, Joseph Kin-
sey; 1874-5, Thomas G. Smith; 1875-6, William T.
Bishop; 1876-7, Clement Olhaber; 1877-8, Gazzam
Gano; 1878-9, Samuel F. Covington; 1879-80, John
Simpkinson.
The secretaries during the same period have been:
1869-74, Harry H. Tatem; 1874-81, Julius F. Black-
burn.
The Pork-packers' Association of Cincinnati was or-
ganized October 30, 1872. Its design is to promote the
interests of the provision trade by securing concert of
action and a free interchange of opinion, and by submit-
ting rules for the government of the trade to the cham-
ber of commerce for its deliberation and decision. Un-
der its auspices five exhibitions of hog products were
made at the Vienna exposition and the home Industrial
exhibitions. It is said to have, as it should, a conspicuous
influence in the councils of the National Pork-packers'
association.
There are numerous other manufacturers' associations
and trade-guilds in the city, some of which are noticed
in our chapter on benevolent and other societies.
SOME TRADE HISTORIES IN BRIEF.
The following notes relate partly to the older manu-
facturing and partly to historic mercantile and commer-
cial establishments. For convenience' sake they are all
grouped together here. For nearly every item we are
indebted to the industry of Mr. Daniel J. Kenny, who
collected the dates and facts for the second edition of
his Illustrated Cincinnati, published in 1879.
Established in 1805. — William Wilson McGrew, jew-
elry, 152 West Fourth. Except one brief interval, this
house has been continuously in existence.
1817. — F. H. Lawson & Company, metals, 188-90
Main; E. Myers & Company, wholesale candy, 40 Main.
18 19. — Bromwell Manufacturing Company, wire goods
and brushes, 181 Walnut; William Resor & Company,
stoves, corner Front and Smith. Mr. Resor and the
senior Lawson are accounted the oldest business men in
the city.
1824. — George Fox, Lockland Starch manufacturer,
87 West Second.
1826.— John H. McGowan & Company, machinery,
134-6 West Second.
1827. — George C. Miller & Son, carriages, i9-and 21
West Seventh.
i828i. — B. Bruce & Company, carriages, 161-3 West
Second and 57-61 Elm.
1830. — P. Wilson & Sons, leather, etc., 136-8 Main;
A. W. Frank, wholesale grocer, corner Race and Sixth.
1831. — John Shillito & Company, dry goods.
1832. — M. Werk & Company, soaps and candles, John
and Poplar; Sellew & Company, tin-plate, iron, copper,
etc., 244-8 Main. The latter is said to be the oldest
establishment in the city retaining its firm name. H. A.
Kinsey, jeweler, Vine and Fifth; Thomas Gibson &
Company, plumbing and brass foundry, 200-2 Vine.
1835. — J- & L. Seasongood &' Company (originally
Heidelbach, Seasongood & Company), wholesale cloth-
ing, Third and Vine: C. S. Rankin & Company, Arch
Iron works, Plum, near Pearl; William R. Teasdale,
dye-house, 265 Walnut; Proctor & Gamble, soaps and
candles, 736-62 Central avenue.
1836. — Duhme & Company, jewelers, Fourth and
Walnut; the Robert Mitchell Furniture company.
1837. — Knost Brothers & Company, 137 West Fourth,
formerly Charles & Henry Storch, first importers of
toys and fancy goods west of the Alleghanies. Van-
duzen & Tift, Buckeye bell foundry, 102-4 East Sec-
ond; H. B. Mudge, furniture, 91-9 West Second;
James Bradford & Company, mills and millstones, 57
Walnut.
1838. — J. M. McCullough, seed and agricultural ware-
house, 136 Walnut; George Meldrum, glass and paints,
23 West Fourth.
1840. — J. and A. Simpkinson & Company, wholesale
boots and shoes, 89 West Pearl; William H. Thayer &
Company, mill and steamer goods, 147-9 West Fourth.
1841. — J. A. Fay & Company, wood working tools,
John and Front.
1842. — J. T. Warren & Company, foreign fruits and
groceries, 64-6 West Pearl; John Holland, gold pens,
19 West Fourth.
1843. — Parker, Harrison & Company, Pioneer spice
and mustard mills, 90 West Second; George D. Win-
chell, tin and sheet-iron ware, 112-14 West Second;
E. J. Wilson & Company, mustard, spice and coffee-
mills, 116-18 West Second; H. Closterman, chairs,
219-23 West Second.
1844. — Clemens Oskamp, jewelry, 175 Vine; William
Glenn & Sons, wholesale groceries, 68-72 Vine; Charles
H. Wolff & Company, wholesale dry goods, 131-3 Race;
O. and J. Trounstine, cloth importers, Third and Vine;
Lockwood, Nichols & Tice, wholesale hats and caps, 95
West Third;" Howell Gano & Company, hardware, 138
Walnut; A. D. Smith & Company, clocks, 184-6 Main.
1845. — Stern, Mayer & Company, clothiers, Third
and Vine; William F. Thome & Company, boots and
shoes, 79 West Pearl; Hall Safe and Lock company,
Pearl and Plum.
340
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
1846. — William Powell & Company, brass foundry,
245-9 West Fifth; William Kirkup & Sons, brass foun-
dry, 119-23 East Pearl.
1847. — P- Eckert & Company, candy, 64 Walnut, suc-
cessors to Robert Hodge; Devon & Company, mill, 137
Race; Dunn & Witt, galvanized iron cornices, 144 West
Third; Phipps, O'Connell & Company, boots and shoes,
107 West Pearl.
1848. — Andrew Erkenbrecher, St. Bernard starch
works, 12 West Second; Favorite stove works, Third,
John, Smith, and Webb,
1849. — J- and A. Moore, frame mouldings, etc., 276-80
Broadway; Knost Brothers & Company, fancy goods,
70-2 Main (formerly H. Schrader & Company) ;
F. Schultze & Company, china and glassware, 72-4 West
Fourth.
1850. — Gest & Atkinson (formerly Smith & Window),
oils; Mowry car and wheel works; Lane & Bodley, en-
gines, mills, etc.; Camargo Manufacturing company, wall-
paper and window-shades, 57 West Fourth; Jeffras, See-
ley & Company, dry goods, 99 West Fourth; Franklin
type foundry, 168 Vine; Pelte Biedinger, paper, 62 Wal-
nut; Tolle, Holton & Company, dry goods, 124 Vine.
J. S. Burdsal & Company, on the northwest corner of
Main and Front, are the oldest drug house in the city.
The tradition goes that there has been a drug store on
that corner ever since Cincinnati was founded.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITIONS.
As an important sequal to the history of manufactur-
ing in Cincinnati, we may well give some account of the
great Industrial Expositions held in this city year by
year — among the most remarkable displays of their kind
now made anywhere in the world. Nothing in the won-
derful "new departures" which the Queen City has taken
so rapidly and numerously of late years, has contributed
to give her wider reputation than these. They attract
exhibitors and visitors from far distant regions of the
land; and many foreigners have attended them with
admiring satisfaction. They annually furnish the pro-
ducers of Cincinnati, in both fine and industrial art, the
opportunity for a grand object lesson to the natioji of her
capabilities and attainments in the production of wares
for the markets of the world — an opportunity that is
seized to an extent and in a style that annually excite
the curiosity and wonder of many thousands. They have
a history of their own, which we shall now proceed to
narrate.*
*The materials for the sketch concerning the Exposition of Textile
Fabrics are drawn from the history of that event, prepared at the
request of the general committee of the Exposition, by Colonel Sidney
D. Maxwell, now superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce. The
admirable historical sketch prefixed to the Report of the General Com-
mittee of the First Industrial Exposition held in Cincinnati (1870) is
THE EXPOSITION OF TEXTILE FABRICS.
January 15, 1868, an organization was effected, entitled
The Woollen Manufacturers' Association of the Northwest.
May 25th next ensuing, it was resolved to hold an Exposi-
tion of Wool and Woollen Fabrics in Chicago, August
4th, 5th and 6th, of the same year, under the auspices of
the association. It was held with pronounced success, for
a first effort, bringing together as it did very many samples
of raw materials and manufactured goods. The associa-
tion had then to determine the place for holding a simi-
lar Exposition the next year; and a committee of Cincin-
nati merchants — Messrs. George W. Jones, James H.
Laws, James M. Clark, and George W. McAlpin —
appointed by a meeting called at the instance of Mr.
Laws, visited Chicago and made a successful effort to
induce the association to make its next display in this
city. An order was also passed extending the scope of
the exhibition so as to embrace wool-growers as exhibi-
tors, and inviting them to send representative specimens
of wool from their flocks, to the fair of the next year in
Cincinnati. The executive committee appointed to take
charge of the second exposition was composed almost
wholly of citizens of that place; all members of the com-
mittee above named were upon it, together with Messrs.
Louis Seasongood, Henry Lewis and William R. Pearce,
and Mr. A. M. Garland, of Chatham, Illinois. They
submitted a report to a meeting of Queen City merchants
and manufacturers on the 6th of April, 1869, which was
accepted, and the committee continued in service. A
permanent organization for the purposes of preparing and
holding the fair was made, with Mr. John Shillito as
chairman, James M. Clarke secretary, George W. Jones
treasurer, and strong committees on general arrange-
ments, invitation, reception, transportation, premiums,
and finance. Co-operative committees were presently
appointed by the city council, the chamber of commerce,
and the board of trade, headed respectively, by Messrs.
A. T. Goshorn, T. R. Biggs and Robert Buchanan.
August 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, of the year last
designated, were fixed upon for holding the Exposition,
and a resolution was passed for invitations to manufac-
turers of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, and silk, and to both
cotton and wool growers, to send in their exhibits for this
week's display. It was also decided to have a trade sale
when the fair was over.
The members of the committees found their positions
no sinecures. With characteristic energy the Cincinnati-
ans set to work, raised money enough to guaranty the
payment of all expenses and for the offer of liberal pre-
miums, and made arrangements on the most generous
scale for the Exposition. An address was issued to the
wool growers of the country by Mr. Garland, chairman of
the wool committee, which was well adapted to arouse
their attention and secure their displays. Personal invi-
tations were sent to manufacturers and other prominent
men in the North, Southwest, and South; and Mr. James
A. Chappell, of the city, as special agent of the Exposi-
also known to be from the hand of Colonel Maxwell, though published
anonymously ; and we acknowledge indebtedness to it for the facts
embraced in the initial history of the series of Expositions.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
34i
tion, made a tour of the Gulf States and other parts of
the South, to enlist the interest of their leading manufac-
turers in the project. Arrangements were made with many
of the railroads and with the great express companies, to
carry free of charge freights destined for the Exposition,
and twenty-three railways also agreed to carry passengers
bound to it at half fare. A handsome bronze medal was
ordered from the Government mint at Philadelphia, for
presentation to each exhibitor, without reference to his
success or failure in obtaining premiums; and fitting cer-
tificates were engraved and printed for the awards to suc-
cessful competitors. Mr. David Sinton, the well-known
philanthropic and public spirited capitalist, early obviated
any difficulty the committee of general arrangements
might experience in finding a suitable place for the fair,
by the offer of his spacious four-story building, then re-
cently erected on the east side of Vine street, between
Third and Fourth streets. It proved to be excellently
adapted to the purpose. Says Colonel Maxwell :
The rooms were admirably fitted up, and furnished with the amplest
facilities for the exhibition ofgoods. Extending through the centre of
each room was a double counter or table, each side of which was an
inclined plane four feet in width, for the display of goods. Ranged
along the wall on either side were tables that extended quite through
the room, so constructed as to adapt them to the goods sought- to be
exhibited. In the rear of the main building a house was erected for the
special use of machinery for the manufacture of textile fabrics.
The opening day for the Exposition, Tuesday, August
3d, as well as the previous day and night, presented busy
scenes in the Sinton block. Every thing was measurably
arranged,- however, by 11 a. m. of the third, when Mr.
George W. Jones, chairman of the executive committee,
opened to the public the doors of the "Great Exposition
of Textile Fabrics for the West and South." A broad
ensign, stretching across the front of the building, bore
the legend, "Welcome to the Manufacturers of the West
and South." Between that structure and the Burnet
house a large "star spangled banner" lent interest and
beauty to the scene; while the Zouave Battalion band of
the city fretted the air from time to time with its melodi-
ous strains of invitation. The rooms occupied by the
Exposition were decorated with coats-of-arms of the
States; and again, upon the rear wall of the first room,
facing visitors as they came in, were the cordial words of
"Welcome to the Manufacturers of the West and South."
Above each exhibit of goods a neatly painted card was
placed, bearing the name of the manufacturer, his mill,
and its. location;, and the wares of each manufacturer
were so grouped that no confusion or doubt could arise
as to their belongings.
Theinfiux of visitorsand the inspection of displays on the
first day continued until 2 p. m., when the doors were closed
for the day to allow the arrangement of a large quantity
of goods newly arrived, and to give the officers of the
Exposition an opportunity to prepare for the formal open-
ing ceremonies an hour thereafter, in Pike's Music hall.
The afternoon was extremely warm; but a large audience
assembled, including many ladies, most of whom kept
their seats patiently and happily until the end of the ,
somewhat protracted exercises. Upon the platform were
Governor (late President) Hayes, Mayor Torrence, Judge
Bellamy Stoier, Hon. Job E. Stevenson, Hon. Benjamin
Eggleston, and many other distinguished citizens of Cin-
cinnati, Chicago, Detroit, and other cities. Mr. James,
chairman of the executive committee, cordially and elo-
quently welcomed the guests of the association to the
city. The mayor "expressed his gratification, as the
chief executive officer of the city, at seeing so large a
number of the wool growers and manufacturers of the
country gathered together. He believed that no finer ex-
hibition of the products of the loom had ever been given
in the country, and it spoke highly for the forward state
of western and southern industry that this was the case.
He bade all present a hearty welcome to the city." Gov-
ernor Hayes was presented, and gave a genial greeting,
on behalf of the people of Ohio, to the citizens present
from other States. A longer address was then made by
Judge Storer, which was received with frequent and rap-
turous applause. The following remarks, although not
so closely germane to the occasion as some others that
followed, have greater historic value, and for the pur-
poses of this book we gladly reproduce them :
When I came to the west fifty-two years ago, Michigan, Wisconsin,
Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas were territories. Illinois and Indiana
had but two years before been admitted to the Union ; and this great,
flourishing State then contained but five thousand people. I saw the
first steamboat built upon the Ohio river that ever sailed from Cincin-
nati. There was but one steam-engine in the city ; and that was built
in Pittsburgh, and continued to be the only one until 1818. Those gen-
tlemen who were pioneers in steamboat navigation put an engine on
their frail bark which was of domestic Cincinnati manufacture ; and he
who built it lies in an unknown grave. Permit me to name him — Wil-
liam Greene. I was but young then, but I watched with great curi-
osity and anxiety the process, and it was novel to me ; and when it was
finally on board the vessel, and she was about to depart, and the bank,
then being in its native state, was lined with spectators, some predicting
that she would not return, others pitying those that had embarked their
means in the enterprise, I was filled with mingled emotion. But she
did return ; and she was but the pioneer of thousands of others that
have been successfully built in our shipyards. At that time all there was
of Chicago was the ruins of Fort Dearborn, and all of St. Louis one or
two streets of the old French fashion, without a manufactory.
A speech bristling with statistics was made by Mr. G.
B. Stebbins, secretary of the Industrial League. The
several addresses of welcome received fitting response
from Mr. Jesse McAllister, secretary of the Woollen
Manufacturers' association of the northwest. Letters
were read from the Hon. Messrs. John Sherman and
George H. Pendleton, and from Governors Stevenson of
Kentucky and Baker of Indiana. The hospitalities of
the Young Mens' Mercantile library, the Chamber of
Commerce, and the Board of Trade, were formally ex-
tended to visiting strangers and members of the associa-
tion. • Music from the Zouave Battalion band pleasantly
varied the exercises.
Thus brilliantly was inaugurated the first great Indus-
trial Exposition in Cincinnati. The display, in variety,
excellence, and representative character, was all that had
been hoped for; and the attendance of visitors, from near
and far, contributed to make the affair an assured success.
Upon the second day everything was in place and in ad-
mirable order, and the visitors during the day numbered
scarcely less than twenty thousand — several thousand
more than could possibly have been accommodated in
the aisles of the exhibition, had all been present at one
342
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
time. About ten thousand more are believed to have
visited the rooms on Thursday, the last day of the expo-
sition proper; and on the next morrning, when the trade
sales began, the pressure of interested humanity was so
great that grave doubts were expressed concerning the
ability of the third floor of the building, new and sub-
stantial as the structure was, to bear up under the heavy
strain put upon it. The popular interest was maintained
to the end; and while the Exposition building itself was
thronged^ "large numbers hung about the Burnet House
listening to the music of the band/from the balcony, and
watching the tide as it ebbed and flowed on the opposite
side of the street." In attracting the attention and at-
tendance of the public, at least, the fair was a very
thorough success. No admittance fee was charged, and
Mr. Sinton permitted the use-of his building gratuitously;
on the other hand, the use of the Opera House for the
opening exercises, and the facilities of the Western Union
Telegraph Company and the Cincinnati Gas Company
during the exposition were also gratuitously tendered.
The funds necessary to meet expenses and pay premi-
ums (about nine thousand dollars), were made up by sub-
scriptions of citizens, generally in sums of one hundred
dollars, and a grant from the city treasury of three thou-
sand dollars.
Not less successful, however, was the Exposition as a
representative display. One hundred and fifty-five exhib-
itors, from twenty different States, as widely separated as
Massachusetts and Texas, Missouri and Georgia, were on
hand with about three thousand lots of goods. There
was also one exhibit from England. Sixty woolen mills,
in ten States, were represented by their fabrics. The dis-
play of flannels was the largest. A large variety of jeans
was also presented — like the flannels, of superior quality
in the fabrics. Between two and three hundred pieces
of cassimeres, black doeskins, and meltons were shown. •
An invoice of cassimeres, doeskins, and tweeds, sent from
the Deseret Mills, near Salt Lake City, then owned by
Brigham Young, president of the Mormon church, excited
much curiosity. Satinets, wool-tweeds, repellants, and
knit goods appeared in considerable quantity. The
woollen shawls were numerous, and attracted marked at-
tention. Blankets made up a very fine exhibit. Worsted
braids and ingrain carpets, from the manufactories of the
city, made an attractive though not very large show. The
time of year was not favorable to the exhibition of raw
materials; but some excellent displays of cotton and wool
were made. Heavy cotton goods, woollen and cotton
yarns, and a variety of miscellaneous fabrics, were also in
the catalogue, and were displayed to advantage. Several
looms were shown in operation, and kept constantly
thronged the room in which they were. The various
committees on premiums (one on doeskins, fancy cassi-
meres, meltons, repellants, beavers, and cloaking cloths;
others on jeans, flannels, linseys, tweeds, and satinets;
shawls, blankets, woolen yarns, machine stockings, worst-
ed braids, carpets, and balmorals; cotton fabrics ; bagging,
bale rope, bagging tow, and cotton cordage; and on wool),
had no little difficulty in making their awards, which,
however, when announced on the fourth day of the Ex-
position, seemed to give general satisfaction. On that
and the succeeding, the last day, a trade sale was had,
conducted by Mr. James H. Laws, the original promoter
of the Exposition in Cincinnati and chairman of the com-
mittee on arrangements, before what he considered "the
largest and wealthiest company of gentlemen that had
ever assembled at an auction sale west of the Allegheny
mountains." The sales on Saturday were brisk and ani-
mated. A little after noon all the lots and separate arti-
cles had been disposed of, and Mr. Laws, with a few ap-
priate words, closed the sale, stepped off the auctioneer's
stand, and left the great Exposition of textile fabrics for
the West and South to history.
Meetings of the Woollen Manufacturers' Association of
the Northwest and of the Southern cotton and wool
growers and manufacturers were held during the Exposi-
tion. Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the exhib-
tors from abroad were treated to rides through the beau-
tiful suburbs of the city. Thursday evening a grand
banquet was given to them and other invited guests at
the Burnet House. Plates were laid for about five hun-
dred people. The Hon. Richard M. Bishop, since gov-
ernor of the State, was president of the evening. In
response to appropriate sentiments, brief but eloquent
and often humorous speeches were made by the Hon.
Messrs. Milton Sayler, Job E. Stevenson, and Adam F.
Perry, of Cincinnati, and Horace Maynard, of East Ten-
nessee. Dr. N. J. Bussey, of Columbus, Georgia;
George S. Bowen and Jesse McAllister, of Chicago; Mr.
Campbell, of California; Mayor Torrence and others, of
this city, also made short and spirited addresses, in re-
sponse to calls. It was a very happy episode of the
week.
Another, though of a quite different character, was a
communication sent to the Daily Gazette by the Rev. S.
J. Brown, a pioneer of the city, on the day he visited the
Exposition. His reminiscences and reflections are of
enduring interest, and with them we shall close this
sketch :
I this morning made a visit to the Exposition opposite the Burnet
House. I came to the village of Cincinnati May i, 1798, over seventy-
one years ago. Looking back to that period of the plain and social days
of my boyhood, I recur with pleasure to my sister's spinning on the big
and little wheels, flax, cotton, and wool, the warp and filling for the
weavers at that early day, and to our linen, cotton, and woollen fabrics,
which were worn by the most respectable and noble women of the clos-
ing years of the last century. The days of the pioneers are almost
gone; but few, very few, remain. How exhilarating to see the'products
of the year 1869 produced for exhibition, not from the log cabins of
the then Far West, the Big Miami of 1796, but from Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, Iowa, and other places west and south, in 1869. In one
lifetime a village of log cabins, in 1798 about two hundred inhabitants,
a garrison of soldiers with Indians around us, has now become a city
of two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, with mansions, churches,
and public buildings to vie with the old cities of Europe. We now
have on exhibition cloths and cassimeres, with an immense variety of
fabrics which will bear comparison with the best productions in Eng-
land in 1816-17, and '18, when the writer visited England, Ireland, and
Wales, and the great manufacturing towns of that period.
In the Exposition whose brief history has been sketched
was the main impulse of the present annual
CINCINNATI INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION.
The germs of it had been planted long before by
the modest exhibitions of manufactures and arts held by
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
343
the Mechanics' Institute, and briefly named in our histori-
cal notes upon that noble institution. From 1838 to the
opening of the Rebellion — nearly a quarter of a century
— these interesting though not extensive displays had
been made, and they are remembered with not a little
pride and gratification by the older citizens of Cincin-
nati. They ceased, however, amid the excitements and
engrossments of the civil strife; but in 1867 the board of
directors of the institute was instructed to consider the
expediency of holding another of the old-time fairs.
The want of a suitable building postponed their revival;
but the next year another effort was made, and a large
number of the business men of the city were consulted
in regard to it. Their replies were few and not at all en-
thusiastic in favor of the proposal; and the subject was
dropped again, not to be revived until the remarkable in-
terest and success of the Exposition of Textile Fabrics,
in August, 1869, suggested the inquiry, even before it
closed, whether a general exhibition of the manufactures
of the city was not both desirable and practicable. The
next month, September nth, at the quarterly meeting of
the board of trade, resolutions offered by Mr. A. T.
Goshom were unanimously adopted, as follows:
That it is the duty of the board of trade, as particularly representing
the manufacturinginterests of the city, to recommend to the manufac-
turers the necessity of annual expositions of every branch and article of
manufacture in the city and vicinity.
That it would be expedient to hold such an Exposition in this city in
the spring and summer of 1880, and therefore the committee on manu-
factures is hereby instructed to inaugurate the ways and means to ren-
der such an Exposition successful and a credit to the city.
The members of the Chamber of Commerce had been
quietly debating a like project, and on the eighteenth of
September, one week after the action of the Board of
Trade just recited, the board of officers of the chamber
directed its president to appoint a committee on the pro-
posed Exposition. This was done soon after, and
Messrs. James H. Laws, Abner L. Frazer, S. F. Coring-
ton, C. H. Gould, and Jacob Elsas were named as the
committee. Finally, about the same time, October fifth,
came in the board of directors of the Mechanics' Insti-
tute, with a resolution that the Institute "hold a grand
exhibition of arts and manufactures during 1870," and
the appointment of a committee to select a site for its
buildings — Messrs. Charles F. Wilstach, P. P. Lane,
Thomas Gilpin, James Dale, and H. McCollum. By
another resolution this action was communicated to the
board of trade, and in return the earnest co-operation of
that body was pledged, in the effort to make the exhibi-
tion "an entire success, and worthily representative of
the industrial reputation of the west." Messrs. A. T.
Goshom and Josiah Kirby were appointed as a select
committee to act with Messrs. P. P. Lane, Thomas
Wrightson, and H. A. V. Post, the standing committee
of the board on manufactures, in executing the spirit and
intent of the resolutions. The board was, some time
afterwards, formally notified of the appointment of an
Exposition committee by the chamber of commerce, with
a request for similar appointments by the board; which
was referred to the committee already nominated for the
purpose of co-operation. March 14, 1870, the board of
trade concurred in the recommendation of a committee,
that the committee on Industrial Exposition should be
made permanent, with a view to the annual holding of
the fairs. The said committee for 1870-71 was thus
constituted: Messrs. A. T. Goshom, Josiah Kirby, H.
A. V. Post, Daniel B. Pierson, and W. H. Blymyer.
Everything being now in train, and co-operation of the
three bodies being fully ensured, a joint meeting of their
several committees on the Exposition was held March
:6th, for the exchange of views relating thereto. The
result was the merging of all into one general committee
for the organization of the "Cincinnati Industrial Expo-
sition of Manufactures, Products, and Arts, in the year
1870." The following-named officers were chosen: Pres-
ident, Ex-Mayor Charles F. Wilstach; Vice Presidents,
James H. Laws, Josiah Kirby; Treasurer, H. A. V.
Post (Mr. Post soon afterwards removed to New York.
Mr. C. H. Gould was elected to his position as Treas-
urer, and Mr. Joseph Kinsey to his place on the Exposi-
tion committee of the board of trade); Secretary, Ab-
ner L. Frazer.
A full list of sub-committees was also appointed.
Upon them, but more upon the gentlemen named as of-
ficers, were to rest the burdens of the great enterprise
now fairly under way. They proved neither light nor
few. Numerous interviews with leading citizens were
had, and committee-meetings held. Each of the organi-
zations at the head of the undertaking — the Mechanics'
Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of
Trade — appropriated one thousand dollars to its prepara-
tion. This would not, however, secure the committee
against loss; and a guarantee fund was pledged by the
citizens, in sums of twenty-five dollars to two thousand
dollars (the latter by the furniture manufacturers en
masse), the whole amounting to twenty-three thousand
seven hundred and sixty-five dollars. The subscription
was conditioned upon the agreement to return to the
subscribers, pro rata, any surplus that might remain after
all expenses were paid; and it is a noteworthy evidence
of the skill with which the business of the Exposition
was managed, and its singular financial success for an in-
itial enterprise, that not one dollar of the guarantee fund
was drawn, while one thousand five hundred and thirty-
three dollars and twenty-two cents remained in the treas-
ury of the Exposition after the payment of all bills.
The question of eligible site and buildings next engaged
the attention of the committee. It was obvious that, for
an exhibition on the scale projected, new structures would
have to be erected. Fortunately for the committee, the
German musicians of the city had just now on their
hands the project of holding a reunion and festival of
the North American Saengerbuhd in Cincinnati during
the summer of 1870, for which a great though temporary
building must be erected. The use of a site first had
been secured from the city council, upon the grounds
formerly occupied by the Cincinnati Orphan asylum and
owned by the city, opposite Washington park, on Elm
and Fourteenth streets — the same now occupied by the
magnificent music hall and the permanent Exposition
buildings. It was soon manifest, however, that the origi-
344
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
nal hypothesis — that the Sfengerfest structure, with an
additional building for machinery, would answer the pur-
pose of the Exposition — must be set aside; and as many
as three additional edifices ultimately became necessary
— one of them known as the fine art and music hall.
This was situated to the north and northwest of the main
building, was of fine proportions, two hundred and twen-
ty-four by eighty feet upon the ground, and supplying a
floor space of eighteen thousand five hundred and thirty-
two square feet. The fine art and music hall, northwest
of the Saengerbund building, covered an area one hun-
dred and twelve by one hundred and four feet, with four
apartments, each running the length of the hall, with in-
ter-communication at the ends. The rooms were eight-
een feet high in the clear, and were well lighted from
above. The walls, handsomely tinted, furnished spaces
for exhibits of about twenty thousand square feet. The
power hall was southwest of the principal edifice, and
closely connected with it. It was a one-story building,
one hundred and eighty-four by one hundred and fifty
feet, with a long, narrow, building immediately on the
south for the boilers for furnishing steam-power, the whole
occupying a space of thirty-three thousand six hundred
square feet. To the southeast of this was the third new
building rendered necessary — comparatively a small affair,
put up for the California steam plow, which proved a
specially attractive feature of the exhibition. The cen-
tral or main building, erected for the Sasngerfest with the
aid of five thousand dollars appropriated by the Exposi-
tion committee, was a mighty room two hundred and fifty
feet long by one hundred and ten feet wide, built in a
succession of grand arches, seventy-two feet in extreme
height. Galleries reached by broad stairways were car-
ried around the entire edifice, which, with the main floor,
allowed a space for -exhibits of forty-four thousand nine
hundred and sixty feet. Some additional room was ob-
tained for exhibitors, and greater facility for the move-
ment of visitors through the galleries was obtained by
throwing a bridge from gallery to gallery, across the mid-
dle of the great hall. The total floor space of the Expo-
sition buildings was thus one hundred and eight thousand
seven hundred and forty-eight square feet, about two and
a half acres, to which the wall surface available added
eighty-nine thousand feet, or enough to make more than
four and a half acres. The floor space alone was larger
than the total area afforded for exhibits by the Crystal
Palace in New York, for the World's fair in 1853. The
location was specially favorable, being somewhat retired
from the business and manufacturing centres of the city,
with a pleasant park just opposite* and easily reached on
foot, or by lines of omnibuses and other carriages that
were constantly running thither from the corner of Fourth
and Vine streets, the street railways in that direction not
having yet been built.
All the arrangements for the Exposition went on pros-
perously, except with the railroads for transportation of
passengers and freight destined for the fair. In the nego-
tiations for this at reduced rates there were numerous
halts and hitches. Only the authorities of the Louisville
Short Line seemed to have much confidence in the enter-
prise, and the roads declined to sell tickets daily at low
fares during the Exposition, as they have readily done in
later years. Colonel Maxwell writes: "At a season of
the year when large numbers were visiting the city on
business, they did not think it expedient to present too
strong a temptation to such to avail themselves of the re-
duced rates. They, however, with the exception of the
Ohio & Mississippi railroad, agreed to run half-fare excur-
sion trains on specified days each week, for such as de-
sired to avail themselves of this opportunity; and during
the last week a number of the roads ran daily half-fare
trains. This arrangement contributed largely to the at-
tendance ; but the number from the country was doubt-
less much less than it would have been under more favor-
able circumstances." A number of the railroads, near
and remote, also agreed to return free of charge to the
point of original shipment, all articles for the Exposition,
upon presentation of a certificate that such articles were
exhibited and not sold. Arrangements were made with
many leading hotels and boarding houses of the city, for
definite and in a few cases reduced rates of entertain-
ment to visitors; of which the public, near and far, was
fully advised through the newspapers. These powerful
agencies did a great deal to popularize and advertise the
Exposition; and in return the managers, during its hold-
ing, .recommended exhibitors to advertise freely in the
local journals, • after the universal custom at European
fairs, notifying readers of the part of the Exposition where
their goods could be seen, and helping to keep the total
display constantly and prominently before the people.
After a busy half year, on the part of the general com-
mittee and their numerous employes, the Exposition was
mostly ready for opening at the appointed time, Wednes-
day, the twenty-first of September. As usual in such
cases, the number of eleventh hour applicants for space
and exhibitors preparing their displays was exceedingly
embarrassing, and at times overwhelming. An attractive
though imperfect show was already in place, however;
and it was determined that there should be no postpone-
ment. As evening drew on, the great doors of the main
building were opened, and the few hundreds who desired
admission during the evening were allowed to enter. An
hour or more was spent in viewing the articles so far in
place; and at 8:45 p. m. the company gathered in front
of the platform in the main hall, for the formal exercises
of opening. Ex-Mayor Wilstach, chairman of the gen-
eral committee, presided. The Rev. James Y. Boice,
pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church, offered
prayer. Mr. A. T. Goshorn, president of the board of
councilmen of the city, welcomed the exhibitors and vis-
itors to the exposition in a few felicitous words. The
Hon. John Sherman, then United States Senator from
Ohio, delivered the principal address of the evening, one
marked by his usual mastery of scholarship and thought.
It closed as follows:
In conclusion I express the hope that this Exposition may tend to de-
velop the industry of the vast region naturally looking to this city as the
centre of its trade. Especially I hope our neighbors of Kentucky
will aid us to be better friends, by allowing free railroad communica-
tion over her soil. We are all citizens of a great and powerful country,
each State and section contributing by some production to the grandeur
^£><
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
345
of the whole. Let us develop the Union which God ordained, which
he has bound together by great rivers and chains of mountains, and
girdled with oceans and lakes. In the speedy future all our civil com-
motions, all our^iolitical differences, will be forgotten in our pride for
the industry, growth, and magnificence of our common country.
The attendance was exceedingly limited the first even-
ing. Inferring from the figures of the treasurer's final
report (receipts from tickets September 21st, one hun-
dred and ninety dollars and fifty cents), but three hun-
dred and eighty-one persons paid for admission; so that,
with officers, exhibitors, and employes, probably not more
than five hundred were scattered through the huge build-
ings upon the occasion of their opening. During the
whole of the "next day, reasoning from similar data, but
eight hundred and fifty-five persons paid for entrance.
The general committee now saw that the price of admis-
sion first fixed (fifty cents) was too high. The exhibition
was for all, employer and employed, rich and poor, the
upper ten thousand and the lower million; and it was re-
solved that the rate of admission, after the second day,
should be popular and cheap. Twenty-five cents was fixed
as the price, which has since been steadily maintained.
Coupon tickets, admitting five or ten persons, could be
had at one dollar and two dollars, respectively; and manu-
facturers might purchase tickets for their employes, in
packages of twenty, at five dollars per package. Chil-
dren were to be admitted at ten cents each. The attend-
ance now increased rapidly. On the third day about two
thousand and fifty visitors were present; and the numbers
grew nearly every day thereafter, until the culmination of
the display on the fifth of October, only a fortnight after
the opening, when they reached nineteen thousand — a
quite remarkable attendance for the first in the series of
expositions, and about thrice as many as were commonly
in attendance at the World's Fair of 1853, in New York
city. Upon eight days besides this, the receipts from sale
of tickets were above two thousand dollars, and at no time
after September 28th, until the close of the Exposition,
did they fall below one thousand one hundred and ninety-
five dollars and seventy-five cents, the amount received
that day for admissions. The whole number of visitors
during the twenty-seven days and twenty-eight evenings it
was open, was about three hundred thousand. The pop-
ular patronage, part of it from places a long way off in
this and other States, together with receipts from exhibit-
ors, refreshment privileges, buildings and materials, and a
single donation of fifty dollars from the First National
bank of Cincinnati, enabled the committee to meet all
demands without touching the guarantee fund, and, as
already stated, to leave a good-sized nest egg in the
treasury.
The exhibition, although but a beginning of the great
expositions, was amply worthy of all and more than the
patronage it received. During the second week every-
thing was got in place and the machinery was in full
operation. By the middle of the week the display was
nearly at its best. Colonel Maxwell has some brilliant
paragraphs in description of the great exhibit, from which
we select two or three, the first and last being of especial
local interest:
That which had been done surprised almost all; for few had the facil-
ities of knowing how varied and interesting and extensive were the
manufactures of Cincinnati and the west. How many knew before the
Exposition of textile fabrics in 1869 that the best worsted dress-braids
produced in the United States, if not in the world, were made in Cin-
cinnati ? Who was aware of the fact that a German in the same city
was manufacturing the only wool plushes made in this country — goods
entering largely into both railroad cars and furniture? Again, how few
knew the character and extent of the manufactories in this city of the
common white and granite wares, articles as necessary to every house-
hold as the table upon which the poor woman spreads her scanty
meal, and that two establishments were actively engaged in this busi-
ness, bringing their clays from many States? There were on exhibition
about two hundred separate pieces, embracing almost everything in the
shape of whiteware. The quality was surprising. There was granite
with a gold band, which was beautiful, and full sets that were
hardly inferior to the old ironstone china. The visitor would find two
pitchers, one marked with the Cincinnati maker, and the other with the
foreign manufacturer. If he took them to the light and carefully in-
spected them, unless he were an expert he would not detect the differ-
ence. Did not this mean revolution — ultimately a great change iu the
whole matter of queensware business ! A few years ago we had only
the yellow-ware; then we made the common white; at the Exposition
we had the granite. With such testimony as this before him, was it not
natural for the visitor to ask : Will not, in a comparatively few years, the
millions we are paying to England for such productions be kept at
home, and the operatives be fed with the produce of our own country?
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that all were pleased. Those
having the best opportunity oi listening to the grumblers of the
world heard no disparaging words spoken of the display. Of
course it did not move all alike. There were thousands of
curious persons who, doubtless, wandered through the halls merely
to gratify their curiosity, and as many thousand were superficial
observers, who did not dig down below the surface of this show
of domestic manufactures and products and fine arts, to see what
all these surface indications meant. But there were many more who
not only took pleasure in the individual articles to be seen, but valued
them still more because they looked upon these specimens ot beautiful
agricultural machinery ; these handsome carriages ; useful stoves and
ranges; these steam-engines, fiouring-mills, saw-mills, shingle-machines,
planers, punches, and drills; these looms, bung-machines, type found-
ries, printing-presses, and pumps; these water-wheels, street-sweepers,
and emery-grinders ; these granite plates, pitchers, teas, and bowls;
these bedsteads, bureaus, sideboards, tables, and chairs; these sheet-
ings, cassimeres, plushes, jeans, shawls, blankets, yarns, and zephyrs;
these battings, waddings, warps, twines, and ropes; these boots and
shoes, hats and caps, furs, raw silks, silk sewings, millinery goods, and
gentlemen's furnishing goods; these wall papers, window shades, car-
pets, and rugs; these rolls of leather; these goods made from wire and
bristles; these iron safes, scales, builders' materials, knives, mechanics'
tools, locks, doors, window-shutters, and paints; these trunks and
satchels; these beautiful household goods made from iron and tin and
zinc and wood; these refrigerators, japan-wares, works in copper and
brass and marble; these sugars, soaps, candles, oils, provisions, breads,
and tobaccos; these medical preparations; these sewing-machines,
mantels, pictures, photographs, engravings, wax and hair-works, musi-
cal instruments, moldings, artificial teeth, dental tools, silver-wares,
philosophical instruments, and thousands upon thousands of things use-
ful and> beautiful — looked upon them as the miner looks upon the gold-
bearing rocks which speak of wealth below the surface, of riches which
the precious metal, here and there sparkling from its rocky bed, an-
nounces within.
Few persons, before the exposition, were aware of the manufactur-
ing importance of Cincinnati. Even our own citizens looked at the
aggregate sum of the production of the city without fully comprehend-
ing the inventive skill that was exercised, the mind which was taxed,
the muscle that was employed, and the mighty interests that were in-
volved. It required some ocular demonstration adequately to impress
our own people with the length, and breadth, and depth, of the busi-
ness foundations of the Queen City, which have enabled her comfortably
to weather the financial storms which have sorely distressed other cities,
and to enable them properly to estimate the true relation which our
manufactures bear to the general prosperity. In the variety and splen-
dor of the display, in the thirty thousand different articles on exhi-
bition,'representing one thousand seven hundred and thirty entries,
they were able to read the secret of Cincinnati's stability and that which
was to prove one of her principal bulwarks in the future. For, though
Connecticut, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisi-
346
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maine, Missouri, New Jer-
sey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wis-
consin— twenty-four States in all — were represented, and many valuable
contributions came from other cities and places, nevertheless it was pre-
eminently an exhibition of Cincinnati manufactures. In some of the
departments our own manufacturers were the sole contributors, and in
all of them they held an honorable position, in both number and the
quality of their wares.
The interest in the exhibition, growing day by day,
had caused the postponement of the day of closing one
week — from the fifteenth to the twenty-second of Octo-
ber. The time of closing, on a thronged and busy
Saturday night, at last arrived. The difficult work of
making the awards had been completed. The prizes,
eighteen gold medals, one hundred and thirty-two large
silver medals, seventy-six small ones, besides four hun-
dred and ninety-two elegantly engraved diplomas, all to-
gether costing about seven thousand dollars — had been
distributed. Sixty-five thousand persons had visited the
exposition during its final week. In the midst of distin-
guished and proud success it was to close. At 9 p. m. of
the day named the rattle and hum of the wilderness of
machinery was stilled. Fifteen minutes' further grace
was granted the throng by President Wilstach, when the
usual signal was given for closing, the crowd of visitors
reluctantly retired, the officers one by one left the build-
ing, and the first of the famous industrial expositions of
Cincinnati was numbered among the things that were.
THE SECOND EXPOSITION
was held from September 6th to October 7, 187 1, under
the joint auspices of the three bodies managing the Ex-
position of the previous year. A. T. Goshorn was presi-
dent, assisted by a very capable staff of officers, com-
mitteemen, and employes. It was a great success.
Exhibits were made from twenty-nine States; over four
hundred thousand persons visited it; and the receipts
were seventy-three thousand four hundred and ten dol-
lars and eighty-eight cents. Notwithstanding this large
receipt, however, there was a deficit of nearly fifteen
thousand dollars, caused by the large building account,
which aggregated forty-seven thousand fifty-four dollars
and fifty-two cents.
THE EXPOSITION OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-
TWO,
under the same auspices, was held September 4th to
October 5th. Mr. Goshorn was again president, and to
his energy and rare executive ability is due much of the
success of these displays. A new building for the Art
department, sixty-two by sixty feet, had been constructed
in the open square (now Washington park) opposite the
main building and connected with it by a bridge across
Elm street. A Horticultural hall was also built; a De-
partment of National History was organized, and much
more extensive arrangements were made for the Ma-
chinery and other departments. The large sum of one
hundred and six thousand nine hundred and fifty-five
dollars and seventy-nine cents was expended upon this
fair, which nevertheless yielded a deficit of seven thou-
sand five hundred and fifty-three dollars and forty-eight
cents. Thirty States contributed to it; five hundred
and forty thousand people visited it ; seven acres and a
half were covered with the displays; and the receipts
amounted to nearly one hundred thousand dollars. The
premium list comprised one thousand and seventy-five
medals and awards, and a supplemental list had to be
prepared.
THE FOURTH EXPOSITION,
held in the -same buildings and under the same auspices
as before, September 3d to October 4, 1873, was some-
what beclouded by the visit of cholera to the city a short
time before its opening; but, allowing for this drawback,
it was considered a decided success. An address was
delivered at the opening by ex-Governor Jacob D. Cox,
and the exhibition formally opened by W. H. Blymyer,
president for the year. An immense guarantee sub-
scription, amounting to two hundred and twenty-six
thousand dollars, had been raised; but such was the
financial success of this exhibit that it paid all expenses
(over seventy-five thousand dollars), and gave a profit of
nearly ten thousand dollars to reduce the indebtedness
caused by the deficit of previous years.
Mr. D. B. Pierson at first, then Mr. George W. Jones
was president of
THE FIFTH EXPOSITION,
held September 2d to October 3, 1874. The general suc-
cess of the expositions was brilliantly maintained this
year. Every hotel was crowded, and the principal streets
were thronged with strangers, on the opening day, which
was made specially impressive by a great military parade,
including many companies from abroad. Addresses
were delivered by Governor William Allen, the Hon. G. W.
C. Johnston, mayor of the city, Governor Hendricks, of
Indiana, and President Jones, and an oration by Mr. S.
Dana Horton. A free "Industrial Exposition regatta,"
with liberal premiums, was held on the Ohio river on
Thursday, September 14th, with great acclamation at its
success. The exhibitors numbered one thousand seven
hundred and twenty; the receipts were eighty-seven
thousand seventy-nine dollars and forty-two cents, and
the expenditures ninety-seven thousand eight hundred
and eleven dollars and fifty-five cents. The next year,
at the close of the Sixth Exposition, an assessment of
fifteen per cent, on the guarantee fund was deemed ad-
visable to clear the Exposition of indebtedness, then
about twenty-two thousand dollars. It is the only assess-
ment which has ever been made upon its guarantee funds.
THE SIXTH EXPOSITION,
held the next year, comprised among its special features
the offer of very liberal premiums by the Mechanics' In-
stitute, for the best automatic cut-off stationary steam-
engine and the best stationary steam-engine slide-valve,
not less than twenty-five nor more than seventy-five horse-
power. Special premiums were also offered by the
Chamber of Commerce, the Commercial Bank, and the
dealers in tobacco, amounting to one thousand and sixty
dollars in gold coin, for premiums on leaf tobacco, besides
prizes for leading articles of manufactured stock. Mr. John
J. Henderson was president this year. The Exhibition
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
347
opened with a grand industrial parade through the streets
and continued from September 8th to October 9th, and
netted a profit of about nine thousand five hundred dol-
lars, which, with the assessment upon the guarantee fund
now ordered, cleared the Exposition of debt. The build-
ings were all sold to the Springer Music Hall Association ;
the boilers were also disposed of; and the affairs of the
Exposition, destined to a rest for four years, were left in
a very satisfactory condition.
AN INTERVAL.
It was. not thought advisable to hold an exposition in
1876, on account of the National Exposition, represent-
ing the efforts of the whole country, being held in Phila-
delphia. The scheme for permanent buildings was also
now on foot. It was mainly promoted by Mr. R. R.
Springer, who had subscribed one hundred and forty-five
thousand dollars toward the erection of a great central
building, to be called the Music Hall, and also fifty
thousand dollars toward the erection of the wings, thus
adapting the whole to Exposition purposes. The last
subscription was conditioned upon the raising of an addi-
tional one hundred thousand dollars by January 1, 1879.
By November, 1879, only seventy thousand dollars had
been secured, including a subscription of five hundred
dollars by the Mechanics' Institute; but the necessary
amount was presently completed, with five thousand
dollars to spare, and the buildings were erected, at a cost,
for the wings alone, of one hundred and fifty thousand
nine hundred and seventy-six dollars and thirty-six cents.
THE EXPOSITION BUILDINGS.
The history of these great and splendid structures is,
briefly, as follows: Soon after the musical festival of
May, 1875, Mr. Reuben R. Springer, a wealthy and
prominent citizen of Cincinnati, through Mr. John Shil-
lito, the well-known merchant, offered a gift of one hun-
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars to build a worthy
hall for the festivals and other musical purposes, if the
lot on Elm street owned by the city, opposite Washington
park, could be had for perpetual use without taxation and
at a nominal rent, and if as much more money would
be raised for the purpose by the citizens. He afterwards
added thr.ee gifts of twenty thousand dollars each. A
"Music Hall Association'' was formed and incorporated
in November, 1875. It consists of fifty stockholders, se-
lected to represent them by the whole body of subscribers
to the Music Hall fund. They elect seven trustees, con-
stituting a board for the management of all the affairs of
the association. April 3, 1876, an arrangement was
made with the city, such as Mr. Springer stipulated for,
it being agreed, among other provisions, that neither
stockholders nor trustees should receive any dividend or
pecuniary compensation whatever by virtue of their con-
nection with the hall. The necessary sum to secure Mr.
Springer's gifts was raised through the activity of several
public-spirited gentlemen; and the hall was erected in
time for the May Festival of 1878. It, together with the
great organ it contains, are described in our chapter on
Music in Cincinnati.
The entire front on Elm street occupied by the Expo-
sition buildings is four hundred and two feet, of which
one hundred and seventy-eight are taken for the Music
Hall, and ninety-five feet on each side for the wings.
The latter were specially erected for the Exposition,
though it has a prior claim upon the Music Hall for its
displays, as against the College of Music, which is the
lessee of the hall, or any other organization. The build-
ings are so arranged that they can be used separately or
together, and the upper stories can be connected by
bridges. The wings are in the same style of architecture
as the hall, and harmonize admirably with it. They are
three hundred and sixteen feet in depth and one hun-
dred and sixteen in height. They are admirably adapted
for exhibition purposes; and, besides the annual Exposi-
tion, other displays, as the Millers' Exposition of June,
1880, are occasionally made within them. The entire
cost of the buildings is about half a million of dollars, of
which Mr. Springer, first and last, has given two hundred
and thirty-five thousand dollars. They together furnish
a structure larger than any other ever built in this coun-
try for a similar purpose, except at Philadelphia in 1876
for the Centennial Exposition, and are much the largest
and finest built for such ends by private enterprise, with-
out the least subsidy from a government, anywhere in the
world. They are worthily among the chief glories of the
Queen City.
THE SEVENTH EXPOSITION.
The board of commissioners, representing the three
bodies under whose auspices the Expositions had been
held, was reorganized October, 1878, for the purpose of
arranging an Exposition for the fall of 1879. The com-
missioners now were: For the Mechanics' Institute,
Thomas Gilpin, Hugh McCollum, James Dale, W. B.
Bruce, P. P. Lane; the Chamber of Commerce, William
Means, Edmund H. Pendleton, M. E. Ingalls, W. S.
Ridgway, James H. Laws; the Board of Trade, John
Simpkinson, L. M. Dayton, E. V. Cherry, W. L. Robin-
son, William McAlpin. The officers elected by the
joint board were: President, Mr. Pendleton; first vice-
president, Mr. Laws; second, Mr. Dale; third, Mr.
Cherry; treasurer, Mr. Simpkinson; secretary, Mr. Mc-
Collum; assistant secretary, John B. Heich. Under
their auspices the Seventh Exposition was held Septem-
ber 10th to October nth, 1879. President Hayes,
Governor Bishop, Generals Sherman and Sheridan, and
many other distinguished dignitaries, attended the open-
ing, and those named delivered brief addresses. Exhib-
itors from twenty-four States were present; four hundred
and twenty-two thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven
visitors attended; and a clear profit of fifteen thousand
six hundred and thirty-eight dollars and ninety-six cents
was realized.
THE EIGHTH EXPOSITION.
December 17, 1879, the board of commissioners for
1880 was organized, with the same constituency as be-
fore, and with the following named officers : President,
M. E. Ingalls; first vice-president, James Dale; second,
William L. Robinson; third, Henry C. Urner; treasurer,
E. V. Cherry; secretary, Hugh McCollum. The Eighth
Exposition was held under their management September
348
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
8 to October 9, 1880, and brought togethertwo hundred
and ninety-one thousand three hundred and eighty-
five visitors, the largest number, fifteen thousand nine
hundred and ninety-seven, being present on Friday, Oc-
tober 8th, the last day but one. The total receipts were
about sixty-five thousand dollars, expenditures about
sixty-two thousand dollars, not including ten thousand
two hundred and ninety-six dollars and thirty-seven cents
expended during the year from the profits of 1879, for
permanent improvement to the buildings ; leaving a bal-
ance of profit of about three thousand dollars. The re-
ceipts of the last day, amounting to two thousand one
hundred and forty-six dollars, were given to the Art
Museum fund, which had been started by Mr. Charles
W. West, on the day of opening the Exposition of 1880,
with the munificent subscription of one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. The close of the Eighth Expo-
sition was accompanied with the gratifying announce-
ment that the additional one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars required by the West subscription had been
raised, and even more, the total subscription then being
one hundred and sixty one thousand one hundred and
sixteen dollars, or, with Mr. West's, three hundred and
eleven thousand one hundred and sixteen dollars; and
the establishment of an Art Museum in Cincinnati was
thus an assured fact.
CHAPTER XXXV.
COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION.
Navigation to the territory embraced by the State of
Ohio commenced with considerable activity about the year
1799; and from the admission of the State into the Un-
ion it became extraordinarily active down to about 1807
or 1808. Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut fur-
nished the larger number of immigrants, though all the
States had representatives in the immigration. Among
them were but few speculators in large locations of land;
most of them came to make a home in the fertile coun-
try, intending by their own labor to improve, occupy, and
enjoy it. They had comparatively little wealth ; and that
little had generally to be laid out for living expenses, un-
til the land should be made productive. Many of them,
coming from the older settlements to the Eastward, took
boats on the Ohio, and in these floated or rowed down
the river until their destination was reached along its
shores, or they pushed up the Muskingum, the Hocking,
the Scioto, or the Miamis, in search of it. Coming down
the Ohio was easy enough, but getting up the lateral
streams, by poling, rowing, and pulling, was work indeed.
Upon these minor waters they were not infrequently de-
layed, for days and weeks, for a want of a sufficient stage
of water to float even their light crafts. It was slow work
getting up the larger streams, too, however easy it might
be to get down. Major Swan, of the army, who had ta-
ken a small troop from Fort Washington to Pittsburgh,
wrote to the commander of the Fort from the latter
place : "We arrived here after a passage of only forty-four
days, in which we exhausted our provisions and grocer-
ies, and had to lay in a fresh stock at Marietta."
Such was the beginning of the commerce of the Ohio,
which has swelled to proportions so gigantic, and has
been so important an element in the wonderful growth of
Cincinnati. The chief places on the upper river, to
which families or merchants traveled toilsomely to prepare
for embarkation, were Redstone Old Fort, since Browns-
ville, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling. In each of these there
were traders who made it their business to accommodate
strangers descending the Ohio with any necessary article
— provisions, furniture, cooking utensils, or farming im-
plements, or even boats — at a moderate price. Each
had a large boat-yard, where the arks, keel or flatboats,
and barges of the period were made — generally service-
able, safe, and strong. One of sufficient size for an av-
erage family, say thirty to forty feet long, cost one dollar
to one dollar and a quarter per foot; so that a pretty
respectable vessel, well boarded up on the sides and
roofed to within six or eight feet of the bows, could be
had for thirty-five dollars. This did not include the ex-
pense of a mooring cable or rope, a pump, and a fire-
place, which cost perhaps ten dollars more. Besides the
"family boats," which were frequently used for transient
purposes and then broken up for their lumber, a number
of keel-boats plied on the Ohio and its tributaries, in use
as common carriers of merchandise, household goods,
and any other freight that offered. Their principal cargo,
by way of import or export, was in flour, apples, whiskey,
cider, peach and apple brandy, bar-iron and castings, tin
and copperware, glass, cabinet work, millstones, grind-
stones, nails, etc. The articles going up the Ohio were
mostly cotton, tobacco from Kentucky, lead, furs, and
peltry. The lines of Barges regularly maintained by Messrs.
Baum and Perry, Riddle and others of Cincinnati in the
New Orleans trade, brought up cotton from Natchez, su-
gar, coffee, rice, hides, wines, rum, and dry goods of all
kinds then in demand, and carried back the produce of
the Miami country The Navigator for 181 8 contains a
paragraph noting the great advantage it was to the com-
merce of Cincinnati to have this line in operation, slow
as it was and exceedingly limited in its capacity as com-
pared with the magnificent facilities of the present day.
The pioneer advertisement in the long line of an-
nouncements of commercial facilities to and from the
Queen City, and the pioneer enterprise in the way of
transportion on the Ohio, since developed to such gigan-
tic proportions, are set forth in the following paragraphs,
which appeared in the Centinel of the Northwest Territory,
published at Cincinnati, January n, 1794. It is worth
while calling attention again, as attention has often been
called before in local publications, to the fact that these
four little vessels, together carrying but eighty tons, were
deemed sufficient for an entire month's traffic between
the settlements of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and the
whole intervening country.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
349
OHIO PACKET BOATS.
Two boats, for the present, will start from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh,
and return to Cincinnati, in the following manner, viz. :
First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning, at eight o'clock, and
return to Cincinnati, so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks from
this date.
Second boat will leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 30th instant, and
return to Cincinnati as above.
And so, regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from Cin-
cinnati and Pittsburgh, once in every four weeks.
Two boats, in addition to the above, will shortly be completed and
regulated in such a manner that one boat of the line will set out weekly
from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, and return to Cincinnati in like manner.
The proprietors of these boats having maturely considered the many in-
conveniences and dangers incident to the common method hitherto adop-
ted of navigating the Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy
and a desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains to
render the accommodations on board the boats as agreeable and conve-
nient as they could possibly be made.
No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on
board will be under cover, made proof to rifle or musket balls, and con-
venient port-holes for firing out. Each of the boats is armed with six
pieces, carrying a pound ball; also a good number of muskets, and am-
ply supplied with plenty of ammunition, strongly manned with choice
hands, and the master of approved knowledge.
A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off in
each boat for accommodating ladies on their passage. Conveniences
are constructed on board each boat so as to render landing unneces-
sary, as it might, at times, be attended with danger.
Rules and regulations for maintaining order on board, and for the
good management of the boats, and tables accurately calculated for the
lates of freightage for passengers and carriage of letters to and from
Cincinnati to Pittsburgh; also a table of the arrival and departure to and
from the different places on the Ohio, between Cincinnati and Pitts-
burgh, may be seen on board each boat, and at the printing office in
Cincinnati.
Passengers will be supplied with provisions and liquors of all kinds,
of the first quality, at the most reasonable rates possible. Persons de-
sirous of working their passage will be admitted, on finding themselves
subject, however, to the same order and direction, from the master of
the boats, as the rest of the working hands of the boat's crew.
An office of insurance will be kept at Cincinnati, Limestone, and
Pittsburgh, where persons desirous of having their property insured may
apply. The rates of insurance will be moderate.
A notable event occurred at the hamlet of Cincinnati
April 27, 1 80 1, in the arrival of the brig St. Clair from
above, Commander Whipple on deck, bound on an ocean
voyage. She was full-rigged and equipped, and loaded
with produce for the West India Islands; and was the
first vessel of the kind out of the Ohio. As she anchored
off the port, says the Spy and Gazette, "the banks were
crowded with people, all eager to view this pleasing pres-
age of the future greatness of our infant country." Four
days before, another ocean-going vessel, the schooner
Monongahela Farmer, had been launched at Elizabeth-
town, above Pittsburgh, to which point she dropped down,
to be rigged for sea.
About this time advertisements were made by printed
circular of boats to reach Natchez in seventy-two days.
It was quite usual in the early day, when a destination
was reached on the Lower Mississippi, particularly at
New Orleans, to break up the boats and sell the materials,
or the boat without breaking it up, and start the crew on
the long journey homeward, large part of the way through
the wilderness and Indian country, on horseback or not
infrequently on foot, thr*e to four months being some-
times consumed in the trip.
The feasibility of building large vessels for the trans-
portation of produce to New Orleans was now much dis-
cussed. A herald of the coming good time of steam
navigation was manifest in March, in a call for a meeting
of citizens at Yeatman's tavern, to consider the merits of
a contrivance for transporting boats against the current
"by the power of steam or elastic vapor." This was
fully ten years before the attention of Fulton and his
associates was turned to the western rivers as a hopeful
field for the introduction of his grand invention. Some-
what later than r8oi Messrs. Samuel Heighway and John
Pool, proprietors of "a mechanical project, constructed
for the propelling of boats against the stream of rivers,
tides 'and currents, by the power of steam or elastic
vapor," advertised for subscribers to their scheme of in-
troducing it on the western waters, subscriptions "to be-
come payable only on our invention succeeding, and the
boat performing a voyage from New Orleans to Cincin-
nati." History is silent as to their success or failure.
The era of steam was not yet, and the river navigation
was still conducted by barge, keelboat, "broad-horns,"
or "Kentucky boats," moved commonly by oars and
poles, but also by sails whenever the wind was favorable.
They carried fifty to one hundred tons apiece, and the
charge for freightage from Cincinnati to New Orleans
was five to six dollars per hundred. In good — -that is,
wet — seasons, they could make as many as two round-trips
to New Orleans per year. Colonel James Ferguson, it is
recorded, made two trips a year from 1791 to 1794, while
he was store-keeping in Cincinnati. The principal firms
here engaged in the river traffic were Messrs. Baum and
Perry, and Riddle, Bechtle & Company. Their primitive
business, indeed, was not destroyed by the river-steamers
until 181 7, or six years after the first steam-vessel passed
down the Ohio. Nearly all the groceries and other goods
imported to Cincinnati, after the simpler craft became
sufficiently numerous, were brought up the Mississippi
and Ohio by them. Commerce with Redstone and
Pittsburgh was maintained partly in "Kentucky boats"
small keelboats, with a sharp roof sheltering the major
part, but leaving a small section of the deck uncovered
for the sweep of oars. Flat boats were also much used
on the Upper Ohio. Journeys were sometimes made to
Wheeling in canoes, which could be poled and paddled
about thirty miles a day. As already intimated in the
advertisement of the Cincinnati and Pittsburgh "pack-
ets," the trips up the river were considered dangerous on
account of Indians; and an incessant lookout had to be
kept.
THE FIRST STEAMBOAT
navigating the western waters was built at Pittsburgh in
181 1, for Messrs. (Robert) Fulton and Livingston, of
New York city. It was called the New Orleans, was of
three hundred tons' burthen, carried a low pressure
engine, and cost about thirty-eight thousand dollars. In
October it was finished and started for New Orleans
causing infinite wonderment, and sometimes consterna-
tion, on the way, arriving at its destination the day before
Christmas. An interesting account of its passage by this
point and down the rivers is comprised in our annals of
the Third Decade of Cincinnati. It did not return to
the Ohio, but plied regularly between Natchez and New
35°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Orleans until July 14, 1814. At that date the vessel
was lying at Baton Rouge over night, and the river was
falling somewhat rapidly, causing it to settle upon a sharp
stump and to sink in consequence. Its engine, with a
new boiler, was put into another boat, called the New
Orleans, in 18 18.
OTHER STEAMERS.
The Comet was the next boat on the Ohio moved by
steam. She was built at Pittsburgh before the summer
of 1 81 3, one hundred and forty-five tons, with a new plan
of machinery known as French's stern-wheel and vibrat-.
ing cylinder patent.
Then came the Vesuvius, three hundred and ninety
tons, built at Pittsburgh, November, 1813, by Robert
Fulton himself. It was the first steamer to attempt a
return trip past the falls of the Ohio at Louisville — which
it never reached, however, grounding instead on a bar
about seven hundred miles north of New Orleans, and
remaining there nearly five months, when a rise floated
it off, and it returned to New Orleans, spending the rest
of its short life on the Lower Mississippi, although a ves-
sel made upon its hull made several trips to Louisville.
Subsequent early vessels of the kind were the Enter-
prise, a little affair of forty-five tons, built at Brownsville,
in 1814; the Etna, three hundred and forty tons; the
Despatch, Buffalo, James Monroe, Washington, and
others. The last-named was the first one whose boilers
were put on the deck. Before that they were down in
the hold.
Cincinnati's first steamer
was the Eagle, a small vessel of but seventy tons, built
in 18 18 for Messrs. James Berthoud & Son, of Shipping-
port, Kentucky, to run in the Louisville (afterwards the
Natchez) trade. Following this the same year were the
Hecla, likewise of seventy tons, built for Honorie &
Barbarox, of Louisville; the Henderson, eighty-five tons,
owned by the Messrs. Bowers, of Henderson, to ply
between that place and Louisville; and the Cincinnati,
the first owned in this city, though only in part. She was a
vessel of one hundred and twenty tons, built for Messrs.
Pennywitt & Burns, of Cincinnati, and Messrs. Paxson
& Company, of New Albany, to run in the Louisville
trade. The first steamer owned entirely in the city was
also constructed in 1818 — the Experiment, a forty-ton
craft. Thus, says Mr. Cist, "it seems that thirty-two
boats had to be built before we could furnish capital and
enterprise to own one." So modestly and cautiously
began a branch of industry and invention which has
given employment first and last to many thousands of
the citizens of Cincinnati, and added countless millions
to her wealth.
the first trip up the OHIO,
and past the falls at Louisville, was made by the Enter-
prise before mentioned. The following notice of the
event appeared in one of the local papers :
The Steam Boat Enterprise. — This is the first steam boat that
has ascended the Ohio. She arrived at Louisville on the first inst.,
sailed thence on the ioth, and came to this port on the evening of the
13th, having made her passage from New Orleans, a distance of one
thousand eight hundred miles, in twenty-eight running days (by the aid
of her machinery alone, which acts on a single wheel placed in the
stern), against the rapid currents of the Mississippi and the Ohio.
This is one of the most important facts in the history of this country,
and will serve as data of its future commercial greatness. A range of
steamboats from Pittsburgh to New Orleans — connecting Pittsburgh
and Cincinnati, Cincinnati and Louisville, Louisville and Smithland,
at the mouth of the Cumberland, or some eligible place on the Missis-
sippi, below the mouth of the Ohio, thence to Natchez, and from
Natchez to New Orleans — will render the transportation of men and
merchandise as easy, as cheap and expeditious on these waters as it is
by means of sea vessels on the ocean, and certainly far safer! (the
exclamation point is Mr. Palmer's, not ours.) And we are happy to
congratulate our readers on the prospect that is presented of such an
establishment. Two steamboats, considerably larger than the Enter-
prise and yet not too large for the purpose, are already built at Pitts-
burgh, and will no doubt commence running in the fall. Others will
follow. The success of the Enterprise must give a spring to this busi-
ness that will in a very few years carry it into complete and successful
operation.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN.
As Dr. Drake records in his Picture of Cincinnati,
navigation was still conducted by flat and keelboats and
barges only, though two kinds of steamers were begin-
ning to ply upon the Ohio. One hundred days were
still necessary for the New Orleans round-trip, which it
was expected steam would reduce to thirty. Cincinnati
had been made a port of entry in 1808, but no vessel
was cleared here until this year, on account of the cessa-
tion of shipbuilding on the Ohio.
Flour was now the chief article of export from the
Miami country, several thousand barrels being sent
thence annually to New Orleans. Indian meal, kiln-
dried, was exported to the West Indies. A very promis-
ing business had also begun in the exportation of pork,
bacon, lard, whiskey, peach brandy, beer and porter, pot
and pearl ashes, cheese, soaps and candles, hemp and
spun yarns, cabinet furniture and chairs, walnut, cherry
and blue-ash boards.
More than seventy shops in the village were now keep-
ing imported goods for sale, about sixty of which were
selling dry goods, hardware, glass and queensware,
liquors and groceries; the others were dealing in drugs,
shoes and iron. Castings were already made in Ohio, at
Zanesville and Brush Creek, and were brought thence to
Cincinnati. Pennsylvania and Virginia furnished bar,
rolled and cast-iron, and various manufactures in iron,
besides millstones, coal, salt, glassware, pine timber and
plank. Lead, peltry and skins came in from the Missouri
territory, with abundance of furs from sources of supply
nearer at hand — the Great Miami, Wabash and Maumee
rivers. Cotton, tobacco, saltpetre and marble came
mostly from Tennessee and Kentucky; sugar and
molasses, cotton, rice, salted hides and other articles,
from Louisiana. New Orleans was then, and Dr. Drake
thought must continue to be, the great emporium of the
western country, and even in 181 5 many articles of im-
port from the east could be obtained more cheaply from
that city, as coffee, salt fish, claret and some other wines,
copperas, queensware, paints, mahogany and logwood.
East India, European and New England goods were
brought in to a considerable extent, and the several
manufactures of the Middle States were received from
Philadelphia and Baltimore, chiefly from the former city.
The "ingress of foreign merchandise through other
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3Si
channels" was already anticipated. The general govern-
ment was expected to complete a National road from the
navigable waters of the Potomac to the Ohio, which
would greatly reduce the expense of transportation.
Said Dr. Drake also: "Should New York execute the
canal which it has projected, the metropolis of that
flourishing State will probably become one of our inlets
for foreign goods." Very likely: it so happened in a not
very long-run. The main hope of commerce was yet in
the other direction, however; and the good doctor still
looked toward New Orleans. He wisely thought three
things were necessary to improvement of trade thither-
ward— more extensive and wealthy mercantile houses in
Cincinnati, an increased number of steamboats, and im-
provement in navigation at the Falls of the Ohio.
Writing of certain Indiana counties, he said: "The
inhabitants of these counties receive their supply of
foreign goods almost exclusively from Cincinnati, but
little mercantile capital being employed at Lawrence-
burgh, and there being on the Great Miami no depot of
merchandise for that region."
The imports this year from places east and south of
Cincinnati amounted to $534,680. In 1816 they reached
$691, r j; in 1817, $1,442,266, and in 1818, $1,619,030.
Duri the two years following the last war with Great
Britain, there was a great increase in the importation of
foreign.-goods, with a consequent depression of prices in
the home markets.
The following little notice, in the first number of the
Cincinnati Gazette, published July 15, 1815, falls fitly
into place here :
Arrived on Thursday, the sixth instant, at this port, the elegant
barge Cincinnati, Captain Jonathan Horton, from New Orleans; pass-
age eighty-seven days. Cargo — sugars, molasses, rum, lignum vitae,
Spanish hides, etc., to Jacob Baymiller.
IN 1817
certain of the commercial aspects of Cincinnati were
noted in an interesting way by the traveller Burnet. He
says in his book:
Numbers of arks, with emigrants and their families, bound to various
parts of the western country, are generally near the landing. Whilst
we were here, I counted the different craft which then lay in the river;
and as it may convey some information, I shall state their number: .
Seven Kentucky boats, similar to ours, with coal, iron, and dry
goods, from Pittsburgh. Four barges or keel-boats — one was at least one
hundred and fifty tons, and had two masts. These boats trade up and
down the rivers, exchanging and freighting goods from and to New
Orleans, Pittsburgh, etc. Four large flats or scows, with stones for
building, salt from the Kenhawa works, etc. Six arks, laden with emi-
grants and their furniture. Emigrants descending the Ohio mostly call
at Cincinnati to purchase provisions and collect information. These
arks are similar to the Kentucky boats, only smaller; they can only de-
scend the river.
In the season of 18 18-19, the amount of flour in-
spected at Cincinnati for export reached one hundred and
thirty thousand barrels. It was estimated- that at least
fifty thousand tons of produce went abroad that year, out
of Cincinnati and the two Miami rivers. The imports of
the year were only about half a million. The balance of
trade had been against Cincinnati, and the local mer-
chants were uncommonly prudent and cautious about
their imports. The exports, however, from October, 18 18,
to March, 1819, amounted to $1,334,080 — of flour alone,
in amount as above noted, to value of $650,000; pork,
ten thousand barrels, worth $150,000; bacon and hams,
$22,080; lard, $46,000; tobacco, $66,000; whiskey,
$40,000; cotton cloths sold to the Government, $15,000;
live stock to New Orleans, $15,000; butter and cheese,
$10,000; cornmeal, beans, etc., $20,000. To the Indi-
ana, Illinois, and Missouri territories alone was exported
the large value, for that time, of $300,000.
STEAMER TRAFFIC
soon began to look up briskly. Henceforth navigation
changed rapidly from the broadhorn to the steamboat.
The first vessel of the latter class built at Cincinnati, as
before noted, was the Eagle, in 181 8. During the next
year steamer-building began to be actively and most suc-
cessfully prosecuted. Vessels were built here and else-
where on the Ohio more cheaply than in any eastern city;
and, of all places on the river where steamers were con-
structed, the preference seemed to be given to Cincinnati.
Of all that were built on the entire western waters in the
two seasons between 181 7 and 1819, nearly one-fourth
were launched here. A large number were also built here
in the years 1824-6; it is considered doubtful whether
more were constructed during that time in any city in the
world. The woodwork especially was superior. Black
locust, which was not found even at Pittsburgh, was
considerably used for it, and vessels thus made were
more desirable than those constructed at the east from
Jersey oak. Upon these waters there had been two hun-
dred and thirty-three steamboats by 1826. Ninety had
been lost or destroyed, and there were one hundred and
forty-three remaining, of about twenty-four thousand ag-
gregate tonnage. One was built in 181 1, and another in
1814; two in 1815; three in 1816; and in the years fol-
lowing, successively, seven, twenty-five, thirty-four, ten,
five, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-seven, and fifty-six.
Of these forty-eight were built at Cincinnati, which had
half a million dollars invested in the river business. By
this time the old-fashioned, primitive craft had been al-
most wholly superseded by the steamers, some of which
were so adapted to the river as to run through the very
dryest season. Thenceforth steamer-building was to be
exceedingly prominent among the industries of the Queen
City. The number built, however, has varied greatly from
year to year. In 1833, for example, only eight steamers
were launched from the Cincinnati shipyards, with a total
tonnage of .but one thousand seven hundred and thirty.
The number of vessels, barges, and steam ferry-boats
built in Cincinnati during the years 1856-79, also strik-
ingly exhibits this variation. They were severally as fol-
lows: 1856, thirty-three; 1857, thirty-four; 1858, four-
teen; 1859, eleven; i860, twenty-eight; 1 861, eleven ;
1862, four; 1863, forty-three; 1864, sixty-two; 1865,
forty-four; 1866, thirty-three; 1867, eighteen; 1868,
eleven; 1869, eleven; 1870, fifty-two; 187 1, forty-four;
1872, fifty-two; 1873, forty-eight; 1874, twenty-nine;
1875, sixteen; 1876, nineteen; 1877, twenty-one; 1878,
thirty; 1879, twenty-four. The aggregate tonnage ranged
from one thousand seven hundred and forty-five in 1862,
to twenty thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight in
352
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
1870. The arrivals of these years varied from two thou-
sand two hundred and six in 1863 to three thousand
four hundred and fifty-nine in 1866, with departures
pretty nearly corresponding. The range of boats plying
to and from the city was two hundred and twenty-five in
1862, to four hundred and forty-six in 1865. The sec-
ond year of the late war, it will be observed, was particu-
larly disastrous to river interests in this quarter.
The eleventh annual report, to the Cincinnati board of
trade and transportation, of the committee on river nav-
gation, made March 1, 1880, says of the local boat build-
ing of 1880-81:
A good number of boats have been built here the past year — the num-
ber of all crafts being twenty, with tonnage six thousand six hundred
and eighty-three, against twenty-four last year, and tonnage ten, thou-
sand six hundred and forty-one. In the future we must not look for a"
greater number of boats, but expect a heavy increase in tonnage ; this
is more applicable to stern wheel boats, which in former years were of
small size and used mostly in making short trips. There are those
that have attained the carrying capacity of three thousand tons. Now,
however, boats, whether of side or stern wheel, for short packe£, trade
or for more distant ports, are of large size ; indeed it seems a question
to what point the size of boats may be reached. This change ill. builds
ing larger boats for the Upper Ohio, with more speed, is only folfowihg
the prediction of those who advocated the lengthening and, widening of
the Louisville and Portland canal and lessening the rates of its tolls.
And the last annual report of the chamber of com-
merce for the commercial year ending August 31, 1880,
makes the following encouraging statement of the, river
business of that year:
The arrivals for the year aggregated three thousand one hundred and
sixty-three boats, compared with two thousand seven hundred and
twenty-five in the year immediately preceding; and the departures three
thousand one hundred and sixty-seven, in comparison" with two thou-
sand seven hundred and thirty. The whole number of steamboats and
barges which plied between Cincinnati and other ports in' the past year
was three hundred and twenty-two, with an aggregate tonnage of
eighty-three thousand five hundred and sixty-nine. In this connection
it must be kept in mind that in the past year vessels have run with great
regularity and frequency, and that, in consequence, an equal number of
vessels represents a larger business, because each vessel in the latter cate-
gory is counted but once, no difference how frequent may have been the
visitations. Again, it is true that the same number of arrivals and de-
partures also represented an increased business, inasmuch as it com-
prised, generally, vessels which, from the regularity of arrival and de-
parture, and the general exemption of transient boats, had uniformly
good cargoes. It is worthy of note that the number of arrivals and
departures for each leading point has increased over the preceding
year. Thus, the arrivals from New Orleans aggregated, in the past
year, one hundred and three vessels, compared with eighty-five in the pre-
ceding year, and the departures one hundred and sixteen, in compari-
son with ninety-seven. From Pittsburgh the arrivals were one hundred
and eighty-two, compared with one hundred and sixty-three, and the
departures one hundred and seventy-seven, in comparison with one
hundred and sixty-two. From St. Louis the arrivals aggregated ninety-
three, compared with sixty-four, and the departures ninety-four, in
comparison with seventy-five. From all other points the arrivals aggre-
gated two thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, compared with two
thousand four hundred and thirteen, and the departures two thousand
seven hundred and eighty, in comparison with two thousand three hun-
dred and ninety-six. A study of the figures through a series of years
reveals the fact that the increase, the past year, was not solely over
1878-79, which was a year that was seriously interfered with by cold
weather, that diminished the number of arrivals and departures for the
year, but exhibits a general increase, extending through a series of
years. Thus, the entire number of arrivals and departures exceeds
any preceding year in m period of fourteen years, and has but three
times been exceeded in the history of the city, which was in 1857-58,
when the excess was very small, and in 1864-65 and in 1865-66, the
years that closed and immediately succeeded the war, which was a
time that, for a period of normal conditions, would not be a fair
measure.
SEA-GOING VESSELS.
Very early in the century, as we have incidentally
noticed in previous chapters, the construction of sailing-
vessels, for river and possibly ocean navigation, began
upon the upper Ohio. Mr. Devoll, who made the boats
which brought the first colonists of the Ohio company to
the site of Marietta, was a prominent builder in this line.
The voyage of one of his vessels, the Nonpareil, is
pleasantly narrated in our chapter on Cincinnati's second
decade, in connection with the arrival here of General
Mansfield and family. The local papers frequently, for
many years, chronicled the arrival and departure of
schooners, brigs, and "ships."
So late as thirty to forty years ago, the construction of
ocean-going vessels on the river promised to become an
important industry. In 1844, a bark was built at Mari-
etta and appropriately named the Muskingum, of three
hundred and fifty tons burthen, which was loaded at
Cincinnati the next fall or winter, and started on her long
voyage to Liverpool. Her safe arrival was thus chron-
| icled in the Times, of that city, of date January 30, 1845:
Arrival direct from Cincinnati. — We have received a file of Cincin-
nati papers brought by the first vessel that ever cleared out if that city
for Europe.* The building of a vessel of 350 tons, on a riveil c;enteen
hundred niiles from the sea,' isitself a very remarkable circl ance,
both as a. proof, of the magnificence of the American rivers ':% ' the
• spirit of, the .American people. "The navigating of such a vessc jow,
the Ohioandthe Mississippi, and then across the Atlantic!!* vould, a.
few years ago, have been thought impossible. She brings a cargo of
provisions; and we trustjthat' the success of this first adventure will be
such as to .encourage its frequent repetition. The name of the vessel is
.the 'Muskingum. ' ' ■ '
The passage of this vessel by Cincinnati, bound as it
was for what then seemed the ends of the earth, natur-
ally awakened the liveliest interest. The Gazette of that
day thus poetically and dramatically begins an editorial
notice of the event:
If one had stood upon the eastern hill-top which overhangs our city,
in the early gray of the morning on Saturday, and looked out upon the
river, he might have thought a phantom ship was floating upon ft.
The quick puffing of a steamer was heard, and out beyond it seemingly
a full-rigged ship, its masts towering up and all spars set, was evidently
looming on and making direct for the landing of the city. Early risers
were startled. Even those who knew that certain enterprising men of
Marietta were building a sea-vessel were astonished when it unexpect-
edly hove in sight. But when it approached nearer and nearer, and
bodied itself forth plainly to the naked vision, the cry went up, "a ship I
a ship!" with a thrill akin, at least, to that which men and women feel
on the ocean shore, when welcoming back the long-absent "sea-
homes" of relative and friend. It was an exciting scene.
Several other sea-going vessels were fitted out at vari-
ous points on the Ohio. Messrs. John Swasey & Com-
pany, of Cincinnati, built three vessels before 1850, of
two hundred to three hundred and fifty tons— one full-
rigged brig, the Louisa, and two barks, named respect-
ively the John Swasey and the Salem. They were taken
in tow of steamers to New Orleans, and there bending
sails and shipping a crew, they put independently to sea.
One of them made a six months' trading trip to the west
coast of Africa, and her sailing and weather qualities
were reported to be of the highest order. The Minne-
sota, a ship of eight hundred and fifty tons, was built
here about the same time by another firm, for a New
Orleans owner.
cX
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
3 53
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
In 1826 the principal imports to the city of Cincinnati
were as follows:
Bar, steel, and spike iron, one thousand four hundred and fifty tons,
valued at one hundred and eighty-one thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars; castings, three hundred and fifty tons, value twenty-one thou-
sand dollars; pig-iron, seven hundred and sixty-eight tons, worth twen-
ty-three thousand and forty dollars; nails, seven thousand kegs, value
sixty-three thousand dollars; lead and shot, five hundred and sixty thou-
sand pounds, thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars; copper, tin
plate, and glassware, eighty thousand dollars ; coal, two hundred thou-
sand bushels, twenty thousand dollars; lumber, boards, five million
feet; shingles, three million five hundred thousand; joists and scantling,
four hundred thousand feet; timber, one hundred and twenty-two thou-
sandfeet; total value, sixty-fourthousand dollars; indigo, twenty-five thou-
sand dollars; coffee, one million one hundred thousand pounds, one
hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars ; tea, two hundred and twenty
thousand pounds, two hundred and eight thousand dollars; sugar, eighty
thousand dollars; fish, three thousand barrels, twenty thousand dollars;
liquors, spices, etc., two hundred thousand dollars; dry goods, one
million one hundred and ten thousand dollars. Total value of imports,
two million, five hundred and twenty-eight thousand five hundred and
ninety dollars. The exports for the same period were: Flour, fifty-five
thousand barrels, worth one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars;
whiskey, fourteen thousand five hundred barrels, one hundred and one
thousand five hundred dollars; pork, seventeen thousand barrels, one
hundred and two thousand dollais; lard, one million two hundred and
eighty thousand pounds, sixty -four thousand dollars; hams and bacon,
one million four hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, fifty-seven
thousand dollars; feathers, three hundred and two thousand pounds,
seventy-eight thousand five hundred and twenty dollars; beeswax
seventy-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-five pounds ; cheese'
seventy-five thousand pounds, five thousand three hundred and twenty-
nine dollars; butter, five thousand kegs, seventeen thousand five hun-
dred dollars; ginseng, ninety-five thousand five hundred pounds, sixteen
thousand two hundred and thirty-five dollars; beans, one thousand
barrels, three thousand dollars; tobacco, one thousand five hundred kegs,
eighteen thousand two hundred and twenty-five dollars; linseed oil, one
thousand two hundred barrels, twenty thousand four hundred dollars;
bristles, two thousand pounds, seven hundred and sixty dollars; hats,
seventy-five thousand dollars; cabinet furniture, forty-seven thousand
dollars; candles and soap, thirty thousand dollars; type and printing
materials, nineteen thousand dollars; beer and porter, seven thousand
dollars; clocks, etc*, fifteen thousand dollars; clothing, fifty thousand
dollars; hay, oats, corn, cornmeal, apples, dried fruit, castings, coopers'
ware, window glass, tinware, plows, wagons, stills, horses, poultry,
cigars, etc. , one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Total value of
exports, one million and sixty-three thousand five hundred and sixty
dollars, showing a nominal "balance of trade" against Cincinnati, for
the present, of one million four hundred and sixty-five thousand and
thirty dollars.
The volume of commercial business, however, for the
period, and twenty years before a single railway was
in full operation into the city, must have been regarded
as eminently satisfactory. The exports might also have
properly included the steamboats built at Cincinnati,
but owned abroad. About one hundred flatboats were
brought every year down the Great Miami, and about
thirty down the Little Miami, with an aggregate burden
of thirty-three thousand five hundred barrels of flour, val-
ued at about one hundred thousand dollars, which was
less than three dollars a barrel.
It was estimated at this time that probably one-third
of the imports into Cincinnati were re-exported — a busi-
ness which had greatly increased within three or four
years; and it was remarked that it would be conducted
on a much larger scale if the local merchants had capital
equal to their enterprise. The figures formerly given,
therefore, do not represent the true balance of trade
against them. If proper allowances were made, it was
45
thought that the exports would equal imports, and there
would be no balance of trade.
The trip from New Orleans to Cincinnati was now
made in twelve to fourteen days, by steamer. The Mis-
sissippi and Ohio rivers were still, of course, the great
highways by which all passengers and freight along their
borders obtained access to the north. And at that time
Cincinnati enjoyed peculiar advantages of situation, as to
roads and water-courses, so that persons travelling from
the south and southwest to the north could scarcely avoid
it. But most dry goods and lighter articles of trade were
still brought from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore,
over the mountains to Wheeling and Pittsburgh, and
thence transported down the river. The heavy arti-
cles, groceries, queensware, and the like, were brought up
from New Orleans. Iron, in the larger quantities, came
in principally from Pittsburgh, and from the Sandy and
Licking rivers, upon which there were extensive iron
works. The Paint creek and Brush creek regions, in this
State, especially the latter, furnished most of the castings
imported. Nails were brought from Pittsburgh and else-
where—"a striking commentary,'' say Drake and Mansfield,
very truly, "upon the deficiency of our manufactures.'
Lead came from Missouri; salt from the Conemaugh
works, Pennsylvania, and the Kanawha works, Virginia;
most of the timber and boards imported was floated in
rafts from near the sources of the Alleghany, chiefly from
the great forests then still existing about Olean Point,
New York
The exports from Cincinnati went mainly to the West
Indies and South America; but the pork and whiskey to
Atlantic cities. Lard was shipped to Cuba and parts
of South America, where it was used as a substitute for
butter. The lower Mississippi region consumed much of
the produce of the Miami country. And there was
already a considerable bulk of supplies furnished annu-
ally from this quarter to the United States army.
THE LAST HALF CENTURY.
In round numbers, the commerce of Cincinnati for the
year 1832 was estimated at $4,000,000; for 1835 at some-
thing more than $6,000,000. The steamer arrivals of
this year numbered two thousand two hundred and thirty-
seven. Among the imports were ninety thousand barrels
of flour and fifty-five thousand of whiskey.
By 1840 the capital invested in foreign trade and gen-
eral commercial business had increased to $5,200,000.
There were invested in the retail dry goods trade, in
hardware, groceries, and the related lines of trade, $12,-
877,000. The lumber business alone occupied twenty-
three yards, with seventy-three hands, and an investment
of $133,000. Their sales for this year reached $342,500.
In January, 1841, eighty-eight steamers were owned in
the district of Cincinnati, whose aggregate tonnage was
eleven thousand seven hundred and thirteen. There
were then upon the Western waters four hundred and
thiity-seven vessels of this class — seventy of thirty to one
hundred tons' burthen; two hundred and twelve of one
hundred to two hundred; one hundred and five of two
hundred to three hundred; twenty-four of three hundred
354
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to four hundred; eight of four hundred to five hundred;
five of five hundred to six hundred; four of six hundred
to seven hundred; one of seven hundred and eighty-five
tons.
With the immense growth of population between 1840
and 1850, came a corresponding increase in trade and
commerce. One Cincinnati house was transacting com-
mercial business at the rate of $1,200,000 a year, and
making more than half its shipments to Great Britain.
The next year the commerce of the city was roundly put
at thirty-six millions annually, one-fourth of which was a
business for home consumption.
By this time the importation of coal to the city had
greatly developed. The number of bushels locally con-
sumed in 1 85 1 was seven millions seven hundred and
eighty-five thousand bushels, against one million nine
hundred and fifty thousand and fifty in 1841. In 1859
the consumption had increased to fifteen millions of
bushels, and there were sixty-eight coal yards in the city.
The last annual report of the Chamber of Commerce
furnishes the following valuable statistics :
"The aggregate, annual, approximate value of the im-
ports and exports, respectively, at Cincinnati, from 1854-
55 to 1879-80, inclusive, appears in the following table:"
Years.
1854-55-
1855-56-
1856-57.
1857-58.
1858-59.
1859-60.
1860-61 .
1861-62.
1862-63.
1863-64.
1864-65.
1865-66.
1866-67.
1867-68:
1868-69.
1869-70.
1870-71 .
1871-72.
1872-73 .
1873-74.
1874-75-
1875-76.
1876-77.
1877-78.
1878-79.
1879-80.
Imports. Exports.
$ 67,501,341
75,295,901
77,950,146
83,644,747
94,213,247
io3.347.2i6
90,198,136
103,292,893
144,189,213
389.790.537
307.552.397
362,032,766
335.961,233
280,063,948
283,927,903
312,978,665
283,796,219
317,646,608
326,023,054
33r. 777.055
311,072,639
294,214,245
260,892,540
223,237,157
208,153,301
256,137.902
• 38'777.394
■ 50,809,146
55,642,172
52,906,506
66,007,707
77,037,188
67,023,126
76,449,862
102,397,171
239.079,825
193,790,311
201,850,055
192,929,317
144,262,133
163,084,358
^.S^^o
179,848,427
200, 607, 040
213,320,768
221.536,852
201,404,023
190,186,929
191,486,831
186,209,646
J92. 338,337
253,827,267
In the year 1858, the year following the crisis of 1857,
the prosperity and progress of Cincinnati was well
marked. The growth of the city was manifested, not on-
ly by the territorial extension of its population and busi-
ness, but the erection of some of the finest buildings,
public and private, then in the country. Commerce grew
rapidly. Imports in coffee increased during the year
eleven per cent ; of sugar, thirty per cent ; of molasses,
sixty per cent. About one-sixth of all the sugar and one-
seventh of all the molasses made in Louisiana that year
came to Cincinnati, with one-eighth of all the Brazilian
coffee product. Nor was importation of these staples in
excess of the demand. Imports of wool increased one
hundred and fifty-five per cent; of potatoes two hundred
and sixty-nine per cent; of manufactured tobacco, nine-
ty-six per cent; and so on.
Exports increased in quite surprising ratio — horses, one
hundred and forty-one per cent; dried fruits, one hun-
dred and sixty per cent ; furniture, eighty-nine per cent;
molasses sixty-one per cent. Decrease of exports was
only observable in minor articles, as green apples, alco-
hol, butter, eggs, and the like. In flour, however, there
was a decrease, but only a slight one — seven per cent.
In 1869, the river trade of this city, as compared with
other cities on the river, made a very excellent showing.
It was one hundred and sixty- nine million five hundred
thousand dollars, against one hundred and fifty mil-
lion dollars of imports and exports for Pittsburgh, one
hundred and fifteen million dollars for Louisville, thirty
million dollars for Wheeling, and forty million dollars for
Paducah. This year crackers were exported to China,
and candies to Greece. An immense volume of exports
of provisions and breadstuffs was made to the Atlantic
coast, but the largest export trade was still maintained
with the South. Manufactured articles went mainly to
the West and Southwest. Even houses were made here
and exported in wholesale quantities to the Far West.
The facilities for commercial intercommunication di-
rectly tributary to Cincinnati were calculated at one hun-
dred miles of canal, five hundred miles of railroad, one
thousand six hundred of turnpike roads, and one thou-
sand six hundred of common roads.
The local commerce for 1873, about five hundred and
forty million dollars, was nearly half of the commerce
of the United States. The completion of the new Louis-
ville and Portland canal, around the Falls of the Ohio,
two or three years after, as also the removal of obstruc-
tions from the river and the introduction of a light-house
system, helped the commerce of Cincinnati. There was
also a large reduction in the cost of wharfage at this city,
and of tolls on the canal at Louisville. The law of Con-
gress passed July 14, 1870, allowing direct importation
of goods from abroad to Cincinnati, has greatly facilita-
ted foreign transactions. A merchant here may now give
his order for merchandise to be imported, and if his di-
rections are followed with care, he will next hear of the
order by the report of his goods through the Cincinnati
custom-house. Under this arrangement the amount of
imports and of duties paid has steadily increased from
year to year. The total of direct importations entered
at the port of Cincinnati in the fiscal year 1877-8 was
six hundred and thirty-two thousand five hundred and
twenty-eight dollars; in 1878-9 it was eight hundred and
ninety-six thousand five hundred and forty-nine dollars;
for 1879-80, nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand
three hundred and seventy-two dollars, showing an in-
crease of one hundred and one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one dollars, or nearly twelve per cent in favor
of the last. The duties paid on direct importations in the
three years successively, were two hundred and seventy-
one thousand five hundred and ninety dollars and forty-
three cents, three hundred and seventy-four thousand
eight hundred and sixteen dollars and seventy-eight cents,
four hundred and twenty-one thousand six hundred and
seven dollars and seventeen cents. Besides the direct
imports, there were also appraised at other ports, for
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
355
transportation to Cincinnati, goods to the value of eighty-
three thousand two hundred and sixty dollars, sixty-eight
thousand and seventy-three dollars, and ninety-three
thousand nine hundred and ninety-four dollars, for the
three years, respectively, with duties severally thirty-three
thousand four hundred and fifty-one dollars and twenty-
nine cents, thirty-eight thousand one hundred and sixty
dollars and thirty-two cents, and fifty-three thousand
three hundred and seventy-five dollars and eighty-five
cents.
The following table, for which we are also indebted to
Superintendent Maxwell's last report, exhibits the receipts
of flour and grain at Cincinnati, each year for the last
quarter of a century :
Y
Flour
Wheat
Oats
Barley
Rye
Corn
Barrels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
.Bushels.
Bushels.
1856..
546,727
1,069,468
403,920
244,792
158)220
978,511
'8S7-.
485,089
737,723
534,312
381,060
113,818
1,673,363
1858..
633,318
r, 211, 543
598,950
400,967
64,285
1,090,236
1859. •
S58.I73
1,274,685
557,701
455,731
82,572
1,139,922
i860..
517,229
1,057,118
894,515
352,829
131,487
1,346,208
1861. .
490,619
1,129,007
838,451
493/214
157,509
1,340,690
1862..
588,245
2,174,924
i,338,95o
323,884
247, 187
1,708,292
1863..
619,710
1,741,491
1,312,000
336,176
138,935
1,504,430
1864..
546,983
1,650,759
1,423,813
379,432
137,852
1,817,046
1865..
671,970
1,678,395
2,358,053
542,712
190,567
1,262,198
1866..
659,046
1,545,892
i,33I>8o3
891,833
406, 188
1,427,766
1867..
577,296
1,474,987
1,246,375
673,806
409,171
1,820,955
1868..
522,297
780,933
912,013
602,813
218,385
*,4o5. 366
1869..
571,280
1,075,348
1,125,900
853,182
385,672
1,508,509
1870. .
774,344
1,195,341
1,470,075
836,331
237,885
1,979,645
1871..
705,579
866,459
1,215,794
809,088
289,775
2,068,900
1872. .
582,930
762, 144
1,160,053
1,177,306
357,309
1,829,866
1873-,
765*469
860,454
1,520,979
1,228,245
420,660
2,259,544
1874. .
774,916
1,221,176
1,372,464
1,084,500
385,934
3,457,164
i87S-.
697,578
1,135,388
1,323,380
1,109,693
336,410
3,695,561
1876..
636,504
1,052,952
1,441,158
1,551,944
500,515
4,"5,564
1877..
540, 128
1,436,851
1,096,916
1,258,163
427,145
4,559,506
1878..
606,667
3.405,"3
1,467,010
1,597,481
374,637
4,321,456
1879..
613,914
3,834,722
1,398,572
1,180,652
489,780
4,359,549
1880..
771,900
4,289,555
1,534,401
i,555,io7
573,925
5,744,246
Totals
15.468,911
38,662,428
29,987,558
20,322,842
7, 242, 023
58,311,493
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
This body, one of the most important and influential
of its kind in the world, was organized October 22, 1839,
to -promote the amicable settlement of differences among
the business men of the city. It then met but monthly,
in the rooms of the Young Men's Mercantile library.
The first board of officers was elected January 14, 1840,
and was follows : Griffin Taylor, president ; R. G. Mitch-
ell, Thomas J. Adams, John Reeves, S. B. Findley,
Peter Neff, Samuel Trevor, vice-presidents; B. W. Hew-
son, treasurer ; Henry Rockey, secretary. The presidents
of the chamber since have been Lewis Whiteman, R. G.
Mitchell, Thomas J. Adams, James C. Hall, N. W.
Thomas, R. M. W. Taylor, James F. Torrence, Joseph
Torrence, J. W. Sibley, Joseph C. Butler, George F.
Davis, Theodore Cook, S. C. Newton, John A. Gano,
Charles W. Rowland, S. F. Covington, C. M. Holloway,
Benjamin Eggleston, John W. Hartwell, William N.
Hobart, H. Wilson Brown, and Henry C. Urner. Its
present objects are defined as to offer an occasion and
place for the discussion of all leading questions of mer-
cantile usage, of matters of finance, and of topics affect-
ing commerce; also to collect information in relation to
commercial, financial, and industrial affairs that might
be of general interest and value; to secure uniformity in
commercial laws and customs ; to facilitate business in-
terests and promote equitable principles, as well as the
adjustment of differences and disputes in trade.
In 1846, a superintendent was appointed for the Mer-
chants' Exchange, which was formed that year, and with
which the chamber of commerce was consolidated; and
his labors, especially in the preparation of annual reports,
have been of great value to the united bodies. Mr. A.
Peabody was the first superintendent, 1846-9; then
came Richard Smith, 1849-54; William Smith, 1854-71 ;
and Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, r87i to date. This
office is filled most capably and acceptably by Colonel
Maxwell, whose reports are replete with statistics, and
are accounted among the most valuable issued anywhere.
The chamber was chartered in 1850. It has for along
time occupied rooms at No. 22 West Fourth street, near
the room of the board of trade and transportation. The
Government building at the corner of Fourth and Vine
streets has been purchased by the chamber and exchange
for one hundred thousand dollars, and will be occupied
as soon as vacated by the post-office, custom-house, and
other Federal institutions now in it. The association has
a reserve fund of forty thousand dollars in United States
bonds. When Mr. James A. Frazer, a prominent mem-
ber, died, he bequeathed five thousand dollars to the
building fund of the chamber.
The chamber co-operates with the board of trade and
the Mechanics' Institute in sustaining the annual In-
dustrial Exposition, and is represented on the board of
Exposition commissioners. It subscribes liberally to the
guarantee fund, and in 1875 offered a special premium of
three hundred dollars in gold for the best display qf leaf
tobacco at the Exposition of that year. Its charities have
also been liberal. It gave a large sum to the Chicago
sufferers; June 8, 1877, subscribed one thousand dollars
for the relief of the inhabitants of Mount Carmel, Illinois,
which was destroyed by a tornado; and, September 22,
1876, gave five thousand dollars for the yellow fever
sufferers at Savannah, besides individual subscriptions.
It is justly considered a very high honor to be elected
an honorary member of the chamber. So far only ten
honorary members have been chosen: Robert Buchanan
(died April 20, 1879), Henry Probasco, Miles Green-
wood, John H. Gerard, David Sinton, Reuben R.
Springer, James F. Torrence, George Graham (died
March 1, 1881), Charles W. West, and William Procter.
OTHER EXCHANGES.
In 1835, long before a railroad era came for Cin-
cinnati, a Canal Produce exchange was established,
mainly through the exertions of Reuss W. Lee. Josiah
Lawrence was president; Henry Rockey, secretary. Its
original meetings were held in the brick store owned by
Major Daniel Gano, on the corner of Mound and Court
streets, in which their quarters were rent-free after John
Thompson bought the store. The Exchange was main-
tained two years, and then declined, as its location was
considered too far up town. It was closed for a year,
and then revived and re-established, this time in the
College building, on Walnut street, near Fourth.
The Cotton Exchange occupies one of the rooms of
356
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
the Chamber of Commerce, to which all its members be-
long. It was founded in 187 1.
The Grocers' Exchange holds its meetings monthly in
the room of the board of trade and transportation.
The Furniture Exchange is not far distant, meeting in
Room No. 48, Pike's Opera house.
A Coal Exchange has also been organized by the Cin-
cinnati dealers in "black diamonds."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BANKING— FINANCE— INSURANCE.
The opportunity to write another book, and a pretty
large one, is presented to any one who will treat in detail
the history of these things, so important and weighty in
the affairs of Cincinnati for nearly eighty years. We can
in this chapter but put together some memoranda and
extracts gathered in the course of our general investiga-
tions.
THE MIAMI EXPORTING COMPANY.
The first banking institution in Cincinnati bore this
unique title. It was chartered for the term of forty years
at the very first meeting of the general assembly of Ohio,
only five months after the admission of this division of
the Northwest Territory into the Union as a sovereign
State. The plan of the company was first mooted by that
well known old settler, some years afterwards the donor
of the ground upon which the court house and county
jail stand — Mr. Jesse Hunt, who was himself an export-
ing merchant. The agriculture and commerce of the
infant west were then at their lowest point of depression,
in which Cincinnati fully sympathized; and the direct ob-
ject of the new institution was to reduce the difficulty and
expense of transportation to New Orleans. Banking was
at first a secondary matter, though its charter permitted
the issue of a circulating medium, and its financial ope-
rations subsequently became much more prominent than
its commercial transactions. In 1807, indeed, on the
first of March, it gave over all commercial schemes, and
launched out into a financial career pure and simple. Its
capital stock was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
— an immense sum for that day in Cincinnati — which
was taken in one hundred dollar shares by one hundred
and ninety holders. The official organization was quite
similar to that of the banks of to-day. Eleven directors
were chosen by the shareholders, who in their turn elected
the president and the cashier. In 18 15 the Rev. Oliver
M. Spencer, the boy hero of the Indian captivity of 1792,
was president, and Samuel C. Vance was cashier. Dr.
Drake, in his book of that year, said: "The reputation
and notoriety of this institution are equal to that of any
bank in the western country, and its dividends corres-
pond, having for several years fluctuated between ten
and fifteen per cent." Some of the later troubles of this
institution are chronicled in our chapters on the annals
of Cincinnati, and need not be recapitulated here.
IN THE FATEFUL YEAR
of 181 2 the finances and all kinds of business were again
depressed, and the clouds of war hung darkly over the
country. In the midst of general gloom the second bank
in Cincinnati was started — the Farmers' and Mechanics'.
It was founded in 18 12, and chartered the next year, but
only for five years, or until the time when the charters of
all banks in the State were to expire, except that of the
Miami Exporting company. Its capital was the then
handsome sum of two hundred thousand dollars, held in
fifty dollar shares. The president, by the charter, must
be one of the directors, and of these one-third were to be
practical farmers, and another third practical mechanics.
The taking name of the bank was thus better answered
and justified than sometimes happens in the history of
such institutions. William Irwin was President in r8i5,
and Samuel W. Davies, afterwards the proprietor of the
water works, cashier. By this time its paper was exten-
sively in circulation, and dividends had been declared of
from eight to fourteen per cent, a year. In 181 9 this
bank was made the depository of the public moneys re-
ceived at Cincinnati.
Two years afterwards, and before the war had ended —
in June, 18 14 — the Bank of Cincinnati was opened and
began its issues. Money was now easily obtained, and
was much more freely and abundantly in circulation.
The proportion of capital to population is said, but prob-
ably with exaggeration, to have been ten times greater
than now. The capital stock of this bank was taken in
fifty dollar shares, of which eight thousand eight hundred
had been subscribed by the middle of 1815, and by three
hundred and forty-five subscribers, who had actually paid
in one hundred and forty thousand dollars. At first it
had no charter, and was governed by twelve directors,
with the usual executive officers. Mr. Ethan Stone was
first president, and Lot Pugh cashier. Its notes were
issued without stint, and went far and wide.
AFTER THE WAR,
During the struggle of 18 r 2-1 5 there was compara-
tively little foreign merchandise imported into this coun-
try, and American money staid at home. But upon the
restoration of peace the sails of commerce again speedily
whitened the high seas, and the unwonted abundance of
money naturally led to unwonted extravagance, especi-
ally in the purchase of foreign wares and luxuries. Thus
the country was speedily denuded of coin, commerce and
domestic trade were contracted, credits were destroyed,
debts had to be collected by force, and presently set in
the financial disasters and the monetary crisis which
lasted from 1817 to 1823. Cincinnati had her full share
of its ills. The Miami Exporting company, the woollen
factory, the sugar refinery, the iron foundry in which
Generals Harrison and Findlay and Judge Burnet had
invested large blocks of their means — all the chief props
of industry and trade iii the embryo city — went down be-
fore the terrible rush of this panic. It was during this
tristful period that Judge Burnet, heavily indebted to the
branch bank of the United States, sacrificed to that all-
grasping institution, in payment of his obligations, the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
357
splendid property comprising the entire square upon
which the Burnet house and the post office stand, now
worth millions of dollars, for twenty-five thousand dollars.
He had offered it to the corporation at a great bargain;
but the over-cautious authorities in charge of the affairs
of a new-fledged city refused to buy; so the grand op-
portunity was lost.
The successful founders and operators of John H.
Piatt & Company's Bank, however, had means, responsi-
bility, and the confidence of the community sufficient to
start their institution not far from the fall of the general
calamities upon the world of finance, in the year 1817.
THE BRANCH BANK OF THE UNITED STATES.
%he second bank established by the Federal Govern-
ment received its charter from Congress in April, 18 16.
The next year, on the twenty-eighth of January, a branch
was opened in Cincinnati, and some months afterwards
another was established in Chillicothe. This was in pur-
suance of the visit of deputations from the principal towns
of Ohio to secure the establishment of branches at their
several places. The Cincinnati branch was at first the only
bank in the place. It was opened as an office of discount
and deposit in April, 181 7, withdrew from the field in
October, 1820, and was re-established in May, 1825. In
the years 1826-7 J. Reynolds was president, and P. Ben-
son cashier. Gorham A. Worth, from New York city, ■
but long a resident here, was the original cashier, and had
a good board of directors at his back.
The State of Ohio asserted the right to tax these branch-
es. A law was passed by the legislature fixing a levy of
fifty thousand dollars upon each, if they should still be in
business after September 15, 18 19. The auditor of State
was authorized and directed to issue his warrants for the
collection of the said amounts. When the time arrived,
the branches still being in operation, the authorities pre-
pared for the collection of the tax, but were temporarily
prevented by an injunction procured by a bill of chancery
in the United States circuit court, in the absence of the
State auditor, Hon. Ralph Osborn, who, under advice of
counsel, declined to appear as cited, upon the fourth of
September, the day fixed for the hearing. He was en-
joined from proceeding with the acts of collection, al-
though the bank was at the same time required to give
bonds to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars.
A copy of the petition for an injunction was served by
an agent of the Cincinnati branch upon the auditor, with
a subpcena to appear before the court on the first Mon-
day of the next January. He had, however, no copy of the
writ of injunction allowed; and the auditor enclosed the
other papers to the secretary of State, with his warrant
for the tax levy, desiring that if, upon legal opinions, they
did not amount to an injunction, he should have the
warrant carried into effect — otherwise to take no further
steps in the matter. The counsel of the State giving ad-
vice that no injunction had been served — as was doubt-
less the case, technically — the writ for collection was
passed to Mr. John L. Harper, with instructions to de-
mand payment at the bank, and, if refused, to take the
requisite amount from its vaults, if he could do so with-
out using force. If violently opposed, he was simply to
depose to the facts before a magistrate. Mr. Harper, in
company with Messrs. J. McCollister and T. Orr, entered
the banking-house on the seventeenth of September, and
made the demand, after making sure their means of ac-
cess to the vault. He was refused, of course, but not met
with force and arms, and quietly carried off ninety-eight
thousand dollars in gold, silver, and bank notes, which
were turned over to the State treasury three days later.
The gentlemen making this seizure had now to con-
front the majesty of Federal law, in answering to a charge
of contempt of court, by violating the terms of the in-
junction. They were arrested and imprisoned, and the
money procured and returned to Cincinnati. After long
delay, the case, upon an appeal to the United States su-
preme court, received its final hearing in February, 1824,
when a decision was rendered affirming the decree of the
court below by which payment of the tax was refused.
The State made no further effort at collection, though the
bank was deprived for some years of the advantage of
the State laws in the transaction of its business, particu-
larly in making its collections ; and the legislature made
a fruitless attempt to secure a change in the Constitution
of the United States, removing such matters from the
jurisdiction of the Federal courts.
During the pendency of the case, in December, 1820,
and the ensuing month, the following remarkable resolu-
tions were also debated and passed by the Ohio Legisla-
ture:
That, in respect to the powers of the governments of the several States
that compose the American Union and the powers of the Federal Gov-
ernment, the general assembly do recognize and approve the doctrines
asserted by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia, in their resolu-
tions of November and December, 1798, and January, 1800, and do
consider that their principles have been recognized and adopted by a
majority of the American people.
That this general assembly do assert, and will maintain, by all legal
and constitutional means, the right of the State to tax the business and
property of any private corporation of trade, incorporated by the Con-
gress of the United States, and located to transact its corporate busi-
ness within any State.
That the Bank of the United States is a private corporation of trade,
the capital and business of which may be legally taxed in any State
where they may be found.
That this general assembly do protest against the doctrine that the
political rights of the separate States that compose the American
Union, and their powers as sovereign States, may be settled and deter-
mined in the supreme court of the United States, so as to conclude and
bind them in cases contrived between individuals, and where they are,
no one of them, parties direct.
Thus is outlined one of the most interesting chapters
in the history of banking and finance in Ohio.
Within a few years after the foundation of this bank,
and during the financial crisis above mentioned, its offi-
cers received orders to put at once in suit every debt
that was due and over-due. The execution of this order
added immeasurably to the distress which the business
men of Cincinnati were already suffering. Many of the
best of them were ruined; the troubles were complicated
and in many cases irreparable; and the community did
not recover from the shock for many years. It was at
this time that Judge Burnet was compelled to make the
sacrifice of his home property mentioned in a former
paragraph.
358
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Some interesting reminiscences of this period were con-
tributed to Cincinnati Past and Present by the late Timo-
thy A. Kirby:
Cincinnati was one of the points selected in 1816 for a branch of the
bank. The advent "of that institution, just after the close of the war,
was at a critical time in financial affairs. Imports had been suspended
for several years by the war, and home manufactures stimulated into a
premature existence; but were then in process of being crushed out by
an overwhelming avalanche of British goods poured into the country.
The war debt was large, and that portion of it held at home supplied
remittance bonds to pay balances abroad in lieu of specie; thus saving
the bank from immediate pressure, while the country was being demor-
alized] by improvident trade of a one-sided character. Gorham A.
Worth took charge of the Cincinnati branch, supported by a local
board of directors, one of the leading spirits of which was the late
Hugh Glenn. The leading men of Cincinnati were largely indebted to
the local banks; their resources were mostly in lands, estimated at high
values. The notes and bills discounted by the branch bank became to
a large extent mere transfers of previous debts from the local banks.
Such a business was unsound, and of course resulted in disaster in
about four years. By the year 1820 matters came to a crisis. The
credit of many leading men was shaken, but still they were mostly
sound in real estate assets, in case their lands maintained their values.
At that day the merchants and business men of Philadelphia held Cin-
cinnati in leading strings. It was of the utmost importance to the peo-
ple of the small city to keep good faith and preserve the good opinion
of the large city with which they traded. Unfortunately a little sharp
practice on the part of a very small number of the people of Cincinnati
had the effect to create an unjust prejudice at Philadelphia. In the
course of business all the local banks became heavily indebted to the
branch bank, and among these one under the management of wealthy
Cincinnati and Newport men shut down, indebted one-third of a mil-
lion or so to the branch. That was a large sum at that day; and to
save it the head cashier was sent out, and was drawn into the accept-
ance of lands at an enormous valuation from the local banks. The
home directors and stockholders of the United States bank were in the
belief that they had been imposed upon, and that Cincinnati and her
lands were a bubble, maintained by the State valuation law and by the
united action of a people indebted to insolvency. It may be safely
said that this one settlement, made notorious by exaggeration, in its sub-
sequent effects cost the people of Cincinnati millions of dollars in the
unjust disparagement or depreciation of its lands, and consequent
losses in after settlements and also to pay the heavy indebtedness to
the merchants and banks of Philadelphia and elsewhere.
The Cincinnati branch was promptly withdrawn, and the business
closed up by an agency. Some of the heaviest claims were lost, being
discounts of a wild character, while the good claims were collected for
the most part in real estate. The titles of the property held by the
bank were perfected as far as practicable, and after about two years the
property was put on the market and sold in small parcels in install-
ments favorable to the growth of the city, and in a careful manner, to
protect the interests of the bank.
In the year 1825, the.United States bank sent out to Cincinnati Peter
Benson, to open another branch of their bank at Cincinnati, supported
by a good local board of directors. They enforced specie payment,
•compelled the local banks to keep their circulation within safe limits,
and supplied exchange at fair rates. Their discount for notes and bills
was for the most part done on a safe footing. There is no doubt that
the general management of the Cincinnati bank, from 1824 to 1836, was
highly advantageous to the business in the west. Mr. Biddle and his
board of directors at Philadelphia succeeded admirably during the con-
gress charter in sustaining the interests of the stockholders and in pro-
moting the business of the country, Under the Pennsylvania charter
they broke down and sunk the capital of the bank in their futile efforts
to maintain specie payments in the face of an excessive foreign trade,
stimulated to a disastrous extent by the government policy of the time.
The bank should have suspended payment two years sooner, while their
assets were sound and not have gone into the folly of remitting State
bonds and other trash, to Europe, to meet the huge trade balances of
that day.
Colonel James Taylor, of Newport, a young man at
the time, has vivid recollections of the career of this
Branch bank, some of which he has courteously com-
municated to the writer of these pages. ' He says :
This bank was a large-sized shark, as it ate up all the small banks in
the city — to-wit: The Maine Exporting company, the Farmers' and
Mechanics' bank, and the Bank of Cincinnati, together with other
banks in Ohio. Many citizens of Cincinnati were injured by the bank
— among them General William Lytle (it broke him up), Judge Burnet,
Mr. Carr, St. Clair, Morris, William Barr, and others. Lytle had to
give up his homestead, now owned by Dr. Foster and others, and some
tracts of land in Hamilton and Clermont counties. Burnet gave up his
homestead, where the Burnet house stands.
I know the bank made large sums of money out of its debtors. I,
as well as my father, bought considerable property of the agent, taken
for debts. The money was mostly made from vacant ground, taken
and subdivided, and the rise of property.
The bank wound up and established an agency, which existed over
fifty years. George Jones was the first agent, in 1823 ; Herman Cope,
the second; and Timothy Kirby, deceased, the third. Property was low
in 1823-4, and their debtors were forced to give up property to a large
amount. The bank, by rise and subdivision of property, made millions
of dollars, and only wound up by Kirby a few years ago.
This United States bank, instead of being a benefit to Cincinnati,
was an injury, as it forced into bankruptcy the other banks in the city,
and involved many of its most influential citizens.
FINANCIAL NOTES.
The local bank rule in 1819 was that "all notes for
discount must be dated and deposited in the banks the
day previous, before one o'clock p. M., except those for
the Branch bank, which must be dated on Tuesday." The
banking hours then were only from 10 a. m. to 1 p. m.
Mrs. Charlotte Chambers Riske, formerly Mrs. Israel
Ludlow, makes this entry in her journal for August 2,
1820:
The depressed state of money matters creates much uneasiness
among business men. The gentlemen have formed an association for
the reduction of family expenses, superfluities of dress, amusements,
etc. Mr. S. insisted upon the entire disuse of tea and coffee. Dr. D.
[Drake, probably] argued against the tea measure.
By 1829 the United States Branch bank, having now
a capital of one million two hundred thousand dollars,
was the only banking institution left in the city. A char-
ter for another had been obtained at the previous session
of the legislature, but the stock had not yet been sub-
scribed. The Commercial bank was shortly started, at
No. 45 Main street; Robert Buchanan, president. At
the legislative session of 1 830-1 the Savings bank was in-
corporated, and it was organized the following March,
with George W. Jones president and H. H. Goodman
secretary. Its habitation was at Goodman's Exchange
office, on West Third street, near Main.
The well-known Franklin bank of Cincinnati, for
many years occupying the classic structure on Third
street, near Main, bearing its name on the front, was in-
corporated February 19, 1833, with a capital of one mil-
lion of dollars.
The Exchange bank was founded October i, 1834, at
No. 154 Main street. The celebrated Ohio Life and
Trust company was incorporated in February of the
same year. This institution had very extensive powers —
to make insurance on lives, grant and purchase annui-
ties, make other contracts involving the interest or use of
money and the duration of lives, to receive moneys in
trust and accumulate the same, accept and execute trusts
of every description, receive and hold lands for the
transaction of business or such as may be taken in pay-
ment of debts, buy and sell bills of exchange and drafts,
and issue bills or notes to an amount not exceeding thrice
the amount of the funds deposited with the company for
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
359
not less than a year, other than the capital stock. Twenty
trustees managed the affairs of the company, each of
whom, was a stockholder to the amount of at least five
thousand dollars. The charter was not to be repealed or
amended before the year 1870. By 1835 it had two mil-
lions of capital and had become a powerful institution.
In January, 1835, according to the tabular statement
by the auditor of State, the banks of Cincinnati were the
Ohio Life and Trust company, the Commercial, Frank-
lin, and Lafayette. The capital of the first was put as
we have stated in the preceding paragraph; that of each
of the others was one million, which was all paid in for
the Commercial and Franklin, but only one-fourth for
the Lafayette. Judge Hall, the distinguished writer, was
at this time cashier of the Commercial bank, and became
its president in 1853.
a view of 1831.
The compilers of the city directory of 1831, just half
a century ago, were moved by the state of the money
market to say :
Money for several years has been in great demand in Cincinnati.
The banks discountmotes at six per cent. , and do a heavy business, but
the market-price of money is much greater than that. As there are no
usury laws in Ohio, money sells at its real value. Ten per cent, is now
considered the market-price of money secured by mortgage, unless the
sum loaned be very large. Upon personal security the rate of interest
varies from one per cent, a month to three, the rate varying, of course,
according to circumstances. The high rates at which money may be
safely invested at interest, are gradually attracting the notice of eastern
capitalists, to the great profit of our citizens and all concerned. It may
startle eastern men to say that money can be borrowed to carry on any
business at such high rates of interest, with profit; but there is no
doubt of the fact.
THE GREAT BANK BUILDING OF 1840.
The time-honored edifice on Third street, to which we
have just referred in connection with a brief notice of
the Franklin bank, was thus paragraphed in 1840, when
it was new, in a contemporaneous number of the Cincin-
nati Chronicle:
The new edifice for the accommodation of the Franklin and Lafayette
banks of Cincinnati, has been completed. It stands on the north side
of Third, between Main and Walnut streets — a very suitable location
for the business of the city, but not the most eligible for the display of
its magnificent portico, except when the observer is directly in front, on
the opposite side of the street. The architect is Mr. Henry Walter, to
whose skill and cultured taste many public and private edifices of this
city bear testimony.
Its portico was described as occupying the entire front
of the building, with eight Greek-Doric columns, each
four feet six inches in diameter. It was of the same
style as the building for the Bank of the United States at
Philadelphia, which was modeled from the Parthenon.
It was built of freestone from the "banks of the Ohio
river, near the mouth of the Scioto. The roof was
covered with copper. It is a notable building in the
financial history of Cincinnati.
THE BANKS OF 1 84 1
were the Life and Trust company, keeping good its
capital of two millions, with Micajah T. Williams for
president, and James H. Perkins, cashier, the Franklin,
with one million, John H. Groesbeck, president; William
Hooper, cashier; the Lafayette, with one million, Josiah
Lawrence, president, W. G. W. Gano, cashier; the Com-
mercial, one million, James Armstrong, president, James
Hall, cashier; the Bank of Cincinnati, G. R. Gilmore,
president, George Hatch, cashier; the Miami Exporting
Company (redivivus), with sixty thousand dollars capital,
N. W. Thomas, president, J. M. Douglass, cashier ;
Mechanics' and Traders' Bank, E. D. John, president,
Stanhope Skinner, cashier; Exchange Bank, two hundred
thousand dollars capital owned chiefly by Mr. John
Bates, A. Barnes, cashier; the Branch Bank of the
United States, Timothy Kirby, agent; Cincinnati Savings
Institution, George W. Jones, president, P. Outcalt,
cashier. The last-named received the smallest sums on
deposit, and paid interest on all sums beyond five dollars.
Cincinnati was now well provided with banks, at least in
number and financial strength, and the respect ability of
the men connected with them. Their aggregate capital
was over six million dollars. The Life and Trust Com-
pany was at the corner of Main and Third; the Com-
mercial on the east side of Main; the Merchants' and
Traders' on the east side of Main, between Third and
Fourth, and the Franklin and Lafayette, of course, were
in their own building on Third street.
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
In 1851 there were but six incorporated banks in the
city : The Ohio Life Insurance and Trust company, still
at the southwest corner of Main and Third streets, of
which Charles Stetson was president and George S. Coe
cashier. The Commercial bank, 132 Main street; Jacob
Strader, president; James Hall, cashier. The Franklin
Branch bank, north side of Third, between Walnut and
Main street; J. H. Groesbeck, president; T. M. Jackson,
cashier. Lafayette bank, near the Franklin Branch;
George Carlisle, president; W. G. W. Gano, cashier.
Mechanics' & Traders' Branch bank, 100 Main street;
T. W. Bakewell, president; Stanhope S. Rowe, cashier.
City bank, south side of Third, between Walnut and
Vine; E. M. Gregory, president; J. P. Reznor, cashier.
The aggregate of capital allowed for banking in the
city of Cincinnati was so limited by the general assembly
that the business of private banking had been greatly
stimulated. A large number of banking-houses and
brokers' offices had been opened, among the more prom-
inent of which were the following: Ellis & Morton's, cor-
ner of Third and Walnut; Burnet, Shoup & Company,
northwest corner Third and Walnut; Phcenix Bank of
Cincinnati, and George Milne & Company, on Third,
between Main and Walnut; Merchants' Bank of Cincin-
nati, first door from Third, on Walnut; S. O. Almy, on
Third, near Walnut; T. S. Goodman & Company, Main,
just above Third; Citizens' bank (W. Smead & Compa-
ny), Main, between Third and Fourth ; Gilmore & Broth-
erton, Main street, below Columbia; Langdon & Hatch,
corner of Main and Court; B. F. Sanford & Company,
corner of Fourth and Walnut ; and the Western bank of
Scott & M'Kenzie, at the northwest corner of Western
Row and Fifth street. This last seems to have been a
long way out of the general centre of the banking busi-
ness, which, it is worth while to notice, was concentrated
360
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
almost exclusively within two or three squares on Third,
Walnut, and Main streets.
One of the bankers of 1855, still in active business in
the city, contributed the following to the historical num-
ber of the Daily Gazette, April 26, 1879:
Referring to your note of this morning, regarding the bankers of
1855, I called to my aid Mr. James Espy, to have my memory refreshed,
and find the following list to comprise those now in the business who
were here at that date:
H. W. Hughes, then Smead, Collord & Hughes, now H. W. Hughes
&Co.
James Espy, then Kinney, Espy & Co., now Espy, Heidelbach& Co.
J. D. Fallis, then Fallis, Brown & Co., now president of the Mer-
chants' National bank.
W. A. Goodman, then T. S. Goodman & Co., now president of the
National Bank of Commerce.
Henry Peachey, then teller Ohio Life & Trust Company, now presi-
dent Lafayette bank.
W. J. Dunlap, then Wood, Dunlap & Co., now cashier Lafayette
bank.
S. S. Rowe, then casher of the Mechanics' and Traders' bank, now
cashier Second National bank.
S. S. Davis, now S. S. Dayis & Co.
Mr. James Gilmore is another of the old bankers, of
a standing of forty years or more, who retired from busi-
ness so lately as the latter part of the year 1880.
By 1857 the City bank had been added, with its loca-
tion at No. 8 West Third street.
Cincinnati is recorded as having suffered less by the
monetary crisis which shortly set in than any other city of
importance in the country. Only one wholesale estab-
lishment and a few retail houses succumbed to the pres-
sure. The sales to country merchants in 1857 aggregated
twenty-five millions, which betokened a fairly healthy
state of things in Cincinnati and its tributary region.
THE NATIONAL BANKS.
The capitalists of Cincinnati availed themselves with
reasonable promptness of the advantages of the National
Bank act. By the first of December, 1863, there were
fully organized and in operation, the First National, with
a capital of $1,000,000; the Second, with $100,000; the
Third, with $300,000; and the Fourth, with $125,000 cap-
ital. The private banks the same year numbered twenty-
seven, with a total capital of $723,599.
The next year there were twenty-five private banks,
with an aggregate capital of $1,566,510.
In 1866, only three national banks were reported, with
a capital of $900,000.
In 1867, there were eight national banks, with $4,628,-
353 capital, and seventeen private bankSj with capital to
the aggregate amount of $807,554.
In 1868, report was made of only six national institu-
tions, but with$3, 910,000 capital; nineteen private insti-
tions, capital $2,841,400. The United States bonds and
other securities exempted from taxation in Hamilton
county this year, amounted to $4,875,000, being nearly
one-fourth of the total amount exempted in the State of
Ohio.
In 1869, the national banks were still six, whose capi-
tal had grown to $4,015,000. Twenty-one private banks
were reported, with $3,089,410 capital.
In 1870, one national bank had dropped out of there-
ports, and the five remaining had a capital of $3,500,000.
There were nineteen private banks, with $2,798,750 cap-
ital. This status was maintained in i87r.
In 1872, the five national banks had $4,100,000 capi-
tal; in 1873, $4,000,000; in 1874, $4,185,014; and in
1875, $4,265,560. 19. The number of private banking
institutions reported for these years, respectively, was
seventeen, with $2,235,510 capital; nineteen, with $2,-
150,380; nineteen, with $2,295,747; and nineteen again,
with $2,341,000. In the report of 1873 was included
one savings bank, organized under the act of February
26, 1873, with $50,000 capital; and in the report of the
next year one organized under the act of February 24,
1845, with a capital of $182,518.
In the year 1876-7, nine national banks were reported
to the State authorities, with a capital of four million,
seven hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, or an
average of more than half a million apiece; seventeen
private banks, capital two million and seven thousand
dollars; two, savings institutions, fifteen thousand four
hundred dollars; total, twenty-eight, with an aggregate
capital of six million, seven hundred and forty-seven
thousand and four hundred dollars. <
1877-8. — Nine national banks, four million five hun-
dred thousand dollars; one savings, thirty thousand dol-
lars; sixteen private, one million, six hundred and eigh-
teen thousand one hundred dollars. Total, twenty-six ;
capital, six million, three hundred and ninety-eight thou-
sand, one hundred dollars.
T878-9 — Nine national, four million four hundred
and fifty thousand dollars; four savings, under act of
February 24, 1845; nine private, six hundred and twen-
ty-five thousand and' sixty-seven dollars. Total, twenty-
two banks, with capital five million eight hundred and
twenty-two thousand six hundred and fifty-six dollars.
The figures given in the report of the board of trade
and transportation, for the banking capital of Cincinnati
at the close of the years 1877, '878 and 1879, vary
somewhat from those given above. They are :
1877. 1878. 1879.
Total national banks $4,400,000 $4,300,000 $4,100,000
Total private banks and bankers 2,428,000 2,168,000 1,465,000
Grand totals $6,828,000 $6,468,000 $5,565,000
October 14, 1880, the Citizen's National bank was or-
ganized, with a capital of one million dollars, shared by
ninety-four stockholders. Briggs S. Cunningham was
elected president; G. P. Griffith, vice-president, and
George W. Forbes, cashier.
November 2 2d, of the same year, Gilmore's bank was
consolidated with the National Bank of Commerce,
upon which occasion Mr. James Gilmore, then the oldest
banker still in existence in Cincinnati, retired from active
service in the fields of finance.
A MEMORABLE EVENT
in the history of finance in this city is thus related in
Kenney's Cincinnati Illustrated:
"On the eighteenth of September, 1873, the well
known failure of Jay Cooke & Company brought about
the great panic of the year. On the twenty-fifth of the
same month, the clearing-house association resolved, for
the protection of the bankers, that payment of currency
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
361
on checks, except for small sums, should be temporarily
suspended, and that bankers should certify checks drawn
on balances, payable through the clearing-house only. On
the thirteenth of October following, there was a general
resumption, and within thirty days all the clearing-house
certificates, amounting to over four hundred thousand
dollars, which had thus been issued to facilitate business,
were withdrawn and cancelled. Among the city bankers,
so firm was their standing, and so ample their means,
that there was not a disaster to mark the track of the
commercial storm that passed through the country."
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
The Cincinnati clearing-house association was organ-
ized in 1866, with objects in the facilitation of banking
business corresponding to those of clearing-houses in
other cities. Mr. George P. Bassett has been its man-
ager from the beginning. Its rooms are in the third
story of the building 'No. 70 West Third street. In the
financial year ending April 1, 1877, the aggregate clear-
ings through this agency were $629,876,985, ranging
from $45,255,742 in August, to $65,786,893 in Decem-
ber. In the year 1877-8 the clearings were $587,019,-
030; 1878-9, $514,977,000, and in 1879-80, $614,275,-
807.
The following named banks and bankers representing
the present leading monetary institutions of Cincinnati,
except the Bank of Cincinnati, which was merged with
the new Citizens' National bank December 17, 1880 —
were members of the Clearing-house association Sep-
tember 1, 1880: First National benk, capital $1,200,-
000; Second National, $200,000; Third National,
$800,000; Fourih National, $500,000; Merchants' Na-
tional, $1,000,000; National Lafayette and Bank of
Commerce, $400,000; Commercial, "200,000; Franklin,
$300,000; Bank of Cincinnati, $100,000; Western Ger-
man, $100,000; German Banking company, $250,000 ;
Espy, Heidelbach & Co., $140,000; Seasongood, Sons
& Co., $120,000; Joseph F. Larkin & Co., $115,000;
H. W. Hughes & Co., $100,000; S. Kuhn & Sons,
$50,000. Total capital of banks and bankers then in
the Clearing House, $5,57S>000- The totals for the five
years next previous were: 1878-9, $5,565,000; 1877-8,
$6,468,000; 1876-7, $6,828,000; 1875-6, $6,785,000;
1874-5, $6,740,000.
THE SAFE DEPOSIT COMPANY.
This useful institution is situated in the Lafayette Bank
building. It was founded in 1866, after the plan of the
first deposit company in this country, established shortly
before by Mr. Francis H. Jenks, of New York city. Mr.
Samuel P. Bishop, as representative of a strong body of
Cincinnati capitalists, spent a fortnight in Mr. Jenks' in-
stitution in New York, and became fully possessed of
the details of the scheme in every particular. Upon his
return the Safe Deposit company was organized, the nec-
essary legislation for such institutions secured, and Mr.
Joseph C. Butler elected president and Mr. Bishop sec-
retary. Mr. Bishop is still secretary. One-half of the
Lafayette bank fire-proof building, forty-two feet front
by one hundred feet deep, was secured by perpetual
lease, and the plan of safe adopted. The latter, thirty-
five feet long, seven feet high, and twelve and one-half
feet wide (with the centre supported by iron), composed
of five alternate layers of steel and iron, so put together
that no screw or nut should penetrate through more than
three layers, was undertaken to be constructed by Miles
Greenwood. With all the appliances of his establish-
ment, and with work much of the time night and day,
so difficult was the system adopted of interlacing the
elastic steel with the iron, that nearly eighteen months
elapsed before the work was completed, and at a cost of
nearly fifty thousand dollars for the safe alone. With
four combination locks of James L. Hall & Company,
and Dodds, Macneale & Urban, the company have sup-
plied to the public what they undertook to do, although
at greater expense than was anticipated.
INSURANCE NOTES.
The first local insurance company was started Novem-
ber 25, 1816 — the Cincinnati — with a capital of half a
million. William Barr was president, and John Jolley
secretary.
After this, little attention was paid to the formation of
local insurance companies until about 1825. With the
exception of the foreign agencies, the Louisville com-
pany had practically the monopoly of the Cincinnati
business, and hence its profits were enormous, and its
stock became very valuable. A local company was
formed about 1820, but it secured little business, and
did not survive the subsequent commercial depression.
The Ohio Insurance company was incorporated in Jan-
uary, 1826, with a capital of two hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars, and the privilege of increasing it to five
hundred thousand dollars. Two thousand and ten
shares of fifty dollars each were promptly subscribed and
paid in or secured. T. Goodman was made president,
and Morgan Neville secretary. The new institution rap-
idly acquired the confidence of the community, and
built up a large business, with consequent appreciation
of its stock.
In January, 1827, the Cincinnati Equitable Insurance
company was chartered, on the mutual insurance plan.
Ezekiel Hall was its chairman or president; John Jolley
secretary. Agencies were established in the Queen City.
In 1825 the JEtna. Fire Insurance company, of Hartford,
got in here with William Goodman for agent; and by
1827 the Protection, of Hartford, the Traders' Inland
Navigation Insurance company, of New York (Thomas
Newell, agent), and the United States Insurance com-
pany (William Hartshorn, agent), had agencies in Cin-
cinnati.
In 1829, a later Cincinnati Insurance company was in-
corporated, with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
capital, and power to double it; in 1832 the Firemen's;
in 1836 the Washington, the Fire Department's and the
Canal; in 1837 the Miami Valley; and in 1838 the Mer-
chants' and Manufacturers' Insurance company, and the
Commercial, were incorporated. The Cincinnati still
survives, and celebrated its semi-centennial in April,
1879, being then the oldest joint stock general fire and
362
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
marine insurance company west of the Alleghanies; also
the Firemen's, which has had but three presidents in its
long career, and has always been a strong company; and
likewise the Washington, the two companies of 1838, and
the Miami Valley, which is fourth in age of all Ohio in-
surance companies.
The Eagle Insurance company, fire and marine, dates
from 1850; the Citizens', from 185 1, as the Clermont
County Fire, Marine and Life Insurance company, and
1858 under its present title; the National, also from
1851; the Western, from 1854, although a perpetual
charter had been granted for it in 1836; the Union, from
1855, as the Mercantile Insurance company of Coving-
ton, and in 1859 in its present name and place; the Ger-
mania Fire and Marine, from 1864; the Enterprize and
the Globe, from 1865; the Union Central Life, from
1867, owning the fire building at the corner of Fourth
street and Central avenue; the Aurora and the Amazon,
"from r87i; the Fidelity, from 1872; the Mutual Fire,
from 1874.
The Cincinnati Insurance company, of Cincinnati, is
the oldest joint-stock general fire and marine insurance
company organized west of the Alleghany mountains.
The company celebrated its semi-centennial anniversary
in April, 1879. In tne office of the company, at No. 81
West Third street, hangs an original copy of the Cincin-
nati Commercial Daily Advertiser, containing the official
announcement that the requisite amount of stock had
been subscribed, and therefore the company was ready
for business. The company has had a most remarkable
career of success. For fifty years its dividends averaged
thirteen per cent. ; in some years they reached thirty-two
per cent. The total premiums received have been three
million one hundred and three thousand and nineteen
dollars and fifty-seven cents. The losses have been one
million six hundred and fifty-four thousand five hundred
and forty-three dollars and fifty-eight cents. The total
dividends, one million four thousand five hundred and
thirty seven dollars and twenty-three cents. The presi-
dent, Jacob Burnet, jr., has held the office for the past
ten years.
The board of directors for 1829, under which the
company was organized, was as follows: Josiah Law-
rence, Joseph K. Smith, Lewis Whiteman, Benjamin
Urner, William D. Jones, Thomas Reily, Elisha Brigham,
William Neff, John T. Martin, William S. Hatch, Robert
Buchanan, John W. Mason, David Kiljour, Michael P.
Cassilly, William R. Foster. Elisha Brigham, president;
William Oliver, secretary.
The board for 1882 is as follows: A. H. Andrews,
George W. McAlpin, Gardner Phipps, Matthew Addy,
Joseph H. Rogers, John Kauffman, Jacob Burnet, jr.,
Edmund G. Webster, William Resor, jr., Briggs Swift,
William H. Harrison, Charles Scbmidlapp, Nathaniel
Newburgh, George I. King, Peter Rudolph Neff. Jacob
Burnet, jr., president; Charles A. Farnham, secretary.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE POST OFFICE.
"Do not send your packets by the mail as the ex-
pense is heavy. The letter said to be forwarded by
Major Willis was by him, or some other person, thrown
into the post office, and I was obliged to pay six shillings
and eight pence in specie for it." So wrote Jonathan
Dayton, a prominent and wealthy citizen of New Jersey,
and a member of Congress, September 8, 1789, to John
Cleves Symmes, of the Miami Purchase. Postage was
a pretty serious matter in those days, and the denizens
of Losantiville and Cincinnati were not in haste to pay
the charges levied for postal facilties. It was not until
1793, and one account definitely says the fourth of July,
1794, that the post office was established in the infant
Cincinnati. Abner Dunn was the first postmaster. The
hatfull of letters and occasional newspaper constituting
the office were kept in his cabin, on the corner of But-
ler street and the Columbia road, now Second street, be-
yond Fort Washington and the Artificers' yard. The
next year M. T. Green, of Marietta, contracted to carry
the mails between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, in a piroque
or large canoe, propelled by poles and paddles. When
going down the stream he carried also a little freight,
and occasionally, for a small consideration, a passenger.
When post offices were also founded in the interior of
the Miami country they were supplied on horseback
by William Olim, a son-in-law of the Cincinnati post-
master.
dunn's successors.
Mr. Dunn died July 18, 1794, and was buried upon
the lot where the office was kept.
The next postmaster was William Maxwell, the well
known editor, founder of the first newspaper established
in Cincinnati, or the Northwest Territory, and publisher
of the Territorial Laws. He was succeeded by Daniel
Mayo, and then Major William Ruffin received the ap-
pointment, and removed the post office to his dwelling, a
red two-story frame house, at the corner of Lawrence street
and the Columbia, which stood long after on Columbia
and Plum street, a familiar object to the old settlers of
Cincinnati, and a generation or two of their descend-
ants. Major Ruffin was the first postmaster in this cen-
tury— an urbane, gentlemanly, accommodating man,
who made a popular officer. Some remarks of Dr.
Drake concerning him, as the boy Drake saw him in
1800, are comprised in our annals of the second dec-
ade. The mail was then brought by the river from
Limestone (Maysville), in a pair of saddle-bags. The
gallant major held the office for a number of years
much longer than any of his predecessors — at least until
T812, and probably far beyond that, to the incoming of
his successor, the Rev. William Burke.
SOME REMINISCENCES.
May 17, 1799, a notice appeared in the Western Spy
and Hamilton Gazette to the following effect:
Post Office.— Notice is hereby given that a post office is estab-
lished at Chelicotha. The persons, therefore, having business in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
363
that part of the country may have speedy and safe conveyance by post
for letters, packets, etc.
The mail was then carried to "Chelicotha" from Cin-
cinnati on horseback, by an Indian trail through the
woods.
The Spy and Gazette was also enabled to announce,
March 12, 1800, that a post-route had been established
between Louisville and Kaskaskia, to ride once every
four weeks — also that one had been opened between Nash-
ville and Natchez. "This," said the pleased Spy, "will
open an easy channel of communication with those re-
mote places, which has heretofore been extremely diffi-
cult, particularly from the Atlantic States.1'
Mr. James McBride, in his Pioneer Biography, gives a
brief sketch of the early mail serivce between the
Miamis, which is well worth quoting. He says :
There was at that time [1804, when the post office at Hamilton was
opened], and for many years afterward, only one mail route established
through the interior of the Miami country. The mail was carried on
horseback, once a week. Leaving Cincinnati, it passed through Ham-
ilton, Franklin, Dayton, and as far north as Stanton (a town on the
east bank of the Miami, opposite the site of the present town of Troy),
thence through Urbana, Yellow Springs, and Lebanon, back to Cincin-
nati. Afterward it was reversed, starting by way of Lebanon, and
returning by Hamilton, but touching at the same points. There was
then no post office west of the Miami river.
A reporter for the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, late
in December, 1874, collected and contributed to his
paper some interesting reminiscences, gleaned from a de-
scendant of the gentleman named in the following para-
graph :
In 1808-9 Peter Williams- had contracts for carrying the mails be
tween Louisville and Cincinnati, Cincinnati and Lexington, Cincinnati
and Chillicothe, and Cincinnati and Greenville, in Darke county. All
these contracts were performed with pack-horses through the dense for-
ests and along the "blazed" tracks or paths which, in those days,
were called roads. The trip from Cincinnati to Louisville was generally
performed in about two weeks time. The provender for the horses had
frequently to be carried along, it being impossible to procure any on the
way. So of the other routes to the difierent places named — every-
where through the grand, dense forests, filled with wild games of all
kinds. Our informant recollects many rude incidents which occurred on
many trips he, as a boy, made with his father, and afterwards by him-
self, as he became older, to Chillicothe, Greenville, Louisville, etc. Mr.
Williams retained these mail contracts up to 1821, using pack-horses
during the whole time, and only releasing them on the advent of the
stage-coach, owners of which could afford to carry the mails at about
one-half the price he was getting. In those early days the pack-horse
was the only way in which supplies of every kind could be transported
any distance; and Mr. Williams distinctly remembers that his father
possessed the only wagon in the country around Cincinnati, and that,
being of no use, was suffered to rot down in the barn.
Among Mr. Williams' young mail-carriers was one
who afterwards attained no small distinction — Mr. Samuel
Lewis, of Cincinnati. The following paragraphs are ex-
tracted from the life of Mr. Lewis by his son:
After working a short time upon the farm, he was employed in carry-
ing the United States mail— for which Mr. Williams had a contract
at that time. His route was at first from Cincinnati to Williams-
burgh, and afterward from the latter point to Chillicothe. This work
often required seven days and two nights in the week, making the labor
very severe. In addition to this, the creeks and small rivers along the
route were to be forded, bridges at that period being out of the ques-
tion. This was all done on horseback. The routes covered most of
the country east of Cincinnati to the Scioto river at Chillicothe, and
southward of this to the Ohio river, including Maysville, Kentucky.
Over some of these streams, during high water, it was necessary to
swim the horse; while often the attempt was accompanied with much
danger. At one time, being compelled to swim his horse, he had se-
cured ^the mail-bag, as he supposed, and commenced crossing the
stream, swimming himself and leading the horse. When nearly over,
the mail-bag, from some cause, became unloosed and floated off. His
horse was fiwt to be secured, and then the mail. Its recovery and the
renewal of his journey would have been speedy, but he was struck by
a floating log in the water, and severely injured. Making his way with
extreme difficulty to the shore, he succeeded in mounting his horse, and
continuing his journey to the next town, which he reached completely
drenched and exhausted, and where he remained for some days before
he was able to renew his round. The accident unfitted him for his em-
ployment for the time, and when he returned to Cincinnati, he was oc-
cupied with other labor.
A charming bit of poetry is infused into this other-
wise dull record of the postal service, by the following
extract from the journals for August, 181 6, of Mrs.
Charlotte Chambers Riske, formerly Mrs. Israel Ludlow,
of Ludlow's Station. She writes :
I was awakened last night by the sound of distant music. The effect
was enchanting. As it approached, images long since sunk in oblivion
were restored, and produced harmonious and sublime associations. I
arose to listen whence came the melody, and found that to Echo, tossed
in rich undulations around the hills, I was indebted for the symphony.
The mail-carrier, privileged to announce his coming with the bugle,
was enjoying the fine effect of its clear note. The night was far ad-
vanced, the moon was near the zenith, and profound was the silence in
all quarters of the town.
THE MAILS PER WEEK
in 1815 were only nine. About seventy different news-
papers and periodicals were taken at the Cincinnati office,
aggregating about three hundred and fifty sheets a week.
A great number of public documents, however, was re-
ceived here, and most of the eastern periodicals were
taken.
In this year Major Ruffin, after more than fifteen years'
administration of the postal affairs of the village, laid
down his authority, which was transferred to "Father
Burke," the old Methodist itinerant and presiding elder,
afterward seceder from his church and proprietor of a
meeting-house of his own, which he had bought of the
pioneer Presbyterians, it being that in which they had
first worshipped. In this he often preached; but was,
withal, very much of a politician, at first a Jeffersonian,
and finally a stalwart Jackson Democrat. He naturally
turned to office-seeking after awhile; and was kept in
office, under administrations of somewhat v'arient politics,
for more than a quarter of a century, until, with the in-
coming of the Whigs to power in 1841, the now old gen-
tleman had to surrender his post to another. Mr. Elam
P. Langdon was his deputy during much of this long
period.
By 1826 the local mails had increased to twenty per
week, carried, in part, upon ten stages — three on the
Chillicothe route, three each on the Lebanon and the
Dayton and Columbus routes, and one on the route to
Georgetown, Kentucky.' There were still ten horseback
mails. The revenue of the office from postage that year
was eight thousand one hundred and sixty-two dollars,
and the volume of correspondence passing through it
may be inferred to some extent by the fact that three
thousand seven hundred and fifty free letters were de-
livered during the same period.
In the spring of the next year a new line of stages was
established by way of Xenia, Urbana, Maysville and
Bucyrus, to Lower Sandusky, where its mails were trans-
364
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ferred to a boat. Letters reached New York city by this
route, eight hundred and thirty miles, in ten days. A
daily line was also run to Wheeling, nearly over the sub-
sequent line of the Cumberland or National road, reach-
ing Baltimore in eight or nine days. The Odin roads
were then accounted generally reliable and safe from May
to November. During about the same time stages could
be, and were, run from Cincinnati to Lexington, Ken-
tucky, eighty miles.
In the fiscal year of the Government, 1828-9, the rev"
enue of the Cincinnati office reached twelve thousand
one hundred and fifty dollars, having increased fifty per
cent, within three years. There were twenty-three mails
weekly — eighteen on stages, and five horseback mails.
At the close of the year, however, the number had in-
creased to thirty-two, only three of which were carried
on horseback. About forty years after that {1867-8) the
receipts of the office had swelled to two hundred and
sixty-four thousand five hundred and eighty-seven dollars
and forty-seven cents. The expenditures for salaries, etc.,
exclusive of the cost of free delivery, sixty-two thousand
three hundred and six dollars and six cents, leaving the
net earnings of the office two hundred and two thousand
two hundred and eighty-one dollars and fourteen cents.
The receipts and disbursements of the money-order de-
partment were each over half a million dollars. The
letters received for delivery numbered nine million three
hundred and eight thousand, and for distribution twenty-
eight million. The amount of mail matter daily handled
was about twenty-five thousand pounds. There were
about one hundred employes, including carriers, a force
working by night, so that the office was incessantly in
, action as it is now.
The revenue of the office in the year 1829-30 was six-
teen thousand two hundred and fifty-one dollars; in
1833-4, fifty-one thousand two hundred and twenty-six
dollars and seventy-one cents; in 1839-40, fifty-five thou-
sand and seventeen dollars and thirty-two cents; and in
1840-1, forty-nine thousand eight hundred and fifteen
dollars and thirteen cents. By this time there were sixty
mails a week to and from Cincinnati. The eastern went
by way of Columbus and Wheeling; the southern on
one route by steamer to Louisville, on another by stage
to Georgetown and Lexington; the northern by Hamil-
ton and Dayton; the Western by Indianapolis; and there
were also Covington and Newport mails, Chillicothe via
Hillsborough and Bainbridge, tri-weekly; to West Union
tri-weekly, via Milford and Batavia; tri-weekly to Mays-
ville, Kentucky, via New Richmond and Ripley; as often
to Cynthiana, Kentucky, via Newport and Alexandria;
weekly to Stillwell, by Mt. Healthy; weekly to Mont-
gomery, via Walnut Hills; and tri-wqekly to Lawrence-
burgh, via Burlington, Kentucky.
THE OLD-TIME STAGING.
Some racy reminisences of this are given by that most
graphic of writers, Mr. Charles Dickens, as he had ex-
perience of it upon the roads of Ohio soon after the
date last given. He was then upon his return from the
west, after a previous visit to Cincinnati. He says in his
American Notes:
We rested one day at Cincinnati, and then resumed our journey to
Sandusky. As it comprised two varieties of stage coach travelling,
which, with those I have already glanced at, comprehend the main
characteristics of this mode of transit in America, I will take the reader
as our fellow passenger, and pledge myself to perform the distance with
all possible despatch.
Our place of destination in the first instance is Columbus. It is dis-
tant about a hundred and twenty miles from Cincinnati, but there is a
macadamized road (rare blessing!) the whole way, and the rate of trav-
elling upon it is six miles an hour. We start at eight o'clock in the
morning, in a great mail coach, whose huge cheeks are so very ruddy
and plethoric that it appears to be troubled with a tendency of blood to
the head. Dropsical it certainly is, for it will hold a dozen passengers
inside.. But, wonderful to add, it is very clean and bright, being nearly
new, and rattles through the streets of Cincinnati gaily.
Our way lies through a beautiful country, richly cultivated, and luxu-
riant in its promise of an abundant harvest. Sometimes we pass a field
where the strong, bristling stalks of Indian corn look like a crop of
walking sticks, and sometimes an enclosure where the green wheat is
springing up among a labyrinth of stumps; the primitive worm fence is
universal, and an ugly thing it is; but the farms are neatly kept, and,
save for these differences, one might be travelling just now in Kent.
We often stop to water at a roadside inn, which is always dull and
silent. The coachman dismounts and fills his bucket, and holds it to
the horses' heads. There is scarcely ever anyone to help him; there are
seldom any loungers standing round, and never any stable-company
with jokes to crack. Sometimes, when we have changed our team,
there is a difficulty in starting again, arising out of the prevalent mode
of breaking a young horse; which is to catch him, harness him against
his will, and put him in a stage coach without farther notice; but we
get on somehow or other, after a great many kicks and a violent strug-
gle, and jog on as before again.
Occasionally, when we stop to change, some two or three half-
drunken loafers will come loitering out with their hands in their pockets,
or will be seen kicking their heels in rocking-chairs, or sitting on a rail
within the colonnade; they have not often anything to say, though,
eithej to us or to each other, but sit there, idly staring at the coach and
horses. The landlord of the inn is usually among them, and seems, of
all the party, to be the least connected with the business of the house.
Indeed, he is with reference to the tavern, what the driver is in relation
to the coach and passengers; whatever happens in his sphere of action,
he is quite indifferent, and perfectly easy in his mind.
There being no stage coach. nans. day, upon the road we wished to
take, I hired an extra, at a reasonable charge, to carry us to Tiffin ; a
small town from whence there is a railroad to Sandusky. This extra
was an ordinary four-horse stage coach, such as I have described,
changing horses and drivers, as the stage coach would, but was ex-
clusively our own for the journey. To insure our having-horses at the
proper stations, and being incommoded by no strangers, the proprie-
tors sent an agent on the box, who was to accompany us the whole
way through; and thus attended, and bearing with us, besides, a ham-
per full of savory cold meats, and fruit, and wine, we started off again,
in high spirits, at half-past six o'clock next morning, very much de-
lighted to be by ourselves, and disposed to enjoy even the roughest
journey.
It was well for us that we were in this humor, for the road we went
over that day was certainly enough to have shaken tempers that were
not resolutely at set fair, down to some inches below stormy. At one
time we were all flung together in a heap in the bottom of the coach,
and at another we were crushing our heads against the roof. Now,
one side was down deep in the mire, and we were holding on to the
other. Now the coach was lying on the tails of the two wheelers; and
now it was rearing up in the air in a trantic state, with all four horses
standing on the top of an insurmountable eminence, looking coolly
back at it, as though they would say "unharness us. It can't be
done." The drivers on these roads, who certainly got over the ground
in a manner which is quite miraculous, so twist and turn the team
about in forcing a passage, corkscrew fashion, through the bogs and
swamps, that it was quite a common circumstance on looking out of
the window to see the coachman with the ends of a pair of reins in his
hands, apparently driving nothing, or playing at horses, and the lead-
ers staring at one unexpectedly from the back of the coach, as if they
had some idea of getting up behind. A great portion of the way was
over what is called a corduroy road, which is made by throwing trunks
of trees into a marsh and leaving them to settle there. The very slight-
est of the jolts with which the ponderous carriage fell from log to log
was enough, it seemed, to have dislocated all the bones in the human
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
365
body. It would be impossible to experience a similar set of sensations,
in any other circumstances, unless, perhaps, in attempting to go up to
the top of St. Paul's in an omnibus. Never, never once that day, was
the coach in any position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are
accustomed in coaches. Never did it make the smallest approach to
one's experience of the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on
wheels.
Still it was a fine day, and the temperature was delicious, and though
we had left summer behind us in the west, and were fast leaving spring,
we were moving towards Niagara and home. We alighted in a pleas-
ant wood towards the middle of the day, dined on a fallen tree, and
leaving our best fragments with a cottager and our worst with the pigs
who swarm in this part of the country like grains of sand on the sea-
shore, to the great comfort of our commissariat in Canada, we went
forward again gayly.
As night came on, the track grew narrower and narrower, until at
last it so lost itself among the trees, that the driver seemed to find his
way by instinct. We had the comfort of knowing, at least, that there
was no danger of his falling asleep, for every now and then a wheel
would strike against an unseen stump with such a jerk, that he was
fain to hold on pretty tight and pretty quick, to keep himself upon the
box. Nor was there any reason to dread the least danger from furious
driving, inasmuch as over that broken ground the horses had enough
to do to walk; as to shying, there was no room for that; and a herd of
wild elephants could not have run away in such a wood, with such a
coach at their heels. So we stumbled along quite satisfied.
THE LINE OF POSTMASTERS.
Following those we have named, came Major William
Oliver, successor to Father Burke under the Whig ad-
ministration in 1 84 1. Then in 1845 General W. H. H.
Taylor, with Mr. Elam P. Langdon still assistant. The
city had now two carrier districts for penny postal
delivery, with Fourth street as the dividing line. Mr.
Joseph Haskell delivered mail matter to all residents to
the north of it; Hiram Frazer to the south of the line.
Mr. James C. Hall was postmaster in 1852.
From 1853 to 1859 Dr. John L. Vattier was post-
master. The office had been long kept by Mr. Burke,
and perhaps his successors, on West Third street,
between Main and Walnut; but the doctor removed it
to the Art building at the northwest corner of Fourth and
Sycamore.. In 1856, during his administration, the
Government building on the southwest corner of Fourth
and Vine was completed, and the office was removed to
it, where it has since remained, now for just a quarter of
a century. This building was sold, however, November
27, 1880, to the Cincinnati chamber of commerce for
one hundred thousand dollars, to be occupied by the
chamber upon its vacation by the Government, when the
new Federal building on the north side of Fifth street,
between Walnut and Main, shall be completed.
The Hon. James J. Faran, formerly member of Con-
gress, became postmaster in 1859, wi'n E. Penrose Jones
as assistant, and William Winters, cashier. There were
now eight carrier districts.
The successors of Mr. Faran have been Thomas H.
Foulds (William Carey, assistant); Gustav R. Wahle
(Joseph H. Thornton, assistant), and John P. Loge,
who assumed the office in 1878, and is postmaster at
this writing. He also continued Mr. Thornton in the
post of assistant.
The Cincinnati office, in February, 1881, was handling
about seventy thousand letters per day mailed in the
city. The number of letters received daily was about
' one hunered thousand. In the handling of newspapers
and periodicals the city ranks next to New York and
Chicago. The total receipts for 1880 were $520,676.27,
against $472,733,03 in 1879. The expense of conduct-
ing the office was 32.47 per cent of its income in 1880,
against 34.48 in 1879, 34.54 in 1878, and 34.67 in 1877.
Letters and postal cards to the number of 24,283,325
were mailed during the year; 24,956,336 newspapers,
etc., to subscribers, and circulars and transient news-
papers, etc., 13,803,380; packages of merchandise, 254,
770 — a gain of fifteen per cent over 1879. The number
of carriers employed in the city was eighty-one.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE LOCAL MILITIA.— THE FIRST APPOINTMENTS.
Among the earliest arrangements that were made in
this part of the Ohio valley for government organization
was provision for a militia force. During the visit of
Governor St. Clair to Fort Washington, January 24,
1790, to erect the county of Hamilton and change the
name of Losantiville to Cincinnati. Among the ap-
pointments he made were those of a number of officers
of the local militia — Israel Ludlow, John S. Gano, James
Flinn, and Gershom Girard, to be captains; Francis
Kennedy, John Ferris, Luke Foster, and Brice Virgin,
lieutenants; Scott Traverse, Ephraim Kibby, Elijah
Stites, and John Dunlap, ensigns. These provided for
all the hamlets along the river in the Miami purchase,
Columbia, Cincinnati, and North Bend. Gano and
Flinn, for example, were of Columbia; Ludlow, of Cin-
cinnati; and Virgin of North Bend. The other appoint-
ments were similarly distributed.
Their companies, four in number, were to form the
nucleus of the first regiment of militia of the county of
Hamilton. On the seventh of December following Scott
Traverse was promoted to lieutenant, vice Kennedy,
resigned; and Robert Benham, the hero of a desperate
Indian attack upon the site of Newport some years be-
fore, was made ensign in the place of Traverse. Both
of these were in Ludlow's company. December 10,
1791, a further organization of the battalion was effected
by the appointment of Oliver Spencer as lieutenant
colonel. Brice Virgin was at the same time made a
captain, Daniel Griffin a lieutenant, and John Bowman
an ensign, or second lieutenant.
MILITIA REGULATIONS.
Months before St. Clair came, the exigencies of the
situation in a savage wilderness made necessary a spon-
taneous and informal organization of citizens for war.
Regulations were adopted at Columbia, and it is prob-
able also at Cincinnati, requiring every adult male person
to provide himself with a serviceable firearm, one pound
each of powder and lead, sixty bullets, and six flints.
He was obliged to keep his arms and equipments in good
order, and to meet his fellows for parade, drill, and the
366
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
manual exercise, twice a week. If a gun was fired after
sunset it was to be considered a signal of alarm, upon
which every man must equip himself and repair to the
place of rendezvous.
Similar provisions, indeed, for the protection of the
settlements were made by the Territorial laws. In Au-
gust, 1788, among the very first laws passed by the
governor and judges at Marietta, was one providing for
the armament of all male inhabitants over sixteen years
of age, and that they should meet every Sunday fore-
noon at the places appointed for public worship, there to
be inspected and drilled. It was further directed, by a
law of July 2, 1791, that every person enrolled in the
Territorial militia should arm himself whenever he at-
tended public worship, "as if marching to engage the
enemy," on penalty of a fine.
BATTALION ORDERS.
After his resignation from the United States army,
General Harrison was made chief officer of the Territo-
rial militia, with headquarters at Cincinnati. The follow-
ing order, with a private note to General (then Colonel)
John S. Gano, emanated from him:
Cincinnati, September 24, 1798.
General Orders:
The secretary of the Territory, now vested with all the powers of
governor and commander in chief of the same — will, on Tuesday, the
twenty-fifth instant, review the First battalion of militia of Hamilton
county. The battalion is to be formed for this purpose at three o'clock,
on some convenient spot of ground near to Major Ludlow's.
Arthur St. Clair, jr., and Jacob Burnet will act as aids-de-camp to the
commander in chief on this occasion, and are to be respected and
obeyed accordingly.
William Henry Harrison,
Commander in Chief Militia Northwest Territory.
Will Colonel Gano please to fill up the blank in the above order with
the hour which he may think most convenient, and let me know the
one fixed on. W. H. H.
Lieutenant Colonel Gano, commander First battalion Hamilton county
militia.
Another battalion order, dated May 13, 1799, and
published in the Spy and Gazette four days afterwards,
proclaimed that —
The lieutenant colonel again calls on the officers of every grade to
exert themselves in exercising and teaching the men the necessary ma-
noeuvres as laid down in Baron Steuben's Institutes, etc. And it is
hoped thatlhe delay of the battalion may have a good effect; that is,
that the indicated farmers may have time to put in their summer crops,
and the indicated officers, at their company parades, may improve their
men in exercising them, so that they may be distinguished when the bat-
talion is formed, which will be on the Fourth of July, next.
By order
Daniel Symmes,
Lieutenant and Adjutant.
The "glorious Fourth'' rolled around in the fullness of
time; and "Spectator" makes report to the Spy that
"the battalion paraded accordingly;'' that "two or three
companies on foot were in uniform, and a troop of horse,
about thirty in number, mostly so also, the whole being
reviewed by his excellency, William Henry Harrison,
governor of the territory pro tempore.''
The militia of the village and county came in a few
years to number about eight hundred, organized in five
companies, one of which was light infantry. James
Smith — "Sheriff Smith" — is said to have been captain of
the first light infantry company raised in Cincinnati,
which was probably this one. He was afterwards pay-
master in the First regiment, Third detachment, Ohio
militia, in the War of 181 2. The five companies above
mentioned composed an odd battalion, attached to the
First brigade, First division, Ohio militia. They were re-
quired to occupy two days in the spring for muster and
training, and four days in the fall, two of which were de-
voted to a school of instruction for the officers.
"heads up!"
The following notice appeared in the Spy and Gazette
for July 16, 1800:
HEADS UP, SOLDIERS !
Those gentlemen who wish to join a volunteer light infantry company
are requested to meet at Mr. Yeatman's tavern.
The company was accordingly organized, and was that
commanded by Sheriff Smith, as before noted. There
seems to have been a little of the holiday soldier about
its members, for a subsequent notice in the Spy reads:
"In consequence of rain, the muster, etc., of the Cincin-
nati light infantry is postponed."
GENERAL FINDLAY.
In August, 1804, General James S. Findlay, of Cin-
cinnati, received his election in the First division of Ohio
militia; which was the occasion of the following letter
from Governor Tiffin to General Gano, commander of
the division :
Chillicothe, August 31, 1804.
Dear General — I have just received yours of the twenty-eighth
inst., enclosing the returns of General Findlay's election, and herewith
you will receive his commission. 1 am glad to hear you are now
nearly completing your very laborious task of organizing your division.
Do pray push forward with the same zeal and industry you have uni-
formly manifested until it is completed. If you knew the trouble and
plague I have with other divisions you would pity me, and
Yours, very respectfully,
Edward Tiffin.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETEEN
the local militia consisted of the Cincinnati light dra-
goons, our old friends the light infantry, and the Cincin-
nati. The Gazetteer of that year says: "These compa-
nies are organized within the corporation, are handsomely
uniformed, and are well acquainted with military tactics.
Their appearance is nowise inferior to the European
militia."
The biography of Mr. William Robson, Queen City
militia man of the ancient days, prepared for Cincinnati,
Past and Present, includes the following reminiscences :
It may not be amiss to give, at this point, his reminiscences of the
old-time drill in Cincinnati. When about eighteen years old— in 1821
—he was ordered out to drill with the men, and the grotesque figure
that they cut with their implements of warfare made an indelible im-
pression upon his mind, which, we apprehend, was imbued with a keen
sense of the ridiculous. It appears that the State was either too poor '
to furnish them with firearms, or else withheld them for fear they would
hurt themselves; and so their only weapons were sticks and cornstalks.
The commons on which the muster took place extended from Walnut
street to Plum street, and from Seventh street to Hamilton road.
There were then but two or three houses on the land within these lim-
its. One of there was a public house kept by "Mother Mohawk,"
called the "Hop Yard," on Plum street, west of what is now Washing-
ton park. This was the great place for holding Dutch balls on Satur-
day nights; and was principally frequented by the hatters and butchers
who generally indulged in a free fight when a considerable number be-
longing to each fraternity would meet, the object being to get posses-
sion of the ranch and girls. On one occasion the regiment was being
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
367
formed under the command of Colonel Z. Biggs, where the canal runs
east and west. The colonel was dressed in blue cloth coat, with large
yellow facings, and was mounted on a very spirited horse. Non-com-
batants had assembled in large numbers to witness the manoeuvres of
the nondescript soldiers and add interest to the frolicking day, when
the colonel gave the order for them to "swing" so that the regiment
would front to the westward. This order, according to one of the rank
and file, was "obeyed right gallantly." But the Independent Press,
under the following lines:
" Charge! charge! with mutual voice they cry,
And rush to battle bloody — "
adds additional comment on the doings of that day, by saying that
they made great havoc on hogs, dogs, grasshoppers and boys; and, as
their colonel had desired, were stopped in their course of destruction by
a post-and-rail fence; and remarks that if the fence had not been there,
they would have been charging still !
The comical musters of that day easily gave " Horace
in Cincinnati" a tempting field for the exercise of his tal-
ents; and among the satires contributed by Mr. Pierce to
the Independent Press was the following. Most of the
characters named will be recognized by the readers of this
history :
MILITIA MUSTER 1 82 2.
BY HORACE.
"All the cobblers, tinkers, and tailors of the city had mounted the nodding
plume."
"See, Will," said Jack (they had went out
With curious eyes and hearts right stout,
To view the gallant, joyous rout,
Drawn up for deeds of chivalry),
"See, first comes Findlay, doughty knight,
Arrayed in casque and goose-plume white,
Cloth coat, buff vest, and breeches tight,
Commander of the field;
"Jim Wallace on his left elbow,
A man who fears not pigmy foe;
And on his right Sir Dan Gano,
Who well & pen can wield."
They take their post by spreading tree,
That they may view and better see
The movements of the host;
And see ride up fierce Colonel Carr,
The foremost always in a war
'Gainst pancakes, steak, and toast;
' ' With Ferris clad in tough bull-hide,
Bold Scott upon his larboard side,
Who can a brandy buffet 'bide,
As well as stalwart blows.
1 ' There's Churchill, who will break a lance, ,
Give him but fair and knightly chance,
With any foe that dare advance
Against his fiery nose.
" See brave M'Farland lead the van,
Chief of a cruel, butchering clan,
Dabsters among calves and sheep;
And just behind, Sir Charley Hales,
Chivalric knight at auction sales,
In physic wondrous deep.
"And here's the youthful Whittemore,
Well skilled in merchant's mystic lore;
Tho' young, he's heard the cat-gut's roar
And kens a yardstick's strength.
"There's valiant Doughtrough in his rear,
Who's thrown aside cakes, bread, and beer,
And now is buckled to a spear
Of thirty inches length.
"Behold stout Nutting strut,
The knight of the capacious gut,
His height just five feet three;
And, last of all— but hold! hark!
Is that the war-dog's surly bark?
For Mars' sake, look and see!"
Said Will, " It is the slogan yell,
That on the air does loudly swell —
Look! they have broke their line!
See how they run! — see how they fly,
Shouting loud their battle-cry,
'Byjing, it's dinner time!'
"Voracious Carr is at their head,
Doughtrough' s hard by, he'll ne'er be led
In foray 'gainst a loaf of bread —
By the powers of mud, not he !
' ' ' Charge, Doughtrough, charge ! Ye head of gourd ! '
Was Colonel Carr's last fighting word. "
THE MILITIA OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX,
in the Fourth of July parade of that year, were noted as
the Cincinnati Hussars, Captain Norsell; the Washing-
ton Artillery, Captain Brinkerhoff ; the Lafayette Grays,
Captain Harrison; and the Cincinnati Guards, Captain
Emerson. None of these companies have survived to
the present time.
A NOTABLE COMPANY.
The most famous military organization which the city
ever had, is said to have been the Rover Guards. The
daily Commercial of October 31, 1880, gives the follow-
ing outline history of this command :
Prior to 1852, when the present paid fire department of our city was
organized, the force afforded protection from fire was a volunteer one
with hand engines. A noted company of firemen was that of the
Rovers, located on East Fourth street, near Broadway. Their engines
were of the best make and the most elaborate finish, and named the
Red Rover, the Pilot, and the Water Witch. The company was com-
posed of the elite of the city. When the volunteer fire department
was disbanded in 1852, the company resolved to perpetuate their name
by forming a military company, to be known as the Rover Guards.
The uniform of the company, as many will remember, was. the most
brilliant and showy that taste could devise and money purchase. It
was made of scarlet cloth, faced and trimmed with buff and gold,
with black bear skin shako of the grenadier pattern. In a few years
their name was a familiar one all over the country. Before the war of
the Rebellion was inaugurated, a. disagreement in the company was
followed by a withdrawal of many members, who formed another com-
pany, the noted Guthrie Greys.
When news of the firing on Fort Sumter was received, in April,
1861, President Lincoln, by proclamation, called for seventy-five thou-
sand volunteers for defence of the National capital. The very first to
volunteer were the famous Rover Guards, who left Cincinnati for the
war the very day after the proclamation came by telegraph. The mem-
bers left their offices, their work-shops, their counting-houses, and
their families, and volunteered en masse. Under the command of
Captain George M. Finch, they became company A, of the Second
regiment of Ohio volunteers, and served in the Army of the Potomac.
Other members organized a second company the day following, which,
under the command of the late Captain H. E. Symmes, became com-
pany C, of the Fifth Ohio volunteers.
Still later in the war, the company name was perpetuated by a third
organization, under command of Captain M. S. Lord, who served as
company D, of the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Ohio volunteers.
Many men who gained their first knowledge of military tactics, and
acquired their high ambition for military glory and renown while serv-
ing in the ranks of the Rover Guards, became officers in different regi-
ments of the service until it might be said that thousands and thousands
of patriotic soldiers were organized and commanded during the war by
members of this historic company.
An effort was made, in the fall of 1880, by the few re-
maining members of the guards yet left in Cincinnati, to
form a life association of the veterans.
368
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
LATER ORGANIZATIONS.
In 1857-8, all the regularly organized volunteer troops
in and near Cincinnati were comprised in the Third bri-
gade, Frst division, Ohio volunteer militia, under the
command of Brigadier General Charles H. Sargent.
His staff was composed of Brigade Major W. C. Thorp,
Brigade Quartermaster Captain E. P. Jones ; and Cap-
tain C. B. Williams, aid-de-camp. "Rover Regiment A"
had for field officers and regimental staff Colonel John
Kennett, Lieutenant Colonel Vanaken Wonder, and Ma-
jor T. W. Haskell; Lieutenant J. B. Stockton, adjutant;
H. G. Kennett, quartermaster; William Niswell, pay-
master. Its companies were : Young American artillery,
Captain A. G. Kennett; Fulton artillery, Captain J. T.
Cushing; Cincinnati Rover dragoons, Captain H. W.
Burdsell ; Cincinnati Rover guards, General C. H. Sar-
gent commanding; Fulton guards of Liberty, Captain A.
E. Jones; Texas guards of Liberty, Captain L. Wilson;
Crockett rangers, Captain J. J. Dennis; Washington
Rifles, Captain Little; Invincible Rifles, Captain William
Craven. The First Independent regiment had F. Linch
for colonel, Frank Smith, lieutenant colonel, and Charles
Snyder, major; but seems to have been, for a time at
least, without staff officers. The companies were: the
Washington dragoons, Captain Frank Smith; Lafayette
guards, Captain P. Mueller; Jackson guards, Captain
Joseph Kuhule; German sharpshooters, Captain C. Sol-
omons; German Liberty guards, Captain Frank Miller;
German Yagers, Captain John Schram; Steuben guards,
Captain C. Amis; Cincinnati cadets, Captain J. A. Kel-
ler. The Cincinnati Independent battalion, attached to
the brigade, had Major James Reynolds for commander
and Lieutenant John O'Dowd, adjutant. Its five com-
panies were the Sarsfield artillery, Captain Tiernon; Sars-
field guards, Captain Levy; Shield's guards, Lieutenant
Thomas Lavender commanding; Republican guards,
Captain McGroarty; and the Queen City cadets, Cap-
tain J. W. Burke. The Independent Guthrie Grays, Cap-
tain William K. Bosley, was not attached. It afterwards
formed the nucleus of one of the earliest and finest regi-
ments raised for the war of the Rebellion in Cincinnati.
The remainder of the list is noticeable for the number of
the names it contains of those who distinguished them-
selves in that great struggle.
The number of militia companies formed in and about
Cincinnati during and since the war thickens too rapidly
for us to follow their history. The Ohio National guard,
as is well known, was formed in the course of the con-
flict, the order for its formation being received in the city
April 4, 1863, and responded to with all desirable
promptness. The First battalion of the guards is a
Hamilton command. Company B is called the Lytle
guards, from General W. H. Lytle, who fell at Chicka-
mauga. It was formed in August, 1868. Company C
was formed in 1868 as a company for a Zouave battalion,
and reorganized in 1872 as the Cincinnati Light guard.
Company D was recruited in 1874 as the Queen City
guards. Company E, the Harrison Light guard, belongs
to Harrison, in the northwest part of the county, where
it has its armory. July 4, 1876, the First regiment, Ohio
National guard, went into camp at Oakley, near the city,
where it remained for instruction and dicipline three days.
The Sniton cadets, named from a well known citizen,
were organized in the spring of 1875.
The Cincinnati Jaeger company (German) was formed
the same year; also the Camp Washington dragoons.
Several private volunteer German companies are known
as the Turnverein cadets.
In addition to the companies of the National guard
in the city, the police force is regularly drilled in the
manual of arms, to serve upon occasion. A Gatling gun,
purchased during the disturbances by the railway em-
ployes in 1877, is also the property of the city, and is
kept in readiness for use.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
AMUSEMENTS.
The colonists of Losantiville, battling with the wilder-
ness and the Indians, struggling against the forces of na-
ture in their effort to found a home in the forest by the
shore, had little time or opportunity, if they had inclina-
tion, for public amusements. The recreations character-
istic of the backwoods and the frontier were of course
theirs; and, with the growth of the years and the plant-
ing of settlements more thickly along the Ohio valley, so
that concert troupes and other caterers to the popular
tastes could make something like "a tour" in the new
country, the era of public entertainments set in. The
first reliance, however, was naturally upon home resources
and talent. The officers at the fort were a gay and ver-
satile party, and often gave dramatic performances, or
cooperated with such of the villagers as had set amateur
theatricals on foot. The tedium of garrison and back-
woods life was greatly relieved by their aid.
THE THESPIANS.
In 1801 we begin to hear more definitely of amateur
theatricals in the little town, and the formation — at any
rate, the existence — that year, of a home company of
Thespians. It was probably composed, in good part, of
officers of the garrison, since the place of meeting and
performance at this time was in the artificers' yard of the
fort. Four years afterward, when the troops had evacu-
ated the fort, we learn of Messrs. Thomas H. Sill, Ben-
jamin Drake, Dr. Stall, Lieutenant Totten, and others, as
members of the band. Their rendezvous at this time
was the loft of the stable on General Findlay's premises
back of the present site of the Spencer house. The
next year they gave a performance of "The Poor Gen-
tleman " in a stone stable, very likely the same. Yeat-
man's tavern was not far distant, and a noteworthy allu-
sion was made to his famous sign, in the following couplet
from the prologue:
To call in customers we need to raise no rumpus;
You can't mistake the sign; 'tis Yeatman's square and compass.
~)*z<£&
■ewii^)
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
369
General Findlay delivered an address at the opening of
the entertainment; and Major Zeigler, who was then
president of the village, made a splendid figure as door-
keeper, in knee-breeches, with cocked hat and sword, in
the good old-time manner.
THE CINCINNATI THEATRE.
•
A performance at the "Cincinnati Theatre'' was regu-
larly announced in the Western Spy and Hamilton Ga-
zette for September 30, 1801, at the same time the "Cin-
cinnati races'' were to occur. The embryo institution
fell into financial difficulties soon after, and on the twelfth
of December an appeal was made through the same me-
dium to all subscribers to the theatre to advance the sum
of twenty-five cents upon each ticket — probably season
tickets — and to sell single tickets for fifty cents each, for
the benefit of the enterprise.
About 1806 amateur histrionic performances in Cin-
cinnati were regularly organized. Mr. E. D. Mansfield,
in one of his entertaining books, gives the following rem-
iniscences of them:
In the performers was Dr. Drake, with Totten, Mansfield, Sill, and
other young men. The corps being entirely deficient in females, the
young men had to assume both the parts and dress of the female char-
acters. The performance took place in a large barn, and is said to have
gone off with great eclat. If the actors had not the advantage of mu-
sic and paraphernalia which attended the performances of Talma and
Garrick, they were quite as successful in exciting the laughter and pro-
moting the amusement of their audiences; and as this village playing
was unattended with any of the stimulants to vice and dissipation so
disgraceful to modern theatres, it may be placed to the account of what
Johnson called the common stock of harmless amusements.
June 27, 1808, a special performance was given by the
Thespians, for the benefit of the single fire company of
the village.
AMUSEMENT SOCIETIES.
Very early in the century two local organizations were
formed to provide for the popular amusement — the
Thespian corps and the Harmonical society. We have
already learned something of the work undertaken by the
former. The later was composed of amateur musicians,
who formed a brass band and furnished the orchestra at
all the entertainments given by the Thespians. The per-
formances were commonly in the "stone stable already
referred to, in rear of Yeatman's tavern. Among the
actors are remembered Ethan A. Brown, afterwards gov-
ernor of the State ; General Findlay and Mr. Sill, both
subsequently members of Congress; Rawlingsand Wade,
who became famous lawyers; Nicholas Longworth,
Colonel Cutler, Captain Mansfield, and others of note
then or afterwards. The proceeds of a series of perform-
ances were designed at first for a public library, but were
ultimately turned into a fund for the building of the
Lower market.
In 1814 a circus enclosure, on the west side of Main
street, below Fourth, was used by the Thespians as their
"Shell-bark Theatre." Among the actors at this time
were Griffin Taylor, E. Webb, Joseph Thomas, William
Douglass, Calvin Fletcher, John F. Stall, Thomas Hen-
derson, Nathaniel Sloe, Abijah Ferguson, Junius and
John H. James, Samuel Findlay, the two Hinduses, the
Bensons, and Mr. Hepburn. Music was furnished by
Caszelles and Doane, with Zumma at the bassoon; C.
Thomas, clarionet; Samuel Best, violin; Joseph and
Samuel Harrison, bass drum. Joseph Hindus was the
scenic artist as well as low comedian.
THE FIRST THEATRE BUILDING.
The same year a vigorous movement was made in the
direction of a permanent and worthy place of public
amusement. December 13, 1814, the following an-
nouncement, probably emanating from the Thespian
corps, or some member or members of it, appeared in
the Liberty Hall newspaper:
"THEATRICAL NOTICE
' ' All persons who are favorable to the establishment of a theater in
this place are requested to meet at the Columbian Inn on Thursday
evening next, the fifteenth instant, at seven o'clock. The members of
the Cincinnati Thespian Society are also particularly requested to at-
tend."
The result of this agitation was the erection of a play-
house, but of a cheap and temporary character — a small
frame, on the south side of Columbia or Second street,
between Main and Sycamore, on the identical site where
the famous old Columbia Street theatre was' afterwards
built. The Thespians had still to be mainly responsible
for its erection, and wholly so for a year or two for the
entertainments within it. They attempted to disarm op-
position by offering to give the proceeds of the perform-
ances to charitable purposes, but a very vigorous antag-
onism was nevertheless developed, under the lead of the
Rev. Dr. Wilson, pastor of the Presbyterian church. He
held, as many excellent people would probably still hold,
that the new theatre threatened serious injury to the
morals of the town. The Thespians, some of whom
were quite as much concerned for the morals of Cincin-
nati as the reverend doctor, accepted the gage of battle,
and maintained stout controversy with him through the
newspapers and otherwise. The Fourth of July celebra-
tion of one year was made the opportunity, by some
ardent advocate of the new institution, of a humorous
fling at the doctor. The following toast was offered:
"The Cincinnati Theatre — May it not, like the walls of
Jericho, fall at the sound of Joshua's horn."
The columns of Liberty Hall and the Spy for some
months teemed with fulminations from one side or the
other of this question. Dr. Wilson, after the classic
style of that day, wrote over the name " Philanthropos ;"
his principal opponent appeared in print as "Theatricus,"
and the terms in which they assailed each other's posi-
tions, were similarly ponderous. The following, from the
communications of Theatricus to Liberty Hall of March
4, 1815, is a good sample extract:
One word upon music and for the present I have done. You have
denounced in pretty round terms the use of that enchanting science in
all cases but for devotion. Can you forget 'tis music which alternately
inspires the soldier with nerve and ardor for the conflict, and thrill's
with extacy [sicj or wraps with enthusiasm the most peaceful bosom of
taste and sensibility — that pity, and terror, and hope, and gladness
are the concomitant attributes of its power, and that aided by popular
sentiment and poetry it forms no trifling link in the political chain
which encircles its !
The theatre, in charge of the Thespians, was main-
tained against all opposition this year; but not with dis-
37°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tinguished financial success. A circus was already ex-
hibiting in the place, and drew more of the public
patronage. It is doubtful if the theatre more than paid
expenses this year, though its managers, even before its
debts were paid, put fifty dollars into the charity fund.
The next year a regular troupe of travelling players, the
"Pittsburgh Company of Comedians," managed by the
well-remembered Drake, took Cincinnati in their route
from Pittsburgh to Frankfort, Kentucky, and gave a
series of performances here.
THE COLUMBIA STREET THEATRE.
Mr. Drake was so well pleased with the patronage ac-
corded his company during this and ensuing season, and
the prospects of popular amusement in Cincinnati, that in
April, 1819, he announced to the people of the newly-
fledged city that he was ready to listen to any proposition
fromthem looking to the construction of a more permanent
place of entertainment. The controversy of 1815, between
"Philanthropos" and his opponents, again broke out,
and with greater virulence than ever; but Drake and his
project were strongly backed, and moved steadily forward.
May nth, a meeting of citizens favorable to a new
theatre was held at the reading-room, a company of thirty
to forty stockholders formed, and a subscription paper
drawn up, in which Mr. Drake solemnly pledged himself
"to preserve the purity and morality of the stage." The
paper was successfully circulated, and the necessary
funds secured without much difficulty; so the construc-
tion of the edifice was begun in September, and finished
early the next spring. It stood on the site of the tem-
porary affair built four years before, at the corner of a
narrow alley running from Second to Front streets, on
the west side of the theatre, and between Main and
Sycamore streets. It was a brick building, forty feet
front, ninety-two feet deep, with a wing ten feet in depth,
projecting from the rear. A portico, twelve by forty
feet, adorned the Second street side, with a pediment
supported by Ionic pillars, half of which were embedded
in the wall,' and a neat flight of steps to the door of en-
trance, which all together made an attractive front. Its
sittings comprised two tiers of boxes, a "pit," after the
fashion of that day, and a gallery, and were sufficient for
six to eight hundred people. The door of the pit
opened on the alley. The stage was commodious for a
theatre of the size, and was screened by the traditional
green curtain. It was furnished with sperm-oil footlights,
and the auditorium was lighted by a chandelier and
lamps upon the balustrade of the second tier of boxes.
An ornamental arch and two flattened columns on either
side constituted the proscenium, and between each pair
of columns was a panelled door, out of which an actor
could conveniently step when called before the curtain.
Through one of these, too, the manager or one of the
actors would appear every evening between the plays
of which there were pretty sure to be two or more every
evening — to make formal announcement of the perform-
ances for the next night. Just below the arch and over
the curtain, in letters of stone color, was the Shakespearian
line:
"to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature."
Judge Carter, in a chapter of reminiscences contribu-
ted to the Daily Enquirer for November 28, 1880, upon
which we have drawn freely for the purposes of this
article, says: "This was an excellent motto for that old-
day theatre, for if ever the mirror was held up to nature
by actors and actresses it was done by those excellent
ones of the old Columbia Street theatre."
The little new theatre, when finished, was thought to
be something quite superb. The Literary Cadet of
March 16, 1820, about the time it was completed, said:
"The building, we believe, is the best structure of the
kind in the western country this side of New Orleans."
In May, 1823, a Covington painter named Lucas painted
a view of Cincinnati from the Kentucky side for a drop
curtain, which added further to the attractions of this
theatre. It was specially notable as the first art work
which Covington — then a village for only about eight
years — had produced, and one which, says a Kentucky
historian, "attracted a great deal of attention for its
beauty and uniqueness."
The management of the new theatre was undertaken
by Messrs. Collins and Jones, who had taken one-half
the stock in the new enterprise, "both of whom," said
Theatricus in one of his newspaper articles, "are favora-
bly known to our citizens for their dramatic talent and
' gentlemanly deportment, and both of whom are deter-
mined upon fixing their residence here; thereby not only
insuring their best exertions for rendering the establish-
ment both popular and respectable (and they have
already offers of assistance from some of the best per-
formers of the seaboard); but what will be of greater
importance to some, they will avoid the odium attached
to the light heeled gentry of the circus of carrying off its
thousands to scatter in other climes, instead of returning
them in invigorating currents to the various classes from
which they are drained."
For fourteen years the Columbia Street flourished in
honor and tolerable pecuniary success. In 1825, how-
ever, some debts had accumulated' against it, and it was
sold at public vendue by the company to two persons.
Finally it fell a prey to the devouring flames late in the
night of April 4, 1834.
some notes.
In 18 13 a travelling museum, with wax works, trans-
parencies of Washington, by Mr. and Mrs. Manly, and
other irresistible attractions, was shown by Messrs. Je-
rome and Clark at Harlow's tavern.
Already, before the opening of the new theatre, Cincin-
natians had had an occasional taste of the higher order
of dramatic performance. On the night of the Fourth
of July, 1 819, there was a notable rendition of the part
of "Isabella," by Mrs. Belinda Groshorn, an English ac-
tress, who spent her last days and died here, and has a
monument in Spring Grove cemetery.
In 1823 an institution called the "Vauxhall Garden"
was kept at the old orchard of General Gano, on the east
side of Main street, above Fifth, by two Frenchmen, one
named Charles and the other known as Vincent Dumilleiz.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
371
By this time the place of amusement on Columbus
street seems to have been designated as the Globe the-
atre; and it was at this, upon the evening of July 4, 1823,
that a memorable performance was given — memorable
chiefly because in the little company of actors- playing
"Venice Preserved," was a youth of sixteen, undertaking
the part of "Jaffier," whose name was Edwin Forrest.
He was the son of poor parents, among the pioneer fam-
ilies of Butler county, in whose dense woods he had been
brought up. He exhibited much histrionic talent while
still a boy at school, and was incessantly practicing imi-
tations and grimaces and taking part in simple dramas in
barns and elsewhere. In Cincinnati he got his start thus
early with a strolling theatrical corps, with whom he went
to New Orleans, arriving there too shabbily dressed to
make a decent appearance on the streets of the southern
metropolis. His evident merits as an actor, however,
soon attracted the attention of some of the wealthiest
people in the city, who bought him a good suit of clothes
and otherwise favored him, so that he was soon fully
launched upon his long and remarkably successful career.
The occasion of Forrest's first appearance was the benefit
of Cargill, one of the troupe, who was assisted by his
new made bride, herself an actress of no small note at the
time — Amelia Seymour. Everdale was conductor of the
orchestra, and the new drop scene representing Cincin-
nati as seen from the opposite shore, was another element
in the attractions of the evening.
When the next Fourth of July came around (1824)
the circus of Pepin & Barnes was in town, a "grand, pan-
regal" affair, with musical instruments twenty-four long,
and an exhibition of thirteen life-sized figures performing
on trumpets.
In 1829 the amusements of the city are noted in the
Directory as being the theatre on Second street; Let-
ton's and the Western Museums; the Gallery of paint-
ings, at the corner of Main and Upper Market; the Apol-
lonian Garden, on Congress street, near Deer creek; and
the Atheneum and Reading-room on Fourth street, ad-
joining the city council chamber. The last named was
open from 8 a. m. to 9:30 P. m., and was supplied with
newspapers and periodicals to the value of four hundred
dollars per annum. Five dollars a year entitled a sub-
scriber to its privileges. There was still another read-
ing-room in town.
On the fifth of July, 1830, the peripatetic show of Ma-
comber & Company was exhibited at the corner of Sixth
and Walnut streets. It included in its attractions a white
bear, a leopard and a tiger.
On the evening of the same day — which seems to have
been observed as Independence Day this year — one
Herr Cline wheeled a barrow up a rope or wire from the
stage to the gallery.
MRS. TROLLOPE'S VIEW
of theatricals in Cincinnati about this time is expressed
in the following extract from her book:
The theatre at Cincinnati is small, and not very brilliant in decora-
tion; but in the absence of any other amusement our young men fre-
quently attended it, and in the bright, clear nights of autumn and win-
ter the mile and a half of distance was not enough to prevent the less
enterprising members of the family fiom sometimes accompanying
them. The great inducement to this was the excellent acting of Mr.
and Mrs. Alexander Drake, the managers. Nothing could be more
distinct than their line of acting, but the great versatility of their pow-
ers enabled them often to appear together. Her cast was the highest
walk of tragedy, and his the broadest comedy; but yet, as Goldsmith
says of his sister heroines, I have known them change characters for
a whole evening together, and have wept with him and laughed with
her, as it was their will and pleasure to ordain. His comic
songs might have set the gravity of the judges and bishops together at
defiance. Liston is great, but Alexander Drake was greater.
Her talent is decidedly first-rate. Deep and genuine feeling, cor-
iect judgment, and the most perfect good taste, distinguish her play in
every character. Her last act of Belvidera is superior in tragic effect to
anything I ever saw on the stage, the one great exception to all com-
parison, Mrs. Siddons, being set aside.
It was painful to see these excellent performers playing to a miser-
able house, not a third full, and the audience probably not including
half a dozen persons who would prefer their playing to that of the vilest
strollers [!]. In proof of this, I saw them as managers, give place to
paltry third-rate actors from London, who would immediately draw
crowded houses, and be overwhelmed with applause[!!].
The theatre was really not a bad one, though the very poor receipts
rendered it impossible to keep it in high order.
Some further remarks of Mrs. Trollope upon the
theatre of that time may be found in the chapter relating
to her residence in and near Cincinnati. Not less enter-
taining than the Trollopean diatribes, but in a different
way, are tne following, now printed, we believe, for the
first time:
RULES AND REGULATIONS.
The following code of "Rules and Regulations of the
Cincinnati Theatre, on Columbia street," promulgated
May 1, 1830, and printed as a poster for the informa-
tion of all frequenting the establishment, will be read
half a century later with interest. We give the italics as
we find them :
I. Gentlemen will be particular in not disturbing the audience by
loud talking in the Bar-Room, nor by personal altercations in any part
of the house.
II. Gentlemen in the boxes and in the pit are expected not to wear
their hats nor to stand nor sit on the railing, during the performance;
as they will thereby prevent the company behind, and in the lobby,
from seeing the stage. Those in the side boxes will endeavor to avoid
leaning forward as, from the construction of the house, the projection
of one person's head must interrupt the view of several others on the
same line of seats.
III. The practice of cracking nuts (now abandoned in all well regu-
lated Theatres) should be entirely avoided during the time the curtain
is up; as it must necessarily interfere with the pleasure of those who
feel disposed to attend to the performance.
IV. Persons in the upper Boxes and Gallery will be careful to avoid
the uncourteous habit of throwing nut-shells, apples, etc., into the Pit;
and those in the Pit are cautioned against clambering over the balus-
trade into the Boxes, either during or at the end of the Performance.
V. Persons in the Gallery are requested not to disturb the harmony
of the House by boisterous conduct, either in language or by striking
with sticks on the seats or bannisters, etc. The same decorum will be
expected (and enforced) from that part of the audience as from any
other.
VI. As both manager and performers are disconcerted by the pres-
ence of spectators during the hours of Rehearsal (from 10 to 2), it is
found necessary to prohibit the entrance of visitors, on such occasions,
further than the outer lobby or Box-office. Intrusions behind the scenes,
on nights of performance, are also prohibited — except in urgent cases.
Messages from the audience to the manager can be conveyed, either by
direct calls or through the agency of the Door-keeper.
VII. The Box-Office (on the left side of the vestibule) will be open
from 10 to 1, and from 3 to 6, every day, where seats may be taken
and secured in either tier, until the opening of the 2d Act. Gentlemen
will, of course, leave unoccupied those seats which are marked as en-
gaged by others, until the stipulated time; as the interruption, on the
arrival of the proper owners, must be unpleasant to all parties.
372
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
VIII. The prices of admission will continue as usual, viz: ist Tier
of Boxes, and Pit, 75 cents: — 2d Tier, 50 cents: — Gallery, 25 cents.
Colored persons will occupy the Gallery Slips on the East side. On
occasions of great attraction, it may be found expedient to unite the
upper and lower Boxes, according to the original plan.
IX. When side Benches are placed in the lobbies, it is proper to re-
member that they are intended to enable the second row of standing
spectators to overlook the Jirst;—axi object which is entirely frustrated
by dragging them out from the wall and impeding the passage to the
boxes.
X. For the purpose of accommodating those who may be prevented
from an earlier attendance, the Manager will, on ordinary occasions,
allow a deduction in the price of admission after the Fourth act — or
first half of the performance.
XI. Checks are only receivable the same evening they are issued,
and from the persons who originally obtained them.
XII. Smoking is altogether prohibited, as a practice at once danger-
ous and offensive.
«®"The Manager being resolved to render the theatre worthy of the
patronage of an enlightened and refined community, respectfully sub-
mits to the friends of the drama the foregoing rules adopted for their
protection; and has only to hope that he may rarely have occasion to
call to his aid the authority employed for enforcing them.
THE MUSEUMS.
In the summer of 1818 Mr. William Steele, a citizen
of Cincinnati, proposed to Dr. Drake and two other gen-
tlemen that they should found a public museum. The
prudent doctor preferred the organization of a larger as-
sociation, and a meeting of citizens was accordingly held,
at which a constitution was adopted. Some local collec-
tions of curiosities were got together, some purchases
made, and the institution was formally opened on the
tenth of June, 1820, with an address on the objects and
advantages of the institution by Dr. Drake, from which a
suggestive extract was made in a previous chapter. For
several years it was managed by a board of directors,
with Dr. Robert Best, afterwards professor of chemistry
in the Transylvania university, a man of taste and talents,
for curator. The celebrated Audubon was curator for
a time in 1820, but did not stay long. He was succeeded
by Dr. Best, who also went out when the museum was
transferred by the society to Mr. Joseph Dorfeuille, who
had brought a large collection of foreign curiosities to
Cincinnati for exhibition. This transfer was made in
1823, and seems to have been gratuitous, the members of
the museum society only reserving to themselves the priv-
ilege of visiting the collections with their families. The
donations to it had been very liberal. Dr. Drake gave it
his cabinet of minerals, organic remains, fossils, and west-
ern antiquities. The managers made special explorations
in its interest at the Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, which
yielded many fossils and skeletons, and bones of the
larger mammalia. The several curators, of whom
James Griffiths was one, made interesting and important
collections of western quadrupeds, birds and fishes. Con-
ly Roquet, esq., the consul general of the United States
at Rio Janeiro, and other Americans in Brazil, sent the
museum several hundred fine specimens of natural his-
tory. Mr. Dorfeuille added his large collection of orien-
tal antiquities, foreign and domestic birds, and western
amphibia. A valuable collection was also bought from
Colonel John D. Clifford, at Lexington, Kentucky, com-
prising many choice specimens of American antiquities,
fossils, and other curiosities. In 1826 the museum con-
tained one hundred mammalia and bones, and the skele-
ton of an elephant, fifty bones of the megalonyx, thirty-
three quadrupeds, five hundred tiirds, two hundred fish,
five thousand invertebrate animals, one thousand fossils,
three thousand five hundred minerals, arranged according
to Cleayeland's system of mineralogy, three hundred and
twenty-five specimens in botany, three thousand one
hundred and twenty-five medals, coins, and tokens, one
hundred and fifty specimens of Egyptian antiquities and
two hundred and fifty of American, one hundred and
twelve colored microscopic designs; cosmoramic, optical,
and prismoramic views of American scenery and build-
ings; the tatooed head of a Naw Zealand chief; five
hundred miscellaneous curiosities, with several represen-
tatives of the fine arts, including a fine transparency de-
picting the battle of New Orleans, " by a lady of Cincin-
nati," and an "elegant organ." From time to time
lectures were delivered by scholarly gentlemen of the
city, illustrative of articles in the museum — a plan which
was somewhat prominent in the scheme of the founders.
Among the attractions of the museum in 1834 were
also "McCarty's invention,'' a curious machine "upon- a
new principle,'' a saw-mill operated by two bears, and
glass-spinning. The wax figures made by Hiram Powers
were among its most renowned features, in those days.
The "infernal regions," whose construction has been gen-
erally but wrongfully attributed to Powers, were long one
of the wierd fascinations of the musuem. Mrs. Trollope
of course had to have her words to say about this fea-
ture of the display. She writes in her book:
He [Mr. Dorfeuille] has constructed a pandemonium in an upper
story of his museum, in which he has congregated all the images of
horror that his fertile fancy could devise; dwarfs, that by machinery
grew into giants before the eyes of the spectator; imps of ebony with
eyes of flame; monstrous reptiles devouring youth and beauty; lakes of
fire and mountains of ice; in short, wax, paint, and springs have done
wonders. "To give the scheme some more effect," he makes it visible
only through a grate of massive iron bars, among which are arranged
wires connected with an electrical machine in a neighboring chamber;
should any daring hand or foot obtrude itself within the bars, it receives
a smart shock, that often passes through many of the crowd, and, the
cause being unknown, the effect is exceedingly comic; terror, astonish-
ment, curiosity, are all set in action, and all contribute to make Dor-
feuille's Hell one of the most amusing exhibitions imaginable.
Some years afterward the museum was visited by Har-
riet Martineau, who thus recorded her impressions of it
in her Retrospect of Western Travel:
We visited the museum, where we found, as in all new museums
whose rooms want filling up, some trumpery among which .much is
worthy to mention. There was a mermaid not very cleverly con-
structed, and some bad wax figures, posted like sentinels among the
cases of geological and entomological specimens; but, on the whole,
the museum is highly creditable to the zeal of its contributors. There
is, among other good things, a pretty complete collection of the cur-
rency of the country, from the earliest colonial days, and some of other
countries with it. I hope this will be persevered in, and that the Cin-
cinnati merchants will make use of the opportunities afforded by their
commerce of collecting specimens of every kind of currency used in the •
world, from the gilt and stamped leather of trie Chinese and Siberians
to the last of Mr. Biddle's twenty dollar notes. There is a reasonable
notion abroad that the Americans are the people who will bring the
philosophy and practice of exchanges to perfection; and theirs are the
museums in which should be found a full history of currency, in the
shape of a complete set of specimens.
Michael Chevalier's Travels also speaks of the infernal
regions, "to which," he says, "the young Cincinnati girls
resort in quest of excitement which a comfortable and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
373
peaceful, but cold and monotonous manner of life de-
nies them. This strange spectacle seems to afford a
delicate agitation to their nerves, and is the principal
source of revenue to the museum." The Directory of
1834 characterizes the exhibition as "a very splendid
representation of hell."
After the death of Dorfeuille, Mr. Frederick Franks,
the artist, became proprietor and director of the museum,
and removed it to the corner of Third and Sycamore
streets, where its front was ornamented with the wooden
statue of Minerva, before referred to. Here he added a
stage to his equipment, upon which domestic perform-
ances were frequently given. He was also the proprie-
tor of a gallery of paintings, which was open to the
public for a consideration. More of this and other art
galleries is related in our chapter on art.
The premises he occupied were burned down, with all
their contents, late in the night of March 3r, 1840, and
that was the last of the Western, the Dorfeuille, and the
Franks museum, infernal regions and all.
Ralph Latten's famous museum was started in 1818,
while the project for the other was only being mooted, and
was at first the property of himself and a man named White.
It occupied spacious halls in the second and third sto-
ries of a brick building at the corner of Main and Fourth
streets. The upper story was mainly devoted to the ex-
hibition of wax-works. A local publication of 18 19
says: "It is understood that the proprietor intends mak-
ing the establishment one of permanency." It was at
this time at the corner of Main street and the Upper
market.
In 1826 it contained about two hundred birds, forty
animals, fifty mammalian bones, twenty-three wax fig-
ures, two thousand minerals, and a variety of Indian an-
tiquities, marine shells, and miscellaneous curiosities.
Besides transient visitors, it was supported by regular
subscribers, of whom there were about three hundred.
A course of lectures on ancient and modern history was
at one time included in its attractions.
After Letton's museum expired, it was long before an-
other was opened in Cincinnati. Finally Colonel Wood,
who had been associated with Barnum, and had started
in Chicago and other cities, opened a museum and thea-
tre in the second and third stories of the Broadwell
building, then standing on the northwest corner of Fifth
and Walnut streets. This survived for five or six years;
but went up in flame and smoke during the night of July
14, 1857. Since then, we believe, the Queen City has
had no museum.
THE THIRD STREET THEATRE.
In 1831, three years before the burning of the pioneer
Columbia street institution, Mr. James H. Caldwell, a
prominent theatrical manager in that day, having thea-
tres in Louisville, St. Louis, Natchez, New Orleans, and
Mobile, determined to build an extensive temple of the
muses in Cincinnati. It was situated on the south side
of Third street, between Sycamore street and Broadway,
and about equi-distant from them. Judge Carter gives
the following description of it:
This theatre was two stories high on Third street, and on account of
the descent from Third to Lower Market street, was five stories high on
the latter street, extending as it did from street to street. It was an
imposing structure, built of brick, about seventy feet on Third and
Lower Market, and one hundred and twenty feet from street to street.
The front was adorned with a pediment supported by flattened col-
umns, and a flight of steps extending across the whole front led up to
the doors. The interior had a most large and commodious stage, with
a grand proscenium and a most beautiful blue-colored cloth curtain,
trimmed in gold, which opened in and drew up from the middle. The
orchestra place was very large, and then there was a large pit and three
tiers of boxes, the upper one being the gallery, where the "gods and
goddesses" used to assemble on days, or rather nights of yore. The
stage was adorned with the most beautifully-painted scenery of any
theatre then in this country, the scenic artist being the then celebrated
Italian painter Mondelli.
This theatre was opened with a grand performance on
the evening of the Fourth of July, 1832, when an ad-
dress, written by Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, the novelist,
then residing in Cincinnati, was delivered by Mr. Cald-
well, and an essay in vindication of the drama, from the
pen of Isaac A. Jewett, was read. Mr. Caldwell had
given a prize of fifty dollars to the former, and another
of one hundred dollars to the latter.
In the same month a benefit was given to Edwin For-
rest, who appeared in the character of King Lear, with
Mrs. Rowe as Cordelia.
Mrs. Knight, another celebrated actress of the time,
also appeared soon in Perfection, and Invincible, or the
Little Cup.
This theatre lasted but little more than two years,
when, on the twenty-fifth day of October, 1836, it also
was burned. Mr. John Martin, stage carpenter, who had
lodgings in the building, lost his life in the flames — the
only fatality ever attending the burning of a theatre in
Cincinnati.
LIPPINCOTT'S -AMPHITHEATRE.
This was a great brick building on the southwest
corner of Second and Sycamore streets, intended mainly
for exhibitions of the horse drama, or circus. It was
erected in 18^3 by Mr. Lippincott, a wealthy dealer in
horses and livery-stable keeper in the city, who put it up
specially for the use of Bancker & Nichols, who had
been giving equestrian performances for several seasons
in a large frame amphitheatre on the subsequent site of
the National theatre, where also Mr. Caldwell had suc-
cessfully produced the legitimate drama before building
his theatre on Third street. Upon the ground floor of
the new structure was a large circus arena, and there was
also a stage for histrionic performances. The building
was completed, and announcement made for the open-
ing performance of Messrs. Bancker & Nichols' troupe
on the evening of January 31, 1834, when, only two
nights before, the structure took fire and burned to the
ground. A large number of valuable horses, many of
them carefully trained, were stabled in the building, and
not one of them was saved.
Mr. Lippincott became insane by reason of this terri-
ble calamity, and shortly afterwards hanged himself in
an out-house.
SHIRES' THEATRE.
After the transfer of the Burnet property on Third
and Vine streets to the branch bank of the United
374
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
States, and the judge's removal to his new building at
the corner of Seventh and Elm streets, the old dwelling
was taken by Mr. William Shires, and converted into a
restaurant and hotel. In process of time he utilized a
part of the spacious grounds still remaining unoccupied
west of the house, near Baker street, for the building of
a theatre — a plain, frame building, about fifty by one
hundred feet. It had a commodious stage, a spacious
pit, one tier of boxes for a dress-circle, and an uncom-
monly large balcony, or second tier. Judge Carter
says:
This theatre, under the energetic management of fellow-citizen
Shires, proved for several years of the forties a great success, and it
may be said that perhaps Cincinnati never saw better playing and act-
ing than on the boards of Shires' theatre. I could mention from
memory a great number of the greatest legitimate stars of the country
who from time to time performed there, and a still greater number of
the best legitimate plays performed there. London Assurance was en-
acted there with better arrangements and stronger cast than ever else-
where in our city, and a thousand other good plays.
This theatre, too, was burned January 8, 1848, in the
evening, during a great snow fall, whose flakes were most
brilliantly and beautifully illuminated by the surging
flames. This fire, thus clearing the ground, although the
Burnet mansion was saved, was one of the elements in
the projecting and building of the magnificent Burnet
house soon afterwards.
THE NATIONAL THEATRE.
In 1837 an effort was made to erect a yet more spa-
cious and creditable theatre — one worthy of the develop-
ment and demand of the 'city. A stock company was
organized and a considerable block of subscriptions made.
The times were perilous, however, and presently the
stockholders faltered and fluctuated in the enterprise.
Then came to the front Mr. John Bates, a banker who
had changed to banking from the wholesale grocery bus-
iness only the year before, and single-handed built the
famous "Old Drury," on the east side of Sycamore
street, between Third and Fourth. It was commenced
May 10, 1837, and pushed so rapidly that, although a
large and elegant building for that time, it was opened
for entertainments on the ensuing third of July. It had
been leased to Messrs. Scott & Thome, the latter then a
famous actor; and the opening pieces were "The Honey-
moon," and "Raising the Wind," in both of which
Thorne appeared. A prize address, by F. W. Thomas,
was also recited by Miss Mason.
The National was built upon a lot of one hundred feet
front and two hundred and six feet deep, and had an
uncommonly spacious stage, exceeding in size that of
Drury Lane, London, from which it finally received the
affectionate title of "Old Drury" from the venerable theatre
goers of Cincinnati. It is said to have been one of the
most convenient and excellently arranged theatres in the
country.
Mr. Bates was so much encouraged by the success of
his experiment at theatre-building in Cincinnati that he
afterwards built one in Louisville and another in St. Louis.
He managed the three houses of entertainment himself
for a time, but ultimately found it advisable to part with
all except the National. This was remodelled in 1856,
and a handsome stone front added. It had a long sea-
son of prosperity, until the opening of Pike'e Opera house,
when its star waned, but waxed again when Pike's burned
in 1866. It experienced many vicissitudes thereafter,
being occupied sometimes by the variety, sometimes by
the legitimate drama, until the last star performance was
given there under Macauley's management in 1871, when
Edwin Booth appeared in Shakespearian plays. After a
long period of comparative abandonment, the "Old
Drury" was finally sold in June, 1880, for seventeen
thousand five hundred dollars, to be converted into a
tobacco warehouse.
OTHER EXTINCT THEATRES.
The People's theatre was built some time in the '40's,
on the southeast corner of Sixth and Vine streets, and
was burned June 13, 1856.
Upon the same site afterwards rose Wood's theatre
(not the museum and theatre), where the last perform-
ance was given March 23, 1878, after which it was de-
molished to make way for the new Gazette building.
The Trivoli theatre is thought by Judge Carter to have
been the first German institution of the kind in Cincin-
nati. It occupied, he says, the third story of the large
brick building now standing on the corner of Sycamore
and Canal streets, and was well fitted up in German
order and style for lager beer and dramatic performances,
and had quite a career for the entertainment of our Ger-
man fellow citizens and their American friends. The
theatre — that is, the upper stories of this building — was
burnt out August 13, i860.
The Palace Varieties was a large frame structure on
Vine street. The Arcade now passes over its site. It is
believed to have been the first variety theatre in the city.
On the ninth day of July, 1869, it too. fell a prey to the
flames.
The Academy of Music was an elegant little theatre
on the northwest corner of Fourth and Home streets.
It was destroyed by fire December 8, 1870.
pike's opera house.
The original opera house built by Samuel N. Pike was
erected in 1859, upon the site of an ancient mound on
Fourth street, between Vine and Walnut. Its stage and
auditorium were larger and finer than those of the pres-
ent opera house, and their relative positions were exactly
reversed. After a performance of the "Midsummer
Night's dream, March 22, 1866, about midnight, it was
totally destroyed by fire. The present superb edifice
speedily rose out of its ashes, and has since been steadily
and generally successfully occupied for the purposes of
the opera and the drama, and occasionally for great pub-
lic meetings, the university commencements, Sunday
afternoon lectures, and the like. It has a seating capac-
ity of about two thousand.
THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE
is a more modern institution, occupying the fine building
of the Catholic institute, on the west side of Vine street,
corner of Longworth. It seats twenty-three hundred!
Above it is the well-known Mozart hall.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
375
OTHER PLACES OF ENTERTAINMENT.
Robinson's opera house, corner of Ninth and Plum
streets, built in 1872 by John Robinson, the veteran
circus manager.
Heuick's opera house, corner of Pine and Thirteenth
streets; chiefly variety entertainments.
Vine street opera house j variety.
Coliseum, Vine street, between Twelfth and Thir-
teenth; variety.
Lookout opera house, adjoining the Lookout house,
at the head of the Main street incline ; circus and dra-
matic performances.
The other hill-top resorts — The Highland, at the head
of the Mount Adams incline; the Bellevue house, at. the
head of the Mount Auburn incline, and that on Price's
hill.
The German, or Stadt theatre.
Music hall, with its various forms of entertainment,
has been sufficiently described in the chapter on Music.
THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
At present there are but two zoological gardens in the
United States, one at Philadelphia and the Cincinnati
garden. The Zoological society of Cincinnati, to which
alone the garden owes its existence, was organized in
1873 and is the direct outgrowth of the Acclimatization
society. In the early part of 1873 Mr. Andrew Erken-
brecher, then president of the last named organization,
directed the secretary of that body to correspond with
the celebrated naturalists, Dr. A. E. Brehm, with a view
of obtaining an estimate of the probable cost of a zoo-
logical garden established upon European models,
requesting statistics in regard to those already established
in Europe, and all other available information pertinent
to the subject. The reply of the distinguished scientist,
containing many valuable suggestions, and accompanied
by the annual reports and statements of several European
societies, was laid before a meeting of the Acclimatiza-
tion society, held at the rooms of the Cincinnati board
.of trade, June 19, 1873. At this meeting, a resolution,
offered by Mr. John Simpkinson, was adopted providing
for a committee charged with the duty of digesting a
plan of operations. The committee, consisting of Messrs.
Andrew Erkenbrecher, John Simpkinson, and George H.
Knight, subsequently called a meeting of citizens under-
stood to be favorable to the proposed enterprise, for
Monday, June 30, 1873, at which Dr. Lilienthal, Mr.
Simpkinson, and others, delivered spirited addresses, a
large sum of money was subscribed, and resolutions were
adopted providing for the incorporation of a society
whose capital stock should be three hundred throusand
dollars. In conformity with this action, Messrs. Simp-
kinson, Erkenbrecher, C Oskamp, Knight and A. Tenner,
subscribed articles of incorporation under the name of
the Zoological Society of Cincinnati, which were duly
filed and recorded according to law, on the eleventh day
of July, 1873. The first meeting of the newly formed
society was held at the board of trade rooms, on July
28th, and the following named gentlemen elected direc-
tors to manage its affairs, viz: Joseph Longworth, J.
Simpkinson, A. Erkenbrecher, A. Pfirmann, John A.
Mohlenhoff, Charles P. Taft, John Shillito, George K.
Schoenberger, and Julius Dexter. The board of direc-
tors thus constituted immediately organized and elected
the following named officers, viz: Joseph Longworth,
president; John Simpkinson, vice-president; Clemens
Oskamp, treasurer; Charles P. Taft, recording secretary,
and Armin Tenner, corresponding secretary.
From the constitution, as adopted at the first meeting
of the stockholders, we quote the following extracts :
Sec. I. The name of the society shall be "Zoological Society of
Cincinnati. ' '
Sec. II. The capital stock of the society shall be three hundred
thousand dollars, divided into six thousand shares, of fifty dollars each,
transferable only on the books of the society upon the surrender of the
certificate.
Sec. III. The object of the society shall be the establishment and
maintenance of a zoological garden at Cincinnati, and the study and
dissemination of a knowledge of the nature and habits of the creatures
of the animal kingdom.
Sec. XVI. Stockholders shall be entitled to receive for each share of
stock up to the number of five, twenty single tickets of admission each
year, or one season ticket. All season tickets shall be issued in the
name oi a particular person, which shall be registered, and any season
ticket presented by any other person than the one to whom it is issued
shall be forfeited. The name on any season ticket may be changed at
the option of the holder, upon surrender of the ticket, and a. new sea-
son ticket will be issued in the substituted name, which shall be good
for the the balance of the year.
As will be seen from the foregoing summary of its his-
tory and organization, the Zoological society is a strictly
private enterprise, not in any way dependent upon mu-
nicipal aid for its existence or maintenance. At present
the society consists of over four hundred members, rep-
resenting a subscribed capital of about two hundred and
thirty thousand dollars.
The grounds upon which the garden has been estab-
lished were secured from Messrs Winslow & Wilshire on
perpetual lease, at the rate of seven thousand five hun-
dred dollars per annum, with privilege of purchase at the
rate of two thousand dollars per acre. Ground was first
broken in October, 1874, but the work on the larger
shelter-houses did not commence until May, 1875. On
the eighteenth of September of the same year the garden
was opened to the public, and since that the society has
been constantly adding to the collection of animals, and
expending large sums for improving and beautifying the
grounds. It is but an act of justice that we should state
that the success with which this enterprise has thus far
been crowned, is chiefly due to the extraordinary labor
of Mr. Andrew Erkenbrecher, who properly may be
named the founder of the garden, who, however, was
ably assisted in his efforts by such gentlemen as Messrs.
John Simpkinson, Julius Dexter, Florence Marmet,
George A. Smith, Clemens Oskamp and others.
On December 1, 1880, the collection consisted of
nine hundred and eighty-three specimens divided as fol-
lows:
Mammals 321
Birds 608
Reptiles 54
Total 983
The present board of directors consists of Messrs.
Florence Marmet, president; S. Lesher Taylor, vice-pres-
376
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ident; C. M. Erkenbrecher, treasurer; J. M. Doherty,
Otto Laist, George Hafer, George Fisher, B. Roth, A.
Fischer. The post of secretary to the society and super-
intendent of the garden is filled by Frank J. Thompson,
to whom we are indebted for this clear and succinct his-
tory of the garden.
THE BURNET WOODS CONCERTS.
These are given upon a munificent pecuniary founda-
tion, provided April 7, 1875, by the Hon. W. S. Groes-
beck, of East Walnut Hills, and conveyed in the following
note:
To the Board of Park Commissioners of Cincinnati:
I understand that the council has indefinitely postponed a proposition
to treat with the owners for a surrender of the lease of Burnet Woods
Park; and, in accordance with a purpose heretofore declared, I hereby
donate to the city of Cincinnati fifty thousand dollars, upon the single
trust that the same shall be safely invested in bonds of the city or other-
wise, and forever so kept, and that the interest thereon shall be applied
yearly to furnish music for the people in the above named park. As
this trust is to be perpetual, I do not think it best to embarrass it with
any further limitations.
Very respectfully,
W. S. Groesbeck.
Some concerts had already been given in the park by
means of funds already in the hands of the Park commis-
sioners, which were, however, nearly exhausted, and the
gift was hailed by officials, press and people, as well-
timed, in good taste, and a genuine public benefaction.
The fund was invested in fifty water bonds of the city, of
the denomination of one thousand dollars, bearing seven
per cent, interest per annum, payable semi-annually, and
thus yielding for its purpose three thousand five hundred
dollars a year. Each of the bonds bears this endorse-
ment:
This bond belongs to the Groesbeck endowment fund, and is held
subject to the trust of the endowment, and is not negotiable by order
of the Park board. E. H. Pendleton, president; S. W. Hoffman, sec-
retary.
After careful examination of the park in all parts of it,
the commissioners the same year decided to locate the
music stand permanently in the area where the popular
concerts had previously been given. It has been fur-
nished with seats, while much of the tract is still left in
greensward; a circular driveway encompasses it; and, on
the pleasant afternoons of summer and early fall, twice a
week, some of the most notable gatherings of citizens
and visiting strangers that occur in the city are to be seen
here. At first there was much competition among the
bands of the city for the honor and emoluments attach-
ing to their employment under the Groesbeck donation,
and the music committee found no little difficulty in
deciding between them. It was finally decided to em-
ploy, for the time being at least, the Cincinnati orchestra
for the Burnet Woods concerts, and the Germania and
Currier bands for the open-air summer entertainments in
the down-town parks. Since then the concerts have been
quite regularly given in the warm season. One hundred
and eight concerts had been given at Burnet Woods, on
the Groesbeck foundation, by the close of the season of
1880.
CHAPTER XL.
CEMETERIES.
The first and only public burying-ground . in Cincin-
nati for many years was that upon the square bounded by
Fourth and Fifth, Walnut and Main streets, given to the
people by the original proprietors, in part for that pur-
pose It was attached to the meeting-house of the First
Presbyterian church, near the corner of Fourth and Main,
and was used continuously for nearly a generation, or
about twenty-seven years, when it became so crowded
that another cemetery became necessary. In 1810 one
of the four-acre out-lots was purchased by the Presby-
terians, being the tract between Elm and Vine, Eleventh
and Twelfth streets. The public generally were still per-
mitted to make interments in the ground of the society
at the new place.
The Methodists have also an old burying-ground back
of the Wesley chapel, on Fifth street, between Broadway
and Sycamore, where some ancient graves are still to be
seen. The Jews have another, long since abandoned,
but still kept intact, at the corner of Chestnut street and
Central avenue. It is altogether concealed from the
public eye by buildings on one side and a lofty brick wall
on another. The site of the former Catherine street
burying-ground, on Court street, between Wesley avenue
and Mound, is yet marked with an inside enclosure of
iron fence, containing some graves.
Many of the denominations maintain the old idea of
interments in their own consecrated "God's acre." The
Roman Catholics have their Calvary cemetery, of about
twelve acres, on the Madison pike, at East Walnut Hills;
St. Peter's, now full and disused, upon Lick run, on the
Harrison turnpike, three miles from the city; St. Ber-
nard's, on the Carthage pike, about three miles; St. Jo-
seph's, near the city limits on the west, south of the
Warsaw pike, in the twenty-first ward, in two separate
tracts — one new, the other old, and both containing
about one hundred acres; and the German Catholic, of
about twelve acres, also on the Warsaw pike, in the
twenty-first ward. The German Evangelical Protestants
have an old cemetery on the Baltimore pike, in the
twenty-fourth ward, and another on the Carthage road,
north of the zoological gardens; the German Protestants,
also, two cemeteries, respectively at the corner of Park
avenue and Chestnut street, Walnut Hills, and on the
Reading turnpike, out of the city. The Methodist Prot-
estants have theirs near the old Widow's Home, at the
city limits, just south of Avondale. There is a Jewish
cemetery in Clifton; the congregations K. K. Sherith and
Judah Torah, the latter Reformed Jews, and the K. K.
Adath Israel, Polish Jews, have each a cemetery on Lick
run. The United Tewish cemetery, East Walnut Hills,
corner of Montgomery and Duck Creek roads, comprises
an old part, dating from 1849, and a new, laid out in
i860. The remaining space in the former is now re-
served for the poor and members of the society who do
not own lots; while the other is platted into lots, of which
there is now room for about seven hundred. The col-
ored people of the city have a Union Baptist cemetery
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
377
at Gazlay's corner, on the Warsaw turnpike, and a col-
ored American or African burying-ground at Avondale,
on the Lebanon pike, adjoining the German Protestant
cemetery.
More famous than any other denominational cemetery
about the city, in some respects, is
THE WESLEYAN CEMETERY.
This is situated upon a beautiful tract of twenty-five
acres, in the northwestern part of the city, being the
western part of Cumminsville, and on the east bank of
the west fork of Mill creek and the Coleman pike, about
five miles from Fountain square. By 1842 the old ceme-
tery in the rear of Wesley chapel had become too small
for the demands of the Methodist people in the city for
burials, and, after casting about in the vicinity of the city
for a suitable resting place for their dead, this area was
purchased, laid out in burial lots, with winding walks
and carriage ways, and formally dedicated to its sacred
purposes. It was opened in 1843. In the centre, upon
an elevation which commands a superb view, was placed
the receiving vault, surrounded by a circular drive-way,
from which roads diverged to every part of the grounds.
A "preachers' lot," thirty-two feet square, was set apart
in a beautiful location, and was fitly enclosed and
adorned. An acre of the ground near the entrance was
* leased for a nursery, from which might be supplied trees,
shrubbery, and flowering plants for the uses of the ceme-
tery. A two-story brick dwelling for the sexton was
erected in a pleasing rural style, on the left of the main
entrance; also a chapel on the high grounds of the ceme-
tery, which was afterwards, about 1855, displaced by a
new brick chapel on lower ground at the right of the
nursery site, for services of the church whenever desired.
Many of the early ministers and laymen of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church in Cincinnati are buried here.
About twenty-five thousand interments had been made
in this cemetery up to 1879.
PUBLIC CEMETERIES.
Each of the principal outlying divisions of the city,
formerly suburban villages, had its own cemetery for pub-
lic use. The Columbia cemetery, containing some quite
ancient graves, lies along the track of the Little Miami
railroad, a little beyond the station. Somewhat further
out, east of the railway track* is the old Baptist enclosure,
upon which formerly stood the oldest Protestant meet-
ing-house in the Northwest Territory, and within which
some of the earliest interments in the Miami country
were made. The Walnut Hills cemetery is immediately
south of the German Protestant, on the west border of
Woodburn.
THE "POTTER'S FIELD,"
or city cemetery, which, many years ago, occupied the
tract now so beautifully improved as Lincoln Park, in the
western district of the old city, is now in the valley of
Lick run, three miles from Cincinnati, not far from the
new branch of the city hospital, or pest house.
By far the greatest and most noted of the local bury-
ing-grounds, however, is the
48
SPRING GROVE CEMETERY.
The people of the Queen City are truly fortunate in
possessing, within easy reach of nearly all parts of the
city, and upon a most eligible site, one of the finest, as it
is undoubtedly the most extensive of cemeteries in the
United States. Said the Hon. Lewis F. Allen, in his
address at the dedication of Forest Lawn cemetery, Buf-
falo : " Were I, of all cemeteries within my knowledge,
to point you to one taking precedence as a model, it
would be that of Spring Grove near Cincinnati. Their
broad undulations of green turf, stately avenues, and
tasteful monuments, intermingled with noble trees and
shrubbery, meet the eye, conferring a grace and dignity
which no cemetery in our country has yet equaled, thus
blending the elegance of a park with the pensive beauty
of a burial place."
And Mr. Parton wrote of it, in his Atlantic Monthly
article: "There is very little, if any, of that hideous os-
tentation, the mere expenditure of money, which renders
Greenwood so melancholy a place, exciting far more com-
passion for the folly of the living than sorrow for the dead
who have escaped their society."
By 1844 the want of a finer and ampler cemetery than
Cincinnati then possessed was seriously felt. Mt. Au-
burn, Laurel Hill, and Greenwood, had been established,
and their fame had gone abroad in this and other lands.
It was determined to found a Gottesaker zs, the Germans
call it — a "field of God" — which should vie with any in
the New World fer beauty and convenience. The next
few paragraphs, describing the early movements to this
end we extract, almost verbatim in places, from the in-
teresting account of the cemetery, published in 1862, in
an octavo volume.
On the thirteenth of April, 1844, a number of gentle-
men met at the house of Robert Buchanan, to hold a con-
sultation on the subject of establishing a rural cemetery
in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, and for adopting
measures for carrying their object into effect. Mr. Baird
Loring was chairman of this meeting, and J. B. Russell
secretary. It was decided, after due discussion, that
this object was not only desirable, but feasible; and a
committee was appointed to make the necessary exam-
inations and recommend a suitable site.
After all the necessary researches and observations had
been made, the Garrard farm, situated about four miles
from the city, containing one hundred and sixty-six and
seventy-four hundredths acres, was selected, as combin-
ing more of the requisites sought for than any other, and
the place being considered reasonable, its purchase was
recommended by the committee which had been ap-
pointed at the meeting above mentioned. This commit-
tee consisted of the following gentlemen, well fitted for
the duty assigned them, viz: William Neff, Melzer
Flag'g, T. H. Minor, David Loring, R. Buchanan, S. C.
Parkhurst, and A. M. Ernst, and their recommendation
was approved, and adopted. The purchase was effected
the same year, from Mr. Josiah Lawrence, of whom fur-
ther purchases were made in 1845 and 1847, to the
amount of about twelve and a half acres. The original
378
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
purchase price was sixteen thousand dollars, or some-
thing less than one hundred dollars per acre.
A meeting was held on the fourth of May, and a com-
mittee was then appointed to prepare articles of associa-
tion. It consisted of Timothy Walker, G. W. Neff, Na-
than Guilford, Nathaniel Wright, D. B. Lawler, Miles
Greenwood, and Judge James Hall, and on the eleventh
they reported thirteen articles, which were ordered to be
published in the newspapers for the consideration of the
citizens generally. On the nineteenth of October, these
articles were referred to a committee consisting of Timo-
thy Walker, 3. P. Chase, James Hall, N. Guilford, N.
Wright, D. B. Lawler, and E. Woodruff, with instructions
to prepare a charter in conformity with them, to be pre-
sented to the legislature for enactment. This was done,
and Judges Burnet, Walker and Wright were, on the first
of December, appointed to lay it before the legislature,
and obtain its passage. It was passed, without objection
or alteration, on the twenty-first of January, 1845.
Much discussion took place in regard to a suitable
name. Several were proposed, among them that of
"Spring Grove," which, being preferred by a large major-
ity, was accepted. It had especial appropriateness, from
the flowing springs and ancient groves with which the
place abounded.
The approbation of the citizens in relation to the pro-
ceedings of the committee was general, and the exertions
of Messrs. Peter Neff, James Pullan, and A. H. Ernst, in
obtaining subscribers at one hundred dollars each, were
so successful that, as soon as the lots were surveyed,
enough were immediately taken up to establish the insti-
tution on a firm basis.
The first meeting of the lot-holders, for the election of
directors, in compliance with the requisitions of the
charter, was held on the eighth of February, 1845, when
the following gentlemen were elected, viz: R. Buchanan,
William Neff, A. H. Ernst, R. G. Mitchell, D. Loring,
N. Wright, J. C. Culbertson, Charles Stetson, and Griffin
Taylor, and on the eleventh the board was organized by
the appointment of R. Buchanan, president; S. C. Park-
hurst, secretary, and G. Taylor, treasurer.
The original plan of the grounds was made by John
Notman, of Philadelphia, the designer of the famous
Laurel Hill cemetery, in that city. It has since been
materially improved, important alterations having been
found necessary to adapt it to the surface of the ground.
The cemetery was consecrated on the twenty-eight of
August, 1845, with appropriate solemn ceremonies, in-
cluding an address by the Hon. Judge McLean, a
"Consecration Hymn" by Mr. William D. Gallagher,
and an ode by Lewis J. Cist. Mr. Thomas Farnshaw
was made chief engineer, and Mr. Howard Daniels, su-
perintendent, assisted by his next successor, Dennis
Delaney, all of whom did much for the embellishment
of the grounds. The system of landscape gardening
adopted in 1855, was mainly the work of Messrs. Adolph
Strauch and Henry Earnshaw, the lattet of whom was
for years superintendent, and in 1856, to curtail expenses,
the offices of superintendent and surveyor were united
in his person. Mr. Strauch is now, and has been for a
number of years, landscape gardener and superintendent
of the cemetery. He has been identified with it from the
beginning. By this time a large number of the cemetery
lots had beer* sold, and a permanent fund had been accu-
mulated of twelve thousand eight hundred dollars in stocks
and bonds, besides six thousand dollars in unsold real
estate, being part of a legacy left to the cemetery by Mr.
Charles E. Williams. During the year 1856-7, the re-
ceipts exceeded the expenditures by about ten thousand
eight hundred dollars. Beautiful improvements, includ-
ing many fine monuments, had been made upon
the grounds. In July, 1856, the price of lots was ad-
vanced from twenty to twenty-five cents per square foot
— a price still below that then charged in most leading
cemeteries of the land. Some of the lot-owners had
contributed one thousand dollars toward making the lake,
an improvement soon afterwards effected, and adding
greatly to the beauty of the cemetery. The statue of
Egeria at the Fountain, executed by the sculptor,
Nathaniel Baker, formerly a Cincinnatian, was presented
to the cemetery by Mr. Walter Gregory, and erected on
the island in the lake. One of the most beautiful and
appropriate places in the cemetery was appropriated as a
burial-place for soldiers of the Union, and another for a
pioneers' burial-ground.
In 1857 an important addition was made by the pur-
chase of sixty acres on the north line of the cemetery,
running up to the Graytown road, from Mr. Piatt Ewens,
of whom forty acres had been bought ten years before.
With these the area of the whole tract was two hundred
and eighty acres. Subsequent purchases increased the
amount to six hundred acres, and it is now the largest
cemetery in the United States.
Among the more important of these were the pur-
chase of one hundred and thirty-two and a half acres in
1866 from the heirs of G. Hill, deceased, for one hun-
dred and thirty thousand dollars; twenty-five acres the
next year from the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, for
six thousand two hundred dollars; a like amount in
1873, from Israel Ludlow, for fourteen thousand four
hundred and fifty-four dollars, and twenty-five and seven-
tenths acres, the same year, from the widow and
heirs of G. W. Crary, for seventeen thousand nine hun-
dred and ninety-two dollars and eighty cents. The total
sum expended in the purchase of real estate for the
cemetery, from 1844 to 1874, was three hundred and
fifty-two thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and
ninety-seven cents. The price of lots is now from thirty
to seventy-five cents per square foot, according to loca-
tion, those fronting on the avenues generally being fifty
cents, and those in the second tier forty.
Between 1853 and 1867 the entrance buildings were
erected at the principal gateway to the grounds, on the
southern boundary, at Spring Grove avenue. They are
from designs of Mr. James K. Wilson, in the Norman-
Gothic style, one hundred and fifty feet long, and cost
something over fifty thousand dollars. They include,
besides apartments for the use of the directors and the
superintendent, a large waiting-room for visitors. The
commodious receiving vault, situated in the centre of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
379
the grounds, was considerably enlarged in the year 1859.
Among the notable monuments in the cemetery are
the Dexter and Burnet mausoleums; the sepulchral
chapel, containing the statue of George Selves, jr., exe-
cuted by Daumas, in Paris; the Lytle monument, over
the remains of General William H. Lytle, who fell at
Chickamauga ; the Shillito, Potter, Neff, Pendleton, Law-
ler, Gano, Resor, and many other memorials, some of
them of great cost and beauty. The Gano shaft is of
gray sandstone, and was originally erected in 1827, in
the old Catharine Street burying-ground, in Cincinnati,
by Mr. Daniel Gano, to the memory of his father, the
brave pioneer and soldier, Major General John S. Gano.
The Walker monument is a copy of the celebrated tomb
of Scipio Africanus, in Rome. Another beautiful monu-
ment was erected to the memory of a teacher, Professor
E. S. Brooks, by his pupils. Colonel Oliver Spencer, of
the Continental army in the Revolution, who died here
in 1811; Colonel Robert Elliott, who was barbarously
murdered by the Indians near Colerain in 1794; the
Rev. Dr. Joshua L. Wilson, for thirty-eight years pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church, in Cincinnati; the Rev.
J. T. Brooke, D.D., whose prayer lent interest to the
consecration ceremonies of the cemetery in 1845; and
many other local celebrities, repose here- under fitting
memorials in marble and granite. During or soon after
the war, the city council voted a grant of ten thousand
dollars as the nucleus of a fund for a soldiers' monu-
ment in the cemetery, which has not yet been built
upon this foundation. In 1864, however, a soldiers' monu-
ment was erected by voluntary subscription at the junc-
tion of Lake Shore and Central avenues, in the park — a
bronze statue of a Union soldier on guard, upon a ped-
* estal of granite. It was cast by William Miller, of
Munich, from a design by Rudolph Rogers. Close by
this are the three lots in which are soldiers' graves— one
of them given by the board of directors to the State, the
other two purchased by the State, but now the property
of the General Government. The graves occupy three
consecutive knolls upon the lots. The pioneer lot is
also an attractive place, but is yet without monument or
any considerable number of interments.
During the year ending September 30, 1880, Super-
intendent Strauch estimated in his annual report that
the grounds were visited by more than a quarter of a
million of people, exclusive of those with funerals. The
system of laying out, adornmerit, and management of
burial-places adopted by the board twenty-five years
before bade fair to be applied, he said, by all the leading
American and European cemeteries. A new mortuary
chapel, with receiving tombs at the entrance, was rapidly-
approaching completion, and has since been finished.
About thirty thousand dollars were expended on it in
1879-80. The introduction of many new varieties of
trees and shrubs adapted to this latitude, together with
the preservation of the trees native to the site, promised
to make of the cemetery at no distant day an extensive
and instructive arboretum.
The total number of interments to the date mentioned,
inclusive, according to the report of. Secretary Spear, was
34,498; number of single graves occupied, 5,862; sol-
diers" graves, 996; lot-holders, 7,133. The receipts of
the financial year had been $74,903.80; expenditures,
$75,119.12. The resources of the cemetery association,
including cash, United States securities, and bills receiva-
ble, aggregated $148,573.68.
The following-named gentlemen have filled the offices
in the gift of the association :
President — Robert Buchanan (until his death), Henry
Probasco.
Secretary — S. C. Parkhurst, James Pullan, H. Daniels,
John Lea, E. J. Handy, D. G. A. Davenport, Cyrus
Davenport, S. B. Spear.
Treasurer — G. Taylor, D. H. Home, John Shillito,
William H. Harrison.
Superintendent — Howard Daniels, Dennis Delaney,
Henry Earnshaw, Adolph Strauch.
Directors — J. C. Culbertson, N, Wright, D. C. Loring,
R. G. Mitchell, C. Stetson, Griffin Taylor, William Neff,
A. H. Ernst, R. Buchanan, S. C. Parkhurst, James Pul-
len, D. H. Home, William Resor, George K. Shoenber-
ger, William Orange, K. Yardley, John P. Foote, W.
B. Smith, Archibald Irwin, Peter Neff, Larz Ander-
son, T. H. Weasner, M. Werk, Henry Probasco, Robert
Hosea, John Shillito, William H. Harrison, Andrew
Erkenbrecher, Charles Thomas, Rufus King, George
W. McAlpin, Augustus S. Winslow.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE CITY GOVERNMENT.
Mr. James Parton, in an essay contributed to the
Atlantic Monthly in 1867, said:
Cincinnati is governed by and for her own citizens, who take the
same care of the public money as of their own private store. We
looked into the council chamber of Cincinnati one morning, and we
can testify that the entire furniture of the appartment, though it is
substantial and sufficient, cost about as much as some single articles in
the councilman's room of New York City hall — say the clock, the
chandelier, or the chairman's throne.
The whole of this commendation has not been de-
served at all times in the history of Cincinnati. Yet
many great and good men have been connected with the
administration of her municipal affairs; and there are
many clean pages in her public records. The govern-
ment of the Queen City will compare favorably with
that of any other large municipality in the land.
' THE CIVIL LIST.
This place was not incorporated as a village until Jan-
uary 1, 1802, when it had but about eight hundred in-
habitants. Before that it was governed under the town-
ship organization. By the tenth section of the charter,
officers were appointed until the next general election
was held on the first Monday of April, in the same year.
They were: Major David Ziegler, president; David E.
Wade, William Ramsey, Charles Avery, John Rieley,
38o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
William Stanley, Samuel Dick, and William Ruffin, trus-
tees; Jacob Burnet, recorder; Joseph Prince, assessor;
Abraham Carey, collector; James Smith, town marshal.
Thenceforward these officers were elected by the people.
The succession under this charter and the amendment
of 1815 was as follows:
PRESIDENTS.
David Ziegler, 1802-3; Joseph Prince, 1804; James
Findlay, 1805-6, 1810-n; Martin Baum, 1807, 1812;
Daniel Symmes, i8o8<>; William Stanley, 1813; Samuel
W. Da vies, 1814.
The names of the following additional officers are also
preserved :
RECORDERS.
Jacob Burnet, 1802, 1812; Charles Kilgour, 1803;
Aaron Goforth, 1805-9; James Andrews, 1810-n; Sam-
uel W. Davies, 18 13; Griffin Yeatman, 18 14; Oliver M.
Spencer, 1815-16; Martin Baum, 1817-18; John W.
Armstrong, 1818.
CLERKS OF COUNCIL.
John Reily, 1802; Matthew Nimrur, 1804; Griffin
Yeatman, 1805-6; John Mahard, 1807; William McFar-
land and Daniel Drake, 1813; William Corry, 1814;
William Ruffin, 181 5; George P. Torrence, 181 6; Jesse
Embree, 181 7-1 8.
MARSHALS.
James Smith, 1802; Andrew Brannan, 1813; James
Chambers, 1814-18.
TREASURERS.
Jacob Williams, 1813; Davis Embree, 1814; David
Kilgour, 1815-16; Jacob Wheeler, 1817-18.
MAYORS.
January 10, 1815, a new act of incorporation was
granted by the legislature, under which a mayor instead
of president was elected by the trustees from among their
number. But one mayor was chosen in this way until
the city government was formed: William M. Corry,
1815-19.
By act of the general assembly of February 5, 1819,
Cincinnati was incorporated as a city. The legislative
power was vested in a president, recorder, and nine trus-
tees. The usual powers granted to city corporations at
that time were conceded in this case, including the power
"to fix the assize of bread," "to prevent every descrip-
tion of animals from running at large," and "to levy
taxes on hogs and dogs, and on all property subject to
taxation for county purposes." Taxes on real property,
however, could not exceed one per cent, on its valuation,
unless a larger levy was authorized by vote of the peo-
ple. A city court, consisting of a mayor and three alder-
men, was appointed by the city council from the citizens
at large, with sessions once in two months, and original
jurisdiction over all crimes and misdemeanors committed
in the city, when the punishment did not amount to con-
finement in the penitentiary. It had appellate jurisdic-
tion from the decision of the mayor (who was ex officio
justice of the peace), in all cases, and concurrent juris-
diction with the court of common pleas in all cases
where the defendant resided within the city, and where
the title to real estate was not in issue. The mayor de-
termined, in the first instance, all cases arising under the
corporate laws and ordinances. Under this rule of ap-
pointment but one mayor was appointed, but he by suc-
cessive reappointments for twelve years : Isaac G. Burnet,
1819-27.
After that, the mayor by a new charter, taking effect
March 1, 1827, was elected by popular suffrage; under
which the following-named gentlemen served: Isaac G.
Burnet, 1827-31; Elisha Hotchkiss, 1831-33; Samuel
W. Davis, 1833-43; Henry E. Spencer, 1843-51.
The following-named were in service under the pro-
visions of the constitution of 1852: Mark P. Taylor,
1 85 1-3; David T. Snelbaker, 1853-5; James J. Faran,
1855-7; N. W. Thomas, 1857-9; Richard M. Bishop,
1859-61; George Hatch, 1861-3; Len. A. Harris, 1863-7;
Charles F. Wilstach, 1867-9; John F. Torrence, 1869-71;
S. S. Davis, 1871-3; G. W. C. Johnson, 1873-7; Robert
M. Moore, 1877-9; Charles Jacob, jr., 1879-81.
PRESIDENTS OF COUNCIL.
These were identical with president or mayor until the
city organization: Jesse Hunt, 181 9; William Oliver,
1821; Samuel Perry, 1822-3; Calvin Fletcher, 1824-5;
Lewis Howell, 1826-8; Daniel Stone, 1829-30; E. S.
Haines, 1831 and 1834-5; N. G. Pendleton, 1832-3;
George W. Neff, 1836-8; Edward Woodruff, 1839-41;
Samuel Freer, 1842; William Stephenson, 1843; Sep-
timius Hazen, 1844; D. E. Strong, 1845; J- G. Rust,
1846; N. W. Thomas, 1847; William P. Statton, 1848;
Daniel F. Meader, 1849; J. B. Warren, 1850 and 1856-9;
William B. Cassily, 185 1; A. Griffin, 1852; James Coop-
er, 1853; Charles F. Wilstach, 1854-5; JohnF. Torrence,
1 860-1; Christian Von Seggern, 1862; Theodore Marsh,
1863; Thomas H. Weasner, 1864-6; Samuel L. Hay-
den, 1867-8; Josiah L. Keck, 1869.
The city legislature was now divided into two cham-
bers, each with its own presiding officer.
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF COUNCILMEN.
A. T. Goshorn, 1870-2; 1. J. Miller, 1873-4; James
W. Fitzgerald, 1875-6; Benjamin Eggleston, 1877-9;
Lewis L. S.adler, 1880-1.
PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN..
George T. Davis, 1870; S. F. Covington, 187 1;. Jo-
siah L. Keck, 1872; W. T. Bishop, 1873-4; Julius Reis,
1875, 1878-9; W. W. Sutton, 1876; Charles Winkler,
1877; Gabriel Dirr, i8§o-r.
CLERKS OF COUNCIL.
John Tuttle and R. L. Coleman, 18 19; William Dis-
ney, 1820; William Ruffin, 1821; Thomas Tucker,
1822-3; Daniel Rue, 1824; John Gibson, 1825-8; John
T. Jones, 1829-31; Charles Satterly, 1832-49; William
G. Williams, 1850-3; Stephen B. Hulse, 1854-7; Sam-
uel L. Corwin, 1858-61; George M. Casey, 1862-3;
H. G. Armstrong, 1864-6; Julius F. Blackburn, 1867-
72; R. C. Rohner, 1874-9; Edwin Henderson, 1880-81.
RECORDERS.
William Oliver, 1819-20; James Perry, 1821; Thomas
Henderson, 1822-3; Charles Tatem, 1824; Oliver Lov-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
38i
ell, 1825-7, 1830-3, 1839-40; Samuel R. Miller, 1828-9;
Ebenezer Hinman, 1834-8; Jonah Martin, 1841; Wil-
liam Stephenson, 1842; D. E. A. Strong, 1843; L. E.
Brewster, 1844; Joseph G. Rust, 1845; N. W. Thomas,
1846; Daniel F. Meader, 1847; Caleb Brudsall, 1848;
Benjamin Dennis, 1849; Thomas Bodley, 1850; Charles
F. Wilstach, 185 1. The office was then abolished.
TREASURERS.
Jacob Wheeler, 1819; Richard L. Coleman, 1820-30;
Stephen McFarland, 183 1-2; James Conly, 1833-4;
Samuel Scott, 1835-41; William Disney, 1843-50; James
Johnston, 1851-9; E. B. Townsend, 1860-1; J. M. No-
ble, 1862-3; Adolph Carnes, 1864-6; Ezekiel De Camp,
1867-8; Robert Moore, 1869-74; August Ligowski,
1875-6; Henry Knorr, 1877-80.
AUDITORS.
Cyrus Davenport, 1853-5; S. S. McGibbons, 1856-8;
Emanuel Wassenich, 1859-61; George Stackhouse,
1862-3; Charles S. Betts, 1864-5; Harry H. Tatem,
1866-8; Charles H. Titus, 1869-71; William B. Folger,
187 1-2; S. W. Hoffman, 1873-9.
COMPTROLLER.
E. C. Eshelby, 18 80-1.
MARSHALS.
William Ruffin, 1819-20; Samuel R. Miller, 1821;
John C. Avery, 1822-4; William C. Anderson, 1825-6;
Zebulon Byington, 1827-8; William Doty, 1828-32; Jesse
Justice, 1833-4; James Laffin, 1835-46; Ebenezer Hulse,
1847-8; Charles L. Ruffin, 1849-54; William Craven,
1855-7; Benjamin Robinson, 1858; John S. Gano, 1859.
The office was then merged in that of chief (afterwards
superintendent) of police.
CHIEFS OF POLICE.
Jacob Kiefer, 1853; David T. Hoke, 1854-5; James
L. Ruffin, 1857-9, 1864-6, 1869-70; Lewis Wilson, 1860-
1; John W. Dudley, 1862-3; Robert McGrew, 1867-8;
David M. Bleaks, 1870-1; (superintendents of police),
Jeremiah Kiersted, 1872 and 1874; Eugene Daylor,
1873-4; Thomas E. Snellbaker, 1874-5; Ira Wood,
J875-7; George W. Zeigler, 1877-8; Charles Wappen-
stein, 1878-80; Enoch T. Carson, 1880-1.
PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
Nathaniel G. Pendleton, 1819; Bellamy Storer, 1825;
W. M. Dickson, 1853; Thomas A. Logan, 1854-5; H.
Brown, 1856-9; E. M. Johnson, 1860-1; F. C. Jones,
1 86 1-3; Walter F. Straub, 1863-7; C. H. Blackburn,
1867-8; Isaac J. Neall, 1868-9; Moses F. Wilson, 1869-
70; Thomas C. Campbell, 1871-5; Charles E. Callahan,
1875-7; John P. Murphy, 1877-81.
CITY SOLICITORS.
E. A. Ferguson, 1852-3; Patrick McGroarty, 1854-5;
Samuel Hart, 1856-8; Rutherford B. Hayes, 1859-60;
Thomas C. Ware, 1861-3; Thomas J. Gallagher, 1864-5;
Edward F. Noyes, 1866; Henry A. Morrill, 1867-8;
J. Bryant Walker, 1869-70; Fred W. Moore, 187 1-2;
John W. Warrington, 1873-4; Robert O. Strong, 1875;
Hiram D. Peck, 1876; Clement S. Bates, 1877-8; Philip
H. Kumler, 1879-80.
POLICE JUDGES.
William L. Spooner, 1853-5; Andrew J. Pruden, 1856-
9; D. P. Lowe, 1860-1; James Laffin, 186 1-3; John B.
Warren, 1863-7; Walter F. Straub, 1867-73; Nathan .
Marchant, 1873-5; George Lindeman, 1875-7; Moses F.
Wilson, 1877-81.
COMMERCIAL COURT.
1849-52. — Thomas M. Key, judge; Edward P. Cranch,
clerk.
CRIMINAL COURT.
185 1-2. — Jacob Flynn, judge; Daniel Gano, clerk.
OLD SUPERIOR COURT.
Judges— David K. Este, 1838-45; Charles D. Coffin,
1845-6; William Johnston, 1847-50; Charles P. James,
1 850-1; George Hoadly, 185 1-3.
NEW SUPERIOR COURT.
Judges — Oliver M. Spencer, 1854-61; William Y.
Gholson, 1854-9; Bellamy Storer, 1854-71; George
Hoadly, 1860-5; Charles D. Coffin, 1862-3; Stanley
Matthews, 1864; Charles Fox, 1865-8; Alphonso Taft,
1866-71; M. B. Hagans, 1869-73; J- L- Miner, J. Bry-
ant Walker, 1872; Alfred Gaple, 1873-8; T. A. O'Con-
nor, 1873-7; M- H. Tilden, 1874-8; Manning F. Force,
1878; Judson Harmon, 1879; J. B. Foraker, 1879.
Clerks — James M. McMaster, 1854; Thomas H.
Spooner, 1855-7; Richard H. Stone, 1858-61; Charles
E. Cist, 1862-5; Benjamin T Horton, 1866; T. B. Dis-
ney, 1867-70; Henry H. Tinker, 1871-3; William M.
Trevor, 1874-7; Louis G. Barnard, 1878; Samuel W.
Ramp, 1879.
CITY SURVEYORS.
Joseph Gest, 1834-41; Erasmus Gest, 1844-6; Wil-
liam G. Halpin, 185 1; Thomas J. Peter, 1857; Joseph
Earnshaw, 1858-9.
CIVIL ENGINEERS.
A. W. Gilbert, 185 1-5; S. W. Irwin, 1856-7; Thomas
J. Peter, 1858-9, 1862-3; A. W. Gilbert, 1859-61, 1864-6;
Jacob Writh, 1868; R C. Phillips, 1869-70; A. Hicken-
looper, 187 1-2; A. E. Tripp, 1872-4; W. G. Halpin,
1875; A. L. Anderson, 1876-8; C. N. Dannenhower,
1879; H. J. Stanley, 1880-1.
CHIEF ENGINEERS FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Miles Greenwood, 1853-6; F. Clements, 1857; E. G.
Megrue, 1858-77; Joseph Bunker (fire-marshal), 1878-81.
PROMOTIONS.
Said Mayor Moore, in his annual message of April,
1879 :
Connected with our city government in some capacity, at various
times, have been two presidents of the United States, General W. H.
Harrison and R. B. Hayes; one chief justice of the United States, S.
P. Chase; five United States Senators, Jacob Burnet, S. P. Chase,
George E. Pugh, Stanley Matthews, George E. Pendleton; one secre-
tary of treasury, S. P. Chase; secretary of war and attorney general,
Alphonso Taft; five governors of Ohio, Noyes, Young, Chase, Hayes,
Bishop; a governor to Arizona, John A. Gurley; the following repre-
sentatives to Congress; W. H. Harrison, John W. Gazlay, N. G. Pen-
dleton, Alexander Long, W. S. Groesbeck, R. B. Hayes, Ozro J.
Dodds, Milton Sayler, T. C. Day.
ORGANIZATION.
The city is divided into twenty-five wards. Its succes-
sive subdivisions into wards, from the original form of the
38z
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
early day, may be learned from an observation of the
census table, affixed to our chapter of annals of the Ninth
Decade. These are further subdivided into fifty-five
voting districts, with as many polling-places. This sub-
division was made by Mayor Johnson, with a small force
of assistants, in 1877, at a cost of less than two hundred
dollars.
It would be a bootless and most elaborate task to fol-
low the city government through all its statutory changes
since the charter of 1827 was granted; especially through
the manifold "reorganizations" of recent years. At
present the great municipality is governed and adjudged
by a mayor, board ef councilmen, board of aldermen,
superior court, police court, solicitor, prosecuting attor-
ney, city clerk, treasurer, comptroller, superintendents of
police, of markets, of street cleaning, and of sanitary po-
lice, fire marshal, health officer, chief engineer, a wharf
master and wharf register, a weigher, a sealer of weights
and measures, and a milk and sundry other inspectors.
There are also boards of education, union board of high
schools, of public works, of fire commissioners, of exam-
iners of insecure buildings, of revision, and a special
board of equalization, a sinking fund commission, boards
of managers of the public library, trustees of the Cincin-
nati Southern railway, and of directors of the university
of Cincinnati, of trustees of the city hospital, of the
house of refuge and of the work-house, directors of the
infirmary and overseers of the out-door poor department.
The board of public works includes the water-works de-
partment and the engineer's department, with its bureaus
of sewers and highways, the latter with its several divis-
ions of streets, sidewalks, and bridges, each with its full
equipment of officers.
Some of these boards deserve a brief special notice.
SINKING FUND COMMISSION.
This board was created by act of the legislature in
May, 1877, and has plenary powers over all moneys, or
other property, which, under the law, is to be used ex-
clusively for the liquidation of the public debt. They
provide for the undue indebtedness of the city, certifying
to the city council the amounts necessary to provide for
the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the city and
the interest upon it. The council must place these in
the tax ordinance, in preference to any other items, if nec-
essary. They also receive the earnings of the Southern
railroad and all rents due the city.
The original appointees, chosen from among the old-
est, wealthiest, and most reputable citizens of Cincinnati,
were Messrs. Joseph Longworth, president; James H.
Laws, Lewis Seasongood, W. F. Thome, and Aaron F.
Perry.
The members of the board are 'appointed by the
judges of the superior court, to serve five years, and re-
ceive no compensation, but furnish bonds of one hun-
dred thousand dollars each, for the faithful performance
of their duties.
Their duties, in view of the large debt now upon the
city, are justly considered of the highest importance.
Within two years after its creation, a sinking fund of one
million six hundred thousand dollars was raised, and two
hundred thousand dollars of the maturing bonds also
purchased. In 1880 general bonds were redeemed to
the amount of two hundred and twelve thousand dollars,
interest charges paid to amount of one million, six hun-
dred and forty-six thousand four hundred and sixty-eight
dollars and twenty-five cents; and one hundred and four-
teen thousand seven hundred and eighty-three dollars
and nineteen cents bought by the commission as an in-
vestment. Last year the board, of which Mr. Julius
Dexter had become a member, in place of Mr. Lewis
Seasongood, engaged very rapidly in the prosecution of
the late city auditor, Mr. S. W. Hoffman, for alleged
malefeasance in office. It has regular monthly meetings
on the second business day of each month, and annual
• meetings on the third Monday of April.
BOARD OF REVISION.
This body — a small one in point of numbers, but im-
portant, was created by act of assembly in 1869. It
consisted of the mayor, the president of the city council,
and the city solicitor, and was not fully organized until
April, 1873, under the administration of Mayor Johns-
ton. The president of the board of aldermen was added
to the original number. The revision board has in
charge, as its name partly implies, the legal supervision
and revision of mistakes, errors, or misdemeanors, in any
department of the city government. In its first few
months of full organization, it received and considered a
large number of administrative and legal questions ; but,
having no secretary with power to inspect the books of
city officers and report results, its efficiency was much
impaired. The council declined to appropriate enough
for clerical work, and the meetings of the board, for
nearly ten years, were few and of little importance.
The board did not exhibit much activity until March
8, 1878, when the requisite authority having been se-
cured, it convened and appointed S. W. Ramp — after-
wards J. M. W. Neff, and finally, upon the declination of
both these gentlemen, Mr. George B. Johnston, its se-
cretary. He soon set about the minute inspection of the
books and accounts in the several city offices — first in
the city auditor's, and then in the office of the fire de-
partments. His reports have been made to the board,
and have been the basis of various important steps taken
by it. It has met of late years on the first Monday of
every month, and by its industry and the value of its
work, has done much to atone for the quiescence of the
first few years of its existence. The board now consists
of the mayor, the presidents, respectively, of the boards
of councilmen and aldermen, and the city solicitor.
THE PLATTING COMMISSION.
An act of the State legislature, dated March 13, 1871,
authorizes the appointment of platting commissioners
prescribing the manner of their appointment, regulating
their organization, and defining their powers and duties.
Under this statute the common council of Cincinnati
August 31, 187 1, elected a platting commission for the
city, as follows: A. R C. Bonte, Kenner Garrard, J. H.
Rhodes, A Moor, and A. S. AVinslow. It afterwards, by
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
383
resolution, designated the territory to be platted, and by
an ordinance provided necessary for the purposes of the
commission. Its members at once set about obtaining
actual surveys, the exact information necessary to full
and correct platting, by determining the boundaries of
property and the location of existing roads and streets.
So effective and energetic was its subsequent work that
at the close of 1875 Utile more than four years after the
creation of the commission, Mayor Johnston was able to
make, in his annual message, the following reference to
its work :
The city is now mainly platted. ' This is a work of great value to the
people, and will be appreciated not only by this, but by all coming
generations. It will settle amicably, hereafter, a very large number of
expensive litigations in regard to the area of landed property, and quiet
many titles that would otherwise be disputed.
The labors of the commission have now ceased.
THE TAX-PAYERS' LEAGUE
is not a branch of the city government, but rather an in-
fluence upon it from without. Ex-governor Jacob D.
Cox is president of the league. Mr. Julius Dexter, of
the sinking fund commission, is secretary. Its last regu-
lar meeting was held December 1, 1880, in College hall,
when reports of the condition of the city's finances were
made.and discussed.
TAXES.
The following comparative statement of taxation in the
city for a number of years in the middle section of its
history, is not without interest and value. It was made
for his Cincinnati Miscellany by the late Mr. Charles J.
Cist:
1826, $4,735.08; 1827, $5,538.45; 1828, $5,607.19; 1829, $22,257.46;
1830, $22,526.31; 1831, $25,334.26; 1832, $37,630.50; 1833, $41,167.42;
1834, $51,654.39; 1835, $69,721.20; 1836, $69,599.52; 1837, $70,056.90;
1838, $80,771.88; 1839, $98,352.05; 1841, $98,352.05; 1842, $148,453.-
04; 1843, $146,201.50; 1844, $149,323.54; 1845, $155,300.68.
Official statements bring the statistics down to the pres-
ent day:
1846, $286,388.06; 1847, $362,747.93; 1848, $394,363.64; 1849, $547,-
936.18; 1850, $728,666.37; 1851, $665,742.35; 1852, $910,307.70; 1853,
$1,236,561.87; 1854, $1,496,090.70; 1855, $1,262,897.02; 1856, $1,366,-
625.09; 1857, $1,296,676.36; 1858, $1,590,118.23; 1859, $1,525,841.20;
i860, $1,721,811.39; 1861, $1,920,865.32; 1862, $1,709,889.88; 1863,
$1,878,847.45; 1864, $2,783,609.44; 1865, $3,050,000.00; 1866, $3,383,-
970.45; 1867, $4,304,677.92; 1868, $3,723,056.62; 1869, $4,119,413.79;
1870, $4,362,197.17; 1871, $4,061,658.86; 1872, $3,589,855.39; 1873,
$4,348,625.72; 1874, $4,346,263.30; 1875, $4,670,186.67; 1876, $5,113,-
737.31; 1877, $5,419,613.29; 1878, $4,933,825.90.
The tax levy for 1880 was three and one-tenth per
cent., upon a grand duplicate of about one hundred and
sixty-seven million dollars. That of 1879 was tw0 and
eight hundred and eight-thousandths upon a valuation of
one hundred and sixty-nine million three hundred and
five thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars. In
1809 the tax levy in the village of Cincinnati was one-
half of one per cent; in 1810, two-fifths of one per cent.;
and in 181 1, thirty- five cents on the hundred dollars.
THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES
of the last year of the city government (1880), were, re-
ceipts four million eight hundred and eighty-seven thou-
sand seven hundred dollars and sixty-six cents, including
seven hundred and sixty thousand five hundred and thirty
dollars and eight cents balance on hand at the beginning
of the year, and disbursements, four million eight hun-
dred and seventy-seven thousand seven hundred dollars
and sixty-six cents, including one hundred and six thou-
sand two hundred and forty-five dollars and eighty-one
cents. Of disbursements by far the largest particular,
more than twice the amount of any other, was for interest
on the city debt, one million six hundred and sixteen
thousand seven dollars and twenty-four cents.
PUBLIC INDEBTEDNESS.
About half a century ago (1830), the city owed eighty-
two thousand two hundred and thirty-nine dollars and
thirty-two cents, and had owing to it eight thousand seven
hundred and eighty-six dollars and ninety-six cents. The
legislature had just authorized the corporation to borrow
one hundred" thousand dollars. In April, 1869, its
bonded indebtedness was four million five hundred and
seven thousand dollars, and the value of its public prop-
erty was eleven million three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. January 1, 1880, of twenty-six million one hun-
dred and six thousand dollars bonded indebtedness issued,
two million two hundred and two thousand five hundred
dollars had been redeemed, and twenty-three million
nine hundred and three thousand five hundred dollars
were still outstanding. This indebtedness has been chiefly
— to the amount of eight million dollars — incurred by the
construction of the Southern railroad.
THE CITY BUILDINGS,
in the square bounded by Eighth, Ninth, and Plum streets,
and Central avenue, were built in 1853. In i860 about
thirty thousand dollars were expended in improving and
making additions to them.
The city's charitable institutions have been noticed in
our chapter on public charities. Its penal institutions
will form the subject of the next chapter, and other
branches of the city government will receive attention in
chapters that follow.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
We follow the foregoing account of the city govern-
ment with some brief chapters recording memoranda of
history concerning the chief departments of the public
service controlled by the city.
Just as the last century was going out, in December,
1800, the good people of Cincinnati began to be much
troubled with incendiary fires. Their arrangements for
the quenching of lire were as yet, in a town of less than
eight hundred inhabitants, and far in the wilderness west,
of the most primitive character; and when, a year there-
after, several other conflagrations occurred, the purchase
of a fire engine began to be seriously mooted. A meet-
ing was held to consider the matter; but nothing came
of the discussion, as there were yet no village authorities
3«4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to give the movement municipal authority. But when,
the next year, Cincinnati received its first village charter,
a meeting of citizens was held July 14th, in the new
court-house, at the southeast corner of Walnut and Fifth
streets, to pass upon the expenditure of forty-six dollars
by the select council, of which twelve dollars were to be
appropriated for six fire-ladders, and a like sum for as
many fire-hooks. With these public equipments the
villagers had to be contented until 1808, when the coun-
cil bought
THE FIRST FIRE ENGINE.
Another account, which we have embodied in the
annals of the Second Decade, says that the engines were
purchased by the council on the third of September,
1807 — one to be used on the bottom, the other on the
hill; but the former statement is the more probable. The
engine procured was a very poor one, and must have
been wholly inefficient by 1810, since it receives no
mention in the recollections of that year by Mr. S. S.
L'Hommedieu, as given in his Pioneer Address. He
says that then, whenever a fire occurred, "every one
able to labor was required to be on hand with his long
leather fire-bucket, and form in line to the river, to pass
buckets with water to the fire. Every householder was
required to keep one of these hung up, marked, and
ready for instant use." In the address from which this
extract is made, Mr. L'Hommedieu expressed the opin-
ion that in 1870 Cincinnati, in her steam fire-engines and
well ordered fire department, excelled any other city.
The Union Fire company, comprising nearly all the
men and well grown boys in the village, was organized
the same year the engine was bought. Its organization
proved to be about as inefficient as that of its engine.
For two years before 18 15, says the Picture of Cincin-
nati that year, it had held no meeting. A second com-
pany was formed about 1815. A second engine had
been provided for by public taxation imposed by the se-
lect council two years ago, but it had not yet been pur-
chased. The village ordinances, now required, as in the
days of which Mr. L'Hommedieu speaks, that each house
should be furnished with a fire-bucket, and that all male
citizens of fifteen to fifty years should attend upon an
alarm of fire, and that upon the occurrence of each con-
flagration every drayman in town should provide at least
two barrels of water. Bonfires and all other burnings
on the streets or in-lots were "expressly but not success-
fully forbidden," says Dr. Drake, who also notes that the
first, at least, of the foregoing provisions was disregarded
by the majority of the inhabitants.
A WEAK DEPARTMENT.
The Directory of the year 1819, the year when, the
city proper had its birth, contains the following not over-
flattering notice of the department of that day:
There are two engines owned by the corporation, but, strange as it
may appear, neither of them are kept in proper repair. A most un-
pardonable apathy on this subject pervades our citizens generally. Al-
most destitute of ladders, fire-hooks, buckets (or even water in most
parts of the city), should the fiery element assail us in a dry and windy
season, the denouement of the awful tragedy would be a general devas-
tation of our now flourishing city. The most practicable means ought
immediately to be taken for creating a supply of water, the number of
engines increased and put in working condition, and every other appar-
atus procured which can be of service in restricting the ravages of this
powerful destroyer. Otherwise the "good easy man, "who retires to
his couch meditating on the competency of his fortune, may stalk
forth a beggar in the morning.
AN IMPROVEMENT.
The Directory of 1825 gives a little better account of
the department. It now "consists of four engine
companies, one hose company, one hook and ladder
company, a protection company and a protection society.''
Thomas Tucker was chief engineer and Jeremiah Kier-
sted assistant. "There are one hundred and fifty-five
firemen and sixteen fire wardens. . . . The
utensils of the fire department are in first rate repair, and
the companies well organized and ready on the first no-
tice to do their duty."
This was something like a department. Each of the
engine companies numbered about twenty-five, whose
foreman was then called captain. The hose company
also numbered twenty-five, and had in charge eighteen
hundred feet of hose; the hook and ladder company,
thirty, with a pretty good equipment for that day. The
bucket company was specially charged with the preserva-
tion of the fire-buckets. The protection company num-
bered about fifty, and included many of the leading men
in the place. The firemen were said by the authors of
Cincinnati in 1826 to "keep the engines in excellent or-
der, and in cases of fire are prompt, active, and persever-
ing. The city council had just seconded their efforts
nobly by constructing five substantial brick cisterns in
different parts of the city, holding five thousand gal-
lons each, and kept constantly filled through the pipes
from the primitive water-works of the period. There was
already a popular call, however, for an increase to thrice
the number.
In 1829 nine organized companies composed the fire
department of Cincinnati — Fire Warden Company, No.
1; John L. Avery, president; Moses Brooks, secretary;
twenty members. Fire Engine Company, No. 1 ; Hugh
Gilbreath, foreman; S. R. Teal, assistant; thirty-five
members. Fire Engine Company, No. 2 ; A. G. Dodd,
foreman; J. S. Ross, assistant; thirty-five members. Fire
Engine Company, No. 3; William Brown, foreman;
thirty-five members. Fire Engine Company, No. 4;
Thomas Baruise, foreman; John Morris, assistant; thirty-
five members. Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1 ; E.
D. Williams, foreman; S. Carrington, assistant; thirty-
five members. Hose Company, No. 1 ; thirty-five mem-
bers. Protection society, for the protection of exposed
property during an alarm of fire; Joseph Gest, president;
William Mills, -vice-president; David Churchill, secretary-
Stephen Burrows, treasurer; seven directors; fifty mem-
bers, with privilege of one hundred; composed princi-
pally of respectable, substantial householders. Fire
Bucket company, A. M. Ferguson, foreman; Nathaniel
Reeder, assistant. Seven brick cisterns had -been con-
structed in eligible situations, each to contain five thou-
sand gallons of water. They were connected with the
pipes of the water-works, and so were easily replenished
when empty. Two of these— at the intersection of
Main and Eighth, and the junction of Fourth and Syca-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
385
more streets, had been made only the year before. Zebu-
Ion Byington was chief engineer, Moses Coffin, assistant.
A STRONG DEPARTMENT.
In 1 83 1 the city had ten public cisterns, and ten more
were projected. The Water company had put in fifty
fire-plugs, and kept them in repair and furnished with
water. The department consisted of eight companies,
the same as in 1829, except the hose company, in place
of which the Cincinnati Independent Fire Engine and
Hose company had been organized, under a charter
granted February 22, 1830. The city council, the insur-
ance companies, and the citizens generally had subscribed
liberally in aid of the company, and it had apparatus
valued at four thousand dollars — an eight-inch double-
chamber engine of thirty-four men-power, discharging
four and five-fifths gallons per stroke, in two streams; a
suction engine, with double seven-inch chambers, of
thirty men -power, discharging four gallons at each stroke.
Both engines were finished in the best style of the time.
The company also had one thousand five hundred feet
of the best eight and one-half-inch hose, carried on a
double hose-reel. A new engine-house bad been con-
tracted for, to go up on Fourth street, near Broadway.
George W. Neff was president of the company; Joseph
Pierce, vice-president; Charles D. Dana, secretary; Kirk-
bride Yardley, treasurer.
THE FIRE BRIGADES.
In 1836 the department was organized into eight brig-
ades, each brigade consisting of two engines and a hose
company, together manned by one hundred and fifty
firemen. A chief or director was appointed for each
brigade with one or more assistants, a secretary and
treasurer. The brigades were designated, respectively, as
Washington Fire Engine Company No. 1, manning the
Pat Lyon and Ohio engines and the Ranger hose car-
riage; Relief Fire Engine No. 2, with the Relief and
Cincinnati engines and Reliance hose carriage; Indepen-
dence Fire Company No. 3, Constitution and Liberty
engines and veteran hose; Franklin Fire Company No.
4, Neptune and Atlantic Engines and Nymph hose;
Brigade Fire Company No. 5, Fame engine and Canal
hose; Cincinnati Indendence Fire Company No. 1,
Waterwitch and Pilot engines and Red Rover hose; Cin-
cinnati Independent Fire Company No. 2, Cataract and
Deluge engines and Pioneer hose; Independent No. 3,
Buckeye, with Buckeye and Niagara engines and Diligent
hose. There were also the Fire Warden Company No.
1, composed of six members from each ward; the Cin-
cinnati Fire Guards No. 1; Protection Society No. 1,
whose object is defined above; and Hook and Ladder
Company No. 1; besides the Cincinnati Fire association,
composed of persons from the different fire companies,
for the mutual benefit of the department. The fire cis-
terns now numbered twenty-seven, all supplied from the
water-works, as also fifty-five cast-iron plugs.
In 1834 it was noted by the Directory that "much at-
tention has been bestowed by the city council upon this
important department. There are belonging to it fifteen
engines and ten thousand one hundred and fifty feet of
hose. It is divided into brigades, each of which has two
engines, a hose company, and one hundred and fifty
members in it. . . There are belonging to this
department fifteen engines, seven hose-reels, one hundred
and eighty-six buckets, and seven brigades, besides
one engine belonging to the boys." The last-named
feature, with which we have not met before in these in-
quiries, was the Vigilant Fire Engine and Bucket com-
pany, of seventy-five members, mostly youths. Benja-
min Brice was president; Henry Pierce, vice-president;
James Gilbreath, secretary; William Coppin, treasurer;
Samuel James, foreman and engineer; Miller Ayres, fore-
man of the bucket company. William Headly was chief en-
gineer of the department in special charge of the cisterns
and fire-plugs. An eminently respectable feature was
the Cincinnati Fire Engine and Hose Company No. 2,
of which Belamy Storer was president, and several lead-
ing citizens in other offices. The company had been in-
corporated by act of legislature January 15, 1833.
FORTY YEARS AGO.
In 1 840-1, the department consisted of eleven com-
panies. They were: Washington No. 1, with two engines
and one hundred and four members, including the hose
company; Relief, ninety-six members; Independence,
eighty-eight; Franklin, seventy-four; Fame, seventy-
four; Fulton; Independent, one hundred and twenty-
nine; Fire Engine and Hose and Independent No. 2,
eighty-one; Cincinnati Fire Guards, sixty-six; and the
Hook and Ladder company, forty-two. The Protection
society numbered four hundred and seventy-one, and the
company of Fire Wardens No. 1 had thirty-two members.
Each of the engine companies had two engines and a hose
cart in charge. The public cisterns numbered thirty-four,
with thirty-five fire plugs. The Cincinnati P'ire association
was organized in the latter year, of seven men from each
company and five fire wardens. Its objects were to
regulate the department, settle disputes arising between
the companies, and provide benefits for sick and disabled
members. Josiah J. Stratton was president, Teuton
Lawson, treasurer, and John D. Lovell, secretary.
A TRANSITION PERIOD.
The volunteer department in Cincinnati, as in other
cities, was subject to many abuses, which need not be
detailed here, as they are well known to all who have
given any thought or inquiry to the subject. The time
at length arrived when a change seemed absolutely nec-
essary to the peace and safety of the city at times of fire,
or even of fire alarm. A few leading citizens, prominent
among them Messrs. Miles Greenwood and James H.
Walker, then a councilman from the Fifth ward, early in
the seventh decade of the city, began to move for a
reform in the department. Most fortunately for their
purposes, about this time came in the era of
THE STEAM FIRE ENGINE.
One of the earliest of these engines built in this coun-
try, and the first that was practicable for ready use, was
constructed in Cincinnati. It has been somewhat de-
scribed on page 328 of this volume, in our chapter on
manufacturing. An engraving issued by way of frontis-
386
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
piece to the First Annual Report of the chief engineer
of the department, April i, 1854, represents this primi-
tive steam fire engine, the Uncle Joe Ross, the first in
use in Cincinnati, and, except one for a short time in
New York, anywhere in America. It was of the con-
struction of Messrs. Shawk & Latta, of this city, and had
then been in the service of the department for more than
sixteen months, stationed on the north side of Eighth
street, between Plum and Central avenue. It appears
rude and clumsy in comparison with the elegant ma-
chines of the present day, and was heavy and difficult to
move; but was strong and serviceable, doing its work
well. The chief engineer reported this year: "If any
doubt remained of the practicability of this invention
for protecting property from destruction by fire, it must
now be removed. The triumphant success of this inven-
tion has so completely satisfied every one that has seen
it in operation, not only as a means of greater security
to property, but in point of economy far beyond any-
thing now in use."
So much confidence had the new device inspired, that
a sum had been raised by the citizens and insurance
companies, sufficient to pay for another steamer, which
was then almost ready for service. The contract for still
another had been authorized by the council, but it was
thought best not to order it until the new one had been
tested, so that the next steamer might be built with such
improvements as the performance of the other suggested.
He thought that when the engine nearly ready was placed
in service, four or five of the existing hand engine com-
panies in the heart of the city might be safely dispensed
with, as was presently done.
In 1880 a present citizen of Iowa, an old-time visitor
to Cincinnati, recalled some memories of this engine in
reply to an inquiry, which, with some abatement for er-
rors not necessary to indicate, well justifies its reproduc-
tion here.
"Yes, sir," was the response, " 1 drove the team that hauled the first
steam fire engine ever built to the first fire on which streams were played
by steam power. I'll tell you how it was: My brother worked in
Miles Greenwood's foundry in Cincinnati — and I lived at Island Pond,
Vermont— and in May, 1852, I believe, I went to Cincinnati to see him,
arriving there Saturday evening. We were on our way to church Sun
day morning, when the fire bells struck, and my brother"said : ' Now
we'll see what they will do with the steam machine," and we started for
Miles Greenwood's shop, where the steam fire engine was. It was
built by Greenwood— the first ever on wheels. There the engine stood,
steam up, four large gray horses hitched to it, * crowd looking at it,
and Greenwood mad as the devil because he couldn't get a man to
drive the horses. You see all the firemen were opposed to this new in-
vention because they believed it would spoil their fun, and nobody
wanted to be stoned by them, and then the horses were kicking about
so that everybody was afraid on that account. My brother says:
'Larry, you can drive those horses, I know!' And Greenwood said :
'If you can, I wish you would— I'll pay you for it!' My business was
teaming, you see. And just as I was, with my Sunday clothes on, I
jumped on the back of 1 wheel horse, seized the rein, spoke to the
horses, and out we went kiting. Miles Greenwood went ahead, telling
the people to get out of the way— the streets were full of people. The
horses went on a fast run nearly the whole way, and when we got to
the fire we took suction from the canal, and played two streams on the
building, a large frame house, and put the fire out. That was the
biggest crowd I ever saw in my life, and the people yelled and shouted
while some of the firemen who stood around the piano machines (hand
fire engines) jeered and groaned. After the fire was out Greenwood
put on two more streams, and four were played. Then the city hired
me to drive the four horse team with the steamer, paying me seventy-
five dollars a month. It was a great long, wide affair, with a tall heavy
boiler— it was bigger than this room — and run on three wheels, two be-
hind and one in front to guide it by. After a few weeks a fellow offered
to do my work for fifty dollars a month, and they turned me off and
hired him. The second fire he drove to he was run over and killed."
In the same report cited Chief Greenwood recom-
mended the purchase of the lot, then vacant, on the
south side of Sixth street, between Vine and Race, for
the use of the department, arguing its convenience to the
lookout and' alarm bell about to be placed upon the ad-
joining Mechanics' Institute building, and other impor-
tant considerations. The same thing had been under
advisement by the authorities, and, before the chief
engineer's report appeared in print, the purchase had
been authorized by the city council. The handsome and
convenient building subsequently erected upon it is the
one now occupied as the headquarters of the department,
and also by gift, steam engine company, No. 3, Phcenix
hook and ladder company, No. 1, and the fire alarm
telegraph. ,
The cost of the department for the year reported
(1853-4) was seventy-eight thousand four hundred and
forty-four dollars and four cents, of which twelve thousand
two hundred and seventy-three dollars and sixty-three
cents was attributable to the change from the volunteer
to the paid system. Besides the steam fire-engine, four-
teen hand-engine companies were still in service, two
hook and ladder companies, and one hose company.
The salary list of officers and men for the year was fifty-
three thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars and
one cent. The fires of the year numbered one hundred
and sixty, with an estimated loss of six hundred and eighty
thousand nine hundred and six dollars, of which three
hundred and thirty thousand and eighty-nine dollars was
covered by insurance. It was a notable period of trans-
ition in the organization of one of the finest fire depart-
ments in the world.
MILES GREENWOOD.
Mr. Greenwood had accepted service under the ordi-
nance passed March 9, 1853, reorganizing the department
and providing, in a limited way, for a paid department.
Each member of a company employed by the city (none
to be under twenty-one years of age) was to receive the
munificent sum of sixty dollars per annum; each lieuten-
ant, one hundred dollars; captains, one hundred and
fifty dollars ; pipemen and drivers, three hundred and
sixty-five dollars ; assistant engineers (four), three hun-
dred dollars, and the chief engineer one thousand dollars
a year. Mr. Greenwood, however, was practically serving
without pay, while employing another person at a good
salary to attend to his regular business. A writer in the
Biographical Cyclopedia and Portrait Gallery of Dis-
tinguished Men thus refers to his eminent service in this
difficult work :
Mr. Greenwood became connected with the fire department in 1829
when there was but one hose company in the city, and was president of
the association several times. In 1853 the first steam fire engine was
brought out to a fire by a number of picked men under the command
of Mr.. Greenwood. It was well understood that the buildings had
been fired by the members of the volunteer company, who were bitterly
opposed to the introduction of steam engines, for the purpose of hav-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
387
ing an opportunity to smash it. Mr. Greenwood was soon surrounded
by three hundred of these men, who were loud in their threats of ven-
geance. But his cool courage and resolute will daunted the rioters, so
that everything dwindled into a threat that he would never get an office
after that. Two other fires occurred the same night. It will be re-
membered that the city council took little or no interest in the great
change in the fire department which the exigency of the times called
for; and being determined to accomplish the work he had undertaken,
he furnished fifteen thousand dollars of his own money, and obtained
fifteen thousand dollars more from private citizens and insurance com-
panies, who had confidence in, the final success of the change. It was
not until the change had been made that the council sanctioned it by
paying the expenses attending it. Mr. Greenwood, however, had fully
informed himself in regard to the will of the better class of citizens,
and was determined to succeed with the moral support which they ren-
dered him. He removed his family from the city to Avondale, previ-
ous to the struggle, and for the first eighteen months only slept at
home six nights; and from his house on the corner of Race and Ninth
streets answered every tap of the alarm bell. The council paid him one
thousand dollars to attend to their business, and he paid one thousand
five hundred dollars for a person to take his place in his own business;
and to show that he was not actuated by mercenary motives, donated
the one thousand dollars to the Mechanics' Institute. After the steam
fire engine became a fixed fact in the Cincinnati fire department, a dep-
utation from the city of Baltimore came on to examine its workings and
compare the paid and volunteer systems. On being questioned as to
the points of difference, Mr. Greenwood's answer was characteristic,
and as follows: " 1st, it never gets drunk ; 2nd, it never throws brick-
bats, and the only drawback connected with it is, that it can't vote.''
As evidence that even the council were ultimately made sensible of
the benefit accruing to the city from the services of Mr. Greenwood in
this direction, we insert the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the thanks of the citizens of Cincinnati are due to
Miles Greenwood, chief engineer of the fire department, for the able
and efficient manner in which he has discharged the duties of said of-
fice, bringing order out of confusion and saving property and life by
systematized and well defined rules and regulations, and a personal su-
pervision highly honoraole to him, and immensely valuable to this city."
A beautiful souvenir was presented to Mr. Greenwood, the inscription
on which was as follows: " Presented to Miles Greenwood by the officers
of the pay fire department, upon his retirement from the position of
chief engineer of the department, as a tribute of their respect and es-
teem for his efficient services as a fireman, his bearing as an officer, and
exemplary character as a citizen, for many years an active fireman, and
the last two in organizing the present department, the best the world
can boast of."
Mr. Greenwood had been prominent in the affairs of
the department from the beginning of his connection
with it, and was several times elected president of the
firemen's association. The story of his battle with the
volunteer companies and their sympathizers is retold by
the writer of his biography in Cincinnati, Past and Pres-
ent, from which we extract the following paragraphs:
To Mr. Greenwood the Cincinnati fire department is mainly indebted
for its efficient organization. The pay fire department, now in general
use, is really his creation. From being a leading spirit in the old vol-
unteer department, he saw the inevitably demoralizing tendencies of it
upon the youth of cities, and conceiving the idea of adopting steam as
a motive power in the extinguishing of fires, he next determined to
have a paid, rather than a volunteer department. In this he met with
a weight of opposition, both in the city council and the volunteer fire-
men that would have completely discouraged a man of less determina-
tion of character and persistence. For three months after the organi-
zation of the paid fire department of the city, the city council refused
to recognize the change, or appropriate the money to pay the men ; and
during this time Mr. Greenwood advanced for this purpose fifteen thou-
sand dollars to keep the men together by paying them regularly. Night
and day he was constantly engaged fighting the opposition to the or-
ganization. He had no time to attend to his own business, but paid a
man one thousand five hundred dollars to attend to it for him. Event-
ually he triumphed over every difficulty, and to-day such a thing as a
volunteer fire department is unknown in any city of the first class in
Europe or America.
THE PAID DEPARTMENT,
Thus the great reform was finally effected, while Balti-
more, Philadelphia, and other cities were still afflicted
with the rivalries and rowdyism of the old system. Mr.
Greenwood personally settled all claims and difficulties
between the city authorities and the old companies. The
efficiency with which he took hold of abuses and pro-
moted the reform of the department, is apparent in his
first annual report. After the lapse of but six months
from the institution of the new order of things, "the
change for good was so manifest that even the opposition
of the most clamorous advocates of the old system were
hushed to silence," and at the end of a year he was en-
abled to say, in addition:
In the semi-annual report that I had the privilege to present to
your honorable body, I could not refrain from congratulating the city
council upon the triumphant success which had crowned their efforts
in the reform of the fire department, which the peace and good order
of society so imperatively demanded ; the result of which, although
scarcely six months had passed, the change for good was so manifest
that soon the opposition of the most clamorous advocates of the old
system were hushed into silence ; nor is the effect of the change now,
.after the first twelve months have elapsed, less manifest or worthy your
confidence. Under the present control the engine houses are no
longer nurseries where the youth of the city are trained up in vice,
vulgarity and debauchery, and where licentiousness holds her nightly
revels. The Sabbath day is no longer desecrated by the yells and
fierce conflicts of rival fire companies, who sought the occasion afforded
by false alarms, often gotten up for the purpose of making brutal
assaults upon each other; our citizens, male and female, pass our
engine houses without being insulted by the coarse vulgarities of the
persons collected around them. The safety and security of our citizens
are no longer trampled under foot by men claiming a higher law, under
the license of the name of firemen, to commit all manner of excesses
with impunity. The temptation for the youths of our city to follow
fire companies and attach themselves to them, is entirely done away.
For all these good results let me congratulate the city council, and all
who have so manfully and disinterestedly labored for the reform.
LATER DEVELOPMENT.
In 1858 the steam engines manned by the department
already numbered seven. Two years thereafter the
number was eleven with one hundred and fifty-one mem-
bers in the department, including officers, and two hook
and ladder companies. All the hand-engines had been
retired, except one in the Seventeenth ward, which was
still kept for local protection. The mayor this year
characterized the department as "the most efficient in
America," and Chief Megrue said:
At no period since the organization of the fire department, has it
reached so near perfection as now. As an achievement of human skill
we point to it with pride, and in practical workings we have the attesta-
tion of an admiring world.
The self-propelling steam fire engines were introduced
about this time, or soon after; and in 1864 a splendid
new machine of this kind, called the "John F. Torrence,"
was purchased for seven thousand dollars. Four years
afterwards the "A. B. Latta" was added, named from the
builder of the first steam fire engine in Cincinnati.
The cost of the department in the latter year (1868-9)
was two hundred and forty thousand five hundred and
eighty-four dollars and thirteen cents. There were one
hundred and eighty-three alarms and ninety fires, with
a loss of four hundred and forty-seven thousand three
hundred and eighty-two dollars, against which was a total
insurance of two hundred and seventy-one thousand and
388
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
sixteen dollars. Some new and yet more powerful ma-
chines were being added. The department was now
accounted the best in the world, and was famous through-
out the country for its promptness and success in con-
quering the fire-fiend. In the annual report of Chief
Engineer Megrue for 1871, he said:
The wonderful increase of Cincinnati, in territory, wealth, and pop-
ulation, cannot be better shown than by looking at the progress of the
fire department. Fourteen years ago, when I was appointed chief
engineer, there were only seven steam engines, and a few hand-engines,
the task of which was to guard the small valley of twelve wards compos-
ing the city; while we now have eighteen steamers in operation, or soon
to be placed in service, placed at proper distances through the twenty-
four wards of the city, which has a river front of some twelve miles with
an average depth of about one half that distance.
At the Chicago fire of October, in the next year, a part
of the Cincinnati department was present, and rendered
effective aid. That year three new steamers and two
hook and ladder companies were added to its forces.
The next year (1873) its organization was changed by an
act of the general assembly. It was removed from the
immediate care of the city council, and placed in charge
of a board of fire commissioners appointed by the mayor
and confirmed by the council. The first board was com-
posed of the following citizens: P. W. Strader, presi-
dent; George C. Sargent, George Weber, Henry Hanna,
and Charles Kahn, jr. The board organized on the
twenty-fifth of August, abolished the offices of foreman
and outside pipeman of the companies, and employed a
force of men on full time and pay. Five Babcock chem-
ical engines were contracted for, which have since ren-
dered signal service. The department was taken from
the board by legislative act March 17, 1877, but restored
by the same authority February 14, 1878, when the judge
of the police court appointed to the board Messrs. Weber
and Sargent, together with John L. Thompson and Wil-
liam Dunn.
A marked instance of the promptness and efficiency of
the department was presented at the fire in Glendale
May 14, 1880, when it was summoned by telegraph, and
in forty-five minutes from the time when the dispatch
was filed at the Glendale office, had an engine playing on
the fire, in personal charge of Chief Engineer Bunker.
Chief Megrue noted in 1875 that the losses by fire the
year before were two hundred and forty thousand dol-
lars less than in 1854, though the city had meanwhile
doubled in population. Cincinnati, it may be here re-
marked, has never been visited by any of the great con-
flagrations of our history. It is protected, not only by
its superb fire department, but by the environment of
hills which breaks the force of prevailing winds; and the
rates of insurance are therefore less than in any other
large city in the United States.
THE FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH.
After repeated appeals for this additional protective
agency, through the annual messages of the mayor, re-
ports of the chief engineer and otherwise, it was at last
ordered by the city. A law of 1865 enabled the city
council to raise a fund for it, and it was erected the next
year by Messrs. J. F. Kennard & Co., of Boston. It
was used also for police purposes, and at once amply jus-
tified the cause of its working, which was twenty-five
thousand dollars the first year, and twenty thousand
eight hundred dollars the second. It was extended in
1868 to Mount Adams, the Walnut Hills, the workhouse,
and the west side of Mill creek. In 1873 still more ex-
tensive additions were made, in consequence of the an-
nexations, and twenty-seven new signal boxes were also
put up.
THE CHIEF ENGINEERS.
Besides those already noted — Thomas Tucker in 1825,
and before and after, with Jeremiah Kiersted as assis-
tant; Zebulon Byington about 1826, with Moses Coffin
assistant; and William Hedley in 1833-4 — we have the
names of Miles Greenwood, 1852-6; Enoch G. Megrue,
for twenty-one years, 1856-77; and since the latter date
captain Joseph Bunker, formerly assistant engineer, and
who has been connected with the department since 1854.
RECENT STATISTICS.
The expenses of the department for 188c were one
hundred and eighty-nine thousand thirty-two dollars and
forty-seven cents, against receipts of two hundred and
two thousand one hundred dollars and seventy-six cents,
yielding a balance of thirteen thousand sixty eight dollars
and twenty-nine cents, of which five thousand dollars
was reserved for a new engine, and seven thousand one
hundred and sixty-seven dollars for an engine-house on
Lick run. The alarms of the year were two hundred
and seventy-eight, of which one hundred and fifty-four
were still alarms. Losses by fire in the city aggregated
four hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hundred
and eighty-eight dollars and seventy-seven cents, with in-
surance three hundred and thirty-four thousand five hun-
dred and forty-nine dollars and fifty-seven cents. Dur-
ing the year sixteen new alarm boxes were placed in
position, and the entire alarm system has been renovated
by removing the wires from housetops and placing them
on poles.
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE WATER-WORKS.
There was never any lack of water in Cincinnati, or
scarcely anywhere else in the Miami country, one of the
best watered tracts in all the world.
THE FIRST WELL
upon the site of the Queen City was excavated in 1791,
inside the embattled precincts of Fort Washington, by a
professional well-digger named Robert Shaw, otherwise
"the water-witch," a queer character of the early day,
whose life, written and rudely illustrated by himself]
may be seen in a very rare volume at the Cincinnati
public library.
, THE WATER-CARTS.
Two years afterwards, during the year in which Mr
David McCash, a stout Scotchman, immigrated hither
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
389
from Mason county, Kentucky, his eldest son made a
contrivance of two stout poles, the front halves of which
were used as shafts for the single horse employed to drag
the affair, while a cross-piece about midway of the poles,
a barrel, and two pegs to keep it in place, completed the
singular outfit. With this the enterprising young Wil-
liam furnished the primitive Cincinnatians with their first
water supply, away from their own premises.
Jesse Reeder and others, long afterwards enlarged
profitably upon the McCash idea, as will be seen in the
extracts below.
DR. DRAKE, IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN,
notes a few indifferent springs on the borders of the
village, and others on the hillsides, but none with a suffi-
ciency of water for distribution through the town. A
number of wells, however, had been sunk — those east of
Broadway to the depth of thirty to fifty feet; some of
those on the northwest parts of the hill only twenty to
forty feet, while, strange to say, those on the bottom had
to be sunk forty to sixty feet. At points between Third
and Sixth streets, west of Broadway, a depth of seventy
to one hundred was necessary, in order to reach water.
The find contained the usual salts, and in some wells
was slightly impregnated with iron. (Sixty-two years
afterwards, in 1877, the artesian well at Moerlein's
brewery, on Elm street, near McMicken avenue, devel-
oped a vein of mineral water, flowing nearly a hundred
barrels per hour, draughts from which are said to have
cured a number of confirmed invalids).
Cisterns were common in 181 5, "and from the absence
of coal in our fires," says Dr. Drake, happy man! "afford
good water.'' A large share of all the water used, how-
ever, was hauled in barrels from the river. It was often
impure, and took time to settle, but was preferred- to
well water for most domestic purposes. The proprietors
of the great steam mill were contemplating the applica-
tion of their surplus power in the distribution of the
river water over the whole town, which, thought the doc-
tor, was "a plan so interesting that its execution will con-
stitute an important era in our public improvements."
A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY.
Mr. Cist, in his Cincinnati in 1851, gives the follow-
ing instructive sketch of the early history of the water
supply. of the city :
The first settlers of Cincinnati drank from the springs in the hillside,
along and below the present line of Third street, and did their washing
in the Ohio river. As the population increased individuals for their
greater private convenience sank wells. Still a large portion of the in-
habitants obtained their supply fiom the river, and there are many still
living who associate toting water by hoop and bucket with their remin-
iscences of a washing day.
The summer of 1802 was very dry, and most of the springs failed.
Among the rest the one which supplied Deacon Wade's tan-yard.
Without water the business could not go no— not a dray in the settle-
ment— what was to be done? An inventive genius, Ja'mes McMahan,
came to their relief ; with an axe and auger repaired to the adjoining
fields, cut a couple of saplings, pinned cross-pieces, and upon them
secured a cask. To this dray by aid of a yoke, or wooden collar, he
geared his bull, and with this "fixin"' the water was furnished, and the
business of the yard kept in operation.
In 1806, when the citizens numbered seventeen hundred, the first
move for supplying them with water was made by William, better
known as " Bill" Gibson, rigging a cask upon wheels, and undertaking
the furnishing of water as a part of his business. The facility this
water-cart afforded was as great a desideratum and as marked an
epoch in the history of the progress of the comforts of the town as any
subsequent improvement for furnishing the city with water.
In 1R17 Jesse Reeder built a tank on the bank of the river, near
Ludlow street. By means of elevators worked by horse power he
lifted the water into this tank and thence sold it to the water carts.
In 1816 the town council of Cincinnati granted the Cincinnati
Woollen Manufacturing company the exclusive privilege of laying pipe
through the streets, lanes and alleys of the town, for the purpose of
supplying the citizens thereof with water, conditioned "That on or
before the fourth day of July, 18 19, the pipe should be laid and water
conveyed to that part of the town lying south of Third street, common-
ly called the 'Bottom,' and to that part of the the town called the
'Hill,' so that it may be delivered three feet above the first floor of
James Furgeson's kitchen, in said town, on or before the second day of
July, 1823."
In i8r8 the Woollen Manufacturing company, with the assent of the
town council, transferred all their right, interest and privilege of sup-
plying the inhabitants of the town of Cincinnati with water, to S. W.
Davies, and the legislature granted said Davies and his associates an
act of incorporation by the name of the Cincinnati Water company,
with the privilege of creating a capital not exceeding seventy-five
thousand dollars. Mr. Davies purchased the property now occupied
by the engine house and reservoir, and commenced preparing for fur-
nishing the city with water. A reservoir forty by thirty and six feet
deep, bottom and sides planked, was excavated on the hillside, a little
south and west of the present site. Two frame buildings were erected
on the bank, one on the north and the other on the south side of Front
street. A lifting pump, placed in the building south of Front street,
lifted the water from the river into a tank in the building on the north
side of Front street. From this tank the water was forced up the hill
into the reservoir. The pipes, pumps and machinery were of wood,
and worked by horse power.
In 1820, there being at the time no improvements between Broadway
and the reservoir, the wooden pipes leading into the town were laid
along the hillside, through Martin Baum's orchard, do.wn to Deer creek;
on the west side of the creek, through what at the time was Baum's
fields, now Longwood's garden, and other lots to Broadway; thence
along Fifth street to Sycamore, and down Sycamore to Lower Market.
Here the first fire-plug — a wooden pent stock — was placed, and from it
the first water lifted by machinery, from the Ohio river, and passed
through pipes for the use of the citizens, flowed on the third day of
July, r82r.
In 1824, Mr. Davis purchased the engine and boiler of the steamboat
Vesta; and Mr. Joseph Dickinson, after having repaired and fitted the
engine up in the frame building south of Front street, attached by
means of crank and lever two lifting pumps, of six-inch cylinder, and
two force pumps of seven-inch cylinder and four-foot stroke. With
these the water was lifted from the river into a tank in the same build-
ing, and forced from this tank, up the hill, four hundred feet through
five-inch iron pipe, and three hundred and fifty feet of gum-wood pipe,
into the reservoir. The trees for these pipes were cut in Deacon
Wade's woods, near the corner of Western Row and Everett streets.
In 1827, Mr. Davies sold his interest in the water-works to Messrs.
Ware, Foote, Greene and others when, in accordance with the act of
incorporation, a company organization took place. At this time there
were about seventeen thousand feet of wooden pipe, five hundred and
thirty hydrants, and less than five thousand dollars income.
In 1828, the engine was repaired, and the entire pumping apparatus
remodeled by Anthony Harkness. After this the water was thrown
through a twelve-inch iron pipe into a new stone reservoir, one hun-
dred feet by fifty, and twelve feet deep. This reservoir was enlarged
from time to time, until its dimensions equalled three hundred and fifty
feet in length by fifty feet in width, and twelve feet deep, containing
one million, two hundred thousand gallons of water. This reservoir,
having served its day, has now to give way to make room for a new
one, enlarged to meet the present demand.
In 1833, Mr. Harkness made and put up a new engine and pumping
apparatus, which is now in use.
The grant of 1816 (some say 1817) by ordinance to
the manufacturing company, gave the company the ex-
clusive privilege, for ninety-nine years, of supplying the
city, for an annual payment of one hundred dollars and
unlimited free water at fires. The company was also ob-
39°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ligated to place a fire plug at each block into which water
was introduced, to fill all corporation cisterns or reser-
voirs free of expense, and allow water from them to be
used only in case of fire.
When the company transferred to Mr. Davies all their
rights in the premises, he repaid to them all the prelimi-
nary cost they had put upon the works. By the first of
July, 1820, water was supplied on both the upper and
lower plains as required by the ordinance. Notwith-
standing the energy of Mr. Davies, however, and the suc-
cess with which he pushed his operations, the citizens
took little interest in them, and the disgusted proprietor
finally offered the whole of his works to the city at less
than cost. A vote was taken upon the proposal; but it
was adverse to acceptance, and by and by operations
were enlarged by the incorporation of the Cincinnati
Water company, as above noted, although an authority
places the date in the winter of 1825-6, several years
later than the time named by Mr. Cist. The few mem-
bers of the company took stock enough to enable the
building of water-works by which the supply was raised
by a steam engine of forty-horse power to a reservoir on
the adjacent hillside, about thirty feet above the village
"Hill" in extreme high't, being one hundred and fifty-
eight feet above low water mark in the river. Thence
two wooden pipes, by the route before described, con-
ducted the water to the city, and distributed it along the
principal streets through about forty thousand feet of
smaller pipe. In 1826 about five hundred families and
many manufactories were thus supplied. A neat enlarged
reservoir, to hold three hundred thousand gallons, was
just building, and iron pipes, of eight and six inches di-
ameter, were to be laid the next summer from the en-
gine house just above Deer creek bridge to the reservoir
and through the town.
The traveller Burnet, here in 18 17, observes the
"pumps placed for general accommodation" in the
streets of the village, and has a foot-note to the following
effect :
The pump water, though commonly used, is not good in hot weather,
neither is the water of the Ohio. At a considerable expense they might
be supplied with good water. I should think this impoitant subject
will meet the early attention of the enlightened inhabitants.
Mr. John P. Foote's biography of his brother, the late
Samuel E. Foote, makes the following contribution to the
history of Cincinnati water-works:
At an early period in the history of Cincinnati, when its future growth
and prosperity appeared to be fully established, the need of a regular
supply of water was seen to be necessary, not only for family purposes,
but for supplying the wants of manufacturing establishments, which
were beginning to be requisite for the supply (especially) of those heavy
fabrics, the transportation of which from the seaboard imposed taxes
too heavy to be borne by the early emigrants to our western towns and
farms. This want, a most energetic and accomplished man of busi-
ness, Colonel Samuel W. Davies, undertook to supply. He raised a
substantial building of stone and brick, at low-water mark of the
river, for the accommodation of the lifting and forcing pumps, neces-
sary to convey the water of the river to a reservoir, on a hill immedi-
ately north of the building. This reservoir was about three hundred
feet above low-water mark, and was near the eastern boundary of the
city, and higher than its highest levels. He laid wooden pipes for
carrying the water through <he principal streets of the city, but its
rapid increase soon showed that such pipes were insufficient to supply
even a small portion of its requirements. The growth and extension of
the city being chiefly to the westward, iron pipes, and those of larger
calibre than would have been necessary, had the growth of the city been
upwards on the river, as had ever been the course of our river towns,
were needed.
Colonel Davies, when he had devoted all his means— his capital and
credit — to the work, found that he had but made a commencement,
and there was a necessity for a much larger amount of capital than any
individual in the west, at that time, could furnish. He, therefore, pro-
posed to put the works into the hands of a joint stock company, and
' obtained a charter for the, formation of such a company, which he en-
deavored, with his characteristic energy, to organize. He found, how-
ever, the vis inertia of the citizens in regard to public improvements,
propoitionate to their efforts for the increase of their individual for-
tunes. As in the case of the canal stock, there was found a sufficient
number of citizens who considered it a public duty of others to carry
out Colonel Davies' undertaking, which was the extent of their public
spirit in this case. The prevalence of this opinion, however, did not
produce the desired practical result, and the plan was on the point of
being abandoned for the want of funds. Under these circumstances
the following named gentlemen undertook to unite with Colonel Davies,
and carry on the works; these were David B. Lawler, William Greene,
Samuel E. and J. P. Foote, and N. A. Ware, who, however, soon sold
his share in the establishment to George Graham and William S. Johns-
ton. These gentlemen constituted the " Cincinnati Water Company.1'
Samuel E. Foote was appointed its secretary, and served in that office
during its existence, without compensation. In this office he brought
into exercise that knowledge and capacity for business by which he was
always distinguished. All his accounts and plans are models of correct-
ness and adaptation to the interest of the institution. The company
made extensive improvements, substituting iron for wooden pipes, in
those streets that required the largest mains, establishing improved
pumps, enlarging the reservoirs, and generally adapting the progress of
the works to that of the city. They, however, became weary of well-
doing in the cause of the public, for which their returns in money were
not enough, and in reproaches and abuse for demanding payment rents,
too much, for the comfort of their lives. They, therefore, made an
offer of the establishment to the city, for a sum which— judging from
the cost of subsequent improvements— was less than half what it would
have cost to begin and carry forward the works to the state in which
they were. The offer was submitted to a vote of the citizens, and ac-
cepted, though similar, and, perhaps, more favorable offers had been
previously lejected. The water rents have been increased fifty to one
hundred per cent, since the sale, but they are, perhaps, not now too
high, though as long as they were much lower, and collected by a
private company, they were intolerably oppressive.
The vote here mentioned was the second taken by
the electors of the city, and long after the first.
In June, 1839, the company owning the water-works
had fallen into such financial straits as to make it neces-
sary to part with the property. If not bought by the
city, it seemed likely to pass into the hands of strangers,
without other interest in the place. A popular vote was
taken upon the question of purchase by the city, and the
council was thereby instructed to procure whatever legis-
lation might be necessary to authorize the purchase.
This was secured without difficulty, and, in the month
above designated, the city became the purchaser of the
water-works, and all its franchise and privileges, for the
sum of three hundred thousand dollars, which became a
bonded debt, due January 15, 1865, when it was promptly
redeemed. It may be here mentioned that bonds be-
came frequently necessary during the years 1847-53, for
improvements and extensions, and long-time issues,' be-
coming due 'in 1895 and 1900, were made as follows:
For improvements, $56,000, March i, 1847; $50,000
April 1, !847; $94,ooo, May 15, 1847; $IOo,ooo, April
15, 1849. For extension of the works, July 1, 185 1
$100,000; June 15, 1853, $25,000; July 5, T853, $50,-
000; making a total, with the original issue, of $875 000
water-works indebtedness. September 8, 1868, $iSo'ooo
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
39i
in seven-thirty bonds were issued for the construction of
additional works and the purchase of grounds therefor.
Bonded issues since have been : For the Eden Park reser-
voir, 1869, $150,000; for extension and improvement of
the works, $150,000; for "water-works purposes," $300,-
000; and $300,000, August 2, 1875, to complete the new
reservoirs, and for laying water-pipes and purchasing new
engine. The total water-works bonded indebtedness of
the city in 1880 was $
When the purchase of the works was made by the city,
in 1839, the facilities for water distribution consisted of
twenty thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet of
iron pipe, chiefly three and four inch pipe, and one hun-
dred and seventeen thousand eight hundred and forty-
three feet of wooden pipe — mere logs with a two-and-a-
half inch bore. The city received from the works during
the first year of its ownership but thirty-nine thousand
four hundred dollars, and for thirteen years the revenue
from this source was insufficient to meet the expenses of
the department. Meanwhile, however, many of the old
and useless log pipes had been removed, the water ser-
vice had been greatly extended, and additional pumping
power had been introduced. But little of this improve-
ment was made down to June, 1846, when the manage-
ment of the works was placed under the control of three
trustees. A contract was now made with Messrs. Yeat-
man & Shield, of the city, for building the combination
engine, which displaced the old and now much dilap-
idated machinery. The revenue for water rents was as
yet but forty-four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.
In 1850 greater pumping power became necessary, and
Messrs. Harkness & Company contracted to build a con-
densing engine to meet the deficiency. Two years after-
wards, the superintendent and engineer of the works
made an earnest appeal to the board of trustees for a
reserve engine, to fall back upon in case of the sudden
disability of either or both of the other engines, and a
contract was accordingly made with Messrs. Powell &
Company for another condensing engine, which was
presently added to the facilities possessed by the works.
Very large additions were made in 1854-5 to the dis-
tributing pipes and the hydrants — sixty-three miles of the
former and nine thousand of the latter being in use when
the water-works board reported at the beginning of 1856.
The works were, no great while after, estimated by the
board to be worth two millions of dollars, and, in i860,
Superintendent Phillips increased this estimate by a
quarter of a million. From that time to and including
1866, there were expended for main and supply pipe,
$453,889.35; for the new engine, $208,239.16; new
building, $143,970; stand-pipe and improvement at
reservoir, $21,871.42; and the new Eden Park reservoir,
$60,094.70; total, $888,064.63. A net gain was shown
as having accrued to the city since the purchase of the
works, deducting eight hundred and seventy-five thou-
sand dollars' of appropriations by the council, of two
million two hundred and sixty-three thousand and
sixty-four dollars and sixty-three cents, which had been
derived from lower water-rates than the general average
charged in other cities supplied by engine-pumping power.
So long ago as 1854, the water- works board urged
upon the council the importance of securing enough
ground for additional reservoir capacity, at an increased
elevation over .that in use, and the building of two Corn-
ish engines. The recommendation resulted in no def-
inite action until i860, when, upon the report of Mr.
Shield, now engineer of the works, submitting plans,
drawings, and estimate of cost (eighty-seven thousand,
seven hundred and seventy-nine dollars and fifty-five
cents), he was instructed to proceed with the work of
building a single monster engine on the Cornish plan.
It was nearly five years in building, and, as we have seen
above, cost a great deal more than the original estimate.
The castings for it were the largest in dimensions and
weight that had been brought for any purpose into the
city, and the largest, indeed, then ever cast in the coun-
try. During the excavation made for the building which
was to contain it, two old log roads were found, which
had been used in hauling the stone quarried for the old
water-works building.
In 1861 the average daily supply of water from the
works was four million eight hundred and fifty-five thou-
sand, five hundred and eight gallons, which was forty-six
thousand four hundred and seventy-eight gallons more
than the average daily supply of the two previous years
combined. A considerable length of twenty-inch mains
had been put down this year. The next year the total
supply was two billion, sixty-two million, sixteen thousand,
nine hundred and ten gallons, or two hundred and eighty-
nine million, seven hundred and fifty-six thousand, two
hundred and sixty-six more than in 186 1. A new aque-
duct had been extended to the river channel, supposed
to be out of the reach of impurities, and a stand-pipe
and main had been constructed at the reservoir. The
former fact brings to mind
AN INTERESTING QUESTION.
In 1852, the board of trustees of the water works em-
ployed Dr. John Locke, sr., an eminent professor of
chemistry and a very competent man for the purpose, to
make analyses of samples of water taken from the Ohio
river at various points between Cincinnati and the mouth
of the Big Sandy, above the city, also from sundry places
on the Great and Little Miamis, from the Whitewater and
Mad rivers, and from a spring on Sycamore street hill,
near the city. Careful tests, calculations, and compari-
sons with each other, and with the Croton water of New
York city, were made; and it was satisfactorily proved
that the Ohio river water was superior to any of the other,
and that it contained but seventy-six thousandths of a grain
more solid matter in a gallon than the Croton water.
The use of the water from that stream was therefore ap-
proved and continued. In 1864, however, it was deemed
advisable by the city council to appoint "Water Supply
Commission," consisting of Mayor Harris, Colonel Gil-
bert, the city civil engineer, with the trustees of the
water-works and Messrs. Weasner, Moore, Wiltsee, and
Davis, of the council, to report further in regard to the
attainment of a supply of pure water for the city. They
secured the services of Mr. James P. Kirkwood, of New
392
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
York, one of the most eminent hydraulic engineers in
the country, who made a thorough inspection of the
country surrounding Cincinnati, including an examination
of its rivers, creeks, and springs, and the character of its
rocks and soil with a view to the supply of the city by
surface drainage. After all his searches and wanderings,
he finally returned to the water of the amber stream,
la belle riviere, as the best available for the purpose, and
reported emphatically in its favor. He also submitted
a plan for new water-works, the water to be taken from
the Ohio at Pendleton, and for greater reservoir capacity.
This did not receive the favor of the majority of the
commissioners; but a minority report from them, favor-
ing the Ohio river water, and discharging it with the
existing pumps into a new reservoir, or the old one, at an
additional elevation, was almost unanimously adopted by
the city council, and instructions given to negotiate with
Mr. Joseph Longworth, heir of the late Nicholas Long-
worth, for the purchase of the property known as the
"Garden of Eden" (now part of Eden Park), for the
proposed extension. It was a specially favorable locality
for a reservoir, being a natural basin, two hundred and
thirty-eight feet above low-water in the Ohio and sixty-
eight above the overflow pipe of the old reservoir. Stone
of excellent quality for all purposes of building the
structure was found upon the site, much of which would
be necessarily quarried in making the excavation for a
reservoir of the desired capacity — one hundred millions
of gallons. The negotiations with Mr. Longworth were
successful, the necessary papers being executed January
9, 1866, and the great work was begun as soon as the
requisite legal authority could be obtained. In the latter
part of February the survey of the ground was commenced
and early in May plans were submitted for building the
main on southward, and for sewers for draining the
ground. The work was pushed briskly, and by the last
day of the year sixty-nine thousand and ninety-four dol-
lars and seventy cents had been expended upon the
improvement.
The question of purity of the water was still naturally
much agitated by the people of the city — an agitation
materially increased by an amusing but mortifying in-
cident occuring in the autumn of 1866, which demon-
strated a fact long in dispute that the filthy waters of
Deer creek, detained for a time near its mouth by a
movement of the current of the Ohio that came to be
called the "Deer Creek eddy," were brought within the
area of waters entering the aqeduct of the water-works,
and were pumped into the reservoir for the supply of the
city's drinking water. By the burning of a "distillery
somewhere along the course of the creek, a quantity of
whisky was lost and mingled with its waters. The same
alcohol element being shorty afterwards detected in the
water from the reservoir, the close relation of Deer
creek and the city water supply was shown beyond a
cavil; and steps were promptly taken by the water board
to break the connection by constructing a wall into the
river from the upper bank of the creek, so as to prevent
the eddy. About eighteen months afterwards, Mayor
Wilstach expressed the opinion, in which Mr. Joseph P.
Mayer, superintendent of the water-works, concurred
that the city would "never be supplied with a really pure
article of water until the works are located at some point
above the mouth of the Little Miami river," on account
of the increasing population on both sides of the Ohio
below that point adding to the drainage and consequent
impurity of the water supply. This view received further
confirmation the next year, in the report of the board of
health, that the waters of the Little Miami were also a
source of contamination, since, as Professor Locke re-
ported: "By the analyses the waters of either of the
Miamis is shown to be too highly charged with mineral
matter to answer well for domestic use. "
This feeling ultimately led to the purchase by the cor-
poration of the Markley farm above the city, on the river,
about ten miles above the present pumping-house, for the
purposes of inproved water-works. It cost not far from
one hundred thousand dollars, and has not yet been util-
ized for the ends of its purchase.
THE NEW ENGINE
at the works was not ready for testing until the fifteenth
of November, 1865, when the piston-head burst, and
there was further delay. Many troubles with the great
machine followed, and it was not of much service until
T867, when, with the final insertion of new pump-valves
the engine worked satisfactorily, and has been since con-
tinued in use.
It may be remarked that in 1847 the combined en-
gines at the works were first put in operation. About
1 85 1 the engine of Harkness & Sons was started, and in
1854 the Powell & Sons' engine. There was no increase
in power then until in i860, when the new engine on the
Cornish plan was ordered. The ultimate cost of this
improvement, three hundred and two thousand seven
hundred and sixty-six dollars and seventy-six cents, ex-
cited a great deal of hostility among the citizens, although
the extension of mains to the amount of one hundred
and seventy-eight thousand dollars, between 1854 and
i860, and two hundred and four thousand dollars from
i860 to 1864, created no general murmur from the peo-
ple.
In 1868-9 works for the supply of Mount Auburn,
Walnut Hills, and other elevated localities, were con-
structed, and in 1879-80 similar works for the supply of
the heights in the western part of the city. Here the
great tank, holding two million seven hundred thousand
gallons, on the "Considine place," a tract of three acres,
on Glenway avenue, a spot so elevated as to afford a sup-
ply for the loftiest building on the hills, and to give a
pressure that will throw a jet above the tallest edifice in
the city below. The flow-line of the tank is five hundred
and eleven feet above low water in the river.
OTHER RESERVOIRS.
Two boiler iron tanks previously constructed for the
supply of the hills are in a favorable locality at the in-
tersection of Auburn avenue and Vine street, on Mount
Auburn. The pumping-works which supply these are in
the valley below, at the corner of Hunt and Effluentpipo
streets, which draw on the great reservoirs in Eden park
t^sUtz-vri- J2%r (D-tHwtiZS
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
393
They supply the Tyler Davidson fountain, also a line of
fire-plugs by a ten inch pipe down Vine street to Fourth,
upon which is a pressure of two hundred pounds to the
square inch.
The old Third street reservoir is in the so-called Water-
works park, at the foot of Mount Adams, and is con-
structed of solid masonry. It is very much smaller than
the immense basins in Eden park, but by constant pump-
ing into it is made sufficient for the supply of the district
south of Third street and a part of the west end.
The two reservoirs around the hills above, in Eden
park, will together hold about one hundred million gal-
lons. The natural hollows of that region favored their
construction, and a building of a huge wall of strong
and solid masonry across the mouth of one of these
ravines was sufficient to create the great artificial lakes or
reservoirs. The ground was first broken for these reser-
voirs, which are in effect one, on the nin<-h of April,
1866, and the work was continued with little interrup-
tion, except from an injunction obtained in April, 1875,
which. stopped the work for four and a half months. It
was prosecuted, however, at great cost, the total expense
for them reaching about four and a half millions. In
1874 the northwest division, containing fifty-eight mil-
lion sixty-one thousand six hundred and twenty-six gal-
lons, was completed, and water was pumped into it Oc-
tober 9th of that year. The entire work, as finished,
alone provides a supply for the city for about six days,
which time could be prolonged by economy of consump-
tion, in case of any sudden and dangerous contingency.
It is a work of gigantic proportions, whose construction
involved important new problems in hydraulic engineer-
ing, all of which are believed to have been successfully
solved. It supplies the extensive and densely populated
districts between Third street and the hills.
THE LATEST STATISTICS.
The daily average consumption of water by the city of
Cincinnati in 1880 was 19,476,732 gallons, against
17,322,412 in 1879, being an increase of 12.44 per
cent. The largest consumption' for one day was on the
seventeeth of July, being 27,951,395 gallons. The total
consumption of the year was 7,128,484,020 gallons, or
805,803,468 more than the year next before. The num-
ber of miles of main pipe in use was 188.7, of which
4.64, or 24,505 feet, were laid in 1880, of which 3,319
were 46-inch pump mains, and 12,689 m small lines for
petitioners. Pipe was relaid to the amount of 3,350 feet.
The total disbursements of the department for the year
were $521,311.79, and receipts $523,087.09, of which
$504,490. 16 were from water rents, and $300 from rents
of the Markley farm, etc. There was a net increase of
receipts for the year, as against 1879, of $57,253.89,
and decrease of expenditures $23,000.83, making a net
increase of profit and loss for 1880 of $80,254.72 — the
largest since the water-works were created, and larger
than any other three years together, excluding 1864.
The ratio of expense to receipts, exclusive of the inter-
est account, was but 37 per cent., against 47 in 1879,
when the rents were reduced 5 per cent, and 41 the
previous year.
S°
CHAPTER XLIV.
PENAL INSTITUTIONS.
A small prison was erected for municipal purposes
quite early in the history of Cincinnati; but at what date
or under what circumstances or auspices we have been
unable to learn.* ■ It was not only small and inconven-
ient, but in time became exceedingly noisome and un-
healthful, and in March, 1818, the condition of the
prison used by the town was so bad as to call out an
emphatic protest from an association of Christian women,
embracing some of the first ladies in the place. A com-
munication to the mayor and town council, signed by
Mrs. Riske, formerly wife of Colonel Ludlow, as cor-
responding secretary of the society, contained the fol-
lowing:
Amidst proofs of public munificence that distinguish Cincinnati and
give it a dignified position among the cities of the United States, the
neglected condition of its prison will, to the eye of any philanthropic
traveller, impart counterbalancing degradation. The prison is at pres-
ent in a state of decay, and its dilapidated walls, which bear many
marks of the ingenuity and perseverance of men driven to despair, are
inadequate to withstand attempts at escape; so that the only alternative
is the additional cruelty of loading culprits with irons. When the ladies
of this association last visited it, one room of about twenty feet square
contained twenty^two prisoners. Debtors, house-breakers, malefactors,
male and female, were crowded promiscuously together, like animals in
a pen for slaughter!
This state of things was measurably relieved in due
course of time, and the prison accommodations of the
place were enlarged with the growth of the city and of
its crime record, but in 1859 the report made of an
official investigation into the condition and management
of the city prison, then on Ninth street, again excited
much compassion and indignation. As one result of the
stir made, the female prisoners were removed for confine-
ment in a school-house on East Front street, which was
put in charge of Mother Mary Stanislaus Cusack, a
religieuse of the Catholic order of the Good Shepherd,
who for several years administered its affairs admirably
as matron. The Ninth Street prison, however, again
became insufferably crowded, about forty men and three
women being incarcerated therein daily. At length
abundant relief was found in the superseding of the old
den on Ninth street by the present superb
CITY WORKHOUSE.
On the twenty-first of July, 1865, Councilman William
P. Wiltsee, of the committee of council on police, city
prison, and workhouse, offered the following measure :
Resolved, That the committee on police, city prison and workhouse
are hereby authorized to select a site and have plans and estimates
made for the erection of a city prison and workhouse, and report the
same to council as soon as practicable, with all necessary action requir-
ed, on the part of the legislature of the State, for carrying out the
objects of this resolution, viz: The erection of a city prison and work-
house.
The resolution was adopted, and the latter part of it
took ultimate effect in the passage by the legislature, at
its next session, March 9, 1866, of an act supplementary
to the act of May 3, 1852, to provide for the organiza-
tion of cities and incorporated villages, by which the city
*In 1826 the county jail was the only place in the city for the con-
finement of prisoners.
394
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
was empowered to erect and maintain a workhouse; to
issue bonds to the amount of one hundred thousand
dollars, bearing interest at not more than six per cent.
per annum, for such institution, and to levy a tax not
exceeding one-half of one mill on the dollar for its main-
tenance. Its direction and control were vested in a
board of five directors, serving wilhout compensation.
Originally these were to be appointed for the term of
four years — one by the judges of the superior court, one
by the judges of the court of common pleas, two by the
city council, and the mayor was to be the fifth, and ex
officio chairman of the board. By a later act all are ap-
pointed by the mayor, with the consent of the council,
and hold for term of five years.
On the ninth of March, 4866, Councilman Joseph
Kirkup, from the same committee as before, offered the
following :
Whekeas, The committee on police, city prison and workhouse,
acting under the instructions of the city council, have selected a site on
which to erect a city prison and workhouse, and,
Whereas, The general assembly of the State of Ohio has author-
ized the city of Cincinnati to issue bonds, and levy a tax, for the pur-
pose of erecting a city prison and workhouse,
Therefore, be it Resolved, That the committee on police, city prison
and workhouse, in connection with the city auditor and city solicitor,
be, and they are hereby empowered to purchase the lot of land lying
adjacent to, and adjoining the house of refuge, said lot containing
twenty-six acres, more or less, for the sum of fifty thousand dollars,
payable in city bonds. Adopted.
Resolved, That the finance committee be requested to prepare an or-
dinance, authorizing the issue of bonds, for the purpose herein set
forth.
The preamble and resolutions were adopted, and sub-
sequently, April 20, 1866, the following submitted by
Councilman Robert Allison, of the same committee :
Resolved, That the committee on police, city prison and workhouse
be and are hereby authorized to procure plans and specifications for a
workhouse, to be erected on the property purchased for the purpose of
erecting a city prison and workhouse,
Also, That the committee on police, city prison and workhouse be,
and they are hereby instructed to take immediate measures for erection
of a temporary house for a prison, on the property purchased for the
purpose of erecting a permanent workhouse.
The property purchased was a tract on the old Camp
Washington, used for the rendezvous of Ohio troops
during the Mexican war, in the Mill Creek valley, one-
third of a mile east of the stream, and near the base of
Clifton Heights. It is on the Colerain avenue or turn-
pike, three and one-half miles from Fountain square,
and now within the limits of the city. Ground was
presently broken, under the direction of Mr. Allison,
who was made chairman of the building committee, and
the immense building now occupied put up the next
year, after plans prepared by Messrs. Adams and Hanna-
ford, architects. The following description of it is com-
prised in the annual reports of the institution:
The buildings present a beautiful and imposing structure, with a
frontage on the west of five hundred and ten feet in length, and con-
sists of a main building fifty-four feet in width, and fifty-four feet in
depth, and five stories in height. In this building are contained the
offices, reception and ante-rooms, superintendents' and officers dormi-
tories. In connection, and extending north and south of the main
building, are two wings, each wing being two hundred and twentv-eight
feet long by sixty feet deep. The wings are one story of sixty feet in
height, exclusive of the turrets at the extreme ends of the wings In
the south, or main wings of the structure, are contained three hundred
and fifty-six cells for male prisoners; all are built in one single block
of six tiers, with a hall or passage-way around the same, two hundred
"and twenty-four feet long and sixteen feet wide. The north wing (fe-
male department) contains two hundred and forty cells, built in one
solid block, and a hall or passage-way extending around the same, one
hundred and sixty-two feet in length and sixteen feet in width. At the
extreme end of this wing are the female workrooms, five in number,
sixty feet in length and twenty-five feet in width. The rooms are occu- .
pied during the day by femiles exclusively, employed in the manufac-
ture of clothing, etc. ; here also wearing apparel, both male and female,
for prison use, is manufactured and repaired; in connection with this
suite of rooms is the female hospital, sixty by twenty-five feet. Imme-
diately in rear and centre of main structure are the domestic depart-
ments; first, the prisoners' kitchen, where food for all prisoners is pre-
pared, and at the proper hours pissed by means of endless belts to the
prisoners on their entrance to the prisons, the food having been already
divided into proper rations; the labor in this department being per-
formed by female prisoners under the supervision of a lady guard.
Connected with the domestic apartments, in the basement story, is the
boiler and engine-room, fifty by sixty feet, and containing four large
double-fiued boilers, twenty feet long by forty-two inches diameter, and
set in two separate batteries of two boilers each, furnishing a sufficiency
of steam for heating of buildings, cooking, laundry, and all other pur-
poses. A doctor engine, for supplying the boilers with water, is also
in its proper position, which, together with low-water detectors, steam
gauge, etc., has been added to insure safety. A ten- by twenty-inch
cylinder horizontal engine is provided for furnishing the necessary
power for driving the laundry machinery. A large boiler-iron tank",
fifty-two inches diameter, and twelve feet long, with an interior heating
surface, supplies the institution with an abundance of hot water.
Next in order is the officers' kitchen, where all food for officers and
employes is prepared, and by means of a dumb waiter passed to the
officers' dining-room, immediately over the prisoners' kitchen. On the
north or left is the laundry, where all the clothing for the prison is regu-
larly renovated. In connection with these apartments is the store-room,
twenty by twenty feet, bakery eighteen by twenty feet, with bread-room
attached; these departments being all under one roof, and separated by
a hall and passage-ways. East and in the rear of the domestic apart-
ments is the chapel, a beautiful hall, sixty-five by sixty-eight feet, thirty
feet- in height, and capable of seating five hundred to six hundred per-
sons. On the south, and disconnected from the chapel, is the male
bath-house, eighty-seven by twenty-five feet, and two stories high, the
first story having a spacious pool for bathing, with ante-room attached;
the second story of this building is set apart for the male hospital,
drug-stores, bath-room, etc. On the north of the chapel (and also dis-
connected) is the female bath-house, seventy by twenty-five feet, one
story high, containing a large bath-room and ante-rooms. East and in
the rear of the chapel is the stable and carriage house, with accommo-
dations for twelve horses. East and in the rear of the chapel and out
buildings, are the male workshops, extending north and south, and
fronting on the west, two hundred and eighty-four feet long by sixty-
two feet in depth, and two sixteen-foot stories in height, divided in the
centre by boiler and engine-house and small packing rooms. The main
building, chapel, shops, and outbuildings are all substantial brick
structures, with freestone finish.
During the year 1873 a large and commodious work-shop, two hun-
dred feet long by sixty feet wide, was added to the improvements,
affording ample room for the employment of any number of prisoners,
equal to the capacity of the prison. During the year 1876 a new and
commodious guard-house, sixty by sixteen feet, a brick structure, with
freestone finish, two stories in height, containing eight iron cells, for the
confinement of refractory cases, was erected.
Also, connected with this building, is a room for keeping the clothing
of prisoners, fifty-eight by fourteen feet; together with a room pro-
vided with a fumigating apparatus, for the purpose of exterminating
vermin in the prisoners' clothing. Commencing at the extreme end of
the north wing of the main building, and running due east six hundred
feet, then south five hundred and seventy-five feet, then due west six
hundred feet to the south end of the main building, is a solid stone wall
fifteen feet in height, and enclosing the entire back part of the main
structure, as well as all out-buildings-the entrance to which is made
through three large portals or gateways.
The grounds on which these several structures are built comprise a
strip of land fronting on Colerain Avenue five hundred and seventy-five
feet, and running due east to the Miami canal, containing in all twenty
six acres. A beautiful lawn five hundred and seventy-eight feet in
length, and two hundred and eighty-three feet in depth, is laid out in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
395
front of the premises, with a lake and sparkling fountain in the centre,
while the whole is dotted with a profusion of shade-trees and shrubbery.
Inclosing these improvements is a substantial white paling fence, with '
gateways, etd. The building and grounds are lighted with gas, furnished
by the Cincinnati Gas-light and Coke company. Pure water, for all
purposes, is obtained from the city water-works, through the medium
of a four-inch main pipe leading through the grounds.
The building was occupied in the late fall of 1869,
while still in an incomplete condition as to its heating
and cooking apparatus, laundry machinery, and general
furnishing. The temporary workhouse upon the grounds
then contained seventy-three male and ten female pris-
oners, who were transferred to the new edifice; and on
the ninth of December forty-two more women were re-
ceived from the female city prison, making one hundred
and twenty-five inmates of the workhouse at its opening.
Mr. Ira Wood, first superintendent, said in his initial re-
port to the board of directors:
All of them were thrust into the new city workhouse before we were
properly prepared to receive them, from which we suffered no little em-
barrassment; and our charge was attended with many inconveniences,
which but few could appreciate, except those who were directly con-
nected with the institution. The inclement season of the year, and the
destitute condition of the male portion of the prisoners, particularly in
the way of clothing, prevented our making their labor available in any
great degree.
About the first of February your contract with J. D. Hearne & Co.
was made for the labor of any number of our male prisoners, not ex-
ceeding seventy-five. Since the ninth of February a portion of our
male prisoners have been constantly employed in the shops, temporari-
ly prepared for that purpose, at making shoes for the above named
contractors, and some part of the time, the full number, viz: seventy-
five men have been employed, from which a slight income is now being
received. While the full number of men is being furnished as per con-
tract in the shoe-shops, we have still a large number engaged in other
pursuits, such as grading and improving the grounds around and adja-
cent to the workhouse; from which, although no immediate income is
derived, I trust the future will show is by no means labor lost.
When this report was made, about the close of the
first year, the cost of buildings and permanent improve-
ments for the workhouse aggregated four hundred and
seventy thousand eight hundred and thirty-two dollars.
THE HOUSE OF REFUGE.
The necessity of a special place of confinement for
youthful offenders, as well as preventive measures of
reform for the ill-disposed youths of the city, as the
"Fly Market Rangers," and the "Swamp Boys," had
long been apparent to the more thoughtful citizens of
Cincinnati. In 1839 Mr., afterwards the Rev. James H.
Perkins, made a report on his own account, which set
out forcibly the imperative need of institutions like the
present House of Refuge. Twenty years afterwards, a
public meeting was held to consider the matter, at which
a considerable sum was subscribed for a house of refuge
for bad children, and a committee appointed to solicit
further subscriptions. Subsequently another committee
was nominated to visit the eastern cities and inspect sim-
ilar institutions. The city finally, in 1850, took hold of
the matter, bought from Joseph R Riddle, for seven
thousand eight hundred and ninety-six dollars, a tract of
about ten acres on the Colerain turnpike, just north of
that occupied later by the city workhouse, and upon it
erected a splendid building, in the collegiate Gothic
style, of which the following is the official description :
The Cincinnati House of Refuge was opened for the reception of in
mates October 7, 1850, and is situated in Mill Creek valley, but now
within city limits, about four miles from the city post office in a north-
westerly direction, on Colerain avenue. The grounds belonging to the
institution contain nine and seven-eighth acres, five and three-fourths
of which are inclosed by a stone wall, twenty feet high, within which
stand all the buildings except the stable. The main building which
faces the west is a castellated edifice of rough blue limestone, with win-
dows, cornices, casings, and portico of white Dayton stone, and pre-
sents an imposing front of two hundred and seventy-seven feet, and is
composed of a centre building eighty-five by fifty-five feet, four stories
in height, with towers at the extremities projecting two feet in front,
and which are five stories high, besides the basement. The north wing
(boys' department) contains one hundred and twelve dormitories, and
the basement a bath, fifty by twelve feet, broad and deep enough for
swimming, and twenty-six dressing rooms. The south wing (girls' de-
partment) contains seventy-two dormitories, two sewing-rooms, one
school-room, one store-room, and girls' hospital. In the basement are
wash-rooms, bath-room, and play-ground. In the rear of the main
building, and connected with it by covered passage-ways, is the school
and chapel building, containing on the first floor the bakery, kitchen,
three dining-rooms, and four store-rooms; and on the second floor, the
chapel, fifty-six by sixty feet, and two school-rooms. East, and to the
rear of the chapel, is a shop building, forty-four by eighty, containing
on ground floor two covered plav-grounds, two wash-rooms, closets,
etc. , for boys. Second floor — Shop-room, forty-four by eighty. Third
floor — School for small boys, twenty by eighty, and dormitory for
same, twenty-four by eighty, and two bedrooms for officers. Connect-
ing with this is the principal shop building, thirty-seven by one hun-
dred and forty-two, containing engine and fuel rooms, covered play-
grounds, and wash-rooms, etc., on first floor, and on second and third
floors, five work-shops and school-room, also dormitory containing
forty-six rooms for third division boys. To the south of the shop
buildings stands a substantial brick structure for laundry purposes, and
containing all the necessary machinery to make it complete. Con-
nected with the shop-building are the boiler-room, thirty-eight by
thirty; gas-house, twenty-one by twenty; printing office, sixty-nine by
twenty-six; all one story in height and covered with metalic roofing.
None of the buildings are detached. They will accommodate three
hundred and fifty inmates and the requisite officers. The boys are di-
vided into three, and the girls into two divisions or families. Each of
the five families have separate schools, dining and wash-rooms, open
and covered play-grounds, work-shops, and dormitories. The build-
ings are heated throughout by steam and lighted with gas, made upon
the premises. The whole number of rooms in the building is two hun-
dred and seventy-seven. Water for drinking and culinary purposes is
furnished from six large cisterns, supplied with filtered rain water. For
fountains and cleansing purposes, an abundant supply is obtained from
the city and Miami canal.
The building and fixtures, in the original cost repre-
sented about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
They were pronounced by competent judges at the time
the best constructed and most convenient for the purpose
in the United States.
The House of Refuge was provided for April 25, 1850,
and was already in operation in October of the same
year. The number of children since inmates, year by
year, of the respective sexes, and the total number, are
shown in the following table:
YEARS.
BOYS.
GIRLS.
TOTAL.
YEARS.
BOYS.
GIRLS.
TOTAL
1851
121
41
162
1866
211
37
248
1852
169
52
221
1867
193
27
220
1853
136
31
167
1868
160
34
194
I8S4
137
35
172
1869
145
54
199
18SS
181
40
221
1870
182
34 "
225
1856
203
36
239
1871
173
42
215
I8S7
I9S
38
233
1872
175
5i
226
1858
187
47
234
1873
149
45
194
1859
218
38
256
1874
181
48
229
i860
181
3°
211
1875
2CO
40
240
1861
172
21
193
1876
214
40
254
1862
179
31
2IO
1877
197
53
250
1863
239
39
278
1878
154
46
200
1864
248
54
302
1879
172
48
221
1865
248
48
296
396
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
The number of children in 1879 was precisely the same
as in 1852, twenty-seven years before, and the proportion
of sexes was about the same. No colored children were
in the institution the latter year, but they have since been
liberally represented there.
The following is a list of directors of the House of Ref-
uge since the opening of the institution : Elam P. Lang-
don, 1848-52; James H. Perkins, 1848-49; Miles Green-
wood, 1848-53, 1858-63; Hudson B. Curtis, 1848-55;
William Neff, 1847-51; Thomas J. Biggs, 1848-51,
1855-62; William McCammon, 1848-52; Charles Thom-
as, 1849-55, 1856-58, i860; Charles L. Telford, 1849-
49; Bellamy Storer, 1849-50; John D. Jones, 1850-50;
Alphonso Taft, 1850-52; William Burnet, 1850-52;
George Grawford, 1851-54; Joseph Ray, 1851-55; Wil-
liam P. Stratton, 1852-54; Washington McLean, 1852-
53; Harvey DeCamp, 1852-58; A. S. Sullivan, 1852-55;
James Wise, 1852-52; N. W. Thomas, 1853-60; John
H. Ewing, 1855-58; James D. Taylor, 1854-56; Benja-
min T. Dale, 1854-54; A. M. Taylor, 1854-66; Na-
thaniel Harris, 1855-56; George F. Stedman, 1855-58;
George Keck, 1855-59; George F. Davis, 1855-58;
John B. Warren, 1858-62; Charles Ross, 1859-59; G.
H. Ketchum, 1858-58; A. E. Chamberlain, 1858-78;
F. H. Oehlman, 1858-59, 1861-63; Charles Rule, 1859--
64; T. H. Weasner, 1859-60; John C. Thorp, 1859-61.;
Gassaway Brashears, 1860-61; Stephen Bonner, 1861-
73; C. F. Wilstach, 1862-70; L. H. Sargent, 1863-68,
l873-76; Joseph C. Butler, 1863-72; R. H. Holden,
1863; H. Thane Miller, 1864; James M. Johnston, 1866,
1879; John D. Minor, 1868-79; James L. Haven, 1870--
74; Murray Shipley, 1871-74; W. M. Ramsey, 1872-79;
T- Webb, jr., 1874; David Baker, 1876; F. H. Rowe-
kamp, 1876; James Dalton, 1879; A- R Champion,
1879.
The following is a list of superintendents of the House,
with their several dates of appointment : Rufus Hubbard,
May 18, 1850; Aaron P. Rickoff, February 12, 1853;
H. D. Perry, August 15, 1854; Henry M. Jones, June
26, 1856; Abijah Watson, July 27, 1865; *Henry A.
Monfort, April 26, 1866; John D. Minor, February 27,
1879; *Henry Oliver, June 24, 1880.
CHAPTER XLV.
THE POLICE— BOARD OF HEALTH.
December ii, 1805, in the fourth year of Cincinnati
village, an ordinance was passed by the select council for
the establishment of a night-watch — a volunteer affair,
probably — which was to serve without pay. For a
quarter of a century after the character of the village,
the sheriff and his deputies, the town marshal, the con-
stables and minor officers of the local courts, answered
almost exclusively the purposes of a police force. As the
* Promoted from assistant superintendent.
authors of Cincinnati in 1826 put it, they were "found
sufficient to preserve peace and good order in a city —
whose population, though heterogeneous in character and
pursuits, is yet remarkable for its good morals and regular
conduct."
THE FIRST POLICE FORCE.
During the latter part of 1826 or the early part of
1827, a city watch was organized. It consisted at first
simply of two captains and eighteen men, and cost about
three thousand dollars a year.
Even so lately as 1853-4, when New York had one
policeman for every five hundred and sixty-three inhabit-
ants, Boston one in five hundred and thirty-four, and
New Orleans one in three hundred and three, Cincin-
nati needed — or, at all events, had — but one in every
one thousand two hundred and ninety of populatiion.
She paid but six hundred and thirty-nine dollars average
salary, while Boston paid one thousand eight hundred
dollars, and Philadelphia and New Orleans two thousand
dollars.
In 1864 the city had but about one-half the police
force of any other of its class in the United States, yet
the public peace was well kept. Chief of Police Ruffin
remarked in his report that "this city, comparing its size
with others, can show a record cleaner of crime, during
the past year, than any other in the country.
The force has since grown with the growth of the city,
to its present large proportion. It has suffered of late
years much from the reorganization measures of political
parties in the general assembly. There were, for vari-
ous reason, six changes in the board of ^police commis-
sioners in the single year 1877. It was at this time
changed by the State legislature with the management of
the county infirmary, which proved an onerous burden.
In December, 1874, the same authority had abolished
the police board, and vested control of the force in the
mayor. This board had been in power under an act of
April 18, 1873, and consisted of five commissioners
elected by the people, with the mayor as a member ex-
officio. After an interval of abolishment, it was restored
by an act of March, 1876, but the commissioners were
this time to be appointed by the governor of the State.
The city disputed the validity of the act, but the decis-
ion of the supreme court was against the corporation,
and the commissioners were reappointed. The board
was now constituted as follows : S. F. Covington, presi-
dent; Charles Jacob, jr., George W. Zeigler, Charles
Brown and Enoch T. Carson; B. F. Tait, secretary.
February 27, 1880, still another law of the general
assembly destroyed the " Metropolitian system," and
restored the control of the police to the hands of the
mayor.
During the administration of Mayor Bishop, a thor-
ough-going drill was introduced into the police organiza-
tion by Captain Wilson, the mayor declaring that it was
"almost indispensable in dispersing a crowd or quelling
riot."
THE POLICE RELIEF ASSOCIATION
was organized in ,1876. It is managed by a board of
directors elected by the force, distributes pecuniary relief
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
397
to sick or disabled members, and pays insurance benefits
to the friends of the deceased. An annual festival is
given for the benefit of its treasury, that of September,
1877, netting it two thousand six hundred dollars. The
receipts of the relief fund during 1880 were nine thou-
sand five hundred and seventeen dollars and twenty-
seven cents; disbursements, two thousand seven hundred
and seventy-four dollars and ninety cents, including one
thousand five hundred dollars, funeral benefits on five
deaths in the force, and one thousand one hundred and
thirty-three dollars and seventy-five cents for the relief
of the sick. No salaries are paid except to the secretary
fifty dollars.
HEALTHFULNESS.
By a table prepared by Mayor Moore, and set forth in
his annual message of 1878 to the common council, it
appears that Cincinnati is one of the healthiest places in
the world, as well as one of the pleasantest for residence.
A comparison of the bills of mortality of the principal
cities of the United States in the years 1876 and 1877,
made, in part at least, by Dr. T. H. Reamey, the health
officer of the city at that time, exhibited in each the fol-
lowing death-rate per thousand inhabitants in the year
last given: New Orleans, 32.79; Savannah, 31.22; Nash-
ville, 27.73; Washington city, 25.64; Memphis, 25; New
York, 24.5; Mobile, 23.37; Pittsburgh, 23.05; Baltimore,
also Reading, 22.01; Brooklyn, 21.52; Richmond, 21.27;
Boston, 20.15; New Haven, 19.07; Philadelphia, also
Providence, 18.81; San Francisco, 18.33; Chicago, 18.-
24; Cleveland, 17.92; Milwaukee, 16.93; Indianapolis,
16. 19; and Cincinnati, 15.81. Only five cities, of twenty-
eight in the list, exhibited a lower death-rate than this
last; and they are all, with one exception, towns in the
interior, away from special contaminations.
The healthfulness of Cincinnati was in this report
made more striking by comparison with cities of the Old
World, whose death-rate per thousand inhabitants in
1876 was as follows: Madras, 10 1.3; Calcutta, 44.9;
Buda-Pesth, 43.3; Bombay, 39.9; Munich, 34; St. Peters-
burgh, 33.8; Turin, 29.7; Vienna, 28.3; Amsterdam, 27.7;
Naples, 27.5; Venice, 27.2; Paris, 26.7; Roterdam, 26.2;
Hamburgh (the State of), 25.6; Stockholm, 25.1. Berlin,
24.6; Brussels, 24.5; Dresden, 22.3; Rome, 21.5; Co-
penhagen, 21.4; Geneva, 16.9; The Hague, 16.5; Chris-
tiana, 14.5; — the last-named being the only one in the list
healthier than Cincinnati in 1877.
The bills of mortality for many of the years of Cin-
cinnati's history, with an occasional statement of the
ratio of the death-rate to population, will be found in
our chapters of annals. In 1826 the place was noted
by Messrs. Drake and Mansfield, in their book, as "re-
markably good 'for a city in the latitude of thirty-nine
degrees, situated on the banks of a large river." Every
summer and fall, however, as in other new places, bilious
fevers and other ailments prevailed. It was a period of
transition, in the opening of streets from the upper to
the lower plain, by which water and filth that would
otherwise flow off were dammed up, and sickness thus
produced.
The city had already a health officer, who was remark-
ed as "doing his duty well," though the streets about
the markets were not cleaned promptly after market days.
The mortality report for 1880 showed total deaths for
the year 5,152 — 2,231 from local, and 1,332 from zymotic
diseases. Under one year of age, 1,332; one to five
years, 853; five to ten, 184; ten to twenty, 228; twenty
to forty, 993; forty to sixty, 832; sixty to eighty, 618;
over eighty, 121. Single persons, 3,176; married, 1,494;
widowers, 160; widows, 321. Natives of Cincinnati,
2,867; elsewhere in the United States, 777; of Ger-
many, 956; Ireland, 408; other foreign countries, 144.
Males, 2,781; females, 2,371; white, 4,853; colored, 299.
THE BOARD OF HEALTH
is of quite recent organization, its creation by the com-
mon council dating from T865. Dr. Clendenin, then
health officer, prepared a bill to be sent to the legislature
for strengthening the hands of the board; but it failed of
passage, being considered of too much power, although
less stringent than the laws prevailing in most eastern
cities.
The first annual report of the board of health was made
March 1, 1868. It was now in office under an ordinance
of the council passed in accordance with an act of the as-
sembly March 29, 1867, and consisted of the following
named gentlemen : Charles F. Wilstach, mayor, and ex-
officio president of the board; Hugh McBriney, S. S.
Davis, L. C. Hopkins, J. C. Baum, Daniel Morton, and
John Hauck. Dr. William Clendenin was elected health
officer by the board, and Mr. George M. Howels, clerk;
and a code of rules and regulations was adopted. Its
first orders were issued April 24, 1867, and within little
more than ten months after that date thirteen thousand
six hundred and twenty-four orders were issued by the .
board and served by the sanitary police. The number of
nuisances reported to the health office that year was
seventeen thousand three hundred and fourteen, nearly
all of them being reported by the sanitary police. Most
were promptly abated upon receipt of notices from the
board, but in one hundred and thirty-six cases suits were
brought by the board and fines were assessed and col-
lected in seventy-two cases. Thus vigorously did the
board begin its work.
The law creating the board transferred the power of
granting medical relief to the poor of the city from the
infirmary board to the new organization. Unusual de-
mands from this source were made upon it its first year
by reason of the rapid growth of the city, and the finan-
cial panic late in the year, which threw many persons out
of employment. At first a physician was appointed to
attend the sick poor in each ward of the city; but, as the
health of the people was good this year, the number of
ward physicians was presently reduced to thirteen. The
total number of sick poor treated this year was four thou-
sand four hundred and thirty-one; the number of pro-
fessional visits made Ko them was twenty thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.
An act had been passed the preceding legislature, after
much discussion in public and private, to regulate the
social evil in cities of the first class of the State, under
which the- chief of police returned to the board of health
39«
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of Cincinnati, the location and number of brothels and
houses of assignation in the city, and the ward physicians,
under the supervision of the health officer, ascertained
the number of inmates therein, but with only appoximate
accuracy to be four hundred and seventy-one in the entire
city. No further steps were taken under the law this
year.
In the work of 1868 the board was accredited by the
mayor, in his next annual message, with the good deed
of ridding the city markets of unwholesome meats and
vegetables, preventing the sale of diseased cattle, and
guarding the milk supply against adulteration. It also,
he said, prevented the spread of the terrible scourge
known as the "Texas cattle-fever." The death rate for
the year ending February 28, 1869, was only eighteen
and five-hundredths in one thousand, which was consid-
ered a remarkably low mortality for a great city.
In this year the board caused to be made a notable
analysis of the street-sweepings of the city, which
demonstrated their high value for purposes of fertilization.
The next year, under its auspices, one hundred and forty-
four houses of ill-fame were visited, and statistics col-
lected of the nativity, personal history, health, etc., of
the inmates.
In 1870 the council ordered the erection of public
urinals, the care of which was committed to the board,
by whom a man was kept constantly employed and paid
from the sanitary fund.
In 1872, during the prevalence of small-pox in the
city, with great mortality, the board of education formally
requested the board of health to cause an inspection of
the children in the public schools, to be made, as a re-
sult of which seven thousand and sixty-four of them
were vaccinated at the public expense. The same year
eleven thousand seven hundred and twenty nuisances
were abated — one thousand seven hundred and eighty-
two more than the year before — and medical attendance
was given to seven thousand seven hundred and fifty-
seven of the poor. The return of cholera being antici-
pated, a thorough house-to-house inspection was made by
the board, and twenty-five thousand "cries of warning"
were distributed to housekeepers and landlords. The
labors of the board were very active and well-directed
during the next year, which was, as feared, a cholera
year. The schools received another examination in 1876.
The scope and powers of the board were enlarged in
1878, by the creation of bureaus of medical relief, of
sanitary inspection, markets, and vital statistics. It was
again reorganized in 1880, when a police squad of suffi-
cient number was regularly detailed for sanitary service.
This work had previously been done, and generally well
done, by special details of police, under the direction of
the health officer. The present sanitary police, in 1880,
abated 12,420 nuisances, out of 12,361, and made 26,-
710 inspections of premises.
CHAPTER XLVI.
MARKETS.
Much earlier than is usual in the settlement of small
villages, the people of Cincinnati gave attention to con-
veniences for marketing. As much of their food supply
in the early day came in by the river, it was natural that
the first market house should be situated upon or near
the stream which furnished the main chance of commu-
nication to and from the hamlet. We accordingly find
that such a building was planted close upon the margin
of the Ohio some time before 1800, since Dr. Drake,
coming here in that year, makes note of the following:
In front of the mouth of Sycamore street, near the hotel, there was
a small wooden market-house built over a cove, into which pirogues
and other craft, when the river was high, were poled or paddled, to be
tied to the rude columns.
This primitive shelter, according to the Cincinnati al-
manac of 1840, was still standing at the mouth of the
cove five years after young Drake saw it. In this year
(1805) Mr. Brackenridge, subsequently author of Recol-
lections of the West, was here, and thus makes mention
of this feature of the village :
I went up to the market, which I found equal in goodness to that of
Philadelphia, but much cheaper. A turkey may be had for sixteen
cents, and, if thought too high, a goose will be offered into the bar-
gain.
He probably here referred to the new market house.
Dr. Drake, in 1800, had noticed a small market space in
front of the original court house, "which nobody attend-
ed. In May of the next year, however, the following
notice appeared in the Spy and Gazette:
For sale, on Saturday, the twenty-third instant, at Griffin Yeatman's
tavern, the building of a market-house in the town of Cincinnati; the
under story to be built of stone and lime, and the upper story to be
built of wood, and will be sold separate.
In pursuance of this, probably, was built the small
structure remarked by the early writers as standing be-
tween Main and Sycamore streets. Another was put up
on the Fifth street market space some time before 18 15,
and another between Broadway and Sycamore (lower
market) shortly before, which had not yet been opened.
The present venerable structure upon that site, according
to the dim inscription upon it, was erected (or perhaps
the market there opened) in 181 6.
The two older buildings were distinguished by Dr.
Drake as being supported by a double row of brick pil-
lars, while the new one gloried in a triple row. It was
over three hundred feet long,' reaching nearly all the way
from Broadway to Sycamore streets. The others were
shorter and narrower.
In the former year (1815) four markets were held per
week— two mornings at the old market between Main
and Sycamore, two afternoons on Fifth street. Long and
complicated ordinances had been passed by the select
council to regulate them, and a clerk was appointed to
secure their observance; but, says Dr. Drake in the Pic-
ture, "violations are constantly suffered to pass unno-
ticed." Fresh meats were to be had in town every day
except Sunday, but a greater variety was to be had on
the regular market-days, when beef, pork, veal, and mut-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
399
ton were offered in abundance. The last was of superior
excellence, but the first was far inferior to that ob-
tained on the seaboard, owing to an unfavorable differ-
ence in the methods of fattening. The poultry was first
rate. Fish, although abundant in the river, were not so
in the market, probably because many citizens preferred
to catch their own, for the sport and economy of it. Of
those exposed for sale, the yellow cat, pike, perch, sword
or bill-fish, and eel were most esteemed, and the soft-
shelled turtle, in particular, was considered a great deli-
cacy. Venison was to be had in the season, and at times
bear's meat. Butter and cheese were as yet rather scarce,
and largely of inferior quality. Vegetables were supplied
in great quantity, however; and fruits, both native and
cultivated, as fall, winter, and fox grapes, plums, crab-
apples, wild cherries, pawpaws, mulberries, cranberries,
and blackberries, and other products of the forest, as
walnuts, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. Already the culti-
vated varieties of fruit had reached high excellence, and
the apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, quinces, cur-
rants, raspberries, gooseberries, and strawberries were
probably not excelled at any market in the land. They
were mostly from General Taylor's place at Newport, or
grown by the Swiss at Vevay, in the Indiana Territory.
The usual kinds of melons were to be had, and " all cul-
tivated roots, herbs, and pulse of the Middle States,"
with sweet potatoes, which were plentiful and delicious.
The Cincinnati markets already, in brief, were greatly
creditable to the Miami country and the Ohio valley, and
many early travellers make special mention of them.
Mr. Flint says, in his Recollections :
When you saw this city, apparently lifting its head from the sur-
rounding woods, you found yourselves at a loss to imagine whence so
many people could be furnished with supplies. In the fine weather, at
the commencement of winter, it is only necessary to go to the market
of this town, and see its exuberant' supplies of every article for con-
sumption, in the finest order, and of the best quality; to see the lines
of wagons, and the astonishing quantities of every kind of produce, to
realize, at once, all that you have read about the growth of Ohio. In
one place you see lines of wagons in the Pennsylvania style. In an-
other place the Tunkers, with their long and flowing beards, have
brought up their teams with their fat mutton and fine flour. Fowls,
domestic and wild turkeys, venison, those fine birds which are here
called partridges, and which we call quails, all sorts of fruit and vege-
tables, equally excellent and cheap — in short, all that you see in Bos-
ton market, with the exception of the same variety of fish, and all these
things, in the greatest abundance, are here. In one quarter there are
wild animals that have been taken in the woods; cages of red-birds
and paroquets; in another, old ladies, with roots, herbs; nuts, mittens,
stockings, and what they call Yankee notions. My judgment goes with
the general assertion here, that no place, in proportion to its size, has a
richer or more abundant market than Cincinnati.
WAR PRICES.
The cost of food supplies had much advanced between
i8ix and 1815, owing partly to the more rapid increase
of population in the town than in the surrounding coun-
try, but partly also to the occurrence of the last war with
Great Britain. Imported articles, especially, were costly,
hyson tea $2.25 per pound, coffee 37^ cents, loaf sugar
the same, Madeira wine $5 a gallon.
A dozen years thereafter, at the beginning of 1827,
the market prices were: Flour, $3 a hundred; wheat,
25 cents a bushel; beef, $2 to $3 per hundred; pork,
$2; butter, io@i2}4c. per pound; cheese, 6@7 cents;
lard, 4@6c; feathers, 25c; turkeys, 25(0)370.; geese,
i8@25c: ducks, 8@i2c; chickens, 6}^c. each; soap,
4%c. per pound; candles, ioc; corn, 12c. per bushel;
oats, I2@i8c; Irish potatoes, 25(0)500.; sweet potatoes,
37@62c; eggs, 6c. per dozen; bacon, 3@5c. per pound;
hams, 4@6c; veal, 3@4c; mutton, 2(0)40.; honey, 12c;
apples, 2 5@37c per bushel; peaches, the same; dried
fruits, 75 c.
At this time there were six market days a week — that
is, one every secular day. Venison and bear meat were
still occasionally to be had, but not in the quantity or
frequency of the older days. Oysters were to be had in
sufficiency from November to April, "in kegs and canis-
ters hermetically sealed," says our authority. They were
also sometimes brought up from New Orleans on the
shell. Salted salmon, mackerel, shad, codfish, and her-
ring were now freely imported, and had abundant sale.
The steamboats also brought all kinds of foreign fruits
and nuts common to the American market.
THREE MARKET HOUSES
appear to have answered the needs of Cincinnatians
pretty well for several years. The View of the United
States of America, published in London in 1820, includes
this in its notice of Cincinnati: "Here are also three
handsome [!] market houses, in which are exposed, four
days in the week, every necessary and many luxuries of
life."
By 1829, however, another market house was in exist-
ence, and a new one had been built in a more distant
locality in place of the little old one between Main and
Sycamore. The four were now described as the Lower
market, on Market street; east of Main; the Upper
market, on Fifth street, between Main and Vine; the
Western, on Sixth, between Plumb (sic.) and Western
Row; and the Canal market, on Court, between Walnut
and Vine. The last, which is the building now used, was
then nearly completed, and was three hundred by forty-
two feet in dimensions. The same jiear the Upper or
Fifth Street market was extended westwardly three hun-
dred and twenty-five feet, making its total dimensions
five and twenty-five by forty-five feet. This building was
demolished in 1859 to make way for the Tyler Davidson
fountain and the esplanade. It had been the scene of
many notable popular gatherings, especially during the
late war, and in the Lower market house had been held
some large religious meetings, as is noted more fully in
our chapter XX.
The Wade Street market house was added in 1847,
and is still in use.
The Pearl Street market was abandoned before the
Sixth street, and its place is taken, in part, by the Plum
Street railway depot. A flower market is sometimes kept
at the esplanade, upon an ornamental stand erected for
the purpose, mainly to keep the market space rn posses-
sion of the city, since it was conveyed to the corporation
over sixty years ago for the purposes of a market only.
SOME VISITORS.
Mr. W. Bulloch, a distinguished Englishman who
visited Cincinnati in 1827, made these interesting notes
400
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
of the local markets in the published account of his
journey:
My first ramble on the morning after my arrival was to the market,
at an early hour, where a novel and interesting sight presented itself.
Several hundred wagons, tilted with white canvas and each drawn by
three or four horses, with a pole, in a similar manner to our coaches,
were backed against the pavement or footway of the market place, the
tailboard or flap of the wagon turned down so as to form a kind of
counter and convert the body of the carriage into a portable shop, in
which were seated the owners amidst the displayed products of their
farms, the whole having the appearance of an extensive encampment
arranged in perfect order. It was the first time 1 had seen an Ameri-
can market, and if I was surprised at the arrangement, I was much
more so at the prices of the articles, as well as at their superior quality.
For a hind-quarter of mutton, thirteen pence was demanded; a turkey,
that would have borne a comparison with the best Christmas bird from
Norwalk, the same price; fowls three-pence to four-pence each; a fine
roasting pig, ready for the spit, one shilling and three-pence; beef,
three halfpence per pound; pork, one penny per pound; butter, cheese,
Indian corn, wheaten flour, and every other article in the same propor-
tion.
The fish market was equally good and reasonable, and the vegetables
as excellent as the season would allow, the asparagus in particular
superior in goodness and sizato that exposed at Convent Garden, and at
less than one-fourth of its price.
It was not the season for fruits, but from the best information I
could obtain they were on a par with the other productions of the
country. Melons, grapes, peaches and apples are said to be equal to
those of any part of the States, and are sold also at a proportionate
price. Dried fruits of various sorts were plentiful, as well as apples
and chestnuts of last year. Taking the market altogether I know of
none equal to it; yet this was consideied to be the dearest period of the
year. Game and venison were not to be had.
The observations of Mrs. Trollope during the next
year or two, as published in her book and reprinted on
page 79 of this volume, are extremely eulogistic, and
possess considerable interest.
In 1845 Mr. Cist turned his statistical attention to the
local markets, and gave the public the result through his
miscellany :
I counted during the past year, for one week, the wagons loaded
with marketing on the market spaces, embracing the three-a-week mar-
kets on Fifth, Sixth and Lower Market streets, and the daily canal, and
made out an aggregate of three thousand four hundred and sixty-three.
Of these one thousand one hundred and forty-eight were at the Fifth
Street market alone.
MARKET HOUSES— LOWER MARKET.
There are in Lower Market street, sixty butchers' stalls, which
rent yearly for fifty dollars each $3,000
Sixty side benches, for the sale of vegetables, and rent for twelve
dollars each 720
Four stalls or stands, at the end of the market house, under the
shed roof, and rent for one hundred and forty dollars .... 140
FIFTH STREET MARKET.
Fifty-six butchers' stalls, and rent for fifty dollars each 2, 800
Fifty-six side benches, and rent for twelve dollars each 672
Four stalls or stands, at the end of the market house, under the
shea roof, and rent for two hundred and eighty-two dollars 282
SIXTH STREET MARKET.
Forty-eight butchers' stalls, and rent for thirty dollars each. . . . 1,440
Forty-eight side benches, and rent for five dollars each 240
Four stalls or stands, at the end of the market house, under the
shed roof, and rent for fifteen dollars each 60
CANAL MARKET.
Thirty-eight butchers' stalls, and rent for thirty dollars each 1,140
Thirty-eight side benches, five dollars each ioo
The whole amount $10,689
MARKET SPACES.
There are the following number of regularly licensed retail dealers in
the markets, who deal in the following articles, and pay to the city the
following prices, yearly, to-wit :
Twenty-four who sell butter and eggs, and pay twenty-five dol-
lars each $600
Three who sell butter, twenty dollars each 60
One who sells butter, eggs and cheese 35
One who sells butter, eggs and poultry 3°
One who sells butter, cheese and poultry 25
Four who sell butter and cheese, twenty-five dollars each 100
Two who sell butter and dried fruit, thirty dollars each 60
One who sells butter, bacon and salt meat 4°
Thirteen bacon cutters, twenty-five dollars each 32S
Four cheese cutters, twenty dollars each 80
One fish dealer, twenty dollars 2°
Six who sell flour, twenty-five dollars each 15°
Fourteen who sell fruit, dried or green, twenty-five dollars each 350
Whole amount $1,875
Again, for his more dignified publication of 1851, Mr-
Cist prepared valuable statistics. There were now six
markets — the Lower, Fifth Street, Sixth Street, Pearl
Street, Canal, and Wade Street. Seven hundred wagons
were counted in a single day at one of them, most of
them bringing full loads for two horses to drag. As
many as one thousand nine hundred and fifty wagons,
carts, etc., had been enumerated at the Cincinnati mar-
ket places in one day. The writer goes on to give a
very entertaining bit of history in the following narrative :
Christmas day is the great gala-day of the butchers of Cincinnati.
The parade of stall-fed meat on that day, for several years past, has
been such as to excite the admiration and astonishment of every stranger
in Cincinnati — a class of persons always here in great numbers. The
exhibition this last year has, however, greatly surpassed every previous
display in this line.
A few days prior to the return of this day of festivity, the noble ani-
mals which are to grace the stalls on Christmas eve, are paraded
through the streets, decorated in fine style, and escorted through the
principal streets with bands of music and attendant crowds, especially
of the infantry. They are then taken to slaughter-houses, to be seen
no more by the public, until cut up and distributed along the stalls of
one of our principal markets.
Christmas falling last year on Tuesday, the exhibition was made at
what is termed our middle or Fifth Street market house. This is three
hundred and eighty feet long, and of breadth and height proportionate
— wider and higher, in fact, in proportion to length, than the eastern
market-houses. It comprehends sixty stalls, which, on this occasion,
were filled with steaks and ribs alone, so crowed , as to do little more
than display half the breadth of the meat, by the pieces overlapping
each other and affording only the platforms beneath the stall and the
table, behind which the butcher stands, for the display of the rounds
and other parts of the carcass. One hundred and fifty stalls would not
have been too many to have been fully occupied by the meat exhibited
on that day, in the manner beef is usually hung up here and in the
eastern markets.
Sixty-six bullocks, of which probably three-fourths were raised and fed
in Kentucky, and the residue in our own State; one hundred and twenty-
five sheep, hungup whole, at the edges of the stalls; three hundred and
fifty pigs, displayed in rows on platforms; ten of the finest and fattest
bears Missouri could produce, and a buffalo calf, weighing five hundred
pounds, caught at Santa Fe, constituted the materials fof this Christ-
mas pageant. The whole of the beef was stall-fed, some of it since the
cattle had been calves, their average age being four years, and average
weight sixteen hundred pounds, ranging from one thousand three hun-
dred and thirty-three, the lightest, to one thousand eight hundred and
ninety-six, the heaviest. This last was four years old, and had taken
the premium every year at exhibitions in Kentucky, since it was a calf.
The sheep were Blakewell and Southdown, and ranged from ninety to
one hundred and ninety pounds to the carcass, dressed and divested of
the head, etc. The roasters or pigs would have been considered extra-
ordinary anywhere but at Porkopolis, the grand emporium of hogs,
suffice it to say, they did no discredit to the rest of the show. Bear
meat is a luxury unknown at the east, and is comparatively rare here.
It is the neplus ultra of table enjoyment.
The extraordinary weight of the sheep will afford an idea of their con-
dition for fat. As to the beef, the fat on the flanks measured seven and
one-quarter inches, and that on the rump six and one-half inches
■ewz
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
401
through. A more distinct idea may be formed by the general reader,
as to the thickness of the fat upon the beef, when he learns that two of
the loins on which were five and a half inches of fat became tainted,
because the meat could not cool through in time; and this, when the
thermometer had been at no period higher than thirty-six degrees, and
ranging, the principal part of the time, from ten to eighteen degrees
above zero. This fact, extraordinary as it appears, can be amply sub-
stantiated by proof.
Specimens of these articles were sent by our citizens to friends
abroad. The largest sheep was purchased by S. Ringgold, of the St.
Charles, and forwarded whole to Philadelphia. Coleman, of the Bur-
net house, forwarded to his brother of the Astor house, New York,
nine ribs of beef, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds; and Rich-
ard Bates, a roasting piece of sixty-six pounds, by way of New Year's
gift, to David T. Disney, our representative in Congress.
The Philadelphians and New Yorkers confessed that they never had
seen anything in the line to compare with the specimens sent to those
points.
The beef, etc., was hung up on the stalls early upon Christmas eve,
and by 12 o'clock next day the whole stock of beef — weighing ninety-
nine thousand pounds — was sold out; two-thirds of it at that hour be-
ing either preparing for the Christmas dinner, or already consumed at
the Christmas breakfast. It may surprise an eastern epicure to learn
that such beef could be afforded to customers for eight cents per
pound, the price at which it was retailed, as an average.
No expense was spared by our butchers to give effect to this great
pageant. The arches of the market house were illuminated by chan-
deliers and torches, and lights of various descriptions were spread
along the stalls. Over the stalls were oil portraits — in gilt frames — of
Washington, Jackson, Taylor, Clay, and other public characters, to-
gether with landscape scenes. Most of these were originals, or copies
by our best artists. The decorations and other items of special ex-
pense these public-spirited men were at reached in cost one thousand
dollars. The open space of the market house was crowded early and
late by the coming and going throng of the thousands whose interest
in such an exhibition overcame the discouragement of being in the
open air at unseasonable hours, as late as midnight, and before day-
light in the morning, and the thermometer at fifteen degrees.
We owe this exhibition to the public spirit of Vanaken and Daniel
Wunder, John Butcher, J. and W. Gall, Francis and Richard Beres-
ford, among our principal victualers.
No description can convey to a reader the impression which such a
spectacle creates. Individuals from various sections of the United
States and from Europe, who were here — some of them Englishmen,
and familiar with Leadenhall market — acknowledged they had never
seen any show of beef at all comparable with this.
THE PRESENT MARKET HOUSES
are the Lower upon the old site; the Sixth Street, Court
street (formerly Canal market), the Wade Street market,
and the Findlay Street, between Elm and Plum. On the
authorized market days, venders are also allowed to oc-
cupy the margin of the streets for a certain number of
squares in each direction from the buildings. In 1878 a
number of wealthy citizens, mostly butchers and garden-
ers, combined for an extensive and elegant market house
on Sixth street; but their scheme has not yet been con-
summated. It has also been proposed to occupy with a
market house a convenient lot two hundred by forty feet
in size, between Western avenue and Barnard street, in
John Bates' subdivision of the city. The pressure in-
creases year by year, however, for the removal of the an-
cient, unsightly, and insufficient structures now occupied,
and they must at no distant day succumb before the
march of progress.
THE MARKET SPACES
now owned by the city are the Pearl street, 143 by 398
feet between Elm and Plum streets, and the same be-
tween Plum and Central avenue; the lower, 153 by 402
feet between Sycamore and Broadway, and 74 by 400
between Sycamore and Main; Fifth street, 141 by 400
between Walnut and Vine, and 130 by 400 between Wal-
nut and Main; Sixth street, 120 by 383 from Elm to
Plum, and the same from Plum to Central avenue; the
Canal or Court street, 126 by 196 feet between Main and
Walnut, and 126 by 397 from Walnut to Vine; and the
Wade street, 140 by 239 from John to Cutler streets.
The tracts are valued at about two and a half millions of
dollars.
THE STATISTICS OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
There were in attendance at the Cincinnati markets,
from May 1st to December 1, 1880, a total of 75,840
farmers and 8,939 gardeners, or 84,779 m ^- The aver-
age daily attendance was, of farmers and gardeners, 405 ;
of hucksters, etc., 942 — a total of 1,347. Of the latter
classes the hucksters proper numbered 556; peddlers and
beggers, 129; butchers (inside), 159, outside, 59; fish-
mongers, 20; florists, 19. Inspections were made during
the year by the meat and live stock inspector, of beef
cattle to the value of $5,431,560; hogs, $8,644,450;
sheep, $1,055,892; calves, $75,450. Live stock and
other marketable products were condemned to the
amount of $25,832.80. The milk inspector reported
284 dairies registered and in operation, with 9,462 cows,
and a total yield for the year of 5,957,640 gallons, sold
at an average price of 21^ cents, or a total of $1,264,-
525.08. Samples of milk inspected, 1368; below the
standard, 133, or about ten per cent.
CHAPTER XLVII.
STREETS.— STREET RAILROADS.— BRIDGES.— PARKS, ETC.
STREETS.
For some years after the founding of Losantiville, there
was little facility of communication for wheeled .vehicles
between the Hill and the Bottom, and, indeed, little need
of it. We have previously recorded the comparative
uselessness of a wagon here in the early day. In time,
however, rude roads were then cut through the bluff on
the line of Main, Sycamore and other streets. Although
somewhat improved on the "corduroy" plan, there were
for a long time bad places in them, and wagons were
sometimes stalled while going up Walnut street, at a spot
opposite the northwest corner of Front. On Main street,
part of the way from Front to Lower Market, then many
feet lower than its present grade, boat gunwales were laid
down as footpaths in a wet time. When it was very
muddy, however, pedestrians in that quarter were obliged
to work their way along by the post and rail fences then
enclosing the lots bordering the street. About 1817,
when Pearl street was opened through, several panels of
this fence were dug up in good cotiditipn. Upon various
parts of Main street causeways of logs, generally a foot
in diameter, had to be put down, and so lately as the
fifth decade, when Main street was regraded between
402
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Eighth and Ninth, about forty yards of such a pavement
was found.
In 1800 Eastern row, now Broadway, from a point
opposite Columbia for about one hundred feet north,
still ran through a pond of three or four acres extent,
upon which the early settlers shot aquatic birds. Another
pond, also a shallow one, crossed on a log footway con-
siderably decayed, was yet about the northeast corner of
Fifth and Main streets. From Lower market to west of
Ludlow street the entire tract was swampy. In 1808,
Colonel Mansfield, the surveyor general of the north-
west, then resident here, laid out Broadway on the line
of Eastern row, but much increased its width for a few
squares, intending to make a fine, broad avenue from the
village to the country, until stopped and compelled to
leave the remainder of it narrower by the opposition of
the property-holders above Fourth street.
It is manifestly impossible, within our limits, to follow
in detail the history of the multitudinous streets of the
Queen City. Colonel George W. Jones, author of the
forthcoming History of Cincinnati, contributes the fol-
lowing notes of old streets and boundaries to King's
Pocketbook :
In the winter of 1831-32 a flood submerged the whole lower level of
the city. Water rose to the second stories of the highest houses on
Front street. Steamboats passed through Second, at that time Colum-
bia street. A large number of the original citizens lived near the river;
and it was not until the "miserable Yankees" came, and made a fuss
about fever and ague, "and such aboriginal invigorators," that people
who were "anybody" lived on the hill — say Fourth street. Front
street, from Walnut west to Elm, was lined by beautiful homes. The
wharf was the meeting-place, especially Sunday morning. There the
best townsmen exchanged the news, took a quiet "nip" at the "Orleans
Coffee-house," situated just east of Main street, on the public wharf,
and surrounded by a large open garden, and thence went to church.
Joseph Darr, the proprietor of the coffee-house, is now [1879] living in
.comfortable abundance, the owner of the large mansion southeast
corner Seventh and Race. The chief business streets were Main and
Lower Market, now East Pearl. Pearl street was opened in 1832; and
at what is now its intersection with Main, stood a large tavern, with a
large wagon-yard into which teamsters drove. This tavern was
bought from Daniel Home by merchants, who built a row of four-
story brick stores, thought at the time to be the finest in America,
some of which are still standing on the north side ot the street. The
projectors of this first great commercial enterprise were Goodman &
Emerson, Carlisle & White, ]. D. & C. Jones, C. & J. Bates, Foote &
Bowler, Blachley & Simpson, Reeves & McLean, David Griffin, and
John R. Coran. Pearl street, west of Walnut, was opened in 1844.
Fifth street, except from Main to Vine, was occupied by cheap resi-
dences; and a wooden market house filled the space now occupied by
the Esplanade. About r833 Broadway and East Fourth began to be
pretentious as desirable residence streets. Prior to 1841 Fourth street
west of Walnut as far as Plum, was a beautiful street. In 1841 im-
provements were made west of Plum, and gradually reached the
"fence" which ended the street at what is now Wood street. In 1832
Columbia, now Second street, was merely a dirty creek, crossed by
wooden bridges at all intersections west of Walnut. No business of
importance was done west of Main. The wharfage was between Main
and Broadway, and even as late as 1846 the wharf-space was a great
mud-hole, sprinkled with coarse gravel. All transportation was done
by river, by canal, or by country wagons. As late as 1842 the Little
Miami railroad opened the State of Ohio, and about 1848 the Madison
& Indianapolis railroad the State of Indiana. In 1840 streets beyond
the canal were simply unmacadamized roadways. Central avenue was
then Western Row, which north of Court street ran through pastures.
Nearly every family kept a cow ; and the cows were driven to the pas-
tures in the morning, and were turned loose to wander home at night to
be milked in the alleys and side-yards. The great characteristics of a
city were not to be seen in Cincinnati until about 1848, when a "hog-
law" drove those "first scavengers" from the streets. Ash-piles were
condemned, and the city supplied with water and gas. Most of the
houses were cheaply built, and but few men kept carriages. There
were only a few schools worthy of note. The merchants often enter-
tained customers at their homes, and the general habits of pioneer sim-
plicity prevailed. Turnpikes from the city were built between 1834
and 1840, and many of the citizens of to-day remember the mud-roads
to Walnut Hills. Prior to 1840 Clifton was unknown. Cumminsville,
now the Twenty-fifth ward, and Camp Washington, now the Twenty-
fourth ward, were all farms. The "sports" gathered at a mile race
track, south of the old Brighton house, where the John street horse-
car stables are. The principal drives were up the river-bank to "Cor-
bin's," or down to old Joe Harrison's place. Only occasional pleasure
parties ascended the hills, and then chiefly towards Cleves. The "down-
river " road found all the fast horses, and Joe Harrison gave them good
cheer. A few elegant homes", some yet in good condition, lined the
hill-side of the road which was approached by Front street, and by a
road, the Sixth street of the present time. West of Western Row,
Sixth street was not improved much earlier than 1840. A great orchard
stood on a high bank west of Park street ; milk-yards and br;ck-kilns
generally occupied that locality. The pioneers of wealth in that street
were Abraham M. Taylor, who recently gave ten thousand dollars to-
wards the Old Men's Home; James Taylor, William Neff, J. P. Tweed,
Ambrose Dudley, Pollock Wilson, H. W. Derby, and others. The
great Barr estate was north of Sixth street, and was subdivided after
1843, and the Hunt and Pendleton estate at the head of Broadway
about 1846. In that neighborhood few houses were seen. The pork-
houses were on Sycamore and Canal streets; the wholesale dry goods
houses, on Pearl and Main streets; and the large grocery houses, on
Main, Front, and Pearl streets. Such is a faint outline of what the
great city of Cincinnati was only forty years ago.
By 1826 the ideas of the people and the city govern-
ment in regard to street improvement were considerably
liberalized. Pavement was put down that year to the
length of four thousand eight hundred feet, and other
street work was done to the value of five thousand eight
hundred dollars, besides one thousand dollars expended
for fire cisterns.
Mr. Cist, in his Miscellany of 1845, made the follow-
ing interesting note upon one of the Cincinnati streets:
Front street is not only the longest continuous street in Cincinnati,
but with the exception of one or two streets in London, the longest in
the world. It extends from the three mile post on the Little Miam;
railroad, through Fulton and Cincinnati as far west as Storres township,
an extent of seven miles. In all this range there are not ten dwellings
which are three feet distant from the adjacent ones, and two-thirds of
the entire route is as densely built as is desirable for business purposes
and dwelling house convenience.
The following plaint, of much later date, is from one
of the mayors' messages :
Our limestone pavements have long been an annoyance and reproach
to the community. Of friable material and irregular shape, they soon
break into irregularities, where water lies after heavy rains, increasing
and extending the irregularity of the surface. It is easy to percieve to
what extent this must affect the comfort as well as the health of our
citizens.
Of late years we owe to the public spirit of D. L. Degolyer the intro-
duction of bowlder pavement, which is gradually changing the whole
surface of the city. Properly laid, these require neither repaving nor
repairing for fifty years or more. Indeed, this material is nearly inde-
structible. Our bowlders are smaller than those used in the Atlantic
cities, which circumstance renders the surface here comparatively
smooth. When this species of pavement shall be spread over the
whole city, we may hope to escape those clouds of dust, which in dry
summer weather constitutes our greatest street nuisance.
In 1870 extensive experiments were undertaken with
the Nicholson pavement, locust and other round block,
the Stevens iron-slag pavement, the Fisk concrete, and
the limestone pavement devised by Alderman Smith, of
the eighteenth ward. Attempts had previously been
made with the Pacific and the Harmeyer concretes, and
the Whitehead square block pavement. In 1867 a large
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
4°3
amount of Nicholson was laid costing altogether one
hundred and seventy-five thousand six hundred and filty-
five dollars and fifty-two cents.
The city had, on the first of January, 1879, about
ninety-nine miles of streets and alleys paved with bowl-
der stone; seventy-seven and one-fifth miles of avenues,
streets, and alleys macadamized with broken limestone;
six and three-fourth pived with limestone blocks; seven
with wooden blocks; and twelve miles of macadamized
turnpikes. Improved avenues, streets, and alleys two
hundred and two and one-fourth miles; unimproved,
one hundred and ninety-six; total, three hundred and
forty-eight.
A STREET CLEANING DEPARTMENT
was organized by ordinance of council February 9, 1866,
to be managed by a board of supervisors of street clean-
ing, consisting of the mayor, the chairman of the coun-
cil committee on cleaning streets, and three citizens serv-
ing without compensation. The first board was composed
of Mayor Wilstach, Hon. Larz Anderson, George Klot-
ter, Samuel S. Stokes, and David Baker. Colonel A. M.
Robinson was appointed superintendent of streets, by
whom a contract was made with George Thompson, by
which he paid three thousand dollars a year into the city
treasury, in consideration for the house offal and animal
garbage he was to collect from the streets.
STREET RAILROADS.
In 1839 the first street railways were laid in Cincinnati
— although it is stated that three years previously an ex-
periment was made of them here. At first there was much
opposition to them, which had not wholly died away long
afterwards. Said Mayor Wilstach, in his annual message
of 1868:
All great enterprises have their opponents. Why it is so, it is often
hard to divine, but we in Cincinnati have already been treated to many
instances of this kind. All recollect with what pertinacity the street
railroads were opposed. Grave arguments were advanced that their
adoption would ruin business, that the streets along which the track
was laid would be so obstructed that it would be an utter impossibility
to transact the carrying trade of the city, etc. What have been the re-
sults? Property, instead of decreasing, has steadily enhanced in
value. The city, indeed, has been largely built up by their influence.
The entire West End. m fact, owes its solid blocks, its palatial private
residences, its park, its skating rink and ponds, and its base ball
grounds to the facilities of getting to them afforded by the "peoples'
carriages." So will it be with the suburbs of the city, to which these
roads are fast being extended. In short, the people could not well do
without them, now, notwithstanding their occasional shortcomings in
the way of accommodations; high fares, etc.
In i860 the city had already sixteen and one-half miles
of street railway, owned by the Cincinnati Street railroad
company (four and one-half miles), the Cincinnati Pas-
senger railroad company (three and one-fourth miles),
the Pendleton & Fifth Street market space line (three and
three-fifths miles), and the City Passenger railroad com-
pany (five miles). Each of these had laid much new
track this year — the Pendleton line nineteen thousand
feet, or nearly its entire road. Two years afterwards the
Spring Grove Avenue line was also in existence, from the
Brighton house to Spring Grove. The later companies
have been incorporated as follows :
Cincinnati Consolidated Street railway company, No-
vember 29, 1872, capital one hundred thousand dollars,
Very nearly all the lines in the city are now controlled
by the Consolidated company.
The Avondale Street railway company, June 10, 1873;
capital one hundred thousand dollars.
The Mount Adams & Eden Park Inclined railway,
June 26, 1873; two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The Newport Street railway company; twenty-five
thousand dollars.
The Avondale & Pleasant Ridge Street and Inclined
Plane railway, July 28, 1874; five hundred thousand dol-
lars.
The Clifton Inclined railway, June or July, 1875; fifty
thousand dollars.
The Price's Hill Inclined railway, January 1, 1876;
fifty thousand dollars.
Eden Park, Walnut Hills & Avondale, April 9, 1887:
two hundred thousand dollars.
South Covington & Cincinnati-, August 2, 1877; ten
thousand dollars.
Avondale, May 10, 1879; one hundred thousand dol-
lars.
Newport & Cincinnati, July 28, 1879; twenty-five
thoasand dollars.
Cincinnati & Newport, same date and capital. T
Covington Railway Company of Cincinnati, July 30,
1879; ten thousand dollars.
Not all these have yet constructed or completed lines.
By 1876 the four inclined planes now used to surmount
the hills were constructed, and seventeen lines were in
operation. In 1879 there were twenty-one lines, seven '
of them run by the Consolidated company, and all em-
ploying five thousand five hundred men.
A Belt. Railway company was also organized in 1880,
with one million dollars capital, to run elevated tracts for
steam cars from the terminus of the Cincinnati, Hamil-
ton & Dayton railroad at Fifth street to the Little Miami
tracts, thence by Eggleston avenue, Broadway, a tunnel
under the canal, and the Mill Creek bottoms to the rail-
way tracks east and west of the creek, and southwardly
along these roads to the place of beginning. The pro-
posed occupancy by railroads of the berme-bank of
the canal, from Cumminsville to its terminus will also
make an important difference in the passenger facilities
of Cincinnati.
By an ordinance passed some years ago, the old Fifth
Street market space, between Walnut and Main, at the
front of the new Government building, is made the start-
ing point for all lines in the city.
BRIDGES.
The first bridge to connect the shores of Mill creek
near the river was attempted, but not built by popular
subscription in 1798. April 10th of that year, Judge
Symmes drew up a subscription paper, heading it himself
with one hundred dollars, promising to pay to Thomas
Gibson, George Callum, John Matson, sr., and William
H. Harrison, esqs., or to the order of any three of them,
the amount of the several subscriptions, "for the express
and sole purpose of forming and erecting a bridge over
4°4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Mill creek at its mouth, either of stone or wood, on pil-
lars or bents, so high as to be level with the top of the
adjacent banks, and twelve feet wide, covered with three-
inch plank, and so strong that wagons with three tons
weight may be safely driven over the same, and so dura-
ble that the undertaker shall warrant the bridge to con-
tinue, and be kept in repair for passing loaded wagons,
seven years after the bridge is finished." The argument
for the improvement is very briefly and sensibly suggested:
"The great advantage of this bridge, as well for supplies
going to market as to the merchants, tradesmen, and
other inhabitants of Cincinnati, as for travellers in gen-
eral, needs no illustration." Two hundred and ninety-
two dollars were subscribed upon this paper, in sums of
one dollar to one hundred dollars, by Messrs. Symmes,
Israel Ludlow (seventy dollars), William H. Harrison,
Thomas Gibson, Cornelius R. Sedain (forty dollars each),
Joel Williams (thirty dollars), J. and Abijah Hunt (twen-
ty dollars), Stephen Wood, Smith & Findlay (one dollar
each) Benjamin Stites (eight dollars), Samuel Dick
(seven dollars), William Ramsey; J. Clarke, Burt & New-
man, Griffin Yeatman, Jacob Burnet, A. St. Clair, jr., J.
Sellman (five dollars each), George Fithian, Culbertson
Park, Joseph Prince, George Gordon, Aaron Reeder
. (three dollars each), William McMillan, David Snodgrass
(two dollars each), and Thomas Grundy (one dollar).
Enough money was not raised for the purpose, however,
and the enterprise was postponed indefinitely.
Another and more successful effort was made in 1806,
under which, one Parker built a bridge across Mill creek
near the town of Cincinnati — a floating affair at the
mouth of the stream, built of the yellow poplar that
grew on the creek bottoms.
A man named White was the proprietor of a ferry-boat
kept near for recourse when high water rendered the
bridge useless, and it was conjectured, after the bridge
went out, as related below, that he was the principal
agent in the ingenious arrangement of the boat and
bridge, which resulted in the destruction of the latter.
It is related that in the spring of 1807 or 1808 a
freshet started loose one of Jefferson's gunboats, built at
the mouth of Crawfish creek, just above Fulton, which
was moored simply by a grape-vine. As the vessel went
floating by Cincinnati, canoes and skiffs put out to her,
and the waif was towed into the mouth of Mill creek
and fastened under White's bridge. The rising waters,
however, presently lifted the boat, with the bridge on its
back, so that the string-pieces and all other fastenings
gave way, and the people were only able to save the
flooring of the bridge by stripping it off. The same
planks, it is said, went into the floor of the first ware-
house built in this town. The greater part of the bridge
timbers, with the vessel beneath, were swept out by the
rushing waters into the current of the Ohio.
The next candidate for destruction was a bridge con-
structed over the same stream in 181 1 by Ethan Stone,
under an act of the legislature and a contract with the
county commissioners, which lasted eleven years, and
was then taken off by an immense freshet before it had
been accepted by the commissioners, who required fur-
ther time for testing it. The loss therefore fell upon Mr.
Stone, and it nearly ruined him. This structure was but
one hundred and twenty feet in length, which shows how
much narrower the ravine of Mill creek was then than
now. Shortly after its loss, Mr. Stone put up another
bridge, with arches, which the county bought and made
free of toll. This is the one carried off by the great
flood of 1832. But the structure was then substantially
built, and floated off entire, keeping company down the
Ohio, says Mr. Cist, with a Methodist meeting-house,
which had come out of the Muskingum. The former
lodged upon an island six miles above Louisville, and an
effort was made to tow it back by steamer, but it had
finally to be loaded in pieces upon a flatboat, and so
brought up the river. It was subsequently destroyed by
fire.
The only bridge across Deer creek, at this point, in the
first decade of the century, was built of a single string-
piece stretching from bank to bank (the ravine not being
more than twelve feet in span, at least in 1800), protected
against loss from floods by piling loads of stone on the
edges. It had a slight descent at each end, about one-
quarter the fall of the Deer Creek bridges afterwards.
The City Gazetteer of 1819 observes that within two or
three years two bridges had been built within the city
limits — one three hundred and forty feet long, at the
confluence of Deer creek with the Ohio, and the other
over the same stream, a few squares to the north. The
compiler also notes the bridge over Mill creek, built by
Mr. Stone, "a toll bridge, considered one of the finest
in the State. "
In the same year the Gazetteer discusses the practica-
bility of a bridge over the Ohio :
It is now satisfactorily ascertained that a bridge may be permanent-
ly constructed, and at an expense vastly inferior to what has generally
been supposed. The current of the Ohio here is never more rapid than
that of the Susquehanna, Monongahela, and Allegheny sometimes are,
where the experiment has been successfully proven. There is little
doubt, if we can be allowed to form an opinion from the public enter-
prise which now distinguishes our inhabitants, that very few years will
elapse before a splendid bridge will unite Cincinnati with Newport and
Covington.
It was not until September, 1846, however, that the
first plan and report on the subject of the bridge was
presented to an association of Cincinnati capitalists by
the eminent engineer who ultimately constructed it — Mr.
John A. Roebling; not until ten years thereafter that a
beginning was made of the great suspension bridge and
not until ten years after that December 1, 1866, that
the mighty structure was opened to foot passengers.
The following brief history of the work was included
in Mr. Roebling's report of April 1, 1867, after its com-
pletion :
It was observed that my first plan and report on the Ohio bridge was
dated September 1, 1846. About the same time in the year 1856, after
a lapse of ten years, the foundations for the towers were commenced.
The work was actively prosecuted during 1857, when the great financial
crisis of that memorable year put an involuntary stop to our operations.
So far it had been almost exclusively a Covington enterprise. Cin-
cinnati looked on, if not with a jealous eye, at least with great indiffer-
ence and distrust. Left without the moral and financial support of the
proud Queen of the West, the Covington enterprise was allowed to
sleep, and that sleep came very near terminating in its final dis-
solution by the threatened sale, at public auction, of the splendid
THE TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN
■••■' \NiSJ
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
4°5
masonry of the Cincinnati tower, carried up forty-five feet above the
foundation, in order to satisfy the proprietor of the ground, whose
claims had not been finally settled.
After all these reverses and drawbacks, most of the stockholders
were disposed to consider their investments in the light of public sacri-
fices. The old stock was freely offered at twenty-five per cent., thus
indicating the hopelessness of a final success. But the enterprise
counted a few of its friends who never flinched or gave up in despair.
With these gentlemen, the eventual completion of their great work was
only a question of time.
During the winter of 1862, when the whole power of the nation was
absorbed in its struggle with that gigantic Southern rebellion, fresh en-
deavors were made by the friends of the work, in conjunction with
some prominent capitalists on the Cincinnati side, to resuscitate their
sleeping enterprise. The great exigencies of the war, by the movement
of troops and materials across the river, made the want of a permanent
bridge all the more felt. It is a fact, worthy of historical notice, that
in the midst of a general national gloom and despondency, men could
be found, with unshaken moral courage and implicit trust in the future
political integrity of the Nation, willing to risk their capital in the pros-
ecution of an enterprise which usually will only meet support in times
of profound peace and general prosperity.
The prosecution of masonry was actively resumed in the spring of
1863. This was then the only public work in the country carried on by
private enterprise; to crush the Rebellion, all the energies of the Nation
had to be centred upon this one military task. From this time for-
ward there was no lack of support ; the different parts of the bridge
were carried on as rapidly as could be done, with due regard to econ-
omy. The new interest in the work, awakened in Cincinnati, kept
pace with its progress, and its final completion is in a great measure
due to those liberal residents of the Queen City, who have so freely in-
vested in our enterprise, and have taken so active a part in its manage-
ment. Under these favorable auspices we were enabled to open the
roadway for foot travel on the first of December, 1866. One month
later, on the first of January, 1867, the bridge was opened to vehicles,
and from that day on has continued to serve as a permanent highway
between the States of Ohio and Kentucky.
The following general description of the bridge is
abreviated from Mr. Roebling's account :
By our charters the location of the towers was fixed at low water
mark, so that the middle span should present an opening of no less
than one thousand feet in the clear. To comply with this act, the dis-
tance from centre to centre of tower measures one thousand and fifty-
seven feet, which leaves a clear space of one thousand and five feet
between the base of masonry. In the spring of 1832 the river rose sixty-
two feet six inches above low water, and this is the elevation of the
approach near Front street on the Cincinnati side. The centre of this
street is only sixty feet above low water. But such an extreme rise
may not occur again in a century. At this stage the width of water-
way is over two' thousand feet, including two blocks of buildings on
either side. Except the intersection of Front by Vine and Walnut
streets, thence to the approach, the entrance to the bridge on the Cin-
cinnati side may be considered above water at all stages. The ap-
proach on the Covington side is seventy-one feet above low water,
therefore always dry.
On the Cincinnati side the abutment and anchor walls range with the
line of Wharf row. This masonry extends solid through this block
to Water street, a depth of one hundred and four feet. On the Cov-
ington side the face of the southern abutment is in line with Front
street. With the exception of the towers, the whole waterway between
the two cities is thus left unobstructed, a width of one thousand six
hundred and nineteen feet. The two small spans left open between the
abutments and towers are each two hundred and eighty-one feet from
face to centre of tower.
Owing to the persistent opposition of property, steamboat and ferry
interests, the clear elevation of the floor above low water mark, in the
centre of the river span, has been fixed at one hundred and twenty-two
feet. With this elevation the ascent of the Cincinnati approach would
have been over eight feet in one hundred feet. By a late enactment this
height was reduced to one hundred feet. As the bridge stands now,
its elevation is one hundred and three feet in the clear at a medium
temperature of sixty degrees, rising one foot by extreme cold and sink-
ing one foot below this mark in extreme heat. The greatest ascent is
now only five feet in one hundred at the Cincinnati approach, and this
diminishes as the suspended floor is reached. The consequence of
this easy grade is that teams will load one quarter more than ihey were
accustomed to do when crossing the ferries, and this is done without
abusing the horses. Although considerations of humanity towards
animals are seldom entertained when framing bridge charters, during
those debates at Columbus, when the application for lowering the
height of the bridge was discussed before the legislature of Ohio, this
ground was mnde an argument of great force in favor of a reduction.
The result has fully justified this humane intention.
The floor of the bridge is composed of a strong wrought-iron frame,
overlaid with several thicknesses of plank, and suspended to the two
wire cables by means of suspenders attached every five feet. The sus-
penders are arranged between the roadway and sidewalks. The latter
are seven feet wide, and are protected by iron railings towards the
river. The roadway is twenty feet wide, forming two tracks of four
lines of iron trams, on which the wheels run, each tram being fourteen
inches wide, to accommodate all kind of gauges. The whole width
of the floor between the outside railings is thirty-six feet.
The general appearance of the elevation of the bridge is that of a
finely turned arch, suspended between two massive towers, the arch
carried over both side spans in tangential lines, which continue to de-
scend over the approaches, until Front street is reached on the Cincin-
nati side, and Second street on the Covington side. The symmetry of
this arch will never be disturbed, because all disturbing forces are fully
met by the inherent stiffness" and stability of the work. Its curvature
in the centre is subject to an imperceptible and gradual change of one
foot, either higher or lower, caused by extreme variations of tempera-
ture. With the exceptions of this, no other impression will be noticed
to take place, neither from transient loads nor high winds.
To approach the Ohio bridge on the Cincinnati side, Water street,
sixty-six feet wide, has been crossed by five plate girders, each of a
depth of four feet, and strengthened by the suspension of wire ropes
arranged on each side of the vertical plates. This bridge, therefore, is
a combination of girders and suspension cables on a small scale. There
will be no strife between the girders and the cables while contracting
and expanding, as the material in both is the same. Now the same
combinations have been carried out on the large bridge, only the order
has been reversed. A floor of one thousand feet long is suspended to
two wire cables; as such, it is the lightest and the most economical,
and at the same time the strongest structure which it is possible, in the
nature of things, to put up. But a simply suspended platform is too
flexible for the transit of heavy loads; it is also liable to be effected by
high winds; therefore other means must be resorted to to insure stabil-
ity and stiffness. As one of these means, two wrought-iron girders
extend from one abutment to the other through the centre line of the
bridge. One is twelve inches deep, and suspended underneath the
floor beams, the other, of a depth of nine inches, rests on top, both be-
ing connected by screw bolts, firmly embrace the crossbeams, and thus
not only form a combined girder of twenty-eight inches deep, running
lengthways, but also add greatly to the lateral stiffness of the framing
of the bridge floor. The girders are rolled in lengths of thirty feet.
The two trusses which extend along each side of the roadway, ten feet
high, constitute another and more powerful element of stiffness and of
stability.
Mr. James Parton wrote of this bridge in 1867 that
"the whole population of Cincinnati might get upon it
without danger of being let down into the water."
The Cincinnati Southern Railway bridge, a mile and a
half below the Suspension, and the Louisville Short-Line
bridge, also used for street-cars and other vehicles, and
foot passengers, about a mile above the Suspension, also
span the river opposite the city. They are both of more
recent construction, the latter being finished in 1870.
At the beginning of 1877 there were eighty bridges
belonging to the city, perhaps with a few small additional
wooden girders. The number is about the same now.
Thirty-one were of iron, forty-seven of wood, and two
were of stone arches. Seven bridges were over the tracks
of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette railroad, and
are kept in repair by that corporation,. but are in charge of
the board of public works. Of the wooden bridges thirty-
one are of the truss kind, and sixteen had wooden gird-
ers. The expenditures for such improvements, from 1852
406
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to that year, were nearly one million dollars. Fifteen
other bridges in the city, all belonging to railway or turn-
pike companies, were not under the control of the de-
partment.
In 1880 new work was done by the bureau of bridges
to the value of nine thousand six hundred and nineteen
dollars and thirty-one cents. New bridges were planned
or being constructed over Mill creek at Harrison avenue,
over Lick run at Hart street, and over Hunt street at
McMillan avenue — the last a ten thousand dollar bridge.
PUBLIC PARKS.
The parks of the city, with their respective areas, are
as follows:
Eden park, comprising two hundred and six acres.
Burnet Woods park, one hundred and sixty-three and
one-half acres.
Lincoln park, ten acres.
Washington park, five and seven-tenths acres.
Water-works park, East Front street.
Hopkins park, one acre.
City park, west side Plum street, between Fighth and
Ninth, about two acres.
The value of the parks in April, 1879, was held in the
mayor's message of that date to be: Eden, 2,004,000;
Burnet Woods, 1,499,000; Lincoln, 660,000; Hopkins,
40,000; other park property, 55,000; total, 4,198,000.
The Park commissioners (first appointed in i860) have
also charge of the Tyler Davidson fountain, on Fifth
street. In 1872 the general assembly passed a law in-
creasing the number of commissioners from three to nine.
The board has in charge the improvement and expendi-
tures of the public parks of the city, subject to approval
of the common council.
Burnet Woods park was bought in 1872-3, and opened
to the public August 26, 1874. The next report of the
Park commissioners gives the following picture of the
scene:
It was a joyous day; a gentle breeze was felt in the air; the sun re-
tired behind the floating clouds, tempering its rays; the weather
was perfect. No speeches, formal or informal, were made; and the
woods, hitherto silent except when broken by the singing of birds
were made vocal by the merry voices of both old and young of all
classes, who with delight drank in the sweet strains of music, as in har-
mony they were sent forth from Currier's band. The people were there,
and appeared more than satisfied that the city had secured, before it
was too late, that beautiful spot so richly planted by Him whose plant-
ing has been a study from the beginning of time, and will be till the
end. The trees of Burnet Woods are grand specimens, and without
rivals in the other parks, lifting their heads high up toward heaven, re-
minding those who rest beneath their genial shade of the God who
plants and creates man to enjoy. Burnet Woods will be the pride and
joy of the people of the Queen City.
In this park are given the public concerts in the warm
season, on the foundation of fifty thousand dollars, given
for the purpose by the Hon. Wm. S. Groesbeck, April 7,
1875. Evening concerts have also been given at the ex-
pense of the city in Lincoln and Washington parks. The
first year of concerts in Eden park was 1872. This mag-
nificent pleasure-ground was bought, to the amount of
one hundred and fifty-six acres, December 6, 1865, of
the heirs of Nicholas Longworth, and increased by suc-
cessive purchases to its present dimensions. In 1869
improvements were begun upon it, and have since been
vigorously prosecuted, developing great beauty of situa-
tion and prospect. Colonel Maxwell says of it, in his
Suburbs of Cincinnati:
The river; the miles of distant hills extending along the Kentucky
side of the shore; the less remote highlands of Ohio, rolling away in
multitudinous waves of improved lands; the suburbs of the city to the
north and -east, and the city at the foot of the hill, teeming with its
busy thousands, make up a prospect so rare that it may be said the
park, for location, has hardly its peer. The avenues meander by grace-
ful curves through the groves, at every turn shutting out something the
visitor has just seen, but revealing another landscape filled with new
beauties.
Lincoln park was formerly the Potter's field of the
city; if its lovely shades could tell its story they would
reveal many a tale of crime and woe. An interesting in-
cident of this period was thus narrated by the late Dr.
Wright, in the last public address of his life:
Among the visitors to that lonely spot were the night-prowlers, the
resurrectionists. The latter plied their vocation at a time when they
supposed no eye was upon them — when they hoped the surroundings
were as quiet and lifeless as the tombs they were about to despoil of
their occupants. But there were times when clouds, nor storms, nor
quiet steppings secured the prowler from observation. Just after mid-
night, the face of the moon being hid, and not a twinkle of the nearest
star to be seen — the whole earth seemingly clothed in gloom — the light
from a near-by brick-kiln fell upon the person of one and made him sl,
prominent object, just as he had thrown from his shoulder two heavy
burdens, specimens of castaway humanity. The men at the kiln were
anxious for an opportunity to discharge the loads of two rusty guns,
which had been on hand for some time; and they concluded to shoot
near enough to the audacious intruder to frighten him from the
ground. He was more than frightened — he was wounded, but retained
sufficient activity to effect his escape, leaving horse, wagon, and con-
tents at the mercy of the marksmen.
l-HiS TYLER "DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN.
This sup«D benefaction stands upon the western half
of the old Fifth Street market space, now called Foun-
tain square, between Walnut and Vine streets. It is the
donation to the public by the late Tyler Davidson, one
of the merchant princes of Cincinnati, though the con-
nection with it of his brother-in-law, Mr. Henry Probas-
co, has been so intimate and liberal that it is sometimes
called the Probasco monument. February 15, 1867,
Mr. Davidson addressed a letter from Palermo, Sicily, to
Mayor Wilstach, embodying his thought and intention of
several years, in the offer to the city of a sufficient sum
for the building of the fountain. The conditions of the
gift were simply that the fountain should always be kept
in good order, with an abundant supply of pure water,
free to the use of all; that it should be supplied with
water twelve hours a day in summer, ten in the spring
and fall, and six in the winter, except when the murcury
should fall below the freezing point; that a policeman
should always be near it to preserve its cleanliness and
to guard it from abuse; that the water should be used
only for drinking and ornamental purposes, except in case
of fire in the immediate vicinity; and that the doner and
his legal representatives should have the right to hold
the city responsible for the constant fulfillment of the
conditions. The grant was accepted, but legal and other
difficulties had to be overcome in securing the proposed
site and the procurement of a satisfactory design for the
fountain. All were overcome, however, and on the sixth
of November, 1871, it was unveiled in the presence of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
407
an immense multitude, and with appropriate ceremonies.
Mr King in his Hand-book of Cincinnati gives the fol-
lowing description of the work :
It stands in the centre of the esplanade, on Fountain square. The
massive base and the circular basin are made of porphyry, quarried and
polished in Europe. The fountain itself is cast in bronze, of con-
demned cannon procured from the Danish government. The castings
weigh twenty-four tons. The diameter of the basin is forty-three feet,
and the weight of porphyry eighty-five tons. The height of the foun-
tain above the esplanade is thirty-eighty feet. The bronze pedestal on
the base of porphyry is square; the four sides bearing representations
in relief of the four principal uses of water, — water-power, navigation,
the fisheries, and steam. The pedestal is surmounted by four semi-
circular bronze basins, each pierced in the centre by a single jet an inch
in diameter. From the centre of the four semi-circular basins rises a
second bronze at a pedestal, surmounted by a square column, on which
stands the Genius of Water, a draped female figure, with outstretched
arms, from the palms and fingers of whose hands the water falls in
spray into the four semi-circular basins. On either side of the -square
column is a group of figures of heroic size. The eastern group repre-
sents a mother leading a nude child to the bath ; the western group, a
daughter giving her aged father a draught of water; the northern group,
a man standing on the burning roof of his homestead, with uplifted
hand, and praying for rain; the southern group, a husbandman with an
idle plough, and at his side a dog panting from heat, supplicates
Heaven for rain. There are life-size figures in niches at each corner of
the bronze pedestal beneath the semi-circular basins. One represents
a nude boy with a lobster, which he has just taken from a. net, and is
holding aloft in triumph with one hand; another, a laughing girl, play-
ing with a necklace of pearls; the third, a semi-nude girl, listening to
the sound of the waves in a sea-shell which she holds to her ear; the
fourth, a boy well muffled, strapping on his skates. There are four
drinking-fountains, equi-distant on the rim of the porphyry basin.
Each is a bronze pedestal, surmounted by a life-size bronze figure. One
represents a youth astride, a dolphin; the second, youth kneeling, hold-
ing one duck under his left arm, and grasping by the neck another; the
third is that of a youth, around whose right leg a snake has coiled,
which the youth has grasped with his left hand, and is about to strike
with a stone that he holds jn his right. The fourth figure is that of a
youth kneeling on the back of a huge turtle, and grasping it by the
neck. Water issues from the mouths of the dolphin, duck, snake, and
turtle. The fountain was designed by August Von Kreling, of Nurem-
berg, and cast by Ferdinand Von Miiller, director of the Royal bronze
foundery of Bavaria. The cost of the fountain itself was one hundred
and five thousand dollars in gold. Together with the esplanade the total
cost was over two hundred thousand dollars.
SEWERAGE.
The situation of Cincinnati, in nearly all parts, is re-
markably favorable for a good system of sewerage. In-
deed, so excellent is the natural drainage of the city that
it was not until i860, under a new law of that year, that
the building of sewers began, and then chiefly for local
purposes, and 1864 came before a thorough and system-
atic drainage by sewers was instituted. In two years
more there were twenty-six miles of sewers in the city.
The board of commissioners of sewers was created by
the new code in 1869, and began operations the next
year, when effective work was done, seventeen miles of
sewers being laid, and much other work done. In 1872
the great Eggleston avenue sewer was constructed, and five
hundred and thirty thousand and eleven dollars expended.
In 1879 there were nearly thirty-nine miles of sewers in
the city, besides those laid by private enterprise. The
next year thirty-three thousand one hundred and fifty-
eight lineal feet of pipe sewers were laid, and four thou-
sand eight hundred and seven of brick sewers, making
a total of 37,965, or 7.19 miles, at a cost of about
$75,000. There were, then in the city, 47.348 miles of
sewers, with about 20,000 slants for house connections.
A sewer at the city infirmary had also been laid by the
bureau of sewers' construction, in which bureau of the
chief engineer's office of the board of public works the
business is now transacted, a sewer 3,864 feet long at the
city infirmary near Carthage.
GAS.
The Queen City, unlike many large cities, has never
had its own gas-works. The Cincinnati Gas and Coke
company was organized in 1841, and has since enjoyed
a monopoly of the city's supply. In 1865, at the expira-
tion of the twenty-five years during which the company
was to have the exclusive right of furnishing gas to the
city with privilege of purchase then, the purchase of the
works was provided for by the council, but not consum-
mated, and ten years' extension of privilege was given to
the company. The value of their works and appurten-
ances is more than $6,000,000, and the stock of the
company owning them is among the most valuable in the
city. The cost of light to the corporation of Cincinnati
in 1880 was $200,313.69, including that of two hundred
and four new gas lamps erected, and two hundred and
nineteen gasoline lamps. The total number of gas
lamps in use January 1, 1881, was 6,334; gasoline,
1,018; lineal feet of gas pipe in use, 212 miles and 2,160
feet.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
ANNEXATIONS AND SUBURBS.
Until nearly within the last decade, Cincinnati's
swarming thousands subsisted within a comparatively
narrow compass of territory. Upon seven square miles
there were, in round numbers, two hundred thousand
people. It was the most densely crowded metropolis in
America, and few of the venerable cities of the Old
World had a greater population to the square mile. But
in 1869 began a process of rapid annexation — not by
conquest, except by reason, common sense, and the
might of the ballot box — scarcely parallelled in munici-
pal history. By the close of 1870 twelve and three-fourth
square miles had been added; in'1873 the process was
already complete by the addition of four and one-fourth
square miles, or seventeen in all, broadening the corpor-
ate territory of Cincinnati to twenty-four square miles.
A favorable note upon another measure submitted and
presently to be mentioned, would have reversed these
figures, and given forty-two. But with what was accom-
plished, as a result, behold the present magnificent pro-
portions of the Queen City, which has "ample room and
verge enough" for its teeming population, and probable
for all who are to come hither during the next quarter
century. The annexations have been as follows. The
dates given are those in which the initial steps were
taken; in most cases the arrangement was not complete
until the next year:
408
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Storrs township, except that part of it included within
the corporate limits of Riverside; September 10, 1869.
The special road districts of Walnut Hills, Mt. Au-
burn,"and Clintonville; September 10, 1869.
The election precincts of Camp Washington and Lick
run, from Mill Creek township ; November 12, 1869
The west part of Spencer township, by proceedings be-
fore the county commissioners; May 9, 1870.
The incorporated village of Columbia; February 10,
1871.
The incorporated villages of Cumminsville and Wood-
burn; September 6, 1872.
The desirability of further annexations was very clearly
hinted in the following paragraph of Mayor Moore's
message to the common council in 1878 :
Within a circle of seven miles of the spot where you are now congre-
gated, there are eleven acting mayors, over the same number of cities
and villages; which is quite an injury to our city, as they take away
from the aggregate of our population, which otherwise would make
Cincinnati the metropolis she really is.
His argument further was for the annexation of the re-
mainder of the county, after the pattern of Philadelphia;
and he* made a pretty strong case of it, citing, among
other interesting matters, the prediction of an Indian in
the early day, that there would sometime be a grand city
here, reaching from one Miami river to the other. By
annexation, he thought, "the prediction might sooner be
verified than any of us had dared to hope for." Mayor
Torrence had previously, in r87o, argued for the organi-
zation of the entire county into one municipality, as the
city of Cincinnati.
FULTON VILLAGE AND TOWNSHIP
came into the city many years before any of these. An
ordinance submitting to the voters of the city and of the
incorporated village of Fulton, which was pretty nearly,
though not quite, co-extensive with the township, the
proposition of annexation, was passed by the council Au-
gust 23, 1854; in October following both municipalities
voted in favor of the measure; and the terms of it were
formally approved December 27, T854, completing the
annexation. This village consisted principally of one
long street between the hills and the river, above Cincin-
nati. Lying as this strip does between the old city and
Columbia, the two earliest settlements in the Miami
country, it was of course inhabited very early, and in
time had a busy and somewhat numerous population en-
gaged largely in steamer and other boat building. It
was at the Fulton landing that the awful explosion of the
boiler of the Moselle occurred, in T835, as is elsewhere
related. The place had been originally, from the char-
acter of the industry which had grown up within it, named
from Robert Fulton. In 1830 the "Eastern Liberties,"
comprising Fulton, contained one thousand and eighty-
nine inhabitants.* What was known more strictly as
Fulton village, had three hundred and seventeen busi-
ness men and heads of families represented in Shaffer's
business directory of 1840. The next year it was noticed
in the State Gazeteeras containing one thousand five hun-
* The date of the recorded plat of Eastern Liberties is May 17, 1826.
dred to two thousand inhabitants, and two extensive lum-
ber yards, three steam saw-mills, with another in course
of construction, and four shipyards, which annually
launched steamboats with an aggregate tonnage of five to
six thousand. Four-fifths of the Cincinnati built vessels
were then constructed there. It was intersected, as now,
by the Cincinnati, Columbia & Wooster turnpike, over
which passed one-fourth of the marketing of the city.
Fulton township, although long since practically abol-
ished, is still known in city affairs by the regular election
of justices of the peace for it, and within the last year an
interesting question has arisen in the courts in regard to
the validity and jurisdiction of their office, in which they
have been sustained. Some of the gentlemen who have
served in this capacity are Bela Morgan and Nathan San-
born, r829; William Friston, 1865-8; E. P. Dustin,
1869; Robert Tealen, Jacob Wetzel, 1874-7; George
H. High, 1878-80.
THE NORTHERN LIBERTIES
was, as the name implies, immediately north of the old
city limits. It was in Mill Creek township, and in 1825,
according to the map of that year, it extended in one line
of short, narrow lots from Liberty street along the west
side of Vine, and in another line of lots, with a short one
adjoining, on the Hamilton road, now McMicken ave-
nue. The whole were included between Liberty street
and that road. On the west of the lots, parallel to Vine,
was New street, which was intersected by Green and
North streets. East of the plat, and also parallel to Vine,
was Pleasant (now Hamer) street, with Poplar street on
the south, near Liberty, Elder street on the north, and
Back street, as now, parallel with the Hamilton road, and
behind the short line of lots.
The recorded plat of the Northern Liberties bears date
much later than this — March 3r, 1837. It was known,
however, long before this, as a subdivision of Mill Creek
township, and in 1830 had a separate population of seven
hundred and ten, about thirty per cent, of all then in the
township. Ten years afterwards, according to Shaffer's
business directory, it had no less than five thousand seven
hundred qualified voters, and a German population alone
of eight thousand.
MOHAWK
was another of the little old villages on the upper plain
of Cincinnati north of the original town site, and west of
Vine street. Mrs. Trollope, who took a house here in
1829, describes it in her book as "a little village about a
mile and a half from the town, close to the foot of the
hills formerly mentioned as the northern boundary of it."
The heights back of it were then still covered with an al-
most unbroken forest. Mrs. Trollope gives an amusing
description of her neighbors here, which we do not care
to copy. Her former residence is now occupied as one
of the buildings of the Hamilton Road pottery, a little
west of Elm street. The name of the writer is still pre-
served in Mohawk street and Mohawk bridge in the
same locality. Its plat was never recorded, and we have
no dates of it, except as to the famous Englishwoman's
residence.
WILLIAM H. BRISTOL.
William Henry Bristol was born in Canaan, New York,
October 3, 1824, son of George and Sally (Hutchinson)
Bristol. On his father's side, the family sprang from the
Bristols of Connecticut, but his father and mother
were married in Canaan, and there brought up their
family. The mother is now dead, but the father sur-
vives, and is a resident of Oswego, New York. Young
Bristol was educated in the Canaan schools, but early
launched out in life for himself, and at the age of six-
teen or seventeen became a chain-carrier in the survey
of the Hudson & Berk-
shire railroad. When the
road was finished, he be-
came a fireman upon it,
and then baggage-master;
at the age of about twenty
he went on the Saratoga &
Whitehall railroad for three
years as baggage-master,
and then for ten years was
passenger conductor upon
the same line. His en-
gagement for the next
three years was as conduc-
tor with the New Jersey
Railroad & Transportation
company. He came to
Cincinnati in September,
1857, to take charge of
the Cincinnati Transfer
company, upon its organ-
ization. Wheeler H. Bris-
tol, his brother, had been
in the Old Omnibus Line,
and prevailed upon Wil-
liam to come and take the
superintendency of the
new company. He is
now in Os.vyego, New York.
Mr. Bristol remained with
the Transfer company until after the war, during which
he did the Government hauling in the city, having at
times as many as two hundred and fifty horses engaged.
The Transfer company sold out, and after a while the
Omnibus company sold to the Strader & Company Om-
nibus Line and Mr. Bristol began to take contracts from
the city, especially in street-paving. * He paved much of
Pearl and Park streets and other thoroughfares, and was
largely instrumental in introducing the Nicholson pave-
ment in parts of the city. He also aided contractors in
building the Cincinnati Southern railroad, on sections
fifty and fifty-one. In 1872-3, by election on the Demo-
cratic ticket, he served as city .commissioner, in special
charge of streets, under direction of the board of im-
provements, before the board of public works was con-
stituted. It was then the most responsible office in the
city, except that of city engineer, and gave him much
trouble in securing obedience to the ordinances, as in
the matter of removing awning-posts from the side-
walks, etc. He triumphed over all, however, and the
benefits of his administration are felt to this day. The
volume of biographies entitled Cincinnati Past and
Present, published while
Mr. Bristol was commis-
sioner, says of him:
A more suitable choice is sel-
dom made by the popular voice,
as he possesses the firmness, mod-
eration, and excellent judgment
to enable him to discharge its
duties with credit to himself and
profit to the city. He is emphat-
ically a self-made man, and dur-
ing his residence in the city has
so identified himself with its in-
terests as to be every way entitled
to a place in this industrial his-
tory.
In 1857 Mr. Bristol
opened the Empire Sta-
bles, at 276 Walnut street,
between Sixth and Sev-
enth, where he has since re-
mained in the livery, feed,
and sale stable business. In
this he exercises conscien-
tious care in the selection
of animals for hire and
their adaptation for the
special trips desired, and
never allows horse-trading
swindlers to hang about his
establishment. For about
seven years he has also been
president of the Carpet-beating company, with headquar-
ters at 87 East Eighth street. In politics he generally
sympathizes with the Democrats, but is an independent
thinker and voter, as he was trained to be in early life.
Mr. Bristol was married February 20, 185 1, to Miss
Harriet E. Williams, of Canaan, New York, daughter of
Norman and Eliza (James) Williams. Her mother lived
with the family in Cincinnati, and survived to the age of
one hundred years. They have had three children —
Morris Nutting, Mary Cornelia, and Mettie Price, of
whom only the first-named is living. He assists his
father in conducting the business of the stable.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
409
BRIGHTON
names that part of the present city reaching from Mill
creek to Freeman street, at the junction of Central ave-
nue. It came easily by the familiar title of a place for
cattle dealing, from the former location of the stock-
yards here. A railway station and the Brighton house
yet keep the name.
TEXAS AND BUCKTOWN
were never incorporated villages, but simply popular
names for local districts — the former at the northwest
part of the old city; the latter, which still wears its hon-
ors, in the Deer creek bottom, east of Broadway, where
many negroes and some of the most depraved whites of
the city formerly inhabited.
STORRS TOWNSHIP
was one of the smaller subdivisions of the county, and
lay immediately west of the city, between Mill creek and
the meridian west of Price's hill, now the western boun-
dary of the city. It was erected about 1835, according
to the report of former county Auditor McDougal to
State Auditor John Brough. It was the first of recent
annexations to the city, its annexation being authorized
September 10, 1869. A small part of the southwest
corner, being within the limits of the incorporated village
of Riverside, was not annexed.
The first house built by General Harrison in this
country, long before his removal to North Bend, still
stands within the limits of the old Storrs township, a
little west of Mill creek, near Gest street.
Justices of the peace continue to be elected for Storrs.
In 1865 John F. Gerke and Colonel Henry F. Sedam,
from whose family Sedamsville is named, were justices;
in 1866, Mr. Sedam and J. H. T. Crone; 1867-9,
Sedam and William Dummick; 1870-80, Mr. Dummick.
This office was formerly, and for many years, held by
the father of Colonel Sedam, one of the most noted
characters of local history, going back very nearly to the
beginnings of white settlement here. Colonel Cornelius
R. Sedam was the projenitor of this remarkable family
in the Miami country. He was a Jerseyman of Holland
stock, and a colonel in the Continental army, receiv-
ing his commission from the august Washington himself.
He fought courageously in the famous battles in New
Jersey, Princeton and Monmouth, and was engaged at
Germantown and on other fields, displaying a bravery
and dash that won him marked notice from his com-
mander and fellow officers. He was in Losantiville
almost at the beginning, coming as he did with Major
Doughty and the force that built Fort Washington, in
1789. He rode with St. Clair to the terrible defeat on
the Maumee two years after, and received a dangerous
wound in the fight, besides having two horses shot down
beneath him. Retiring from the army soon after, he
invested his means in a large tract of the fertile lands
about the mouth of Bold Face creek and extending some
way up the valley and adjacent hills, being parts of the
sections'' thirty-four and thirty- five, below Cincinnati, in
the former Storrs township, upon a part of which Se-
damsville is built. He fixed his home about a quarter of
a mile west of the residence now known as the old
Sedam house, and built there, of the stone of the region,
a substantial and tolerably large dwelling called the Syl-
van house. This is still standing in good condition, and
occupied as a residence, a little in rear of the great dis-
tillery of Gaff, Hischmann & Company. It was built in
1795, and is undoubtedly the oldest stone building in
Hamilton county, antedating by thirteen years the Wald-
schmidt residence south of Camp Dennison, in Symmes
township. He improved a large farm here very success-
fully, sometimes sending its produce in flatboats to New
Orleans on his own account, instead of marketing it at
Cincinnati. He was a very large man, physically, but
exhibited considerable energy in personal attention to his
extensive interests and the public affairs of Storrs town-
ship after it was organized. He was a justice of the
peace from the date of his original appointment by Gov-
ernor St. Clair, in 1795, to his death in 1824, when his
official mantle was taken up by his son and successor,
Henry F. Sedam.
One of his fancies is thus pleasantly described by his
biographer, Judge Cox, in Cincinnati Past and Present:
He had imbibed a love for military affairs and military men, which
adhered to him through life. Especially did he take an interest in the
old wounded and crippled veterans of the Revolution. Near his home,
he built barracks for the reception, to which every one who had lost a
limb or an eye, or was unfit to make his living by reason of wounds,
was invited and made perfectly at home. But they must conform to
discipline. They were called from their couch at dawn by the rattle of
the drum, and all lights must be out at "taps." During the day every
one must, if able, attend to such duty as was assigned him, and regu-
larly be at dress parade in the evening at a given signal; and on all
public days they were to be on hand for drill, according to their capac-
ity. Many a poor soldier, unable to obtain proof that he was entitled
to a pension, served in the corps of the colonel during his life, was
comfortably fed, clothed, and housed, and carefully nursed in sickness,
and when dead buried by his companions, under the command of the
old colonel, in true military style.
His house was the headquarters for all military men passing that
way, and also in the latter part of his life especially for all Methodist
ministers, to which denomination the colonel adhered. Many instances
are given by those who knew him, of his good judgment in and knowl-
edge of military affairs; and his children remember distinctly a mem-
orable instance which would make a historical painting. It was a day
spent by General Harrison with the colonel when on his journey to take
command of the troops in the northwest, in the War of 1812. To-
gether they consulted maps and interchanged views as to the most
feasible method of carrying on the campaign. The back porch of the
Sylvan house, extending along the whole length, was the scene of their
conference. Here these two military men were seen on the floor on
their hands and knees, with each a piece of chalk in hand, marking out
the plans and details of march and battle which were to, and which did,
decide the supremacy of the Government in the northwest; and ever
after the home of the colonel was the favored stopping-place of Gen-
eral Harrison on his journey from his home, at North Bend, to Cincin-
nati, and at each visit it was a rich treat for the old veterans, the neigh-
bors, and boys, to gather around and listen to the war-stories of these
two commanders.
The colonel, although a Democrat, was always a stout
defender of General Harrison, from whatever point he
might be attacked.
Henry F. Sedam was born in the Sylvan house July
18, 1804. When a boy of seventeen he was entrusted
by his father with the management of one of the flat-
boats, laden for New Orleans with the produce of the
farms. At the age of twenty-three he was married and
left the old home for a new house which he built a few
hundred yards east of that — the dwelling now occupied
4io
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
by his son, Mr. Charles Sedam, near and south of the
station of the Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago railway.
This was the site of an old Indian village, and here the
Indians had often encamped for fishing and hunting in
the neighhorhood, after his father commenced his settle-
ment. They were very friendly, and young Sedam be-
came so familiar with them and their language that he
came to consider himself one of "the Miami tribe." He
inherited the tract of his father's estate east of Boldface
creek, here laid out the village of Sedamsville, and
offered perpetual leases of lots to actual settlers. He is
best remembered in this region as "the chief justice of
Storrs," from his long occupancy of the office of justice
of the peace. He put up a two story brick building in
his orchard, where he held his courtroom, "dispensing
justice by dispensing with law,'' as he was accustomed
humorously to say. In pleasant weather he commonly
heard causes under the trees of his orchard, where tables
and benches were constantly set out to accommodate the
attendants upon his court. His methods of procedure
seem to have been in the Carlylean phrase, "indepen-
dent of formula." One of his old friends contributed to
Cincinnati Past and Present — to which we are indebted
for the material of these outlines — the following amusing
account of his procedure as a magistrate:
His original and unique manner of disposing of cases was always
attractive. He did not hold the office for the sake of making money,
for he never in that long time (thirty years) charged any fees for him-
self. Did some exasperated creditor or supposed sufferer come in
great haste to bring a suit against his neighbor, the 'squire would set
him down, carefully get all the facts from him, ascertain the best kind
of compromise he would take, fix a day for trial and send the party
away; then send for the opposite party, talk with him, urge a compro-
mise, and if he found him reasonable and willing to settle on a fair
basis, enter judgment, give him such time as he thought proper, go his
bail and notify the other party that all was settled, and the parties
were told to pay the constable one dollar. Tuesdays and Saturdays
were his court days; and often would be found the litigants of half a
dozen cases sitting around in the shade, all provided with-fruit or mel-
ons by the 'squire, and told to get together and try and settle while he
was trying the case of some litigious cusses who wouldn't be settled in
any other way, in which event the 'squire made what he called a
chancery case, in which he didn't give either party a chance to gouge
the other. In this high court no legal quibbles were tolerated, and
there never was an appeal from his decision. The general principle on
which he acted may be well illustrated by anecdote. A young man
had just been elected magistrate in"an adjoining township. He at once
called on the 'squire and acquainted him with the fact and desired that
he would give him some advice as to what law books he should read.
The 'squire heard him patiently, and then said: "I wouldn't advise
you to read any law books at all; my experience is that whenever a
county magistrate undertakes to study law he makes a d — n fool of
himself. You are elected as a justice of the peace; now all you have
to do is to use your common sense and best judgment in trying to do
justice and keep the peace among your neighbors — and if they want
law let them go to the higher court and be plucked to their hearts'
content."
Living on the river's edge, with the constant improvement of a grow-
ing country going on all around him, building canals, railroad bridges,
steamboats, flatboats.with another State just across the river, he had all
kinds of folks to deal with— some very rough indeed, and which would
well puzzle the most learned brain; but he has managed to work
through them, sometimes with good humor, sometimes with roughness
and sternness and the invincibility of his strong will. But through all
of them it must be said of him that he ever leaned to the side of justice
and mercy. A favorite remedy with him for the vagrant class who get
drunk and whip their wives was to take all the change found in their
pockets, deposit it with some grocery keeper, with orders to give the
family groceries in small quantities till exhausted, and then banish the
culprit to Kentucky for from thirty days to six months. His strong '
and willing constable would take the criminal across the river in a skiff,
and as the 'squire would say, "put him in a foreign country without a
cent in his pocket, and let him scratch for it." Woe be to the luckless
fellow if he ventured to return before the expiration of his term of
banishment; for there was the bastile, the raging canal, the boys with
lithe and pliant apple-sprouts, ready to vindicate the high majesty of
the court, and he was glad to tarry in foreign parts until the time of
his return as prescribed by rule as immutable as the laws of the Medes
and Persians, and when he came back it was as a better citizen than
before.
A steamboat laden with pork and flour landed near his place. The
men had not been paid their wages, and were clamorous for them. A
number of suits were brought before him, in all of which the captain
proposed putting in security for appeal to court and went to the city
for bail. As soon as he started the 'squire, with his constable, took a
hatchet and a pair of steelyards, repaired to the boat, broke open some
barrels of pork and flour, and weighed out to each one the amount of
his judgment; and when the captain returned with his security he
found the judgment satisfied and the pleasing injunction to appear and
be blessed.
A German living on the road about half a mile from the 'squire kept
a ferocious dog, which was very annoying to travellers. One Sunday
morning an old gentleman presented himself to the court with the
whole seat of his pantaloons torn completely off, and sundry marks in
the naked hide, and demanded a warrant against the owner of the dog.
The 'squire took him in to breakfast, and sent his trusty constable for
the culprit, who shortly returned with him, dressed in his best suit for
church. The case was soon heard, the defendant chided for his fre-
quent acts of carelessness, and the constable ordered to take both par-
ties into the bastile, and make them exchange pants. With many bit-
ter cursings and strong resistance on the part of the owner of the dog,
this was at last done, and the old gentleman went on his way with a
good breakfast, a dollar in his pocket, and his nether man clothed in
decent garments. That dog never appeared in court again.
Sometimes two desperate fellows, intent on whipping each other,
would be made to strip, and a couple of constables standing over with
good switches, would compel them to fight to their hearts' content. In
some cases judicial ducking in the canal would rid the neighborhood
of an old loafer. Sometimes at nightfall a drunken fellow would be
brought in to be tried for a general row. The order would be given to
the constable to put him in the bastile till morning, when, sobered off,
he would be dismissed with his breakfast and an admonition not to be
caught that way again. Instances like these might be indefinitely mul-
tiplied.
It is astonishing that in his long career some cases were not appealed
to a higher court, or the 'squire mulcted in damages for preventing it.
Often would some disappointed litigant demand a transcript of his,
docket, in order to take the case up by appeal on error; but the unvary-
ing reply of the 'squire has been that he didn't keep any books, but al-
ways settled up as he went along. In fact, the entire entries made in
his docket during his official life wouldn't amount to a dozen pages
The law requires each magistrate to make an annual report to the
county auditor of the number of criminal cases tried before him during
the year, the amount of fines and costs assessed; and an appropriation
from the county treasury is made to cover the costs. But his report of
every case was ended with the remark, " No costs."
The bastile referred to in this amusing account was the
circular front room of the wine-cellar dug by the 'squire
in the side of a large mound. It was secured with
strong iron doors and an immense padlock, and over the
arches at the front the word "bastile" was painted, with
the designs of a sword and pistols about it. This unique
prison, with its legend still upon it, may be seen to this
day, near the gate to the left of the path leadin
the old mansion.
mg up to
Another good story told of him is the following-
His neighborhood had been afflicted with chicken thieves and manv
were the complaints of his neighbors to him. He had always had a
faithful constable-that is, always faithful to him in his office-and he
sent this constable out, ever and anon, to look up and catch the chicken
thieve, A last the constable caught a notorious one, and brough"
him be ore the squire. The 'squire put him to trial immediately and
the evidence plainly convicted the man. "Now," said the 'squtre
•you chicken thief, I am going to banish
you to Kentucky,- and the
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
411
sentence of the court is that you be immediately banished to the State
of Kentucky, and the court itself will see the sentence carried out in
full." Whereupon the 'squire ordered the constable to bring the man
along ; and his own residence and office being on the bank of the Ohio
river, he went down to the river, put the man into a skiff, and ordered
the constable to get in and row the man over the river to the shores of
Kentucky, telling the man that it would be certain death to him if he
ever came back. The constable rowed him over, and that man never
did come back.
Squire Sedam was a noted loyalist during the great
Rebellion; and during the siege of Cincinnati, in the fall
of 1862, he was appointed provost marshal for the town-
ship of Storrs. Our excellent authority says:
He was active and vigilant in the performance of his duties, and par-
ticularly in seeing that every man turned out, his motto being that when
our Homes are threatened no man oughf to be exempt. His proclama-
tion, issued then, allowed only five hours for business, closed up all
places where liquor was sold, and declared- that all persons in the coun-
try five years and claiming to be exempt as aliens should be put south
out of the township lines into Kentucky ; and it would have been en-
forced to the letter in several instances if the parties had not withdrawn
their claim and marched into camp and done duty as good soldiers.
The old residence, just opposite the Sedamsville sta-
tion, is still occupied by the Sedam descendants.
SEDAMSVILLE,
that part of the former Storrs township lying between the
bluffs and the Ohio, three and one-half miles from Fountain
square, was never a populous village, but contained a
number of large distilleries and mills. It is now a part
of the Twenty-first ward of the city. The Catholic church
of St. Vincent de Paul is located here, in charge of Rev.
T. Byrne. The Storrs Congregational church is at the cor-
ner of the river and Mount Hope roads. It was founded
in 1872, and its pastorate has long and honorably been
associated with the services of the veteran missionary and
minister, Rev. Horace Bushnell. The Sedamsville post
office, after about ten years interval, was reestablished
here August 1, 1880, under the designation of station G,
with Mr. John J. Untersinger as postmaster.
CAMP WASHINGTON
is the locality in the Mill Creek valley on both sides of
the Colerain pike, between the old Brighton house site
and Cumminsville, upon which the First and Second
Ohio regiments rendezvoused and encamped after the
outbreak of the Mexican war in 1846. The tract was
then mostly covered by woods, but is now wholly cleared
and mostly covered with buildings, among which are the
house of refuge and the workhouse, and many great
packing-houses and factories. Upon the turnpike, near
the present grounds of the workhouse, in the olden time
stood a famous willow tree, which is said to have been
the ancestor of all the yellow willows in southwestern
Ohio. Switches cut from it by travellers and thrust in
the ground after use, proved the beginnings of great trees,
many of which are still green and flourishing. More
than sixty years ago the ,Rev. Alexander Porter, riding
from Cincinnati to his home in Israel township, Preble
county, cut a switch from it, which his daughter planted
in the ground near a spring on the premises. It is now
the largest tree in the county, still vigorous and strong,
measuring twenty-five feet in circumference just below
the branches, and having o'ne branch sixty feet long.
The decaying stump of the parent tree may be seen to
this day on the west side of the turnpike, a little south of
the entrance to the workhouse enclosure.
Camp Washington with the adjoining precinct of lick
run, which included a small village of the name a little
west of Fairmount, was merged in the city November 12,
1869. This annexation brought in the minor localities
on the west known as Fairmount, Mount Harrison, Barrs-
ville, Forbesville, Spring Garden, and St. Peter's and Clif-
ton heights on the north. The village of St. Peter's was
regularly laid out in 1849, by John V. Biegler, west of
Fairmount.
AN ANNEXATION STOPPED.
The next spring a very comprehensive scheme of ter-
ritorial aggrandizement was proposed, which, if consum-
mated, would have brought in over twenty-seven miles
of additional territory and more than doubled the pres-
ent surface of the city. An act of the legislature was
procured April 16, 1870, authorizing an election May
16th, next following, to determine the question of annex-
ing Clifton, Avondale, Woodburn, Columbia, Cummins-
ville, Spring Grove, Winton Place, St. Bernard, River-
side, and some other suburbs. The vote of these was
close — one thousand one hundred and twenty-five to one
thousand and eighty-two — and the matter had to be set-
tled in the courts, which declared the enabling act un-
constitutional, as being a special act conferring corporate
powers. Most of these villages have therefore remained
outside the city; but several, as we shall see, have since
been annexed.
WALNUT HILLS.
This interesting locality, until recently suburban, was
settled in the second year of Cincinnati, so called, 1791,
by Rev. James Kemper, first pastor of the First Presby-
terian church of Cincinnati, who owned and occupied a
large farm here — mainly, it is probable, for the benefit of
his large family, some of whom were grown sons. Kem-
per avenue, Kemper lane, Kemper hall, and the like, aid
to perpetuate the memory of the pioneer. Here he built
a block-house for defence, which was situated at the old
Kemper home, on the east side of Kemper lane, where
the street has been graded much below the original level.
In those days the region abounded in walnut trees, from
which it took its name. In 1818 was dedicated the first
church building there — the First Presbyterian — in which
Mr. Kemper preached most of the time until his death
in August, 1834. In that year, June 29th, the plat of
the village of Walnut Hills was recorded. It was never
incorporated, except for road purposes. Some years be-
fore this Lane seminary had been founded upon land
given by Mr. Kemper, as is more fully noticed in chap-
ter XXI of this volume. Some reminiscences will
here be given of the most noted family then connected
with the seminary — the famous third part of humanity,
as some have reckoned it — the Beechers, the rest being
divided into saints and sinners. This family occupied
the residence now the home of Rev. Dr. J. G. Montfort,
of the Herald and Presbyter, at the northeast corner of
Gilbert avenue and Chestnut street. We have the fol-
lowing from the Biography of Dr. Lyman Beecher, writ-
412
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ten by one of his children, and which published after his
death :
Dr. Beecher's residence on Walnut Hills was in many respects
peculiarly pleasant. It was a two-story brick edifice of moderate
dimensions, fronting the west, with a long L running back into the pri-
meval forest, or grove, as it was familiarly called, which here came up
to the very door. Immense trees — beech, black-oak, and others —
spread their arms over the back yard, affording in summer an almost
impenetrable shade.
An airy veranda was built in the angle formed by the L along the
entire inner surface of the house, from which, during the fierce gales of
autumn and winter, we used to watch the tossing of the spectral
branches, and listen to the roaring of the wind through the forest. Two
or three large beeches and elms had been with difficulty saved from the
inexorable woodman's axe by the intercessions of the doctor's daughter
Catharine, on the visit already described, and, though often menaced
as endangering the safety of the house from their great height, they
still flourish in beauty.
Through that beautiful grove the doctor and two of his sons, during the
three years 1834-7 passed daily to and from the seminary buildings. A
rustic gate was hung between the Lack yard and the grove, and the path
crossed a run or gully, where, for a season, an old carpenter's bench
supplied the place of bridge.
In this old grove were some immense tulip-trees, so large, in some
instances, that two men could scarcely clasp hands around the trunk.
How often has that grove echoed to the morning and evening song of
the children or the students! We can hear yet, in imagination, the
fine soprano of James, then a boy, executing with the precision of an
instrument solfeggios and favorite melodies till the forest rang again.
In that grove, too, was a delightful resort of the young people from the
city of Dr. Beecher's flock, who often came out to spend a social hour
or enjoy a picnic in the woods.
The doctor's study was decidely the best room in the house — no
longer, as at Litchfield, in the attic, but on the ground floor, and the
first entrance to which you came on arriving from the city. Here, from
its cheerful outlook its convenience of access, and other inviting prop-
erties, soon was established the general rendezvous. Here came the
students for consultation with the president ; here faculty meetings
were held, and here friends from the city spent many a social hour.
On one side of the room the windows looked westward on an extensive
landscape; on the opposite side a double window, coming down to the
floor, opened upon the veranda, serving in summer the double purpose
of window and door; between these, on the back side, were the book-
cases and sundry boxes and receptacles of MSS; while opposite
was the fireplace, with the door on the left and a window on the right.
From said dootyou looked forth across the carriage-drive into a garden
situated between the road and the grove, where the doctor extracted
stumps and solved knotty problems in divinity at the same time, and
whence the table was supplied with excellent vegetables. A little barn
was ensconcedin the back part of the yard, just beyond the end of the
L, under the shade of the big beech-trees, in which Charley (a most im-
portant member of the doctor's establishment) had his stable.
The family was large, comprising, including servants, thirteen in all,
besides occasional visitors. The house was full. There was a constant
high-tide of life and commotion. The old carryall was perpetually
vibrating between home and the city, and the excitement of going and
coming rendered anything like stagnation an impossibility. And if we
take into account the constant occurrence of matters for consultation
respecting the seminary and the students, or respecting the church and
the congregation in the city, or respecting presbytery, synod and gen-
eral assembly, as well as the numberless details of shopping, marketing
and mending which must be done in the city, it will be seen that at no
period of his life was Dr. Beecher's mind more constantly on the stretch,
exerted to the utmost tension of every fibre, and never, to use an ex-
pressive figure of Professor Stowe, did he wheel a greater number of
heavily-laden wheel-barrows at one and the same time. Had he hus-
banded his energies and turned them in a single channel, the mental
fire might have burned steadily on till long after three score years and
ten. But this was an impossibility. Circumstances and his own con-
stitutional temperament united to spur him on, and for more than
twenty of his best years he worked under a high pressure, to use his
favorite expression, to the ne plus — that is, to the utmost limit of phys-
ical and moral endurance. It was an exuberant and glorious life while
it lasted. The atmosphere of his household was replete with moral
oxygen — full charged with intellectual electricity. Nowhere else have
we felt anything else resembling or equaling it.
The following most interesting and touching narrative
is from the same work:
Long before Edward came out here the doctor tried to have a family
meeting, but did not succeed. The children were too scattered. Two
were in Connecticut, some in Massachusetts, and some in Rhode
Island. That, I believe, was five years ago. But — now, just think of
it ! — there has been a family meeting in Ohio ! When Edward returned,
he brought on Mary from Hartford ; William came down from Putnam,
Ohio; George, from Batavia, Ohio; Catharine and Harriet were here
already, Henry and Charles, too, besides Isabella, Thomas and James.
These eleven— the first time they all ever met together ! Mary had
never seen James, and she had seen Thomas but once.
Such a time as they had ! The old doctor was almost transported
with joy. The affair had been under negotiation for some time.
He returned from Dayton late one Saturday evening. The next
morning they, for the first time, assembled in the parlor. There were
more tears than words. The_ doctor attempted to pray, but could
scarcely speak. His full heart poured itself out in a flood of weeping.
He could not go on. Edward continued, and each one, in his turn,
uttered some sentences of thanksgiving. They then began at the head
and related their fortunes. After special prayer, all joined hands and
sang Old Hundred in these words:
" From all who dwell below the skies."
Edward preached in his father's pulpit in the morning, William in the
afternoon, and George in the evening. The family occupied three
front pews on the broad aisle. Monday morning they assembled, and,
after reading and prayer, in which all joined, they formed a circle.
The doctor stood in the middle and gave them a thrilling speech. He
then went round and gave them each a kiss. They had a happy
dinner.
Presents flowed in from all quarters. During the afternoon the house
was filled with company, each bringing an offering. When left alone
at evening, they had a general examination of all their characters. The
shafts of wit flew amain, the doctor being struck in several places. He
was, however, expert enough to hit most of them in turn. From the
uproar of the general battle, all must have been wounded. Tuesday
morning saw them together aj;ain, drawn up in a straight line for the
inspection of the king of happy men. After receiving particular in-
structions, they formed into a circle. The doctor made a long and
affecting speech. He" felt that he stood for the last time in the midst
of all his children, and each word fell with the weight of a patriarch's.
He embraced them once more in all the tenderness of his big heart.
Each took of all a farewell kiss. With joined hands they, joined in a
hymn. A prayer was offered, and finally the parting blessing was
spoken. Thus ended a meeting which can only be rivaled in that
blessed home where the ransomed of the Lord, after weary pilgrimage,
shall join in the praise of the Lamb.
Dr. Beecher resigned his connection with the seminary
in the summer of 1850, and the next May went to Bos-
ton. He was then seventy-six years old.
Besides the Presbyterian church, Walnut Hills has the
Catholic church of the Presentation, in the west part of
the district; a Methodist Episcopal church, on Kemper
lane, and the Protestant Episcopal church of the Ad-
vent, on the same thoroughfare. There are also congre-
gations of colored Methodists and Baptists. The new
Cincinnati Northern (narrow gauge) railway will traverse
Walnut Hills, through a tunnel at Crown street, and a
branch is expected to run from some point on these
heights to Avondale, the zoological gardens, Chester
park, and Spring Grove cemetery.
Walnut Hills came into the city, with Vernon village,
Mount Auburn, and Corryville, March 5, 1870, under an
ordinance of September 10, 1 869, and a vote of October
1 2th, the same year.
EAST WALNUT HILLS
was not an incorporated village, but rather a thickly set-
tled rural district, beautifully situated. Its improvement
as a suburb dates from about 1830. Until about 1866
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
4i3
it included territory up to the village of Walnut Hills,
but the village of Woodburn then came between. Gen-
eral John H. Bates was mayor of this place from 1867
to 1873, and Alexander Todd, in 1876. The Catholic
church of St. Francis de Sales, with a parochial school at-
tached, is located here, at the corner of Woodburn ave-
nue and the Madison turnpike. September 6, 1872, the
ordinance looking to its annexation to the city was
passed ; a favorable vote was had in both corporations in
October; and the agreement was completed by the ac-
ceptance of the terms of annexation March 29, 1873.
It was the last of the annexations. East Walnut Hills
had come in about the same time as Camp Washington
and Lick Run. At its northwestern corner is the hamlet
of O'Bryanville, which was included in the annexation,
and at its northeastern corner, Mount Lookout, which is
mostly out of the city. Here, in a superb, commanding
situation, beyond the city limits, is the Cincinnati ob-
servatory.
' COLUMBIA.
This famous old place, the first settled in the Miami
country, lies south of Woodburn, and became a part of
Cincinnati December 13, 1872, under an ordinance of
February 10, 187 1, and a favorable vote in the following
April. It forms a part of the first ward, as does also
Pendleton, an old, narrow village lying between it and
Fulton. Tusculum and Delta were formerly clusters of
dwellings in this vicinity, on the line of the Little Miami
railroad, which still has stations called by their names.
They were subsequently merged into Pendleton, where
the locomotive works, car-shops, and round-house of this
railroad are situated. This line has also stations for
Woodburn and the Torrence road.
The history of Columbia has been very fully related in
our chapter on the history of Spencer township, in the
first volume.
CUMMINSVILLE.
The history of this interesting old place has also been
largely written in this work, but not in a connected way.
The scattered notices of it, however, in our chapters,
obviate the necessity of any full treatment here. To this
locality, in the first year of Cincinnati proper (1790),
came Colonel Israel Ludlow, one of the founders of Lo-
santiville, and built Ludlow station. The block-house
stood at the present intersection of Knowlton street and
the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. It was
five miles from Fort Washington, and a dense forest lay
between the two defensive works. The primitive Lud-
low residence stood where the latter one still stands, into
which a part of the old dwelling is built. This was for
some years the outpost in the Mill Creek valley. Here
St. Clair's army encamped in 1791, about on the line of
what is now Mad Anthony street, on its way to the fatal
field near the Maumee. Here also Wayne's army en-
camped, according to Mr. Ludlow's journal, on its way
to victory. Its camp was in the orchard, with two rows
of tents pitched parallel to each other from a spring in
the orchard to a spring at Colonel Ludlow's door. Mrs.
Ludlow was the Charlotte Chambers who forms the sub-
ject of a beautiful biography by one of her grandsons, as
mentioned in our chapter on Literature. She was so
winning in her ways, so amiable and pious, that the In-
dians called her "Athapasca," — the good white woman.
She was finely educated and highly accomplished. After
the death of her husband in 1804, Mrs. Ludlow removed
to Cincinnati, and the dwelling at the station was occu-
pied by General Jared Mansfield. Upon her re-marriage,
however, in 18 10, Mrs. Ludlow, now Mrs. David Riske,
returned to the station. Her husband was an Irish
. clergyman, in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian con-
nection, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, and
: a gentleman of good presence and accomplishments.
He had at this time three congregations in charge, in as
many townships, and filled his days with active and use-
ful labors. Mrs. Ludlow organized a Bible society at the
1 station in May, 1815. No one but herself attended at
the first meeting; but, to her glad surprise, thirty women
: came to the next meeting, and the society was formed.
\ The next year, she notes in her journal, "with joy," the
formation of a Ladies' association in Cincinnati, auxiliary
to the American Bible society, then lately instituted in
: New York. In October, 1818, she lost her second hus-
band by death. After residing again for some time in
Cincinnati she paid her last visit to Ludlow station in
1820, and spent the remainder of her days among near
: relations in Franklin mission, where she died in peace
May 20, 1821.
Sara Belle, daughter of the Ludlows, became mother
of General Garrard, of Kentucky, and other children of
note, and was afterwards wife of Justice John McLean,
of the supreme court of the United States. Lewis H.
Garrard, of this family, is author of the memoir before
mentioned.
The village which gradually grew up in this vicinity
was named from David Cummins, son of a Cincinnati
pioneer, and born in a house on Third street, opposite
the Burnet house. He is by some supposed to have
been the first white child born in Cincinnati. In 1844
a post office was established here, with Ephraim Knowl-
ton as first postmaster. November 29, 1865, the village
was incorporated. Mr. A. De Serisy was mayor in 1868,
J. F. Lakeman in 1869-71, and Gabriel Dirr in 1872.
The annexation to Cincinnati was effected under an or-
dinance of September 6, 1872, a popular vote of the two
municipalities in October, and acceptance of the con-
ditions of annexation March 12, 1873.
In 1832 the Christian people of this region were still
worshipping in a log school-house. A building for educa-
tional and religious purposes was put up that year at the
expense of James C. Ludlow, son of the pioneer. The
Methodist Episcopal church was built here about 1833.
The Presbyterian church was erected twenty years after-
wards, and a regular organization of the society was
effected in it by a committee of the Cincinnati Presby-
tery October 16, 1855. St. Boniface's Catholic church,
with a school of two divisions, also St. Patrick's, with a
school of three departments; and the St. Peter's and St.
Joseph's orphan asylum, in care of the Sisters of Charity,
are located here ; also a church of the Christian or Dis-
ciple faith, to which Mrs. Justice McLean gave the land
414
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
upon which its building stands. A weekly paper called
the Suburban Resident, formerly the Cincinnati Trans-
cript, is published here, with an edition for Lockland,
Carthage, and other places.
MOUNT AUBURN
was long almost the sole Cincinnati suburb. It was
known as Key's Hill, from the residence of an old settler
at the later McMiken place on its slope, until about 1837.
Long before this, by 1826, indeed — a number of the
leading citizens of Cincinnati had residences upon its
height — as General James Findlay, Gorham A. Worth,
and others. Until 1870 only about half of it was in the
city, but it was finally all annexed.
Vernon village, annexed with Mt. Auburn, was a
small tract adjoining it, between the Lebanon road and
Burnet avenue.
OTHER SUBURBS,
not yet embraced in the city, on the Ohio side, as Clif-
ton, Avondale, and Riverside, are noticed with sufficient
fullness in our chapters on the townships. Mr. Parton
said, in his Atlantic article in 1869, that "no inland city
in the world surpasses Cincinnati in the beauty of its
environs.'' The party of the Prince of Wales, when
here in i860, thought the suburbs here the finest they
had seen.
THE KENTUCKY SUBURBS.
The beginnings of Newport were made in 1791, when
Hubbard Taylor, agent of General James Taylor, of Caro-
line county, Virginia, the original proprietor of the tract
including its site, laid out a small number of lots, upon a
few squares extending back from the river. A sale was
had in October. The ideas of a town site were enlarged
in a year or two; and in August, 1795, tne survey was
extended to include one hundred acres. By act of the
Kentucky legislature, December 14th, of the same year,
Newport was incorporated, and the title to the lots was
vested in seven trustees. It was the county seat for
many years, and much of the county business is still
transacted there. In 179 1-2 there was considerable ir-
regular ferrying across to Cincinnati, in skiffs and small
flatboats. Captain Robert Benham was the first author-
ized ferryman, having received a license from the Terri-
torial Government at Cincinnati, September 24, 1792.
The next year, July 23d, John Bartle, the well-known Cin-
cinnati merchant, had the right of ferriage between the
two places, and also, October 28, 1794, across the Lick-
ing, granted him by the Mason county court. Campbell
was erected from Mason county in in 1795. These li-
censes were declared void by the Kentucky court of ap-
peals in 1798, and the rights vested in General Taylor,
by whom and his heirs the ferry to Cincinnati has ever
since been maintained.
December 22, 1798, the State legislature incorporated
the Newport academy, and granted it a tract of six thou-
sand acres south of Green river. This became the fa-
mous school taught by Robert Stubbs, "Philom," of
which colonel Taylor, of Newport, to whom we owe most
of these facts, is said to be the sole surviving member.
Two years thereafter, the place having meanwhile ex-
perienced some growth, it was made the seat of justice
for the county (now Campbell). In December, 1803,
Newport had another "boom" in the selection of a site
therein for a Government arsenal and soldiers' barracks,
and the removal thither, the next year, of the garrison
from Fort Washington.
Colonel Taylor contributes the following interesting ac-
count of this famous Government work:
On the twenty-sixth of December, 1803, the commonwealth of Ken-
tucky gave the United States exclusive jurisdiction over five acres and
six poles of land at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, sav-
ing the right to the commonwealth to demand from the officer in com-
mand any person or persons who had committed crimes against the
commonwealth, and gone there to evade the laws. This five acres and
six po\es was in part a donation by General James Taylor (now de-
ceased, and the trustees of the town, and a part acquired by purchase
by the United States in the year 1803. The object of the United States
was to erect a magazine for powder, and arsenal and barracks; which
was erected thereon by order of General Henry Dearbon, then Secretary
of War, in the year 1804, under the superintendence of General James
Taylor, and has ever since been used by the Government as a military
post, and was the main point, in the years 1812 and 1814, of rendez-
vous of the troops that went to defend the northwest. Here troops
drew their arms and supplies on their way to Detroit, Fort Meigs and
other posts, and to Canada. It was from this post that General
William Hull marched in 1812 to Detroit. General Boyd, in the year
1811, started with the Fourth regiment from this post also, when he
went to fight the battle of Tippecanoe with General William Henry
Harrison. On the fifteenth of June, 1848, the president and board of
trustees of Newport, consideration one dollar, conveyed to the United
States the Esplanade, or ground from Front street to the Ohio at low
water mark between the east line of the barrack property and Licking
river, reserving a right of travel and passway over the land by the pub-
lic generally. The deed above referred to provides that if the United
States sells the land occupied by the barracks, that the Esplanade with
its improvements reverts to the town of Newport. The object of this deed
was to enable the United States to erect a stone wall on the Esplanade
in front of this ground, to stop the encroachment of the Onio river by
washing away the Esplanade. This wall and improvement was made
and now stands and prevents the wash of the Ohio river.
The progress of Newport was nevertheless slow, and
in 1815 Dr. Drake, the indefatigable Cincinnati writer,
was moved to say in his second book :
Notwithstanding its political advantages, proximity to the Ohio and
Licking rivers, early settlement and beautiful prospects, this place has
advanced tardily, and is an inconsiderable village. The houses, chiefly
of wood, are, with the exception of a few, rather indifferent ; but a spirit
for better improvement seems to be recently manifested. Two acres
were, by the proprietor, conveyed to the county for public buildings, of
which only a jail has yet been erected. The building of a handsome
brick court house has, however, been ordered. A market house has re-
cently been put up on the river bank, but has not yet attracted the at-
tention of the surrounding country. Two acres of elevated ground
were designated by the proprietor for a common, but, upon a petition
of the inhabitants, the legislature of the State have lately made it the
site of an academy, which at the same time they endowed with six thou-
sand acres of land. This land is not productive at present, and the
academy is not in operation ; but arrangements are made for the erection
of a brick school-house and the organization of a school on the plan of
Joseph Lancaster. In this village there is a Baptist and Methodist
congregation, but no permanent meeting-houses. It has had a post
office for several years. The United States arsenal is erected immedi-
ately above the confluence of Licking with the Ohio. It consists of a
capacious, oblong, two-story armory of brick; a fire-proof, conica
magazine, for gun-powder; a stone house for the keeper, and wooden
barracks sufficient for the reception of two or three regiments of men,
the whole enclosed with a stockade.
Of late years Newport has grown rapidly. Its popula-
tion, about sixteen thousand in 1870, was twenty thou-
sand four hundred and thirty-three ten years afterwards.
The street cars and bridges give its people ready access
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
415
to the great city on the opposite shore, and make it what
it really is, a suburban town, but with a city charter and
organization.
Covington was long known as Kennedy's Ferry, from
the Scotchman, Thomas Kennedy, one of two brothers
who settled on opposite sides of the Ohio, probably in
1792 or 1793, and ran a ferry across the river. The land
(two hundred acres) was originally entered in 1780 by
Hubbard Taylor, son of General James Taylor, who
made a gift of it to Colonel Stephen Trigg. It was subse-
quently once traded for a keg of whiskey, and once sold,
in 1 781, for one hundred and fifty pounds of Buffalo
meat and tallow. It was little else than a cornfield, owned
by Kennedy, until the village was established, February
8, 1815, upon one hundred and fifty acres of Kennedy's
farm, by John S. and Richard M. Gano, and Thomas D.
Carneal, proprietors, and named from General Covington.
It was so surveyed and platted that its streets should ap-
pear to be continuations of the streets of Cincinnati, as
may now be seen. The first sale of lots was at public
vendue March 20, 1815, and they brought very good
prices, better in some cases than were realized ten years
afterwards. Dr. Drake wrote of Covington the same
year it was laid out :
The great road to the Miami country, from the interior of Kentucky,
from Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas, passes this place, and will
be a permanent advantage. It is in contemplation to connect this
place and Newport by a bridge across the mouth of the Licking — a.
work that deserves an early execution.
Covington had a population of twenty-four thousand
five hundred and five in 1870, and of twenty-nine thou-
sand seven hundred and twenty by the tenth census. It
received a city charter February 24, 1834. After Louis-
ville it is the largest city in Kentucky. A very elegant
Government building, for the post office, custom house,
and Federal courts was completed in 1879, at a cost of
near three hundred thousand dollars.
West Covington is a village next west of the city just
before named, and South Covington is a hamlet two
miles south of the city. About the same distance beyond
it is Latonia Springs. A mile west of Covington, at the
Kentucky end of the Southern railroad bridge, opposite
the mouth of Mill creek, is Ludlow, a place of about one
thousand five hundred people, occupying pretty nearly the
site of the extinct village of "Hygeia." One mile further
down the river is Bromley, which had a population of
one hundred and twenty-one in 1870.
East Newport is in the location indicated by its name.
It was laid out in 1867 by A. S. Berry, who, the year be-,
fore, had laid off Bellevue, just beyond this place. Nei-
ther is yet large. The latter had a population of three
hundred and eighty-one in 1870.
Dayton, a mile further up the river, was originally
Jamestown, platted in 1847 by James T. Berry, and
Brooklyn immediately above, the creation of Walker and
Winston in 1849. The two were united as Dayton by
an act of the Kentucky legislature in 1868. It has a
population of about one thousand. Those of its citizens
who did business in Cincinnati reach it by horse rail-
roads from the city through Newport.
In the preparation of this chapter we have derived
much aid from Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell's interesting
publication of 1870, on the Suburbs of Cincinnati.
4i6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
CHAPTER XLIV.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN CLEVES SHORT
was. born in Lexington, Kentucky, in March, 1792, being
the son of Peyton and Mary Short, the latter being the
daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the grantee of the fam-
ous Symines purchase, which embraced a large tract of
land lying between the Little and Great Miami rivers,
and including the present site of Cincinnati. He was
educated and graduated at Princeton college, New Jer-
sey. Most of his early life was spent with his grandfather,
Judge Symmes, near the present villages of North Bend
and Cleves, Hamilton county, Ohio.
Having a predilection for the study of law he entered
the office of Judge Burnet in Cincinnati, and in that city
.successfully engaged in the practice of his profession
after he was admitted to the bar.
During the War of 18 12 he accompanied General Har-
rison (who afterwards became President of the United
States) as aid-de-camp in one of his northwestern cam-
paign*, and on his return to Cincinnati was elected judge
of the common pleas court. During the time of his law
practice and judgeship he resided in Cincinnati near the
corner of Fourteenth and Main streets, in a house sur-
rounded by a large yard and garden.
Although he did not take a particular part in politics,
he was greatly interested in all enterprises that affected
the well-being of his fellow citizens, and in recognition
of this and of his thorough qualifications, he was elected
a member of the legislature of Ohio. In 1817 he erected
a dwelling house on the site of the present homestead
of his descendants, on the banks of the Ohio about
twelve miles west of Cincinnati, into which he moved on
the seventeenth of November of that year, and lived
there forty-seven years. This place was known as
"Short Hill." The greatest portion of his time was oc-
cupied in attending to his adjacent farms, in building
numerous additions to his house, and in literary pursuits
he loved so well.
Previous to his being elected judge he married Miss
Betsey Bassett Harrison, daughter of President Harri-
son, by whom he had one daughter who died in infancy.
In 1846 he experienced the loss of his wife, and in 1849
married Miss Mary Ann Mitchel, who survived him
about seven years. He died at his residence above men-
tioned on the third of March, 1864, after a long period
of suffering from disease of the heart. He left two
sons by his second marriage — John C. and Charles W. —
but lost one son who died very young.
A memorial chapel to his memory and that of his sec-
ond wife has recently been erected on his estate, and on
the twenty-ninth of December, 1877, it was consecrated
to the use of the Protestant Episcopal church. Of his
two sons, John C. died on the third of May, 1880,
Charles W. was married, first of February, 1872, to Miss
Mary \V. Dudley, of Lexington, Kentucky. She is the
daughter of AV. A. Dudley, a prominent citizen of that
town, and a granddaughter of Dr. B. W. Dudley, an em-
inent surgeon, well known throughout that State.
HON. STANLEY MATTHEWS,
justice of the Supreme court of the United States, is a
native Cincinnatian, born July 21, 1824, son of Thomas
J. and Isabella (Brown) Matthews. His father was a
native of Leesburgh, Virginia ; his mother a daughter of
Colonel William Brown, a well-known pioneer of the Mi-
ami country. She was a second wife, and Stanley was the
first-born of this marriage. While he was yet an infant,
the elder Matthews received an appointment as professor
of mathematics in the Transylvania University, at Lex-
ington, Kentucky, and removed thither, where he was al-
so engaged as a civil engineer in some of the early rail-
way enterprises of that State. In 1832 he was chosen a
professor in the Woodward high school, and returned to
Cincinnati. Young Matthews, although now but in his
ninth year, became a pupil in the school, and remained
an assiduous student there until 1839, when he ma-
triculated as a junior in Kenyon college, from which he
was graduated, after a single year's study, in August,
1840, when only seventeen years old. He began a
course of law study in Cincinnati soon after, but in 1842
went to Spring Hill, Maury county, Tennessee, where
he resided in the family school of the Rev. John Hud-
son, a Presbyterian clergyman, which was known as the
Union seminary, in whose management and instruction
he assisted. Here he was united in marriage to Miss
Mary, daughter of James Black, of the same county.
While in this State he was admitted to practice at the
bar, and opened an office at Columbia, on the Duck riv-
er. He also engaged in political and general editorial
writing for a weekly newspaper in that place called the
Tennessee Democrat, his opinions then being in accord-
ance with those indicated by its title. He remained in
Columbia but a short time, however, returning to his
native city in 1844. He was there again the next year
admitted to practice, and formed a partnership with Sam-
uel B. Keys and Mr. Isaac C. Collins, he, although as
yet scarcely of age, becoming the head of the firm of
Matthews, Keys & Collins. He was soon, through the
influence of Judge W. B. Caldwell, then on the bench,
appointed assistant prosecuting attorney for a single term
of court, which proved a somewhat important stepping
stone in his early advancement. He had become thor-
oughly converted to the principles and policy of the an-
ti-slavery agitation through the writings of Dr. Gamaliel
Bailey, who was then conducting the Cincinnati Daily
Herald, and when Dr. Bailey went to Washington to es-
tablish the National Era in 1846, Mr. Matthews suc-
ceeded to the editori.il management of the Herald, re-
maining in charge u .til the winter of 1848-9. His
journalistic career had naturally given him some influ-
ence and prominence in politics, and at the legislative
session of that winter — the same at which Governor Sal-
mon P. Chase was elected United States Senator^he was
chosen clerk to the House of Representatives. In 1850
he returned to the practice of his profession in the Queen
City, and the next year, while still less than thirty years
old, was elected a judge of the court of common pleas.
This position he resigned on the first of January, 1853,
from inadequacy of salary, and joined his former preceptor
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
4i7
at the law in the formation of the firm of Worthington
& Matthews, which partnership lasted about eight years.
At the fall election of 1855 he was elected to the State
senate, and served through his two-years term. In 1858
he was appointed by President Buchanan United States
attorney for the southern district of Ohio, but resigned
soon after the accession of President Lincoln. To the
outbreak of the war of the Rebellion he had been a
consistent Democrat, with anti-slavery convictions; but
thereafter identified himself with the Republican party,
in whose faith he has since steadily reposed. Soon after
the great conflict began he tendered his services to the
Government through Governor Dennison, and was by
him appointed lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-third
regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, the same notable com-
mand of which W. S. Rosecrans was colonel and Ruther-
ford B. Hayes major. The regiment was then equipping
and drilling at Camp Chase, but soon took the field in
western Virginia. Lieutenant Colonel Matthews re-
mained with it through the summer and fall campaign of
1861, and in October was promoted to a full colonelcy,
and assigned to the Fifty-first Ohio infantry. With this
he reported to General Buell at Louisville, and served
under him and other commanders of the Army of the
Cumberland until April, 1863, when, while absent in the
field, he was elected by his fellow-citizens at home a judge
of the supreme court of Cincinnati, and resigned his
commission to accept this distinguished office. This he
also resigned about a year thereafter, for the same cause
which induced him to leave the bench of the common
pleas. While in the Superior court, his colleagues were
the eminent Judges Storer and Hoadly. Judge Mat-
thews now remained a private practitioner, in large and
lucrative business, until the summer of 1876, when he
was nominated for Congress, but defeated at the fall
election by a very small majority. This, it was confidently
believed, had been obtained by fraud, and he served
notice of contest upon his competitor, General Henry B.
Banning. Greater things were in store for him, however,
than success in a contest for a seat in the lower house of
Congress. Upon the appointment of Senator John Sher-
man to the Secretaryship of the Treasury, in the cabinet
of President Hayes, Judge Matthews was triumphantly
elected to his seat in the United States Senate, General
Garfield and other prominent gentlemen in the canvass
withdrawing in his favor. Meanwhile, however, in Feb-
ruary, 1877, Judge Matthews was called to make one of
his most noteworthy public appearances, either profes-
sionally or politically, as counsel for President-elect Hayes,
before the electoral commission, in session at Washing-
ton, to determine the questions raised by the election of
the preceding year and the meetings of the electoral
college. His argument on this occasion was one of the
most masterly submitted to the commission, and justly
added to the fame of its author.
At the expiration of his senatorial term, the Demo-
crats having returned to power in the State Legislature
and chosen the Hon. George H. Pendleton as his suc-
cessor, he returned to private life, from which he was
again summoned in the early part of 1881, by an ap-
pointment, first by President Hayes and then by Presi-
dent Garfield, to a place upon the Federal Supreme
Bench. After some delay, caused mainly by the mem-
orable dead lock in the United States Senate in the spring
of that year, he was confirmed, and took his seat among
his peers as a worthy representative of the first lawyers of
the land. In his own State, it is needless to say, Justice
Matthews has long shone as a luminary of the first mag-
nitude at the bar, as well as in political and social life.
For logical power, profound and varied learning, rare
abilities of argument and persuasion, and high personal
character, his has for more than a generation been darum
et venerabile nomen. A Presbyterian in his faith and de-
nominational connection, he has upon occasions been
eminently serviceable to the church and the country, as
when, at the general assembly of 1864, in session at
Newark, New Jersey, he wrote, presented, and secured
the adoption of a committee report, with appended reso-
lutions, which placed the Presbyterian church of the
north squarely upon the platform of emancipation. The
Queen City is justly proud of his character, his record,
his name and fame.
Justice Matthews has had ten children, of whom but
five survive — William Mortimer, Jeanie, Eva, Grace, and
Paul Matthews.
COLONEL JOHN RIDDLE,
of Cincinnati, was one of the most notable characters of
"the early day in the Miami purchase. He was of Scotch
descent, but was a resident of New Jersey, whence he
emigrated to this country in 1790, settling first in the
little hamlet of Cincinnati. His earlier career in this
place is noticed with some fullness in the annals of Cin-
cinnati in this volume. He was five feet ten inches high,
large and strong-boned, weighing two hundred and
twenty-five pounds, and a man of herculean strength and
great firmness of purpose, but withal of gentle disposition
and rare kindness to the poor, as many persons still liv-
ing can testify. He died at his homestead in the Mill
Creek valley, near (the site of it now in) Cincinnati, on
the old Hamilton road, at the age of eighty-seven,
mourned by all who knew him. He left a brief memoir
of the principal events of his life, which was printed in a
pamphlet. It is now very scarce, and the following has
been kindly copied for this volume by his grandson, Mr.
John L. Riddle :
MEMOIR OF COLONEL JOHN RIDDLE.
In the month of April, 1778, I was called out, and
entered the service of the United States at Elizabeth-
town, New Jersey, on a tour of six weeks ; also a cam-
paign in the months of June and July the same year,
when the British retired from Philadelphia, and passed
through New Jersey to Sandy Hook. Was in a skirmish
at the draw-bridge below Trenton, and at the battle
of Monmouth, where there were six or seven hundred
dead and wounded laid on the ground ; I was com-
manded by Colonel Frelinghuysen, afterward General
Frelinghuysen, in the months of September and October.
The same year I served another campaign at Elizabeth-
4i8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
town, under Colonel Frelinghuysen and Captain William
Logan. In the year 1782 I followed privateering under
Captain Hiler (a brave and patriotic man), and sailed
from New Brunswick, coasting around Sandy Hook and
Long Island, as far as Cape May. The first vessel .we
captured was a sloop-of-war carrying two guns, having
boarded her in the night and ransomed her for four
hundred dollars. Same night boarded and took a six-
teen-gun cutter, mounting ten eighteen-pounders and six
six-pounders, having captured her in the midst of the
British fleet, then lying at Sandy Hook ; after running
the prize past the guard-ship, up the bay towards Amboy,
we ran her aground on a sandbar in the night. The
next morning took off her fifty prisoners, and everything
else we could, and then set fire to her magazine and
blew her up. She was a double-decker, fitted out with
provisions, ammunition, etc., for a cruise, with the in-
tention of harassing and destroying our vessels. As we
understood from the prisoners a hundred men were
-to have been put on board the day after we captured
her; thirty of us boarded her. On another night the
captain and fourteen of us, who had volunteered our ser-
vices, sailed up the Narrows in New York bay, in a whale-
boat, and on our return boarded a schooner, which we
ransomed for four hundred dollars, and returned to our
gunboats in Solsbury river, without injury or the loss of
a single life. We had two skirmishes on Long Island;
during the contest one man fell backward in my arms,
mortally wounded. In one of these affairs, in our at-
tack and defence, we came across a store of dry goods,
etc., belonging to the British, the whole of which we car-
ried away. On another occasion Captain Story, from
Woodbridge, with a gun and whale boat, fell in with us in
Solsbury river. Captains Hiler and Story, ascending the
heights, observed four vessels at a distance, moored close
to the Highlands, termed London traders — one of them,
however, being an armed schooner, carrying eight guns,
used as a guard-ship to protect the other three. There
being a calm, and the tide being against them, we ran out
on them, within a short distance of the British fleet. A
severe cannonading commenced on both sides ; at last
the schooner having struck we captured the other two
without difficulty. The guard-ship by this time coming
up, poured her shot on us like hail, one shot cutting off
the mast of our whale-boat, just above our heads; but at
last we succeeded in running the schooner on a sand-
bar, where we burnt her in view of the fleet ; the others
were bilged and driven on the beach. Not long after
the commander of the whale boat, myself and another
man, in the night, took a craft laden with calves, poultry,
eggs, butter, etc., going to the British fleet. A prize of
this kind, at the present day, would be considered of
small amount; but at that time it was far otherwise
to troops in a starving condition. After running out of
Solsbury river, we attacked a large sloop and two
schooners, one of them armed with two three-pounders.
They gave us a warm reception. After a running fire of
some time we came up with the schooner, and, when
about to board her, Captain Hiler, damned the captain,
said that if he put the match to another gun he should
have no quarter. No sooner said, however, than the
British captain seized the match from one of his men
and directed a shot himself, which, owing to the rolling
of the sea, did no execution. By force of our oars we
soon were near enough to board, when Captain Hiler,
springing aboard of the British vessel, aimed a blow at
the head of the captain, who, springing backward,
escaped, the sword merely passing down his breast.
Captain Hiler immediately made another pass which, the
other receiving on his arm, saved his life, and then cried
for quarter, which was granted him. After taking the
sloop and two schooners, we sailed round the Jersey
shore, where, having discovered another sail out at sea,
our Captain cried out, "Men, yonder is another sail;
we must have that." Springing to our oars as hard as
we were able we came up with her, boarded her, and
found her to be a prize that the British had taken at the
capes, off the Delaware, and were sending her to New
York. Three privateers coming up, which had been
dispatched from the fleet in pursuit of us, we were ob-
liged to cut and run, carrying with us the schooner last
boarded, beaching the others (loaded with tar and tur-
pentine), and running her into Sherk river. The next
day we returned under British colors, and, coming along-
side the fleet off Sandy Hook, dropped sail and ran into
Solsbury. The same evening we passed through the
narrow passage between Sandy Hook and the High-
lands about sunset, when we spied a craft going across
to the guard-ship, in pursuit of which our captain im-
mediately sent the whale-boat. But perceiving a line of
British soldiers marching down the beach, with the in-
tention of waylaying us at the Narrows, we rowed to shore
and landed fifteen men, who were to attack in the rear,
the British having in the meantime crossed the beach on
the side we lay with our boat. We were but thirty
strong, including the fifteen we had landed; the enemy
about seventy. While we were looking over the beach
for them from our vessel, they came suddenly round a
point within pistol-shot of us. The first thing we knew
was a volley from a platoon, having come up in a solid
column. Twelve of our men fired with muskets, and in
such quick succession that the barrels began to burn our
hands, the other three managed a four-pounder, which
the captain ordered to be loaded with langrage, crying
out: "Boys, land, land; we will have them all !" When
the four-pounder went off, accompanied with the fire of
our musketry, we raised the yell. An opening by our
four-pounder being made through their column the
enemy broke and ran, and the fifteen men before landed
happening to come up, charged and took the captain and
nine of his men. In fact every day at Sandy Hook af-
forded a skirmish of some kind or other, either with
small arms or cannon. At Toms river inlet we were
twice nearly cast away ; once at Hogg island inlet. On
two occasions we narrowly escaped being taken prison-
ers by two different frigates ; one the Fair American.
Once in coming up from Sandy Hook to Amboy, with
two gunboats and a whale-boat, Captain Hiler command-
ing, being in charge of a British gunboat, we ran in be-
tween an enemy's brig and a galley, that carried an
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
419
eighteen-pounder in her bow; the gunboat had struck,
but, before we were able to board her, an eighteen-pound
ball passed through one of our gunboats, which obliged
us to make the best of our way to the Jersey shore ; and
getting every thing out of the boat, under a continual fire
of cannon and small arms (which lasted until 9 o'clock
at night), we left her to the British, our ammunition be-
ing all spent.
After peace I returned home and followed the trade of
a blacksmith until the year 1790. In the spring of that
year I sold out, and came, about the close of October, to
what is now Cincinnati, but at the time pretty much in
woods. Having cleared a four-acre lot situate about a
mile from the river, in the year 1791, I was the first that
raised a crop of wheat between the two Miamis. While
attending church the settlers rested on their guns to be
ready on the first alarm from the Indians. In the spring
of 1791, while occupied with clearing the said lot I ran
a narrow chance oflosing my scalp. Joseph Cutter was
taken in a clearing adjoining mine, and a Mr. VanCleve
was killed at a corner of my lot. The Indians were con-
stantly skulking around us, murdering the settlers or
robbing the stables.
From General St. Clair I received an ensign's com-
mission; was afterwards promoted to a lieutenantcy; next
chosen captain of the company; then major, and com-
manded the militia at Cincinnati and Columbia, seven
miles up the river, during the time of Wayne's campaign.
Afterwards elected colonel, and had the honor to com-
mand the troops at Greenville during the treaty held
with the Indians, General Harrison and General Cass
being commissioners. Soon after the war I resigned my
commission to General James Findlay. The time that
elapsed from my appointment as ensign until elected a
colonel, was between twenty and twenty-two years ; and
during the whole of this period I never failed parading
but one day, and that on account of sickness.
THE CARY SISTERS.
Robert Cary, the father of Alice and Phoebe Cary,
came to the "Wilderness of Ohio," from New Hamp-
shire, in 1803. He was then but fifteen years of age.
The family of which he was a member, travelled in an
emigrant wagon to Pittsfield, and thence on a flat-boat
down the Ohio river to Fort Washington. After remain-
ing there a few years a purchase of land was made, eight
miles north of this "settlement," on the Hamilton road.
In 1 8 14 Robert Cary was married to Elizabeth Jessup,
and a home was established upon a quarter section of the
original purchase of the father, Christopher Cary. The
farm afterwards became the "Clovernook" of Alice Cary's
charming stories. But it was a home by actual posses-
sion only after long years of the closest economy and in-
dustry. Debt hung over the toiling parents like a dark
cloud, and its influence was not unfelt by even the
smaller children. In the year 1831 was born the young-
est of nine children, of whom Alice was the fourth and
Phcebe the sixth. Quoting from Alice's words, she once
said: "The first fourteen years of my life it seemed as if
there was actually nothing in existence but work. The
whole family struggle was just for the right to live free
from the curse of debt. My father worked early and
late; my mother's work was never done.''
But even in such a plain, unpretentious place as the little
unpainted story-and-a-half house was, in which so many
years of the poets' lives were passed, there was some-
thing worthy of a tender love and remembrance. Again
and again, in poetry and prose, the blessed old home of
their girlhood comes into view. Phcebe's poem, " Our
Homestead," is especially simple and beautiful in its
description of the old brown dwelling and its surround-
ing apple and cherry trees, old-fashioned roses and sweet-
briar. And nothing could go more directly to the heart
than Alice's words on the same theme in that sweetest of
descriptive poems, "An Order for a Picture." Out of
all she had ever written, that was the poem she most
loved. We give the poem entire :
AN ORDER FOR A PICTURE.
O good painter, tell me true,
Has your hand the cunning to draw
Shapes of things that you never saw?
Ay? Well, here is an order for you.
Woods and cornfields, a little brown, —
The picture must not be over-bright, —
Yet all in the golden and gracious light
Of a cloud, when the summer sun is down.
Alway and alway, night and morn,
Woods upon woods, with fields of corn
Lying between them , not quite sere,
And not in the full, thick, leafy bloom,
When the wind can hardly find breathing-room
Under their tassels, — cattle near,
Biting shorter the short green grass,
And a hedge of sumach and sassafras,
With blue-birds twittering all around, —
(Ah, good painter, you can't paint sound !)
These, and the little house where I was born,
Little and low, and black and old,
With children, many as it can hold,
All at the windows, open wide, —
Heads and shoulders clear outside,
And fair young faces all ablush:
Perhaps you may have seen some day,
Roses crowding the self-same way,
Out of a wilding, wayside bush.
Listen closer. When you have done
With woods and cornfields and grazing herds,
A lady, the loveliest ever the sun
Looked down upon you must paint for me:
Oh, if I only could make you see
The clear blue eyes, the tender smile,
The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace,
The woman's soul, and the angel's face
That are beaming on me all the while,
I need not speak these foolish words:
Yet one word tells you all I would say, —
She is my mother: you will agree
That all the rest may be thrown away.
Two little urchins at her knee
You must paint, sir: one like me, —
The other with a clearer brow,
And the light of his adventurous eyes
Flashing with boldest enterprise:
At ten years old he went to sea, —
God knoweth if he be living now, —
He sailed in the good ship "Commodore," —
Nobody ever crossed her track
To bring us news, and she never came back.
426
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Ah, 'tis twenty long years and more
Since that old ship went out of the bay
With my great-hearted brother on her deck,
I watched him till he shrank to a speck.
And his face was turned toward me all the way.
Bright his hair was, a golden brown,
The time we stood at our mother's Jtnee:
That beauteous head, if it did go down,
Carried sunshine into the sea!
Out in the fields one summer night
We were together, half afraid
Of the corn-leaves' rustling, and of the shade,
Of the high hills, stretching so still and far, —
Loitering till after the low little light
Of the candle shone through the open door,
And over the haystack's pointed top.
All of a tremble and ready to drop,
The first half-hour, the great yellow star,
That we, with staring, ignorant eyes,
Had often and often watched to see
Propped and held in its place in the skies
By the fork of a tall red-mulberry tree,
Which close in the edge of our flax-field grew, —
Dead at the top, — just one branch full
Of leaves, notched round, and lined with wool,
From which it tenderly shook the dew
Over our heads, when we came to play
In its handbreadth of shadow, day after day,
Afraid to go home, sir; for one of us bore
A nest full of speckled and thin-shelled eggs, —
The other, a bird, held fast by the legs,
Not so big as a straw of wheat:
The berries we gave her she would not eat,
But cried and cried, till we held her bill,
So slim and shining, to keep her still.
At last we stood at our mother's knee.
Do you think, Sir, if you try,
You can paint the look of a lie?
If you can, pray have the grace
To put it solely in the face
Of the urchin that is likest me:
I think 'twas solely mine, indeed:
But that's no matter, — paint it so;
The eyes of our mother — (take good heed) —
Looking not on the nest full of eggs,
Nor the fluttering bird, held so fast by the legs,
But straight through our faces down to our lies,
And, oh, with such injured, reproachful surprise
I felt my heart bleed where that glance went, as though
A sharp blade struck through it.
You, Sir, know
That you on canvas are to repeat
Things that are fairest, things most sweet, —
Woods and cornfields and mulberry-tree, —
The mother, — the lads, with their bird, at her knee:
But, oh, that look of reproachful woe !
High as the heavens your name I'll shout,
If you paint the picture, and leave that out.
Although the life of a pioneer in "the Far West" was
surrounded by privations of every kind, Robert Cary and
his wife must have made excellent use of their scanty
privileges. Phcebe thus describes her father in her me-
morial of her older sister: "He was a man of superior
intelligence, of sound principles, and blameless life. He
was fond of reading, especially romance and poetry, but
early poverty and the hard exigencies of pioneer life had
left him no time for acquiring anything more than the
mere rudiments of a common school education, and the
consciousness of his want of culture, and an invincible
diffidence, born with him, gave him a shrinking, retiring
manner, and a want of confidence in his own judgment,
which was inherited to a large measure by his offspring.
He was a tender, loving father, who sang his children to
sleep with holy hymns, and habitually went to work re-
peating the grand old Hebrew poets, and the sweet and
precious promises of the New Testament of our Lord."
Ada Carnahan, the child of Rowena, his oldest daughter,
thus speaks of him ; "Of his children, Alice the most
resembled him in person, and all the tender and close
sympathy with nature, and with humanity, which in her
fond expression had in him an existence as real, if
voiceless." The wife of this man, the mother of the poet
sisters, was by every one called beautiful. Among the
many loving words his gifted daughters spoke of her are
the following : " My mother was a woman of superior
intellect and of good, well-ordered life. In my memory
she stands apart from all others, wiser, purer, doing more
and living better than any other woman. She was fond
of history, politics, moral essays, biography, and works
of religious controversy. Poetry she read, but cared lit-
tle for fictitious literature." From such a parentage, what
a wealth of intellectual and moral strength might their
children receive. From their father they inherited the
poetic temperament, the love of nature, their loving and
pitying hearts, that reached out even to poor dumb
creatures. From their mother they inherited their inter-
est in public affairs, their passion for justice, their devo-
tion to truth and duty as they saw it, their clear percep-
tions, and sturdy common sense.
The year 1837 found the poets, aged respectively sev-
enteen and thirteen, just beginning to put into broken
measure the songs their full hearts could no longer con-
ceal. During the preceding four years they had learned
unwilling lessons in the school of sorrow; Rhoda, the
sister next older and the beloved companion of Alice
had died, the little household pet, Lucy, had followed a
month later, and the weary mother soon after had been
laid away to rest.
Now a new hand was at the helm. An unsympathetic
presence was in the home of their girlhood — work was
the ultimatum of all human endeavor — study was a
waste of time, and candle-light could not be squandered
on writing when a single piece of knitting or needlework
remained incomplete. But what opportunities for men-
tal improvement there offered in the little old district
school-house, a mile distant, or on the meagre book-
shelves at home or in the neighborhood were as well
improved as their leisure moments would permit. When
candles were denied them, a saucer of lard with a rag
wick served instead, and thus, "for ten long years, they
studied and wrote, and published without pecuniary rec-
ompense." The Trumpet, a paper published by the
Universalists, read by Robert Cary and his wife from its
first issue to the close of their lives, was for many
years the only paper Alice had any opportunity of seeing,
and its Poet's Corner was the only source from which she
could draw. With such meagre fare her genius was slow
of growth. Before the age of fifteen we only find revis-
ions of old poems found in her school-books, and here
and there in her copy-books a page or two of original
rhymes.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
421
Phoebe, at the age of fourteen, secretly sent a poem
to a Boston newspaper, and while waiting in suspense its
acceptance, was astonished to find it copied in a Cincin-
nati paper.
For several years of their early lives as poets, the vari-
ous publications of Cincinnati formed the principal
medium through which they began to be known. The
Ladies' Repository, of Boston, Graham's Magazine, and
the National Era, of Washington, also received and pub-
lished their productions. The first money received by
Alice for her literary work was from the Era, after which
she furnished that paper contributions regularly, for a
small sum in payment.
After a time responses began to come to that western
home. Edgar Allan Poe named Alice's Pictures of
Memory one of the most musically perfect lyrics in our
language. Words of encouragement had come to the
sisters from not a few men of letters, among them John
G. Whittier. In 1849 Horace Greeley visited them at
their home. The same year Phcebe writes: "We have
been very busy collecting and revising all our published
poems. Rev. R. W. Griswold, quite a noted author, is
going to publish them for us this summer." This little
volume, entitled Poems of Alice and Phcebe Carey, was
the first condensed result of their twelve years of study,
privation, aspiration, labor, sorrow, and youth.
In the late autumn of 1850, Alice set out alone to
seek her fortune. A shy, sensitive young person would
hardly be the one to brave the terrors of city life, and
that city New York. But something besides ambition
and fame drove her to undertake this perilous work in
her own girlish strength. Naturally loving, tender, devo-
ted to her friends, she did what any true feminine nature
would have done — received and returned tenfold the
love proffered her by one who was the centre of every
picture of her future life. "A proud and prosperous
family brought all their pride and power to bear on a
son, to prevent his marrying a girl to them uneducated,
rustic, and poor." "I waited for one who never came
back," she said. But she was not weak enough to relin-
quish her life because of one sad experience. Under her
feminine sympathy and tenderness lay a strong founda-
tion of will, common sense, and love for justice and
truth. She outlived the pain and humiliation, and could
even look upon the circumstance with pity. She had
many and flattering offers of marriage in after years, but
would never again promise her hand.
The following year the older sister was joined by
Phcebe and their younger sister, Elmina. They at once
rented a modest suite of rooms in an unfashionable
neighborhood, and proceeded to maintain a home by
their work. They papered the walls, painted the doors,
and framed the pictures with their own hands. Limiting
themselves to such necessities as their pens could pay
for, they gradually improved their surroundings and
added luxuries as their poems and prose productions
became more and more in demand.
With increasing fame and recompense, came the pow-
er to surround themselves with articles of elegance and
beauty, for which in their early poverty they had so
pined. The home on Twentieth street, on which they
bestowed so much taste and in which they afterward
passed their last days on earth, became theirs through
long years of industry. Their writings were copied
widely, and, alone or conjoined, grew into many vol-
umes. The "Clovernook Papers" were translated into
French, and the London Literary Gazette commended
them in no doubtful terms. During twenty years Alice
produced eleven volumes, and Phcebe, besides aiding in
the editing of several books, the most important of
which was "Hymns for all Christians," published two
books; and at their death there remained uncollected
poems enough to form two volumes for each name.
Mary Clemmer, in her graceful and loving tribute to
these sister singers, says: "I have never known any
other woman so systematically and persistently industri-
ous as Alice Cary. Hers was truly the genius of pa-
tience. No obstacle ever daunted it, no pain ever stilled
it, no weariness ever overcame it, till the last weariness
of death."
In 1862 Elmina died, after which event the older sis-
ter seemed struggling hourly with disease. The year
1871 found the two remaining hard at work, but the
following year looked out upon their graves. On Tues-
day, February 7th, Alice wrote her. last poem, of which
the last line was —
"The rainbow comes but with the cloud."
As her strength left her, she asked her friends fre-
quently to sing the hymns of her childhood, such as
"Jesus, Lover of my Soul," and "Show pity, Lord; O,
Lord, forgive;" and she wished also the old tunes. Feb-
ruary 13th a telegram swept through the country, saying:
"Alice Cary died yesterday." The announcement called
out a response from every journal in the land, and the
biographical notices that followed everywhere spoke of
her rather as a beloved friend than a talented author.
The effort Phcebe made to be brave after Alice's
death was almost pitiful to her friends. "She opened
the windows to admit the sunlight, she filled her room
with flowers, she refused to put on mourning, and tried
to interest herself in general plans for the advancement
of woman." But it was a vain attempt. The life so
bound up in another's for a period of years, drooped
when left alone. Phcebe Cary died July 31, 187 1.
Greenwood cemetery is honored with their last remains.
Phcebe's poem of poems, from which came to her the
fame of which her simple heart so little dreamed, is
"Nearer Home." It has filled a page in nearly every
book of sacred song printed since its composition. It
has been the favorite in Sabbath-school melody, and in
the services of the church of every denomination. Its
measures have given voice to the sufferer as the last hour
approached, and convicted the child of sin far away
"from the restraints of friends and home; and yet the
writer claimed for it little intellectual worth.
One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o'er and o'er;
I'm nearer home to-day
Than I ever have been before;
Nearer my Father's house,
Where the many mansions be;
422
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Nearer the great white throne,
Nearer the crystal sea.
Nearer the bound of life,
Where we lay our burdens down;
Nearer leaving- the cross,
Nearer gaining the crown.
But lying darkly between,
Winding down through the night,
Is the silent, unknown stream,
That leads at last to the light.
Closer and closer my steps
Come to the dread abysm:
Closer Death to my lips
Presses the awful chrism.
O, if my mortal feet
Have almost gained the brink;
If it be I am nearer home
Even to-day than I think;
Father, perfect my trust;
Let my spirit feel in death
That her feet are firmly set
On the rock of a living faith.
DR. REUBEN D. MUSSEY.
The late Reuben Dimond Mussey, M. D. LL. D.,
long a prominent surgeon and medical practitioner in
Cincinnati, was a native of Rockingham county, New
Hampshire, born June 23, 1780, of French Huguenot
stock. His ancestors settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts,
early in the seventeenth century. John Mussey, his father,
was also a physician of note, and survived until 1831,
when he died at the advanced age of eighty-six. The
elder Mussey removed to Amherst, New Hampshire, in
1 79 1, and here his son, then eleven years of age, had
his first opportunities of formal education, but only dur-
ing part of the winter, and at a district school. Elemen-
tary Latin was taught him by his father, and at the age of
fifteen he was enabled to enter the Aurean academy, an
Amherst institution. Ambitious of yet higher education,
he labored diligently on the farm during the warm season
and taught school in the winter. In this way he secured
means enough to carry him through Dartmouth college,
which he entered in 1801, as a junior, and was graduated
therefrom two years afterwards, with high honor. He
began the study of medicine at once with Dr. Nathan
Smith, the distinguished founder of the Medical school of
New Hampshire, afterwards of New Haven, Connecticut.
For financial reasons, however, he returned for a time to
teaching, this time in the academy at Petersborough, but
keeping up his medical reading, now with Dr. Howe, of
Jaffrey, but returning presently to Dr. Smith In 1805
he received his degree of Bachelor of Medicine, as the
practice then was in that part of the country, after due
public examination. In September following he began
practice in Essex county, Massachusetts, with a very hope"
ful prestige, and was shortly able to enjoy further ad-
vantages of instruction at the University of Pennsylvania.
From this institution, after sitting at the feet of
Rush, Wister, Barton, and other masters of medical
science, he was graduated in 1809. Soon resuming
practice, he occupied much of his leisure time in making
experimental researches, in the hope of settling certain
important and long disputed questions in physiology.
For example, even before leaving the University school,
he ascertained by the detection in human urine of highly
colored substances, as madder, cochineal, and the like,
solutions of which had been merely brought into con-
tact with parts of the body, that the doctrine of cutaneous
absorption was true. The experiments were per-
formd upon his own person, and one of the baths
in which he immersed himself for the purpose nearly
cost him his life. Similar results were obtained by
others, building upon his inquiries. The experiments
are referred to in the Anatomy of Dr. Wister and kindred
works, and went far to change the views of the physiolo-
gists— even so eminent a scientist as Dr. Rush — in re-
gard to the possibility of absorption by the skin.
Dr. Mussey's first settlement, after graduation, was at
Salem, Massachusetts, where he practiced in partnership
with the eminent Dr. Daniel Oliver, afterwards incum-
bent of the chair of medicine in the New Hampshire
medical institution, and also lecturer on physiology in
the Ohio Medical college. These gentlemen, in addition
to their regular practice, gave the local public the benefit
of their large acquirements in the annual courses of lec-
tures on chemistry. Dr. Mussey's business grew rapidly
upon his hands, especially in the practice of surgery, his
services in the treatment of the eye, as well as of other
portions of the human anatomy, being frequently called
into requisition. In the fall of 18 14 he was elected to
the chair of theory and practice of physic in the Medical
school at Dartmouth college. He assumed the duties
of the post, which were presently interrupted by the up-
rising of legal questions, during which he occupied the
time of an academic session with another notable series
of chemical lectures, which was repeated, with additions,
at Middlebury college, Vermont, in 181 7. Upon the
clearance of the legal difficulties, through the memorable
aid of Daniel Webster, in his great argument before the
supreme court of the United States, Dr. Mussey resumed
teaching at Dartmouth, but this time as a professor of
anatomy and surgery. This was a peculiarly laborious
and responsible position, to whose duties he added a
large professional practice, which had grown during his,
as yet, short residence in the village. He went abroad
in December, 1829, and spent ten months in travel,
recreation, and the collection of facts and principles in
his favorite science from the great hospitals and anatomi-
cal museums of London and Paris. He doubled, and
sometimes trebled, his work upon his return to Dart-
mouth, in order to make good the time lost by his foreign
tour. For four winters thereafter he also lectured upon
anatomy and surgery in the medical school of Maine, at
a time when the New Hampshire college was not in ses-
sion. In 1836-7 he was lecturer on surgery in the col-
lege of physicians and surgeons, at Fairfield, New York,
and in the fall of the next year he determined to accept
a more distant, and in some respects a more ihopeful, ap-
pointment, and add his great abilities to the staff of the
medical college of Ohio. He came to Cincinnati in
1838, and for fourteen years was the highly successful
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
423
and popular lecturer on surgery in that institution, and
also the chief medical attendant at the Commercial hos-
pital, while he also maintained an extensive private prac-
tice. He was especially skilled in the grand operations
of surgery, which he was frequently called to perform,
and in which he won a high and wide reputation, patients
coming at times long distances to receive his treatment.
In 1850 he was made president of the American medical
association, and discharged its duties with entire accept-
ance. Two years thereafter he was called upon to aid in
founding a new institution, the Miami Medical college,
and was its professor of surgery until 1857, when the two
institutions were united. He, however, was now seventy-
seven years old, and amply entitled to the retirement
which he sought. For two years longer he continued to
practice in Cincinnati, and then returned to the east,
where he spent his last years in Boston, visiting the hos-
pitals and manifesting to the last an active interest in the
advancement of his beloved profession. He died in that
city June 21, 1866, having completed, within two days,
his eighty-sixth year.
Dr. Mussey's is one of the great and venerable names
in the history of medicine and that of the Ohio valley.
Among the eulogies which have been passed upon his
character and life, there is none, perhaps, more forcible
or better put than the following from the Biographical
Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Men,
published in 1879:
To a most profound knowledge and skill in his profession, Dr. Mus-
sey united the virtues and honorable qualities which reflect justice upon
humanity. To his temperate living, and to the strict regularity of his
habits, he seemed to be much indebted for the great length and the use-
ful labors of his life. He took an active part in forming the Massachu-
setts Temperance society, but in his own course of life he did not re-
strict the meaning of temperance to the mere abstinence from the use
of intoxicating drinks, and at this period he became distinguished as an
advocate of total abstinence. In 1828 a severe fit of sickness caused
him to change his views on diet, and he became a vegetarian, and re-
mained so until his death. During the years dating from 1833 t0 l84°.
he delivered a series of popular lectures on hygiene, including the effects
of certain fashions in dress, peculiar habits of life, and varieties of food,
etc., upon the human health. In i860 he published a valuable work,
entitled Health, its Friends and its Foes, which gained a wide circula-
tion. Dr. Mussey was a man of such strong individuality and original-
ity of character and ideas that he was a leader among men. As a sur-
geon he was strictly conservative, religiously conscientious, and very
thorough, as well in the treatment of his cases following operations as in
the performance of them. In many of his surgical operations he was the
pioneer, and the medical and scientific journals of Europe and America
contain records of his valuable discoveries in surgical science. He was
remarkable for large benevolence and generosity, not alone toward the
poor among his patients, but to all institutions and enterprises of a be-
nevolent and charitable nature. Untiring industry, perseverance, en-
thusiasm, fidelity to principle, and his views of duty in his professional,
moral, and social life, were the controlling influences in his eventful and
brilliant career. While laboring for the good of humanity in this
world, he was not forgetful of the concerns of the next. He was an
elder in the Presbyterian church, and was very strict and observant of
his religious duties. He was universally beloved in the profession, as
well as out of it.
Dr. Mussey's first wife was Miss Mary Sewall, of
Maine. He had no children by this marriage. After
her death he was again married, his second wife being
Miss Hetty, daughter of Dr. John Osgood, of Salem,
Massachusetts. They had nine children, most of
whom have risen to distinction, or occupy prominent
positions in society. The roll is as follows: John,
who died in 1872; Joseph Osgood, who died in
1856; William Heberden, an eminent surgeon of Cin-
cinnati, who is the subject of further notice below;
Francis Brown, another able physician, residing in Ports-
mouth, Ohio; Maria Lucretia, now Mrs. Lyman Mason,
of Boston, Massachusetts; Catharine Stone, now Mrs.
Shattuck Hartwell, of Littleton, Massachusetts; the Rev.
Charles Frederick, D. D., a Presbyterian minister, of
Blue Rapids, Kansas; Edward Augustus, died in 1831;
and Reuben Dimond, a prominent lawyer in Washington
city.
DR. W. H. MUSSEY.
William Heberden Mussey, M. D., M. A., third son
of Reuben D. Mussey, above noticed, and Hetty Osgood
Mussey, is a native of Hanover, New Hampshire, born
September 30, 181 8. His middle name is that of an
eminent Scotch physician. He received general training
in the academies of New England; in 1848 read medi-
cinewithhis father, and graduated from the medical college
of Ohio, and subsequently finished his professional educa-
tion also in the superior schools of the French capital.
He was for a short time previously in mercantile life, but
found the occupation uncongenial. He began practice
with his distinguished father, but was soon diverted from
it by the oncoming of the great storm of rebellion. He
foresaw the struggle clearly, and even before the out-
break, wrote to Governor Chase, then secretary of the
treasury, urgently asking permission to convert the old
and unused Maine hospital building at the east end, into
an army hospital, in preparation for coming emergencies.
Consent being obtained, the necessary funds were raised
by private contribution, the hospital was fully organized
and set in operation, and was soon one of the most effi-
cient and useful volunteer hospitals ever turned over to
the Government, and the pioneer institution of the kind.
Dr. Mussey was also greatly influential in the formation
of the munificent benefaction known as the Cincinnati
branch of the United States sanitary commission, which
was organized in the rooms occupied by his office at No.
70 West South street. The story of the work done by
the commission and of the wonderful sanitary fair in its
aid, is told in our military chapter, as also, to some ex-
tent, that of Dr. Mussey's further services to the Union
cause. He offered his abilities as an uncommissioned
surgeon gratuitously to the Government, to serve till the
war ended, which was declined ; he was commissioned
brigade surgeon, became medical director of a division in
Buell's army, was in service in the battles of Shiloh and
Corinth, and was finally promoted to be medical inspec-
tor, one of the very highest positions on the medical
staff of the army. During service in this capacity, he
inspected every Federal regiment on duty from Washing-
ton to Florida. It is said of him by competent authori-
ties that, in the various military duties assigned to him,
he was considered one of the most efficient medical of-
ficers in the service. During the year the Rebellion was
crushed he received the appointment of professor of
surgery in the Miami Medical college, which he still
424
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
holds. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon to the Cin-
cinnati hospital; in 1864, was elected vice-president of the
American Medical association; has been surgeon of the
St. John's hotel for invalids in 1855, surgeon general on
the staff of the governor of Ohio in 1876, and the
same year president of the Cincinnati society of natural
history. He has written and published much on profes-
sional topics, and has made a permanent and invaluable
contribution to the medical and scientific reading acces-
sible to students in Cincinnati, by the foundation of the
Mussey collection in the public library, upon the basis
of a large number of rare volumes left by his father, to
which he has made great additions. The collection al-
ready counts five thousand six hundred volumes and
three thousand six hundred pamphlets ; he is constantly
recruiting its goodly numbers. The Encyclopaedia and
Portrait Gallery, from which we have already quoted,
says of Dr. Mussey:
He resembles his father in some of his most striking characteristics.
Like him, he is severely honest. If, in his opinion, the condition of a
patient is such as to render medical treatment unnecessary, or if,
through the utter hopelessness of the case it seems to him that no hope
of recovery can possibly be entertained, he promptly and plainly states
the fact, and advises that further expense for medical aid shall not be
incurred. He is also religiously careful and thorough in his operations,
and distinguished for his sound judgment, fertility of resources, inge-
nuity of contrivance, and gentleness of manipulation. A man of
method, he is always rather slow, but very sure, prepared for emergen-
cies and mishaps. Frankness being one of his chief virtues, he is ever
willing and anxious to acknowledge and atone for an injustice he may
have unwittingly caused another. Politically, he attends strictly to the
observance of his duties as a citizen. Socially, he is a Christian gen-
tleman— charitable, genial, and hospitable; and again, like his father,
he possesses a large and benevolent heart, which dispenses substantial
benefits to persons and purposes needing professional or pecuniary as-
sistance. The Second Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, in which he
is an elder, has counted him among its liberal supporters, and regar-
ded him as one of its best members. He • is generally ac-
knowledged to rank among the highest of the profession in Cincinnati
as a surgeon.
On the twenty-fifth of May, 1857, Dr. Mussey was
united in marriage with Miss Caroline W. Lindsley, of
Washington city. They have one surviving son, William
Lindsley (named from his maternal grandfather), a recent
graduate of the Woodward high school, and about to
matriculate in Yale college.
MAJOR PETER ZINN.
This well-known citizen of Hamilton county, in his
day one of the most useful and reputable men of the
Miami country, was of Pennsylvania German stock, born
upon a farm now in part included in the lands of the
State Agricultural college, near Columbus, Ohio, Febru-
ary 23, 1819. His father is said to have owned and
driven the first mail-coach which ran out of that city.
After some schooling and much work at the paternal
home, he entered, in 1833, the office of the Western
Hemisphere, one of the early newspapers of the State
capital, to learn the printer's trade, and finished his ap-
prenticeship in the Ohio Statesman office, which was
afterwards established in Columbus. Mr. Samuel W.
Ely, the veteran agricultural editor of the Cincinnati Ga-
zette, who was a fellow-workman with him upon the
Hemisphere, said, in a communication to the Gazette after
death :.
He was as faithful then, as a printer's devil, as he was throughout a
long and busy life, in its manifold and weighty duties.
I knew Mr. Zinn twenty-five years ago as a strong advocate and helper
in the cause of popular education, as encouraged by the Ohio school
system. He was, in all respects, a steady, good citizen.
I deem it worth while to add that in all my long acquaintance with him
[forty-seven years] I never saw him angry nor heard him use a profane
or improper expression.
When about eighteen years old he set his face toward
Cincinnati, to tempt the fates in the Queen City as a
journeyman printer — little thinking, probably, how large
a space he was destined to fill in its history and in that
of Hamilton county. He readily found work, and after
two years at the case began, February 8, 1839, in com-
pany with Mr. William P. Clark, afterwards a physician
in the south, the publication of the Daily News, or rather
a new series of a journal of that name, which had been
unsuccessful. The salutatory of Mr. Zinn in the open-
ing issue is a wonderfully bright and racy production for
a youth of not yet twenty years. Mr. Clark withdrew
from the paper within thirty days, and Mr. Zinn at the
end of four months, although his paper was still alive,
and apparently prosperous. Its appearance and contents
are every way creditable to the Cincinnati journalism of
that day. He was afterwards reporter for the Daily
Times, but presently determined to enter the legal pro-
fession, and began his studies in the office of that re-
nowned advocate and judge, the Hon. Bellamy Storer,
paying his way by alternating law study with type-setting
in the Methodist Book Concern and afterwards clerical
labor in the county court-house. He finished his prepar-
ation in the office of the Hon. William M. Corry — hav-
ing taken ample time, five years, for thorough initiation
into the mysteries of the law — and was admitted to the
bar. Some account of his professional career may be
found in the next volume, in our historical Sketch of
the Bar of Cincinnati. He formed, with Charles H.
Brough, brother of the governor, the law firm of Brough
and Zinn, which John Brough, subsequently chief execu-
tive of the State, himself joined after a time. The part-
nership was a fortunate. one, as were nearly all the con-
nections and enterprises into which Mr. Zinn entered;
and in 1848 he had accumulated enough means to en-
able him to spend six months abroad, during which he
visited the British Isles and also France, improving faith-
fully his opportunities for observation of the Revolution-
ary movements then rife. He returned to practice in
Cincinnati the next winter, and remained a lawyer, with
an interval of about two years in the early part of the late
war, until the engrossing cares of other business in which
he had invested took him practically out of the profes-
sion. His most notable case— now celebrated in the
English and American courts— affording him the most
triumphant success of his life and one of the most re-
markable victories known to the annals of the American
bar, was that of the Covington & Lexington railroad vs.
R. B. Bowler's heirs et al., in which Mr. Zinn appeared
for the road. In the elaborate obituary notice given by
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
425
the Daily Gazette, November 18, 1880, occurs the fol-
lowing notice of this episode in his life :
The history of this case is still fresh in the minds of many, it having
been decided in favor of the company by the court of appeals of Ken-
tucky at the winter term of 1872. The records of the suit itself and
the history of the case are almost romantic, and would fill volumes.
The Covington & Lexington railroad had been sold in 1859 to R. B,
Bowler and associates. About the close of the Rebellion, Major Zinn
as attorney for the stockholders of the company, undertook the recovery
of the road, and very soon litigation was commenced. At the beginning
of the suit the stock of the company was not worth one penny on the
dollar, and in most cases was regarded as no more valuable than so
much waste paper. Although the case was decided as above stated in
1873, a petition for rehearing and a modification of the court's decree
entailed further delay, and the case was not finally settled till 1875.
This settlement resulted in a compromise and a readjustment of the
company upon the basis of preferred and common stock under the name
of the Kentucky Central Railroad company. Among other stockhold-
ers, the city of Cincinnati owned stock to the amount of one hundred
thousand dollars for money loaned the company at its first organization.
By the terms of the compromise, Cincinnati received in preferred stock
one hundred thousand dollars, and ever since 1875 the city has been
drawing semi-annually thereon a dividend of three per cent. The com-
mon stock has also drawn ever since a dividend of a less per cent. Major
Zinn, since the compromise and up to the time of his death, has been
actively and earnestly identified with the management and welfare of
the road and was a member of the board of directors of the company.
At present the Kentucky Central is one of the best roads, financially,
and in every other respect, leading out of Cincinnati. It is true that
in the extended litigation attending the case, Major Zinn had associated
with him a number of the most distinguished lawyers of this and the
Kentucky bar, But surely none will deny that the burden and heat of
the battle fell upon Mr. Zinn, and that but for his sagacity, persever-
ance, energy, and good judgment, such a suit would never have been
undertaken, much less prosecuted to an end so victorious. He ex-
pended his own means when others thought that to contribute would
be throwing money into the fire. Of his time he expended well nigh
ten solid years, a rounded block out of the prime of life, in this litigation.
The entire railroad and franchises would have been small compensation
for such labor and thought as Major Zinn gave to the work.
As a result of the wide and minute study necessary to
the mastery of this cause, the public and profession
became indebted to Major Zinn for his book of "Lead-
ing and Select Cases on Trusts," published in 1873 in a
handsome volume of six hundred and fifty pages by
Robert Clarke and company. At the bar, as everywhere
else, his energy and industry were tireless. He never
knew an idle, and scarcely ever a thoroughly restful
moment. He delighted in grappling with difficulties,
which he seldom failed to overcome by his indomitable
tenacity and perseverance. The. Gazette writer says :
He knew no such word as yield or fail. It was a common matter
among the older members of the bar to designate these qualities by
saying that when Peter Zinn had once taken hold of anything he could
never let go. These characteristics seemed to grow rather than decrease
with his years.
The services of Major Zinn to the State and Nation were
even more conspicuous and eminent. He had been a con-
servative Democrat in his earlier manhood, and had been
elected in 1849, by the party with which he was then
affiliated, as a representative in the State legislature. In
that position he gave special attention to the interests of
Cincinnati, still the city of his residence, particularly
her corporate investments in railroads and other specula-
tive enterprises that pressed upon her. Upon the rise of
the Republican party he found his anti-slavery sympa-
thies more closely allying him with it than with the
Democratic organization, and he joined himself to its
banners. In 1857 he stood upon the Republican ticket
as a candidate for the State senate with a view mainly to
the promotion of the candidacy of Judge Salmon P.
Chase for the governorship, in which his canvass was
successful, although he was himself defeated at the polls.
He was again in the legislature, however, but as an
ardent Republican and loyalist, in the trying sessions of
1862-3, and gave his adhesion, his voice and vote, to
every measure that promised to aid the cause of the
Union. Not content with this, he offered his services as
a soldier to Governor Tod, when the latter called for
three-months volunteers, and was appointed major in the
Fifty-fifth Ohio infantry. About the time of the expi-
ration of this service, the famous "siege of Cincinnati"
occurred, and Major Zinn, who was at Camp Chase
when the alarm broke out, promptly led a battalion of two
hundred and forty men, all of them soldiers of ex-
perience and some who were officers waiving rank and
serving as privates, to the relief of the threatened city.
He then organized four companies of "Governor's
Guards " for duty at Camp Chase, who are reported to
have been a superior body of citizen soldiers. He was
placed in command of the Camp, and remained on
patriotic duty there and in the State legislature until the
spring of 1863, when he declined further service for the
time being, in order to give needed attention to his
family and profession. He had now for some years been
residing in Delhi township, where he laid off the sub-
division known as Delhi, at the place of his residence,
and readers of our chapter on the John Morgan raid
through Ohio, in the first division of this work, will
remember that the officers of the militia called out during
the fright produced by that inroad, from Green, Miami, and
Delhi townships, were instructed to report to Major
Peter Zinn, at Delhi. This was his last active service as
a military officer, he thenceforth was devoted to his
profession and other private business. In 1865 he
removed to a delightful home on the bank of the Ohio,
at West Riverside or "Coilum's Station," where he made
great improvements, and interested himself also in the
extension of the river turnpike from that place to Muddy
creek, setting out one thousand trees along its route only
the season before he died. He was anxious always for
the betterment and growth of every community in which
he lived, and was, in the best sense of the term, a public-
spirited citizen. He sought no honors for himself, how-
ever, and was satisfied with private station. A man of
remarkable modesty, he detested brazen show and osten-
tation in others. He wore no jewelry, was entirely plain
in his tastes, dress and bearing, and in all things observed
a truly admirable republican simplicity.
Here, at his home in West Riverside, November 17,
1880, Major Zinn departed this life, in the sixty-second
year of his age. His death awakened the liveliest ex-
pressions of regret in the local community, also in Cin-
cinnati, in the city press and in the resolutions of numer-
ous societies and public bodies.
426
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
REES E. PRICE,
of Oak Thorpe, Derbyshire, England, was born August
12, 1795. His father, Evan Price, an enterprising Welsh
merchant, was a fine specimen of manly beauty, endowed
with more activity and strength than men ordinarily pos-
sess. His early life had been passed among the sterile
hills of his native Cambria, whither his ancestors had
fled from the fruitful plains of Monmouth and Hereford-
shire for refuge during the Saxon conquest. At the age
of twenty-five he turned his back upon his mountain
home and wended his way into London, in 1781. He
obtained employment in a dry-goods store, where by five
years of close application to business he acquired a good
reputation and sufficient means to become a trading
merchant. About this time he married a Miss Sarah
Pierce, of Welsh and England descent. She was born
in London, and was a blue-eyed English blonde of re-
markable beauty, and was entering her nineteenth year
when married. She left her pleasant home and accom-
panied her husband in his toilsome perigrinations, to
assist him in his business. She bore her husband
six children, two of whom died in infancy. The
children were born at different places, where our
trader happened to stop, and it is due to this fact that
Oak Thorpe, Derbyshire, England, is the birthplace of
our subject, Rees Price, the oldest son of his parents.
On the first of July, 1801, they sailed from the Liverpool
docks to cast their fortunes in the young republic of
America, and on the thirtieth day of the following August
they safely landed at the wharves of Baltimore, Maryland.
He at once made his way over the mountains to the
valley of the Miami, to carry out a long-cherished scheme
of entering upon a business for himself. This was at a
time when the star of empire seemed to have settled over
Cincinnati. He brought with him his stock of goods in
three five-horse wagons, he and his family following in a
gig. Their journey over the mountains was long and
tedious, but at last a part of the wagon train arrived at
Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and the other two wagons had
gone forward to Pittsburgh. Our trader followed the
first part of the train, and on arriving at Brownsville pur-
chased a flat-boat in which he stowed his family and
goods and gig; the balance of the goods was then taken
on at Pittsburgh, and in a few days the precious freight
was landed in Cincinnati in the foot of Main street, June
1, 1807. He had then his wife, four children, and about
ten thousand dollars' worth of store goods.
Cincinnati at that day contained about two hundred
houses, and these were located principally on three
streets running north and south— Main, Sycamore, and
Broadway, and the three running east and west Front
Columbia and Lower Market streets. Fifth and Main
streets were far up in the woods, and a brickyard was
situated in the swamps not far south from where the
Burnet House now stands. The population of the city
did not exceed two thousand at that time. After Mr.
Price had established his business he found it necessary
to return to Baltimore for more goods. The entire jour-
ney had to be performed on horseback, rendering the
undertaking hazardous, and requiring good physical
health to endure and some grit to accomplish. His val-
uable wife determined to share the hardship of this
return journey with her sturdy companion, and both ac-
cordingly set out on a bright October day to cross the
mountains, leaving the house and goods in charge of
their eldest daughter, Sarah, and Rees, their eldest son>
now in the thirteenth year of his age.
The subject of our sketch, Rees Price, inherited many
of the native endowments of his parents. He was well
developed physically and mentally. With shapely limbs
he walked with the energy and springing step of his father
and possessed the suave manner, candor, and mental
characteristics of his mother. He won many friends
outside of those who were brought into contact with him
in merely a business way. His father's success in busi-
ness enabled him to make large purchases of lands west
of Mill creek, but his long years of honest toil, that
brought him such large results, were wasted in naught in
trying to help incompetent: kinsmen and others, to such
amounts in the use of his name as brought banbrupt-
cey to his own fortunes. He attempted to retrieve
his lost fortune, and began the second time, at an
advanced age, to accomplish the result; but the task
proved a struggle too great for the will-power of the
man, and he died November 19, 1821, at the age of six-
ty-four years.
Rees E. Price was twenty-seven years of age at the
death of his father, and, owing to the want of educational
advantages previous to the year 1808 and his father's
embarrassments, he was called upon to aid him in
extricating himself from his obligations. This labor,
severe as it was, proved the only education of great prac-
tical importance received. He was in every sense of the
word a frontiersman in pioneer life ; strong, active, and
a hard-laboring man. He could go into the timber and
in the sunlight of one day cut, split, and stack three cords
of wood. With his keen-edged skinning axe he felled
the forest and helped to make way for the school-houses,
furnace-flues and factory-stack. With honest sweat and
toil he manufactured millions of brick to be used in build-
ing the beautiful mansions and business blocks of the
Paris of America. He was truly an honest man, and a
hard-working, faithful brother. A classical education
might have developed other qualities of the mind had he
spent his time in school and afterward followed some of
the leading professions. But no course in life would
have developed his usefulness, have made him a more
valuable, respected and admired citizen, in all probability,
than the honest, straightforward course he took and main-
tained with his dying principles through life. In one
sense he was truly educated, being a useful worker.
At the age of twenty-one he found his father's estate
insolvent. He had a constitution by nature strong, and
as yet unimpaired, and went to work with a will to cor-
rect the misfortune. He possessed a good stock of
correct principles, and, under the guidance and influence
of his mother's love, fortune was made to smile upon
his brave endeavors, and at the age of thirty-four he
found himself free from all incumbrances. Of the leading
traits which formed the character of our subject at that
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
427
time we may mention his industry, honesty, will-power,
and benevolence. These traits adhered to him through
life. He was kind and considerate to the poor, ready
and punctual to help those in need, while his word was
his bond, and was so considered by his acquaintances.
He was a man possessing prodigious strength. He at
one time lifted a log with a man on it that a number of
men had failed to lift without the man; at another time
he shouldered a stone that a number of men singly had
tried in vain to raise from the ground. He was a peace-
able, silent, thoughful man. In his living he was tem-
perate and frugal, a student of man and of nature,
the results of which wrought out for him principles then re-
garded by the slow age as odd notions and conceits, but
now better accepted by the thinking mind as living facts.
In politics he was an admirer of Jackson, the heroic will-
power and patriotism of the man, completely winning his
favor for the time being, but the governing policy of the
old hero as it developed itself, though popular with the
masses, found no sympathy or support from Mr. Price.
He subsequently became an anti-slavery man, and voted
for James G. Birney for President, since which time he
has taken no part in politics.
The act of Congress which robbed Mexico of its terri-
tory, to annex it to the United States in the interest of the
dark spirit of slavery, was declared by him to be an ab-
horrence and that the nation had dishonored itself in
perpetrating such a wrong. His sense of justice was so
much outraged at this flagrant act that he published his
declaration to the world that he had no part in this dis-
honesty of the Government, and that to such a Govern-
ment he owed no allegiance. He visited Washington
city, and in the Senate chamber in an almost frenzied
condition denounced the unrighteous act in the presence
of the men who had consummated it, and for the course
he took, exhibiting an unreasonable contempt for the
danger in which he was placed, was imprisoned by the
authorities as a felon.
At the age of twenty-nine our subject was married to
Miss Sarah Matson, daughter of Judge Matson, the dis-
tinguished gentleman so well known in this county.
After this marriage, in a dower conferred upon his daugh-
ter, the unselfish character of the man was beautifully
illustrated. To Sarah was given by her father eighty-two
and a half acres of one of the most valuable farms in the
Ohio valley, located but a few miles west of the city, on
the banks of the river. The manly feelings of Mr.
Price refused to have the farm conveyed to him or
at any time to receive any profit therefrom, accepting it
as law that there can be no legal title to land unless pur-
chased by labor, and that he would eat no bread that
was not won by honest toil, whether right or wrong.
These were the axioms that governed him through life
and illustrated his convictions at all times.
Mr. Price was a close student of Scriptural prophecies
and gave them literal interpretation, politically and eccle-
siastically. He held that Jesus of Nazareth was the
Son of God by virtue of his loyalty to the divine attri-
butes, and that Scripture prophecies indicate the modern
advent of the grand man on earth who, with similar
loyalty to divine principles, will be endowed with power
like that ascribed to the meek and lowly one.
Bishop Morris, in the Christian Advocate of February
22, 1849, says that —
In his habits he is abstemious; drinks no tea, coffee, or anything but
water; eats noanimal food, but eats vegetables and fruits, except apples,
which are the forbidden fruit, and are the raw material from which
comes cider, which, in 1840, was used as the symbol of man-worship —
one of the marks of the feast. He is fluent, often shrewd; has a sten-
torian voice, and talks not by the hour only, but by the day and night.
Still he is gentle, polite and good-natured; bears reproof with meek-
ness and contradiction with patience, but never yields a point which is
to him rendered certain by revelation; he believes the Bible, but inter-
prets it by the spirit within him.
Although Mr. Price was a remarkable man, he was
never in school after he was eleven years of age. He
was married ninth December, 1824, after which he
moved to the mouth of Mill creek, where John E. Price,
his eldest son, was born and named after both grandpar-
ents. Mr. Price died January 20, 1877, on the hill
which bears his name.
Mr. John Price was born November 29, 1825, and
after leaving school turned his attention to brick-making.
In 185 1, he accepted a position on the Ohio & Mississippi
railroad as conductor, and is the oldest official in that
business on that line. In 1845 ne was one °f tne con"
tractors for the construction of the Cincinnati, Hamilton
& Dayton. The first train was run over that line tenth
of April, 1854. In i860, beginning in the month of
October, he went south and was engaged on a road be-
tween Sabine pass and Beaumont, Texas, but the break-
ing out of the war stopped proceedings. The work now
is being pushed forward by other parties. He was in the
war three years as, from October, 1862, till October,
1865, superintendent of a division on the Nashville &
Chattanooga railroad. He was also on other lines. In
1868 he began the construction of the Price's Hill in-
clined plane, which he and his brother finally completed,
including the elevator, in 1875, at a cost of about two
hundred thousand dollars. He was married May n, 1875,
to Miss Fannie Kugler, daughter of David Kugler, of
Clermont county, Ohio. By this marriage Mr. Price is
the father of two children. He resides on Price's Hill.
GENERAL DURBIN WARD.
This gentleman, one of the foremost at the Hamilton
county bar, and an orator of unwonted eloquence and
power, is a Kentuckian born, a native of Augusta, in
Bracken county, where he first saw the light February n,
1 8 19. He is of English and Welsh stock, his ancestors
having settled on the eastern shore of Maryland about
1734. His father and grandfather were both soldiers
in the War of 1812-15, the latter with the Maryland
contingent, and the former with the Kentucky troops
serving in the northwestern army. His father married
Rebecca Patterson, daughter of an old soldier of the
War of 1812. He received his given name from the dis-
tinguished Methodist preacher of two generations ago,
the Rev. John P. Durbin, who was a schoolmate of Mrs.
Ward. When the lad was about four years of age his
428
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
father removed to Fayette county, Indiana. Here Dur-
bin received a moderate primary education in the com-
mon schools, and subsequently he spent two years in the
Miami university, at Oxford, where he supported himself
by his own exertions. He had, however, for many years
been an omnivorous, insatiable reader, and up to the age
of eighteen had actually perused every book that had
come within his view. He thus left college with a vastly
better equipment in intellectual resources and practical
preparation for active life than many full graduates pos-
sess. He determined to become a lawyer, and began to
read the literature of the profession, at first with Judge
Smith, then with the Hon. Thomas Corwin. Admitted
to the bar in due time, he enjoyed the honors and emol-
uments of a business partnership with Mr. Corwin for
about three years. In 1845 he was elected prosecuting
attorney for the county of Warren, and served in this
office for six years. In 1852-3 he was a member of the
house of representatives in the State legislature, the first
held under the new constitution. He was an active and
able member, and attracted considerable attention by an
elaborate, strong report from his pen, conveying an argu-
ment against capital punishment, and also an eloquent
eulogy pronounced upon the occasion of the death of
Governor Jeremiah Morrow, likewise by his effective op-
position to the measure then proposed and advocated
even by such influential members of the "third house" as
Judge Bellamy Storer and William Corry, to lend the
public arms of the State to Kossuth, then in this coun-
try, for revolutionary purposes. For some years Mr.
Ward was not much in politics, and in 1855 he finally
abandoned the old Whig organization to which he had
been long attached, but which was then almost in articulo
mortis, and transferred his allegiance to the Democratic
party, in whose faith he has since remained steadfast.
In 1856 he was nominated by his new fellow-partisans as
a candidate for Congress, but suffered defeat, with many
other Democrats in the same canvass. In 1858 he was
again upon the Democratic ticket, this time as a candi-
date for the office of attorney general. He was also about
this time prominently mentioned in connection with a
candidacy for the supreme bench. He has since been a
candidate in the hands of his friends for nomination to
the governorship, and also to the United States Senate,
and has from time to time been conspicuously named or
formally nominated for other positions. He was a firm
and useful adherent of Senator Douglas, of Illinois, then
in training for the Presidential race, was often chairman
of meetings of Douglas Democrats, and, in i860, pub-
lished a pamphlet in defence of the Douglas doctrine of
popular sovereignty.
When the war of the Rebellion broke out he was
prompt to enlist in the Union army, and, indeed, it is
claimed that he was the first volunteer from his district,
having begun to recruit a company even before the proc-
lamation of President Lincoln calling for volunteers.
He enlisted for the three months' service as a private in
the Twelfth Ohio infantry, but was most of the time in
service with the staff of General Schleich. At trie end
of his first enlistment he was appointed major of the
Seventeenth Ohio infantry, and took the field with it in
southern Kentucky in October, 1861. He took promi-
nent part in the battles at Mill Springs, Corinth, Perry-
ville, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, and other
historic fields, and was seriously wounded in the last
named fight, being shot through the body, and his left
arm disabled for life. He went through the Atlanta
campaign, however, with his arm in a sling, but received
another injury to it about the close of the campaign, and
was finally compelled to resign November 8, 1864. Upon
his return he remained at Nashville, notwithstanding his
release from service, while it was threatened by the ene-
my under General Hood, and served as volunteer aid-de-
camp on the staff of Major General Schofield. He had
been made a lieutenant colonel in February, 1863, was
promoted to colonel in November, of the same year, and
breveted brigadier general November 18, 1865, "for gal-
lant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Chicka-
mauga." The writer of a book of Ohio biographies, in
which General Ward's name has a conspicuous place, says
that, "throughout his military career he was a bold, zeal-
ous, fighting officer, having the full confidence of his
men."
After the war he was for a time engaged at Washington
in the prosecution of claims against the Government, but
eventually came to Cincinnati and reentered law practice,
in which he has since remained, with distinguished and
lucrative success. While still at Washington he became
a supporter of the policy of President Johnson, aided in
organizing the Union club, of that city, and was a dele-
gate to the National Union convention at Philadelphia
aad the Soldiers' convention at Cleveland in the autumn
of 1866. November 18th of that year he was appointed
United States attorney for the southern district of Ohio,
and, in 1870, against his expressed desire, he was nomi-
nated and elected as one of the Warren and Butler
county delegation to the State senate, where he again
faithfully served his constituents. He has since held no
public office, but his services as a campaign orator are
still much in request by his party, in which capacity he
renders most efficient service. He is an eloquent speaker
in other departments of oratory. A volume of his mis- '
cellaneous addresses and orations is now in preparation,
and will soon be before the public. A wide and perma-
nent popularity may be safely predicted for it
General Ward was married November 27, 1866, to
Miss Elizabeth Probasco, sister of Judge John Pro-
basco, formerly a partner of Governor Corwin. The
union has so far proved childless.
HON. MANNING F. FORCE
The Hon. Manning Ferguson Force, one of the judges
of the superior court of Cincinnati, is of Huguenot
stock on his father's side, and Welsh in the maternal an-
cestry. William Force, his grandfather, served in the
continental army in the war of the Revolution. Peter
Force, his father, was a native of New Jersey, but resided
during most of his life in Washington city, where he died
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
429
January 23, 1868. Here he became famous as an anti-
quary and annalist, especially for the compilation of the
invaluable work known as the American Archives, the
nine volumes of which that were published constitute
one of the great standard authorities for students and
writers of American history. For the preparation of this
he collected the finest series of "Americana" in the
world, except that now existing in the British museum.
The books and pamphlets in this department of his li-
brary were purchased by the Government for the library
of Congress shortly before his death.
Manning F. Force was born in Washington, December
17, 1824. He was prepared for appointment and admis-
sion to the West Point Military academy at a boarding
school in Alexandria, Virginia, but decided to enter Har-
vard university instead. He was matriculated as a soph-
omore, and graduated from this institution in 1845, but
continued his attendance at Cambridge as a member of
the University Law school, from which he took his di-
ploma three years afterwards. The succeeding year, in
January, 1849, he made the beginning of a career in the
Queen City by entering the office of Messrs. Walker &
Kebler, where he read law assiduously during another
twelve-month. At the expiration of this time he was ad-
mitted to the bar, and afterwards became a member of
the firm, which now took the name and style of Walker,
Kebler & Force. After the death of Judge Walker, Mr.
Force remained in partnership with Mr. Kebler until the
outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. Offering his ser-
vices then to the Government, he was made lieutenant-
colonel of the Twentieth regiment of Ohio infantry, in
the three-years' service. He was with it in the battles of
Fort Donelson and Pittsburgh Landing, and presently
became its chief officer after the resignation of Colonel
Charles Whittlesey, now of Cleveland, through ill health.
He shared the perils of the advance on Corinth, the bat-
tles of Iuka and the Hatchie, the desperate engagement
of Leggett's command near Bolivar, and frequent recon-
noissances, often accompanied with sharp skirmishing.
During the march to Vicksburgh he was heavily engaged
with his regiment at Raymond and the Champion Hills,
at Port Gibson and Jackson. While the siege was pro-
gressing, the Twentieth was sent up the Yazoo river with
General Blair's expedition, and on its return Colonel
Force was promoted to the command of the Second
brigade, Third division, Seventeenth army corps, and de-
tached with it, in June, 1863, as part of Sherman's army
of observation upon the movements of Johnston's troops.
When Sherman moved toward Jackson the brigade did
guard duty along the road to Clinton. About this time
Colonel Force was decorated with the gold medal of
honor of the Seventeenth corps, by the award of a mili-
tary board. In August he marched with General Ste-
venson's expedition to Monroe, Louisiana, and there re-
ceived his commission as brigadier-general. In October
he participated in the demonstration on Canton, under
General McPherson. November 15th he took command
of the First brigade, in the same division and corps, and
during the winter took charge of the outpost at the
crossing of the Big Black river. In February, 1864, he
accompanied General Sherman to Meridian, and on the
fourth advanced with the corps to the vicinity of Jack-
son, skirmishing with the enemy for several miles, and his
brigade rushing forward voluntarily and entering Jackson
after nightfall. On the fourteenth his brigade was de-
tached to burn a railway bridge over the Chunkey river,
and during the movement surprised the rear guard of
two brigades of rebel cavalry, under General Jackson,
and routed them in utter disorder. His former regiment
now took its veteran furlough, and he went with it home.
The Seventeenth corps, with this and other veteran regi-
ments, soon after reinforced the army of General Sher-
man, then engaged in the campaign against Atlanta, and
participated with it in subsequent engagements. The
brigade commanded by General Force formed the ex-
treme left of the Federal line at Kenesaw Mountain, and
in one of the engagements there carried the. enemy's in-
trenchments at the foot of the height. Before Atlanta
the brigade was swung to the right flank, and then to the
left, where it captured a fortified hill in full view of the
city, although bravely defended by a part of General Pat
Cleburne's rebel division. The next day, July 22nd, oc-
curred the terrific battle of the army of the Tennessee
against nearly the whole of Hood's army, in which Gen-
eral McPherson was slain and General Force was wound-
ed by a shot which passed through the upper part of the
face, and for the time entirely disabled him. He was
supposed to be fatally hurt, and was sent home to Cin-
cinnati, but recovered in time to report again for duty at
Gaylesville, Alabama, while General Sherman was follow-
ing Hood in his advance upon Nashville. Here he re-
ceived the brevet of major general "for especial gallantry
at Atlanta." He was in the famous march to the sea, and
in that across the Carolinas he was in temporary com-
mand of the Third division of his corps, and with it
forced the crossing at Orangeburgh, South Carolina, from
the rebels. At Goldsborough he was regularly assigned
to the command of the First division. During all battles
and marches General Force had kept his place, except
during the retirement enforced by his severe wound at
Atlanta, while his staff officers were frequently changed
by the casualties of war, three of them being killed on
the field, one mortally wounded, one made prisoner, and
two sent, broken down by hard service, to the hospital.
After the close of the war General Force was retained,
in order to command a military district in Mississippi.
After the performance of this duty he was mustered out
in January, 1866. Returning home he was proffered
eminent civil office by President Johnson, and also ten-
dered an appointment as colonel of the Thirty-second
infantry in the regular army, but declined both to reenter
the pursuits of civil life. A writer in the Biographical
Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Men
says of his military career :
Of General Force's record as a soldier it may be said that he was at
the front during the whole war of secession, that he lost neither a can-
non, nor a caisson, nor a wagon, and his command, though always in
the extreme front, was never taken by surprise, was never thrown into
confusion, and never gave back under fire.
In the fall of 1867, having resumed the practice of his
profession, General Force was elected by the Republican
43°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
party, of which he had been a member from its begin-
ning, to the bench of the common pleas, and was re-
elected in 1871. In 1876 he received the Republican
nomination for Congress, but took no part in the canvass
on account of his judicial position; and to this fact,
probably, is due his defeat by his opponent, the Hon.
Milton Sayler, but by a majority of only seven hundred,
while Mr. Sayler's majorities had previously mounted
into the thousands. The next spring Judge Force was
advanced to the bench of the superior court of Cincin-
nati, upon which he now occupies an honored place. He
is also professor of equity and criminal law in the Cin-
cinnati Law school, has been for many years president of
the Ohio Historical and Philosophical society, which is
virtually a Cincinnati institution; has been a director of
the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Dayton, a
trustee of the Ohio Medical college, one of the founders
of the musical festivals and the zoological garden, and a
member of the Music Hall association and other organ-
izations. He was united in marriage May 13, 1874, to
Miss Frances Dabney Horton, of Pomeroy, Ohio. They
have one child, a son.
HON. JOSEPH COX,
judge of the district court and court of common pleas
of Hamilton county, and an eminent lawyer, is a native
of Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, born August 4, 1822,
son of Dr. Hiram and Margaret (Edwards) Cox. His
paternal grandfather was a pioneer in western Virginia,
and his maternal grandsire in western Pennsylvania.
Both were soldiers of the Revolution and of the Indian
wars that followed, and the latter was killed in an Indian
fight near Wheeling about 1795; the other was killed by
the premature falling of a tree, leaving a young family,
among whom was Hiram Cox, father of the subject of
this sketch. He was early apprenticed to a saddler, but
had an aptitude for scholarship which made him a teacher
at the early age of sixteen, and at twenty-one head of a
flourishing academy at Chambersburgh, which he main-
tained for ten years. He was united in marriage to
Margaret Edwards during this period. Their second
child was Joseph, who inherited not only a love of learn-
ing, but great physical vigor, energy, and ability to sustain
continuous and severe labor. In February, 1829, the
elder Cox, having meanwhile studied medicine, removed
his family to Cincinnati, and shortly after to Dayton,
Ohio, and there practiced his profession for two years.
He then returned to Cincinnati, took a course and grad-
uated at the Ohio Medical college, practiced four years
in Clermont county and then returned to Hamilton coun-
ty, where he spent his remaining years, dying at a good
old age in 1867. His son Joseph had already, upon
arrival in the Miami valley, although but seven years old
advanced beyond the rudiments of learning in his father's
school. His education was carried on in the schools of
Clermont county, and in a singular but very efficient
academy popularly called the " Quail-trap college," kept
in a log cabin upon a farm near Goshen, by the Rev.
Ludwell G. Gaines, a Presbyterian clergyman and very
distinguished educator. Young Cox early became him-
self a teacher, at first as an assistant in the academy
kept by Mr. Thompson, at Springdale, in Springfield
township. He made use of his earnings here to main-
tain himself as a student at Miami university, in which
he took a partial course. He studied medicine for a
time, but eventually determined to become a lawyer, and
read the literature of the profession with Thomas J. Strait
and Messrs. Cary and Caldwell, all prominent practition-
ers in Cincinnati. Admitted to the bar in 1843, he
began practice in partnership with Henry Snow, which
lasted about five years, His fortunes were cast with the
Whig party of that day, by whom he was twice nominated
to the office of prosecuting attorney, while still a
young practitioner; but the party was then in a hopeless
minority in the county, and he could not expect an elec-
tion. He was, however, elected to the post in 1855 by a
large majority, and had a laborious and eventful, but
thoroughly able and reputable term of service, during
which he was successful in breaking up a strong gang of
counterfeiters and sending ten of them to the State pen-
itentiary. Other important public services were rendered
by him; and he abundantly earned then, and by subse.
quent fidelity in his more private practice, the promotion
which came to him (he being then a Republican) in
1866, in his election as the judge of the common pleas
court for the first judicial district. To this post he was
reelected in 187 1, and again in 1876, and has thus been
fifteen years on the bench. In 1867 he was very strongly
recommended by the Cincinnati bar for appointment as
United States district judge, to fill a vacancy caused by
the resignation of the Hon. H. H. Leavitt. His judicial,
as well as his professional, career, has been marked by
eminent and pronounced success. He has also strong
literary and antiquarian tastes; has written much for the
public press, and delivered numerous lectures, several of
which have been published. Indebtedness to certain of
them will be found acknowledged in various portions of
this history, to which he has also made important contribu-
tions in the course of private conversation. He is one
of the most affable and popular of men, while he culti-
nates none of the arts of the demagogue. Madisonville,
six miles from Cincinnati, the place of his residence, and
the Scientific and Literary society of that village, owe
not a little to the sympathy and cooperation of Judge
Cox in every good word and work. He has also done
his party much service by his speeches in advocacy of its
principles and policy, as he did to the Union cause in many
ways during the bloody years of the Rebellion.
On the ninth of May, 1848, Judge Cox was married to
Miss Mary A., daughter of Benjamin R. Curtis, of Rich-
mond, Virginia. They have had nine children, of whom
six are still living. Three of his sons are graduates of
the Cincinnati law school and engaged in the practice of
the law— Walter T., Benjamin H., and Joseph, jr.; an-
other, Samuel C, is well known in the book-trade.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
43i
B. H. COX.
Benjamin Hiram Cox, lawyer, is the second son of
Judge Joseph Cox, and was born in Storrs township (now
Cincinnati), Hamilton county, Ohio, March 16, 1851.
He received his education at the common and high
schools of the township, and in bookkeeping at Gundry's
commercial college. He, at a very early age, showed
great aptitude for business and was appointed to a posi-
tion in the county clerk's office, by T. B. Disney, esq.,
chief clerk, Here he remained through the different
successors of the office for nearly ten years, issuing sub-
pances and orders for sale for all the courts, and officiating
as clerk for one of the rooms of the supreme court.
While thus employed he studied law under his father and
graduated at the Cincinnati law college, and in 1875 was
admitted to the bar and resigned his position in the
clerk's office, and began the practice of law in Cincin-
nati, in partnership with Charles W. Cole, esq. After-
wards they associated with them his younger brother,
Joseph Cox, jr., under the name of Cole, Cox & Cox.
Previous to this, in 1871 he was elected a member of the
school board, from the ninth ward, and selected from that
body as a member of the union board of high school
directors. In 1878 he was elected a member of council,
from the ninth ward, and was appointed chairman of the
committee of law and contracts, in which he served for
two years with great intelligence and ability. Removing
into the twelfth ward about the close of his term, he was
unexpectedly nominated, by an overwhelming majority,
to represent that ward, and was elected without opposi-
tion. Mr. Cox is a fine specimen of our business young
men. Of large, powerful physique and commanding
presence, he is polite and affable to all, yet firm and
tenacious in his views. He is active and energetic in
business, has an unbounded faith in the progress and
success of everything in Cincinnati, has, perhaps, bought
and sold as much real estate in the city as any other
young man of his age, and generally knows a bargain
when he sees it. The firm of Cole, Cox & Cox has a
flourishing business, being counsel for some of the best
business men of the city. In addition to this, Benjamin
is a master commissioner of the courts, and, being popu-
lar with most of the lawyers, is entrusted with the sale
of a great deal of property, under orders of court,
of which, by his activity and knowledge of the business,
and large acquaintance with capitalists, he has been
markedly successful in disposing at good prices. In
politics he is an ardent Republican and an active worker.
His wife is Emma L., daughter of James S. Burdsal,
one of the oldest and most prominent druggists of the
city. By this marriage he has four children.
Joseph Cox, jr., of the law firm of Cole, Cox & Cox,
of Cincinnati, and son of the prominent and well-known
citizen, Judge Joseph Cox, of Cincinnati, was born
January n, 1858, in Storrs township. He received
his education in the high schools of Cincinnati, graduat-
ing therefrom in 1877. In 1879 he graduated in his
law studies in the Cincinnati law school, since which
time he has practiced his profession. In September,
1879, he was married to Miss Mary Covington, of Cin-
cinnati, daughter of Mr. S. F. Covington, a leading cit-
izen of that place. His wife died in June, 1880.
HON. JOHN F. FOLLETT.
The Hon. John Fassett Follett, named after bis ma-
ternal great-uncle, Dr. John Fassett, of Toledo, is a na-
tive of Vermont, as were all of his father's family. His
father's name was also John F. Follett, likewise a native
of Vermont. His grandfather, Eliphalet Follett, great-
grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was a pioneer
in the Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania, where he owned a
very fine farm, but was doomed to lose his life in the
massacre of Wyoming, so much celebrated in song and
story. A half-brother of this pioneer was attacked in
the«ame affair, stabbed in several places, scalped, and
left for dead, but eventually survived and lived to a good
old age. After the murder of Eliphalet Follett his widow
and children returned to Vermont, whence they had
removed to Wyoming, and spent the rest of their lives
there. The oldest of the children, Martin D. Follett,
was grandfather of John F. Follett, of Cincinnati. His
mother, Sarah (Woodworth) Follett, was also a native of
Vermont, where she and the elder Follett were married
October 10, 1816. In 1837 they removed to the west,
settling first in Licking county, with a family of nine
children. Mr. Follett here pursued his lifelong vocation
as a farmer, and there died in 1863, the mother follow-
ing him to the tomb just four weeks afterwards. Eight
of the nine children are still living.
Hon. John F. Follett, next to the youngest of the
family, was born upon the paternal farm in South Rich-
ford, Franklin county, Vermont, February 18, 1833. His
rudimentary education was received in the log school-
houses of Licking county, but when about eighteen years
of age he was permitted to leave home and strike out
for himself in pursuit of a higher training. He took a
preparatory course at the academy in Granville, Licking
county, now no longer in existence, and his collegiate
curriculum at Marietta college, being graduated there-
from in r8ss with the highest honor, and with the last
class going out under the presidency of the Rev. Henry
Smith. He had now accumulated a considerable debt,
for a young man, in the pursuit of education, but with-
in the short space of two years, by teaching, first in the
blind asylum at Columbus, and then in the high school
of the same place, he secured an honorable discharge
from all his obligations. He then began to read law with
his brother, Charles Follett, esq., in Newark, and was
there admitted to practice in 1858. He began business
in the same place as a lawyer, and remained in Newark
for about ten years, when, in September, 1868, he re-
moved to Cincinnati, opened an office, and in March,
1870, formed a partnership with General H. L. Burnett,
ex-Governor Jacob D. Cox also presently joining the
firm. Upon the removal of General Burnett to New
York, the firm became Cox & Follett, and remained
such until the first of January, 1874, when General Cox
withdrew. Mr. W. C. Cochrane was afterward received
43 2
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
into partnership, the firm name and style now being
Follett & Cochrane. This firm was dissolved in 1878.
Messrs. J. M. Dawson and David M. Hyman have since
successively been taken into partnership, and the firm
is now Follett, Dawson & Hyman. It enjoys an exten-
sive practice, and ranks high among the legal partner-
ships of the Queen City. The senior of the firm has
often been solicited to become a candidate for judge in
one of the courts, but has uniformly declined, preferring
to remain in the more lucrative and stirring pursuits of
the bar.
Mr. Follett is a lifelong and hereditary Democrat. His
services to the party were recognized in 1865 in an elec-
tion from Licking county to the house of representa-
tives in the State legislature. He was reelected at the
expiration of his two-years' term, and upon the re-as-
sembling of the house he was chosen speaker by a unani-
mous vote, taken by acclamation, in the caucus of mem-
bers of his party — a fact almost, if not quite, without
precedent in the legislative history of the State. He
was serving in this position with distinguished credit
when he decided to remove to Cincinnati, and resigned
both it and his membership in the house. Since his re-
moval hither he has declined official position or candi-
dacies, with the single exception of elector-at-large on
the Democratic ticket of the State during the Presidential
canvas of 1880. He has from time to time been solici-
ted to run for Congress, and at the present writing
(April, 1881) is prominently named by his friends as a
Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial chair at the
fall election. His abilities as a stump speaker are much
in request during the more important campaigns, and of
late years he has pretty regularly appeared in most parts
of the State, as well as in his own city and county. He
is regarded as one of the most eloquent men, either up-
on the hustings or in the forum, that Ohio contains, and
his services to his party have been inestimable. His
political duties are not permitted, however, seriously to
interfere with the careful study and practice of the law,
in which he ranks among the very foremost in the able
ranks of the bar in the Queen City. He is personally
popular, and has abundantly reaped the rewards of dili-
gence and assiduously cultivated talent.
Mr. Follett was married, July 12, 1866, to Miss
Francis M., daughter of Dr. John Dawson, a professor
in the Starling Medical college, of Columbus, where they
were married. Her mother was a sister of the late Judge
Winans, of Xenia, a former member of Congress, and
daughter of Dr. Matthias Winans, of Jamestown, Ohio.
Mrs. Follett is still living, and in vigorous health. They
have three children — John Dawson, W. W. Dawson (a
girl), and Charles, the last one named from his uncle at
Newark.
In 1879 the scholarship, ability, and public record of
Mr. Follett received the handsome recognition from his
alma mater at Marietta, of the honorary degree of Doc-
tor of Laws.
DR. DAVID D. BRAMBLE.
David Denman Bramble, M. D., a prominent practi-
tioner in Cincinnati, is a Buckeye and a Hamilton county
man "to the manor born," and is, physically and other-
wise, a type of the very best class of natives of the great
State of the Ohio valley. He was born at the village of
Montgomery, in Sycamore township, on the eleventh of
December, 1839. His parents were of good old Eng-
lish stock, and were among the first settlers in the Miami
Purchase.
His boyhood was spent in the pure air of the country.
As he grew larger and stronger he engaged in various
pursuits of manual labor and humble trade, attending
from time to time the rather indifferent public schools of
that period, until after he had entered upon his four-
teenth year. By an industry, economy and intelligence
in business quite remarkable in one so young, he had by
this time acquired means enough to enable him to begin
a course of study in the Farmers' college, at College
Hill. The same traits served to carry him triumphantly
through an undergraduate course, and to leave the insti-
tution with honor and the prestige of success. He began
an independent career at once as teacher of the interme-
diate school in his native village, from which he was
advanced, at the expiration of about a year and a half, to
the principalship of the school. He held this post for
two years and a half more, when, at the age of twenty,
he matriculated as a student at the Ohio Medical college
in Cincinnati. He had previously, during a large part
of his pedagogic service, been reading medicine under
the direction of Dr. William Jones, of Montgomery,
with whom he resided. After attendance upon two full
courses of lectures, he was graduated from the Ohio
Medical college in 1862. His public service and large
practice began at once. He was appointed house physi-
cian to the old Commercial hospital, then itself almost
in articulo mortis, and about to give way to the magnifi-
cent structure which now occupies its site, and much
more, as is elsewhere related in this history. He served
this institution for a single year, and in 1863 opened an
office pretty nearly where he now is, at No. 227 Broad-
way, for the general practice of his profession. All his
offices have since been in this neighborhood on the same
street. By September, 1867, he had built the handsome
residence and office he now occupies at No. 169 Broad-
way, and moved into it.
He was again, about the same time of his beginning
private practice, pressed into more public service as dis-
trict physician for the Thirteenth ward, and in the autumn
of the same year was made physician at the pest-house.
The latter post he vacated by resignation at the end of
three and a half years, presently accepting instead a
much more pleasant and, in some respects, profitable
position as professor of anatomy in the Cincinnati Col-
lege of Medicine and Surgery, and also treasurer of the
college. In 1872 he was advanced to the office of dean
of the institution, and at the same time was transferred
to the chair of surgery. In these important capacities
he is still serving the college. For some time he was
a joint editor and proprietor of the Cincinnati Medical
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
432
News, a monthly organ of the profession of no small
reputation and utility. He has steadily maintained,
withal, a large and growing private practice, in which his
success has corresponded to the confidence reposed in
his professional abilities by those who have appointed
him to the several public positions he has held. He is
a prominent and influential member of the Cincinnati
Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical society,
and the American Medical association, and is an original
member of the American Surgical association, organized
in the city of New York last year. Of this young asso-
ciation himself and Dr. W. W. Dawson are the only Cin-
cinnati members. Before one or the other of these
societies he has read numerous papers, some of which
have been published, and has engaged usefully in various
discussions upon medical topics.
Dr. Bramble has found time, in the midst of his busy
employments, to take Odd Fellowship through all its
degrees, to work entirely through the several ranks of
the Knights of Pythias, and to proceed in Masonry to
and including the thirty-second degree. He is at present
master of the Kilwinning lodge No. 356, and is the third
in command (second lieutenant) in the Consistory of the
Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite, of which Colonel
Enoch T. Carson is commander-in-chief, and Mr. W. B.
Wiltse, also of Cincinnati, is first lieutenant.
Dr. Bramble was married May 15, 1864, to Miss
Celestine, oldest daughter of John Rieck, the well-known
farmer and land-owner of Sharon ville, Sycamore town-
ship. They have three children, all daughters, and all
living — Emma Ellen, born October 29, 1867 ; Jessie
May, born March 20, 1870; and Mamie Rieck, born
January 17, 1876.
DR. A. J. MILES.
Abijah J. Miles, M. D., health officer for the city of
Cincinnati, is a native Buckeye, born at Troy, Miami
county, Ohio, on the thirty-first of March, 1834. His
maternal progenitors in this country were of English
stock, their arrival upon western shores being contempo-
raneous with that of William Penn. The family name
on that side is Coats. He is of long-lived stock, his
grandfather on the mother's side living to the age of
ninety-six, and reading by second sight without glasses
when about ninety years old, and his paternal grandfather
living until near the same age. His father is now in
his seventy-sixth year. His mother's maiden name was
Sarah Coats, born in Dayton December 18, 1804, when
it was but a little hamlet. Her parents had removed
from Pennsylvania to South Carolina in the latter part of
the last century, but being of the Quaker faith, they con-
ceived a strong abhorrence to the institution of slavery,
and again removed, this time to Ohio, passing through
Cincinnati when it had less than nine hundred inhabi-
tants, and settling in Dayton when it had made little
more than a beginning. His paternal grandfather's fam-
ily, the Mileses, came at the same time, with many other
Quaker families, who formed the celebrated settlements
west of Dayton, in Montgomery and Miami counties.
William, son of Jonathan Miles, the grandfather, was
born in 1806, and married Sarah Coates February 18,
1829. She died; more than fifty years afterwards, upon
the same place where she began housekeeping, April 28,
1879. The father is still living. Their fourth child and
third son was Abijah, who was born at the old homestead,
near Troy, as before noted. His elementary education
was received in the country schools of the neighborhood,
after which he went to the Troy high school, where he
was prepared to enter Antioch college. He was a mem-
ber of this institution during parts of three years, teaching
school in the winter, and getting means to attend the col-
lege during the spring and summer terms, during which,
by hard labor, he managed to keep up with his classes.
He began to read medicine with Dr. George Keifer, in
Troy, and pursued the study with Dr. Sigafoose, of West
Milton, in the same county, finishing at the Ohio Medi-
cal college, in Cincinnati, in 1858-9 and 1862-3, taking
his diploma in March, 1863. Meanwhile, in 1861, he
had enlisted in the army as hospital steward in the
Fortieth regiment of Ohio infantry, then equipping for
the field at Camp Chase. With this command he
served through the arduous campaign in eastern Ken-
tucky in early January, 1862, during which the victorious
battle of Middle Creek was fought by General Garfield's,
brigade, of which the Fortieth was part. His health was
broken down by the hardships of the campaign, and,
although offered the post of assistant surgeon upon his
graduation subsequently, he had to be permanently dis-
charged from the service, to which he never was able to
return, and suffers in health to this day on account of
that severe war experience. He accepted, however, di-
rectly after graduation, the position of interne, or house
physician, in the Commercial (now Cincinnati) hospital,
an honor only bestowed upon the most meritorious stu-
dents of the graduating classes of the college. At the
expiration of his year's term he decided to open an office
in Loudon, Madison county, Ohio, but in January, 1866,
he returned to Cincinnati, on account of the laborious
character of the country practice, and after a few months
recommenced business. It was now the cholera season,
and a favorable time for a young practitioner in the city.
He soon commanded a large practice, -which has been
successfully maintained and increased to this day.
Within the last eight years he has developed special tal-
ents in the direction of obstetrical and gynecological
practice; and since 1873 has joined to numerous other
duties those of the professorship of diseases of women
and children in the Cincinnati college of medicine and
surgery. Upon topics related to this department of
practice he has written much and effectively — as papers
before medical societies upon the use of forceps in
breech deliveries, in explanation of a new breech forceps
devised by him, as also reports of cases of delivery by
means of the breech forceps, upon a new vaginal specu-
lum, and many reports in the Medical News, of which he
was for some time an associate editor and proprietor.
Other medical topics have also been treated by him in
essays for publication or for reading before societies, as
upon wine of tobacco in tetanus, rotheln, and other
434
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
themes. In 1875 he was made a fellow of the obstetri-
cal society of London, England, and is also a member
of the Cincinnati Obstetrical society, of which he was
elected vice-president in January, 1877, and of the Cin-
cinnati Medical society and the Academy of Medicine,
of the same city, and of the State Medical society, in
which he was chosen vice-president in 1876. In April,
1880, he was appointed, by a union of Republicans and
Democrats in the board of health, to the eminent and
responsible position of health officer of Cincinnati,
which he now holds, and in which his efficient services,
and especially his clear and able reports, are giving him
fresh name and fame.
In June, 1864, Dr. Miles was married to Mary F.,
daughter of B. B. and Nancy Stearns, of Cincinnati.
His wife died at Mentone, France, in April, 1875, and he
was remarried October u, 1877, to Miss Martha, daugh-
ter of Aaron A. Colter, esq., of the same city. They
have no children. Dr. and Mrs. Miles are members of
the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, on Ninth street,
in Cincinnati.
DR. J. W. UNDERHILL.
Joshua Whittington Underhill, M. D., a leading prac-
titioner and public-spirited citizen of Cincinnati, is a na-
tive of Maryland, born January n, 1837, in the settle-
ment known as "Quindocque," near Kingston, Somerset
county. He is the son of Thomas H. and Eleanor
(Whittington) Underhill, and grandson of Thomas Henry
Underhill, a sea-captain resident at Snow Hill, Maryland,
where he died at the age of eighty-two years. His pa-
ternal grandmother's maiden name was Leah Powell;
she was from Worcester county, in the same State. Both
the Underhill and Whittington families are of English
stock, their ancestors immigrating to the colonies long
before the Revolution. The latter is a very numerous
family, more inhabitants of the eastern shore of Maryland
bearing its name than any other patronymic. The
younger Thomas H., father of the subject of this memoir,
had one brother, William, who lived and died in Merums-
co, on the eastern shore ; also two sisters, who were mar-
ried and reside, respectively, in Snow Hill and Baltimore.
He and his wife were both young when married, in 1835,
and shortly after the birth of their son Joshua set out for
Missouri, then almost a terra incognita in the illimitable
west. In the absence of railways, the Alleghanies were
crossed in an emigrant wagon, which made a halt with
the little family at the village of Hendrysburgh, in Belmont
county, Ohio. This region was still half wilderness, but
presented so inviting an aspect to the young couple that
they concluded to settle then and there. In 1840 a sec-
ond child was born, who received the name of Henry
Thomas. It lived but a few weeks, however, and soon
afterwards the mother died, at the age of twenty-three,
when Joshua was but three years old. He was kindly
cared for by a childless family, and given as good an ed-
ucation as the country schools of Ohio afforded at the
time. His father remarried and shipped for South Amer-
ica about 1856, where he is supposed to have die!, as he
was never heard from afterwards. Joshua was reared on
a farm in Kirkwood township, Belmont county, and early
became inured to the severest toil, but by attendance at
school about fifty days every winter, gained sufficient
knowledge to teach the elementary branches. By teach-
ing he made money enough to take him half through his
junior year at college, when he entered upon the study
of medicine, continuing to teach from time to time to se-
cure funds for his course. He read at first with Dr. J.
T. McPherson, a prominent physician, now of Cambridge,
Ohio, and completed his studies at the Cincinnati College
of Medicine and Surgery. After many hindrances, he be-
gan practice at Burnettsville, White county, Indiana, early
in the summer of 1861. But, much as he was pleased
with the novelty surrounding a juvenile Esculapian, he
could not resist the demand which the country was then
making for help in the hour of her peril, and accordingly
abandoned a rapidly-growing practice to enter the army.
He enlisted as a private in company E, Forty-sixth regi-
ment, Indiana volunteers, but was offered a position in
the line where promotion promised to be rapid. He
preferred, however, to remain a private until the way was
opened for promotion in the medical department. He
had to wait for this but nine days, when he was appointed
hospital steward. A few months subsequently he was
commissioned assistant surgeon, and eventually was made
surgeon of his regiment, which commission he held until
the muster-out in the autumn of 1865, just four years from
the time of entering service. His regiment entered the
field in December, 1861, in Kentucky, under General
Nelson, but was shortly afterward transferred to General
Pope's command in southeastern Missouri. He was
present at the capture of New Madrid, at the bagging of
five thousand of the enemy at Tiptonville, West Tennes-
see. Descending the Mississippi river, then, his regiment,
with one other, constituted a convoy to the gun-boat
flotilla. He was present at the capture of Memphis,
June 6, 1862, which the regiment garrisoned for a few
days; then, convoying a part of the gun-boat fleet, it con-
tinued to roam up and down that part of the Mississippi
river within the Federal lines, and also upon many of its
tributaries. Much of the summer of 1862 was passed
in clearing the White river of Confederate batteries, and
at St. Charles, on that river, the regiment had a sharp
engagement with the enemy June 17, 1862. It landed
and attacked the rebel forces in the rear, while several
gun-boats, including the Mound City, bombarded their
batteries from the river. A plunging shot from a sixty-
four-pound gun penetrated the ill-fated Mound City, and,
cutting the connecting pipe, every part of that vessel was
instantly filled with hot steam, which scalded to death
six-sevenths of the entire crew of one hundred and sev-
enty-five men. No more sickening, heart-rending sight did
Surgeon Underhill witness during his four years' service.
His command continued to serve on various expeditions
through Arkansas and the Yazoo country till Grant, in
the spring of 1863, organized his movement against
Vicksburgh. His command left for the rear of that
stronghold early in April, and participated in the battles
of Port Gibson, Champion Hills, and, indeed, in nearly all
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
435
the engagements that finally culminated in its capture.
Afterwards he was with Sherman's army in their siege
and capture of Jackson, Mississippi. Next his regiment
was transferred to the department of the Gulf, where,
under General Banks, it made incursions through differ-
ent parts of Louisiana, and was with him in his ill-starred
Red River expedition. It was in the engagement near
Mansfield, Louisiana, where the Federals suffered dis-
astrous defeat, and continued with the army on its retreat
to Pleasant Hill, where another battle was fought. Dr.
Underhill was in all the contests fought by his command,
including those of Carrion Crow Bayou and Cane River,
and numerous skirmishes. He is now an active member
of the Cincinnati army and navy officers' society.
At the termination of the war he went to New York
city, where he attended a post-graduate course of lectures
at the Bellevue hospital medical college, taking also pri-
vate instructions with Professors Austin Flint and Frank
Hastings Hamilton. He received the ad eundem degree
from that institution, and in May, 1866, settled in Cin-
cinnati, where he has since resided, and continues to
practice his profession. At first he devoted himself to
no specialty, but has of late given attention more
particularly to obstetrics and diseases of women, al-
though still doing general practice. Since coming here
he has been active in the profession, and has built up a
large and highly successful practice. During the same
season of his arrival in this city he was appointed demon-
strator of anatomy in his alma mater, the Cincinnati col-
lege of medicine and surgery, a position which he resigned
two years later. In 1872 he was appointed lecturer on
medical jurisprudence in the same institution, which
place he held for seven years, when he exchanged it for
the professorship of materia medica and therapeutics.
The latter he gave up for the chair of obstetrics, which he
has filled since his appointment thereto in the spring of
1880. He was also one of the medical staff of the Cin-
cinnati hospital appointed in the spring of 1875, but
resigned after little more than one year's service. He
has been the medical adviser of several life insurance
companies, and still serves three companies in that ca-
pacity. He is also a member of the American Medical
association, of the Ohio State Medical society, the Cin-
cinnati academy of medicine, and the Obstetrical Society
of Cincinnati, and is a fellow of the American Gyneco-
logical society. Of the Cincinnati Obstetrical society he
was one of the founders, was two years its secretary and
one year its president. Not only in the practical duties
of his profession has he been an active worker, but he
has not neglected its literary side, as is shown by the fol-
lowing partial list of his contributions to medical science:
Analysis of fifty-four cases of scarlet fever (twenty-two
pages), Cincinnati Medical News, June, 1874. Puer-
peral Septicemia; including a report of two cases. First
published in the Cincinnati Medical News in 1876, No-
vember and December, and April, 1877. Subsequent-
ly a brochure of forty-four pages. Relative sterility,
(American Journal of Obstetrics), July, 1877. Obser-
vations on pseudocyesis, and on pregnancy in its relation
to capital punishment; page 18, American Journal of
Obstetrics, January, 1878. Relation of medicine to law;
an address to the graduating class of Cincinnati college
of medicine and surgery, delivered at Pike's opera
house, February 23, 1878, Cincinnati Medical News,
March, 1878. Remarks on post mortem csesarian section,
American Journal of Obstetrics, July, 1878. Subni-
trate of bismuth contaminated with arsenic; general re-
marks on the jurisprudence of pharmacy. (Cincinnati
Lancet and Clinic, September 28, 1878). The female
generative organs in their medico-legal relations; read
before the Obstetrical society of Cincinnati, November,
1878, and published in the American Journal of Obstet-
rics, for January, 1879 (twenty pages). The hydatidi-
form mole; its causes, symptoms, medico-legal relations,
etc. (read before the academy of medicine and pub-
lished in the Obstetric Gazette, January, 1879, twenty
pages). Report of a case of hydatidiform mole, also
report of a case of carneous mole (American Journal of
Obstetrics, 1879). A case of cerebral embolism, occur-
ring in the puerperal state, and closing remarks (in de-
bate) concerning the case (American Journal Obstetrics,
October, 1879). Impotence, as applied to the male ;
read before Cincinnati academy of medicine, April, 1880.
Remarks on puerperal eclampsia, with report of two cases
(Obstetric Gazette, April, 1880). A case of anencepha-
lic foetus (Obstetric Gazette, May, 1880). Valedictory
address to the Obstetrical society of Cincinnati, when re-
tiring from the presidency of that society; pages fifteen,
1880.
Besides the above, he has published reports of numer-
ous cases, and fugitive articles in places now forgotten,
and has read before societies many articles that were
never given to the medical press. He has a taste for
medical writing and would have written more were it not
for the engrossing cares of the busy practitioner. Al-
he has mixed somewhat in political life, he has never done
so to the injury of his professional obligations, is tem-
perate in all his habits, and lives as regular a life as the
exacting duties of his profession will allow.
Dr. Underhill has always taken an intelligent interest
in public affairs, believing that it is the duty of the citi-
zen, when called upon, to serve the Government in civil
as well as military affairs. Hence he has never refused
to do duty when summoned to serve the State in any
capacity, and has served it as faithfully in politics as in
war. An ardent Republican, he has lent his voice often
to the councils of the party. In the fall of 1870 he was
elected coroner of Hamilton county, and served through
his term of two years. In April, 1876, he was chosen
from his ward a member of the board of education of
Cincinnati, for two years, and was reelected in 1878, and
in 1 880, the law having been altered so as to provide for
twelve members to be chosen at large to that body, he
was nominated and elected for the long term (three years),
receiving the second highest majority of the twelve elect-
ed. He was chosen president of the board at its annual
organization in April, 1880, and again in 188 1. He is
also in that body one of the board of examiners for
teachers. Like most professional men, Dr. Underhill
married rather late in life. At the age of thirty-seven he
436
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
was united to Miss Lida E. McPherson, of Cambridge,
Ohio, eldest daughter of his first medical preceptor, and
a lady in every way well worthy of his companionship.
She is a graduate of the famous female seminary at Troy,
New York, formerly taught by Miss Emma Willard.
They have had three children, one of whom, Mary, a
most interesting and intelligent little girl of six years,
died after a distressing illness, April 15, i88r. The
Daily Enquirer of the next morning said of this event:
Thus has one of the brightest, most beautiful of lives closed — a life,
brief as it was, that gave evidence of happy promise and a character
supernaturally lovely. She was remarkably precocious, and her intel-
lectual development was at the expense of her frail form. Everyone
who saw her was impressed with the radiant loveliness of her features
and her gentle, thoughtful disposition, and the blighting of this fair
bud of promise will be deplored by all who knew her, while her parents
have received a cruel blow from which they will never recover.
Both Dr. and Mrs. Underhill are active and faithful
members of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church in
this city.
WILLIAM BRAMWELL DAVIS, M. D.
Doctor Davis' ancestors were natives of Wales. His
paternal grandfather was a sea-faring man, and was lost,
together with his ship, during a severe gale, in mid-
ocean. His maternal grandfather, Rev. John Jones, of
Cardiganshire, was a devout minister of the Calvinistic
Methodist church. In the spring of 18 18, he joined a
party of neighbors, and with his family emigrated to
America. After a tempestuous voyage of over six weeks,
they landed at Alexandria, Virginia, and were received
by the citizens with courtesy and hospitality. This was
the first party of British immigrants that landed at this
port since the war with the mother country; and so sig-
nificant was the event considered, that President Monroe
and his cabinet went down from Washington to receive
and welcome them to the land of their adoption.
As their destination was Ohio, they purchased wagons
and horses to convey their household goods across the
mountains to Pittsburgh; and the entire party, men,
women and children, followed on foot, camping out at
night. At Pittsburgh they transferred their goods to a
flat-boat, and began the descent of the Ohio. It was
July, and during their long exposure on the river, the
excessive heat and a change in their food affected them
unfavorably, and many of the party were prostrate with
dysentery. When the boat reached Cincinnati, the citi-
zens, fearing that the sickness was contagious, were reluc-
tant to admit the afflicted party to either the private
homes or the public houses of the city. In their dis-
tress Nicholas Longworth threw open a house near his
own home, and with the assistance of Samuel W. Davies
afterwards mayor of the city, and Mr. Wade, carried all
of the sick to it, and personally ministered to their ne-
cessities. Here Mr. Jones died. The name of Nicho-
las Longworth was ever afterwards cherished in the mem-
ory of their family, and always mentioned with the warm-
est gratitude.
Among these adventurers were Mr. William Davis
and Miss Ann Jones, the father and mother of the doc-
tor. Mr. Davis was born in 1793, and was brought up
within nine miles of the village of Llanbadarn, Cardie
ganshire. Miss Jones was born in- that place in 1797,
and at the time of her family's emigration to America,
was in the bloom of health and beauty. On the voyage
thither Mr. Davis first made the acquaintance of Miss
Jones and subsequently won her affections, and the
twain became one. Accustomed to agricultural life, the
young couple sought a home on a farm in a Welsh set-
tlement, with an Irish name," Paddy's Run," in Butler
county, Ohio. In this country home were born four of
their children, John, Mary, Timothy, and Margaret.
John is now a leading physician in Cincinnati; Mary be-
came the wife of Professor William G. Williams, of the
Ohio Wesleyan University; Timothy is in the United
States revenue service, in Cincinnati; and Margaret be-
came the wife of the late Rev. Erwin House, of this city.
After five or six years of farm life, Mr. Davis removed his
family to Cincinnati, to engage in his business as a build-
er. Here William Bramwell, the subject of this sketch,
the youngest of the family, was born July 22, 1832. All
the above-named children are still living, except Mary,
who died in 1872.
Mr. Davis was noted for truthfulness and uprightness
in all his dealings, and for a conscientious observance of
the duties that he owed to others. He lived to be about
fifty-six years of age, and died of apoplexy in the year
1849. Mrs. Davis was a woman of unusually strong
character, which she has transmitted to her children. In
early life she became a member of the church of her
parents, the Calvinistic Methodist; but after her removal
to Cincinnati, she joined the Methodist Episcopal
church, and in communion with this lived a devoted
Christian life until past eighty-two years of age, and died
in 1880, in the assurance of a blessed resurrection.
Doctor Davis was educated, first at Woodward college
in this city, and afterward at the Ohio Wesleyan Univer-
sity, Delaware, Ohio. At the latter institution he grad-
uated B. A. in 1852, and M. A. in 1855. His alma
mater was then just beginning its successful career. His
name stands thirty-sixth in the triennial roll of the alum-
ni, which now numbers about thirteen hundred. Of this
large body Dr. Davis was president for some years,
until his professional duties prevented his attendance
at college commencement. He was prepared in the of-
fice of his brother, John Davis, for his professional
course in medicine, and graduated M. D. at the Miami
Medical college in 1855, and at the Ohio medical col-
lege ad eundem, 1858.
Doctor Davis at once took high rank in his profession,
and his life, since that time, has been alike honorable to
himself and beneficial to the community in which he
dwells. Besides his large and successful medical prac-
tice, he has been prominently and influentially con*
nected with many of the most important interests of the
city. When only twenty-three years of age, he was
elected as a member of the Cincinnati board of educa-
tion, in which office he has served, at different times, full
ten years. Doctor Davis has always felt especial inter-
est in the public schools of the city, and, as a member of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
437
the board, has given years of earnest thought and
patient labor for their advancement. He was an uncom-
promising opponent of every form of corruption and im-
morality in official places. During his last term of office
in the board of education, his fearless assaults upon
the irregularities of certain members and their corrupting
influence upon the schools, called the attention of the
public to the organization of the board and led to legis-
lative action, which partially removed the selection of
members of the board from the influence of ward poli-
tics.
While he was connected with the school-board he
helped, in company with Rufus King, Dr. Comegys and
some others, to organize the public library of Cincinnati;
and he was largely instrumental in having the magnifi-
cent building,, which the library now occupies, erected.
For several terms he was a member of the board of
managers of the library, and was chairman of the library
committee.
At the organization of the university of Cincinnati,
Dr. Davis took great interest in the movement and was
elected a member of the first board of directors.
Previous to the war of"the Rebellion, Dr. Davis' inter-
est in the cause of human rights led him to engage in
politics. With Rutherford B. Hayes, Judge Hoadly,
Fred Hassaurek and others, he took an active part
in organizing the Republican party in Cincinnati. In
1856 he suffered himself to be put in nomination for the
State legislature, but the inveterate Calhoun-Yancey
doctrine was yet more potent than the youthful Republi-
canism, and he, together with the whole ticket, was de-
feated. After the party became well organized, he with-
drew from an active participation in its counsels, and,
with the exception of the interest which he has always
taken in the educational affairs of the city, he has devot-
ed himself to the study and practice of his profession.
After the battle of Shiloh, in 1862, Dr. Davis was one
of the surgeons appointed by the War department to go
in command of a number of steamers to Pittsburgh
Landing, and bring the wounded to the hospitals at Cin-
cinnati. In this service, and subsequently in charge of
one of the hospitals, Dr. Davis rendered effective aid, not
only to the suffering, but to the great cause which all pat-
riots had at heart. Later on in the war he was called into
active service in the field, and through the trying summer
of 1864 was surgeon of Colonel Harris' Cincinnati
regiment, the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Ohio
volunteer infantry.
After the war, Dr. Davis continued in the practice of
his profession until 187 1. His health having failed in
consequence of labor and exposure, he went to Europe,
for a year, to recuperate his strength and to visit the
principal centres of the continent. His visit was to have
been one of relaxation and pleasure, but upon the
speedy and permanent recovery of his health, he de-
voted his time to study and work. He wrote much for
American journals, especially the Cincinnati Gazette.
His letters were not compilations from the guide-books,
but were the results of his own observations and inqui-
ries, and were noted for their originality and suggestive-
ncss. After his return to America he threw some of his
observations and reflections into the form of lectures,
which he delivered to many audiences.
In the year 1873 he was elected professor of materia
medica and therapeutics in the Miami Medical college,
which chair he still occupies. In connection with his
profession, he has been a trustee of the Cincinnati hos-
pital, and is a member of the Cincinnati Medical socie-
ty, of which he was president in 1877-8; of the Cincin-
nati academy of medicine; of the Ohio State Medical
society, and of the American Medical association. Of
all. these boards and associations he has been a working
member, and has written many papers on medical sub-
jects for each. An earnest student, he has not only
kept abreast the literature of his profession, but by
his own discoveries and writings he has extended the
borders of medical science. These contributions to
medical literature are published either in the volumes of
the proceedings of the several medical societies, or in
medical journals. Of such papers prepared by Dr.
Davis we name the following, some of which give the
results of many years of study and observation, and are
regarded as the last words of medical science upon the
points discussed:
1. Carbolic Acid: Its Surgical and Therapeutical
Uses. A paper read before the Academy of Medicine,
June, 1869.
2. Report on Vaccination. Ohio State Medical so-
ciety, June, 1870.
3. Influence of Consumption on Life Insurance.
Ohio State Medical society, 1875.
4. Observations on Re-vaccination. Cincinnati
Medical society, December, 1875.
5. Statistics of the Medical Profession of Cincinnati
for Twenty-five years. A valedictory address before the
Miami Medical college, March, 1876.
6. Vaccino-syphilis and Animal Vaccine. Ohio
State Medical society, June, 1876.
7. The Alleged Antagonism of Opium and Bella-
donna. Cincinnati Medical society, January, 1879.
8. Intestinal Obstruction; with reports of six cases.
Cincinnati Medical society, January, 1880.
9. Progress of Therapeutics. Ohio Medical society,
1881.
Such is a brief outline of the life of the subject of
this sketch. Dr. Davis is a man of fine personal ap-
pearance, which fitly represents his symmetrical intellect-
ual and moral character. With strong convictions, a
perfect command of his resources, with an absolute de-
votion to the truth and a fluent and vigorous style, he
exerts a commanding influence in every deliberative
body of which he may be a member. Intolerant equally
towards shams and towards frauds, and not infrequently
thrown into antagonism with them, he has sometimes
been thought severe; but his severity is reserved for
those only whom he believes corrupt. To all others,
whether friends or opponents, his courtesy is unfailing.
In professional intercourse, in social life, in the families
of his patients, he attracts every one by his urbanity and
cheerfulness. Fond of society, of art, of literature, of
438
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
the amenities of home life, he is never too busy to give
an evening to friends, to converse, or to innocent adver-
tisements. He has for many years been an active mem-
ber of one of the Queen City's selectest literary and
social clubs, the " Utile cum Duki" and is rarely absent
from its meetings. This is an association for adults, and
enrolls some of the most cultivated people of the west-
ern Athens. But not unmindful of the claims of his
younger friends, Dr. Davis assisted in founding, in the
congregation of the Trinity Methodist church, on Ninth
street, a similar organization, the popular "Clark insti-
tute," of which he has been president, and which has
had much to do with the growth and prosperity of that
church. Dr. Davis has for many years been a commu-
nicant in this church, and since 1878 has been superin-
tendent of the Sunday-school connected with it.
Dr. Davis was married in April, i860, to Miss Fannie
R. Clark, daughter of the late Rev. Davis W. Clark, D.
D., one of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
church. They have two sons and have lost one daugh-
ter. Mrs. Davis has been a true "help-meet for him,"
and in full sympathy with him in all his professional,
literary and aesthetic pursuits, and in his religious life
and associations in the church of which they are both
beloved and honored members.
DR. JAMES H. BUCKNER.
James Henry Buckner, M. D., is a descendant of one
of three brothers who came from England nearly half a
century prior to the Revolution, and settled, respectively,
in Virginia, New York, and Mississippi. From Thomas,
born May 13, 1728, the settler in the Old Dominion, in
what is now Caroline county, Dr. Buckner is descended
in the fourth generation. He was a very wealthy English-
man, and in due time his descendants shared in the ben-
efits of his fortune. The son of Thomas Buckner, and
grandfather of the doctor, was Harry, who was born De-
cember 17, 1766, and removed to Kentucky some years
after his marriage, settling in Fayette county, on the road
between Lexington and Winchester, about twelve miles
from the latter place. He died in Kentucky in Febru-
ary, 1822. Another of the sons removed to that State,
and became the ancestor of the confederate general, Si-
mon Bolivar Buckner, and other distinguished Kentuck-
ians. The fourth son of Harry Buckner, Harry M., was
born before the family left Virginia, but accompanied it
to Kentucky. He was married in the year 1827 to Miss
Etheline Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Jack Conn, a
noted man in the history of Kentucky, a hero of the War
of 181 2, who is accredited by many as the slayer of Te-
cumseh at the battle of the Thames, a soldier and pioneer
of extraordinary bravery, integrity, and determination of
character, and a thorough gentleman of the old school.
Mr. Buckner's first business activity was as a clerk in the
store of his brother John, at Georgetown, but he pres-
ently undertook business for himself as a tobacco mer-
chant at Burlington, in Boone county. He afterwards
moved to Cincinnati, and formed a partnership with
Philip Dunscth in general merchandising, which was dis-
solved after the lapse of two or three years, when Mr.
Buckner returned to Burlington and recommenced busi-
ness as a tobacco manufacturer in connection with store-
keeping. He was afterwards a resident of Covington,
and then removed to the adjacent country, where he
lived, but at the same time was head of the firm of
Buckner, Hall & Co., of Cincinnati, in the wholesale
grocery business, but took no active part in its transac-
tions. About thirty years before his death, which oc-
curred near the first of July, 1876, he retired from active
business and spent his last years in tranquil ease at Edge-
wood, his country seat, about seven miles south of Cov-
ington. He was in his eighty-fiist year when he died.
His wife is still living upon the same place, at the age of
sixty-nine, but in a hale and happy old age.
James Henry Buckner was born in Burlington, Boone
county, Kentucky, November 25, 1836. His father re-
moved to Covington when James was two years old. He
became a member of the public schools of that place,
and when but eight or nine years of age entered as a
student the preparatory department of Cincinnati col-
lege. He went, however, with the family to the Edge-
wood farm in 1847, and there remained until about
seven years thereafter, when he entered Centre college,
at Danville, and after some further preparation under the
tutorship of Professor De Soto, present professor of lan-
guages in that institution, he went to the academies at
Exeter, New Hampshire, and Groton, Massachusetts,
completing his preparation, and then matriculated at
Dartmouth college, where he took a special and partial
course. He was contemporary at Dartmouth with ex-
Governor Edward F. Noyes, present United States min-
ister to France, and his room-mate was Colonel Nicholas
Smith, of Shelbyville, Kentucky, son-in-law of Horace
Greeley, and minister to Greece under the late President
Johnson. Leaving college in the spring of 1857, he re-
turned home and began the study of medicine with Dr.
Evans, then a prominent practitioner in Covington. He
soon, however, removed to Cincinnati, and continued
his professional readings with Dr. L. M. Lawson and Dr.
W. T. Taliaferro, partners, to the latter of whom Dr.
Buckner was afterwards son-in-law and partner. He
entered the Ohio Medical college in 1858, taking
full courses of lectures and graduating in 1861. He
then formed a partnership with Dr. Taliaferro, who had
dissolved with Dr. Lawson a few months before. In Oc-
tober Dr. Buckner formed an acquaintance with Captain
(afterwards Commodore) Winslow, of the United States
navy, then of the gun-boat service, but afterwards com-
mander of the Kearsarge, in response to whose chal-
lenge Semmes suffered the defeat and loss of the Ala-
bama. Winslow, in 1861, was recruiting for the fresh
water navy, and at his urgency Dr. Buckner accepted a
position as acting surgeon for the examination of such
recruits. After some service in this capacity in Cincin-
nati and Cleveland, he was assigned to duty on the gun-
boat Cairo, by special request of Captain Winslow, whose
vessel it was. At the fall of Fort Donelson, this was
among the first gun-boats to reach Nashville and virtual-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
439
ly capture the place, as the rebels had abandoned it and
the Federal forces had not yet come up. Returning to
Cairo and descending the Mississippi the gun-boat was
engaged in the reduction of the rebel fort beyond Plum
Point. Dr. Buckner had meanwhile become seriously
ill of one of the chronic diseases of the service, and his
wife also being sick at home, his resignation was thus
compelled, and he returned to Cincinnati. He retained
an unpleasant souvenir of the war for a number of years
in a deafness of the right ear, caused by the near explo-
sion of a bomb, until it was relieved by the celebrated
aurist, Dr. Politzer, of Vienna, in the winter of 1873.
His hearing has since been almost or quite as good as
ever.
During his naval service, just before Dr. Buckner was
assigned to duty in Cleveland, he was married, October
17, 1861, to Miss Jane Olivia Ramsey, stepdaughter of
his partner, Dr. Taliaferro. As soon as his health per-
mitted after his resignation, he resumed business with his
father-in-law, who was growing old and had a somewhat
burdensome practice upon his hands. He continued for
about a year after his return to serve the Government as
an examiner of recruits for the naval service. The part-
nership with Dr. Taliaferro ceased only with the death of
the latter, in 187 1. His name is still up in the old office,
at the northwest corner of Otto and Walnut streets,
which Dr. Buckner has occupied as student and practi-
tioner for more than twenty-one years. Since the death
of his partner, Dr. Buckner has remained alone in the
practice of his profession. In the winter of 1862-3 ne
was made demonstrator of anatomy in the Ohio Medical
college, and was afterwards, in 1866-7, professor of phys-
iology in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Sur-
gery. After the death of Dr. Taliaferro, Dr. Buckner
succeeded to his chair of ophthalmology and otology in
the same institution. About the same time he was ap-
pointed lecturer on the staff of the Good Samaritan hos-
pital in Cincinnati, where he again addressed the students
of the Ohio Medical college. He resigned his several
positions in the fall of 1872, in order to take a foreign
tour, during which he visited the principal capitals of
Europe and took a special course of studies in the eye
and ear at Vienna. After a tour through Italy he re-
turned, via England and Ireland, to America. He then
resumed his place in the hospital, and was subsequently
elected to the staff of St. Mary's hospital, in special
charge of ocular and aural diseases. In 1878 he was
elected president of the Academy of Medicine, of Cin-
cinnati, one of the most honorable positions to which a
practitioner can aspire. He is also a prominent member
of the American Medical association, and of the State
Medical society; is connected with the Free Masons, and
with the Natural History society of Cincinnati. He has
contributed to the literature of his profession a number of
valuable articles upon diseases of the eye, ear, and throat,
upon surgery, and upon chloroform — most of these being
papers read before the State Medical society and after-
wards published.
Dr. Buckner has two children, both sons — William
Thornton Taliaferro (named from his maternal grand-
father), born April 19, 1863; and Henry Alexander, born
August, 1 866.
DR. C. S. MUSCROFT.
Charles Sidney Muscroft, M. D., long one of the
foremost surgeons of the Ohio valley, is a native of Shef-
field, England, born in that part of the city then known
as "Little Sheffield," on the fourteenth of February, 1820.
His parents were George and Hannah (Chapman) Mus-
croft. The father was one of the successful manufactur-
ing cutlers in the renowned city of cutlery ; but, upon re-
moval to America in 1822, he became rather a jobber in
the business. He came to this country against the pro-
hibition of the British Government, which was opposed
to the emigration of its skilled workmen; but, departing
ostensibly for settlement in Holland, he was enabled to
get thence to the new world without difficulty. Landing
at Baltimore, his sympathies determined him to join the
community experiment being made by Robert Owen at
New Harmony, Indiana, and he transported his family and
effects in wagons to Brownsville, thence by river vessel
to Cincinnati, where he was persuaded by several gentle-
men to stay his journey and settle in the rising young
city. He was a man of superior intelligence and me-
chanical genius, a public-spirited citizen, and a very use-
ful member of society and business circles in Cincinnati
in the early day. He lived here continuously from the
fall of 1825, until April 23, 1845, tne birthday of Shaks-
pere (as also Mr. Muscroft), when he died, being then in
his fifty-ninth year. He was at the time about to make
a new and very notable venture here, in the manufacture
of malleable iron, and his death, for this and other
reasons, was justly regarded as a public calamity. He
was a leading member and founder of the Ohio Mechan-
ics' institute, and had sometimes lectured before that
and other scientific bodies in the city on technical and
other topics with which he was familiar; and upon his
death a fitting series of resolutions was adopted by the in-
stitute, sent to his family, and published in the city
papers.
Charles Sidney was the youngest member of the fam-
ily who lived beyond the period of infancy. He was
trained in the private school of the Neifs, in Cincinnati,
then the famous academy of Professor Milo G. Williams,
and finally the yet more famous academy of Alexander
and William Kinmont. For two or three years he as-
sisted his father in mechanical operations, and then, at
the age of nineteen, began to read medicine with Dr.
Charles L. Avery, son of John L. Avery, formerly sheriff
of the county. He also matriculated at the Ohio Medi-
cal college, took three full courses of lectures, and was
graduated with the diploma of M. D. on the first of
March, 1843. The young doctor began practice at once
and alone, and has since continuously practiced in the
city of his childhood and youth, and always without a
partner. For about twelve years he was engaged in gen-
eral practice, but near the year 1855 began to turn his
attention especially to surgery, in which his chief reputa-
tion has been attained. He has since been called to
44°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
perform most of the grand operations known to surgical
science. He has frequently and successfully accom-
plished the exsection of bones, in one or two cases the
removal of all, or very nearly all, the entire fibula. His
operation for the removal of the entire ulna is noticed
with interest in Dr. Gross' work on the Centennial His-
tory of Surgery in America, published in 1876, in which
only the names of Drs. Muscroft, R. D. Mussey, and
George C. Blackman are mentioned among Cincinnati
surgeons. He has devised a new method in the treat-
ment of fractures, discarding the use of splints, and re-
lying solely upon pillows and sand-bags — a method which
in his practice has been most eminently successful, and
has commended itself extensively to other surgeons. He
has also made important contributions to the literature of
the profession, as in two papers on the use of sulphate of
iron as a local remedy, read respectively before the Ohio
medical society and the Academy of Medicine, and others
on the exsection of the ulna, descriptive of the case men-
tioned in the Centennial History by Dr. Gross, the
treatment of Asiatic Cholera, the Osteo-sarcoma of the
Superior Maxilla, two on the Prevention of Syphilis, etc.,
etc. As chairman of a committee of the Academy of
Medicine, to prepare an obituary notice of Dr. George A.
Blackman, after his death in 1875, he wrote a sketch of
the life and services of the distinguished dead, which
was afterwards used bodily in the report of the transac-
tions of the American Medical association, and without
any credit whatever to its author.
For many years Dr. Muscroft was on the medical staff
of the Cincinnati hospital. He has maintained a general
practice in medicine with reputation and success, and is
an active member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medi-
cine, the Ohio State Medical society, and of the Ameri-
can Medical association. He was the first health officer
and actuary of the board of health of the city of Cin-
cinnati, in the cholera year of 1849; was for a time sur-
geon of St. John's hospital, in the city; and during the
war was first surgeon of the Tenth Ohio infantry, then,
successively, brigade surgeon, medical director, and in-
spector of hospitals, for certain purposes. He thus had
large opportunity for public usefulness — opportunity
which was well used for his own reputation and for the
benefit of the community and nation.
Dr. Muscroft was united in marriage February 14, 1850,
the thirtieth anniversary of his birthday, to Miss Harriet,
daughter of Thomas Palmer, one of the founders of the
Cincinnati Daily Gazette. They have had five children,
only one of whom is living — Dr. Charles S. Muscroft, jr., a
promising young physician, who is associated with his
father upon the medical staff of St. Mary's hospital.
Mrs. Muscroft is still living, a worthy helpmate of her
honored husband.
Dr. Muscroft is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, was one of the founders of the Cuvier
club, and otherwise takes a healthy interest in the welfare
of his fellows. He was formerly an old line Whig, but
since 1850 has been affiliated with the Democratic party.
CYRUS D. FISHBURN, M. D.,
of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a native of Pennsylvania; born in
Hummelstown, Dauphin county, October 27, 1832.
John Philip Fishburn, his great-grandfather, emigrated
from Germany to this country in 1749. His son, Philip
Fishburn, was a successful farmer of colonial times, and
during the war of the Revolution was a soldier. He
_also served in the War of 181 2. He reared a large fam-
ily, of which Jonas was the father of the subject of this
sketch.
Jonas Fishburn's family consisted of four children —
Isaac, the oldest son, now practising as a physician in
Stephenson county, Illinois; Cyrus D., Amanda and
George. The last named was a stock-raiser and farmer
near Portland, Oregon. He died at the age of thirty-
seven, from a stroke of paralysis, in August, 1880.
Jonas Fishburn removed to Iowa in 1856 and engaged
in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred
in 1877, at the age of seventy-four years. He was a
man who appreciated the worth of an education, and be-
fore coming west had removed his family to the village of
Womelsdorf, Berks county, Pennsylvania, for the purpose
of educating his children. Cyrus D. Fishburn remained
there at school until fifteen years of age, when he went
to Phillips academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and began
a preparatory course for Harvard or Yale; but financial
embarrassment in the family now, materially changed all
his future plans. The father proposed a medical career;
but the son had inclinations for law, and we judge his
keensightedness had forseen a brilliant future, that would
undoubtedly have awaited him had he chosen that pro-
fession; but obeying the wish of his parent, he entered
the office of Dr. William Moore, of Womelsdorf, an in-
telligent and finely educated physician who had an exten-
sive practice. He, here, thoroughly prepared himself for
entering a medical college. While a student he was
obliged to assume the responsibilities of a large practice,
in consequence of a serious accident which happened to
his preceptor. The responsibilities resting upon him
were undesirable for one so young in the profession, but
in the end were very advantageous. He graduated in
the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania,
in Philadelphia, in the year 1854. After remaining one
year with his preceptor he located in Elizabethtown,
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he remained two
years more. Being impressed with the brilliant prospects
of the west, he prepared himself with excellent letters of
introduction and travelled through the States of Michi-
gan and Iowa in search of a location.
The doctor having more energy than money kept up
the search. One incident should be recorded as it did
much to develope the power of the man and lead him
to the prominent success he afterwards attained. He
was determined to earn his living even if he had to re-
sort to manual labor; and was almost led to this strait-
ened state of circumstances when he was introduced to
the late Dr. Pitcher, of Detroit, an eminent physician,
and president at that time of the National Medical asso-
ciation. He was introduced as a young man of some
worth in the profession looking for a new home; when
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
441
the old gentleman dryly remarked, "If he only don't
look for one already made." The remark was painfully
true. He had indeed been looking for just such a place,
and probably his steps thither had been hastened for its
accomplishment. Such a greeting, so chilling and unex-
pected, served to arouse his native energies and he there-
after sought no partnership unless he was sure that he
could contribute his full share to the success of the asso-
ciation.
Leaving Detroit he arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, but
after staying one month he departed for Cincinnati. The
idea that hard work, well directed, is sure to win, began
to appear to be untrue. He arrived in Cincinnati in
1858 with but ten dollars in his pocket. He at once
formed a temporary partnership with an old acquaintance,
Dr. Peter Malone, and began practice on Broadway near
Third street; but being too far away from his German
patrons he removed to Vine near Court street, into an
office recently occupied by the late Dr. George Fries, a
distinguished physician and surgeon, and one who did
much to assist the willing efforts of his younger colleague.
He received much encouragement from this kind gentle-
man, and a lasting friendship sprung up between them.
From this time his practice grew rapidly and became ex-
tensive, and he is now recognized by the citizens of Cin-
cinnati and vicinity as being eminently successful in his
profession. He removed to the corner of Vine street
and McMicken avenue, then called Hamilton road, in
i860. In 1874 he built his present commodious house,
No. 70 McMicken avenue, in which he has since resided.
In 1866 he married Miss Louise Billiods, daughter of
one of the earliest pioneers of Cincinnati. In 1878 she
died, leaving a son. Her affectionate nature, gentle
ways, and love of home, combined with her excellent
judgment, made her a model wife, her home a paradise,
and life a constant happiness.
Dr. Fishburn is known by the citizens of Cincinnati
and by the profession to be an indefatigable worker.
His efforts to attain success are worthy of imitation by
those who wish to be prepared for the responsibilities of
an extensive practice; for no doubt his success in life is
due to the energy he has displayed in overcoming all
obstacles that blocked his way. He has been twice
elected and is now one of the directors of the University
of Cincinnati, The doctor was, unsolicited, elected in
1873 a member of the board of alderman of the city.
He is, at the present writing, in the prime of life and
vigor of manhood, and actively engaged in his profes-
sional duties. His untiring zeal in private and public
life has made him a valuable citizen, and has added
materially to the welfare and prosperity of his adopted
city.
MILTON THOMPSON CAREY, M. D.,
born near the town of Hardin, in Shelby county, Ohio,
July 22, 1831. The advantages for acquiring an educa-
tion during his early boyhood were somewhat meagre
and limited ; but notwithstanding this, at the age of eigh-
teen years his preparatory education was of sufficient
56
character to justify him to enter upon the study of med-
icine. After three years' pupilage, and shortly before he
was of age, he graduated in medicine in the Ohio Med-
ical college, and, as a reward of merit and distinction in
the class, after a competitive examination, was appointed
resident physician of the Commercial Hospital and Lu-
natic asylumn. After his term of service expired in this
institution he began the general practice of his profession.
He received appointment as attending physician to the
Venereal and Contagious hospital in 1852-3; was ap-
pointed demonstrator of anatomy by the trustees of the
Ohio Medical college, which position he occupied until
the spring of 1856; and was elected coroner of Hamilton
county, Ohio, in the fall of 1857, and served two years.
At the breaking out of the war he was examined by the
State board of examiners, was appointed and commis-
sioned surgeon Forty-eighth regiment Ohio volunteer in-
fantry November 21, 1861, and assigned to duty as post
surgeon at Camp Dennison, Ohio. After organizing a
post hospital and assisting in the organization of several
regiments he was ordered into active duty in the field in
the spring of 1862, took part in the battle of Pitts-
burgh Landing, or Shiloh, and was captured on the first
day of the battle, April 6th, and remained a prisoner of
war until July 2, 1862, at which time he was paroled
and returned home. Soon after his arrival at home he
was ordered to Camp Chase, Ohio, and assigned to duty
as post surgeon, in which capacity he served until Octo-
ber of the same year, at which time he was ordered to
join the army at Fort Pickering, Tennessee. He was with
with the army at the time of the assault upon Vicks-
burgh, was likewise a participant in the battle of Ar-
kansas Post, January n, 1863, and was attacked with
camp fever at Young's Point, in consequence of which
his health became so impaired that he was compelled to
resign his commission and return home. Not content
to remain idle in the great struggle in which the govern-
ment was engaged, as soon as his health was somewhat
restored he made application for and received the appoint-
ment of acting assistant surgeon, and was assigned to
duty as surgeon in Woodward Post hospital in this city,
in which capacity he served until the war was well nigh
ended. He was reelected coroner of Hamilton county in
1865 and served two years; was elected to the common
council in 1872 and served two years, and was elected by
the common council a member of the board of directors of
Longview asylum. After serving nearly two terms he was
reappointed to that position by the governor of the State.
He was elected as a representative of the Twenty-second
ward to the board of education in 1880 and 1881, and is
now a member of the Cincinnati Relief union, which
position he has held many years, likewise member of the
board of directors and vice-president of theeleventh district
associated charities. As an evidence of his success in his
profession there are but few medical men in Cincinnati
who have been more successful in a financial point of
view than he. He began poor, but by energy, economy
and industry his investments yield him a liberal compe-
tency aside from the income of his profession. As
a medical officer in the army he attained some dis-
442
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tinction as an operator — see reports on file in the med-
ical department, and circular No. 2, page 23, surgeon-
general's office at Washington, D. C. The many tokens
of confidence upon the part of his fellow-citizens are
highly gratifying, to him, and it is but fair to say that
every trust has been faithfully and scrupulously dis-
charged.
DR. C. O. WRIGHT.
Charles Olmsted Wright, M. D., is a native of Colum-
bus, Ohio, born December 26, 1835, oldest child of Dr.
Marmaduke Burr Wright and Mrs. Mary L. (Olmsted)
Wright. Her father, Philo H. Olmsted, was in his day
one of the most prominent men in Central Ohio, and for
many years was editor of the State Journal, of that city.
The elder Wright was the famous physician of that name,
who spent a large part of his professional life in this city,
and is appropriately noticed in our chapter on medicine in
Cincinnati. He survived until August 15, 1879, when
he died here, full of years and honors. Mrs. Wright is
still living, in a hale and vigorous age.
Charles was but three years old, when the family was
removed to Cincinnati by a call to his father to occupy
the chair of Materia Medica in the Ohio Medical
college. His primary and in part higher education
was taken in the public schools of the city, but stopped
when a member of the Hughes high school without
graduating, in 1852, with the intention of accompanying
his parents to Europe. This intention was abandoned,
for the sake of the younger children, who needed his
care; and he took instead a special course of one year in
the Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware. Leaving
this institution in 1853, he began practice in civil
engineering at the tunnel then being constructed under
Walnut Hills, as is elsewhere related in this history; but
was soon compelled by ill health to seek a more quiet,
indoor life. In 1855 he began the study of medicine
with Dr. W. W. Dawson, with whom he read for a year,
when, under friendly advice, he went to California and
engaged in merchandizing there for about six months,
during which he had great experience of the rough and
tumble side of life. He was presently burnt out, how-
ever, losing his entire stock, and was then seized with
the spirit of adventure, pushed across the Pacific to the
Sandwich Islands and thence to the Chinese coast, where
he enjoyed a breadth and minuteness of observation
then not often vouchsafed to a foreigner. Thence he
made his way home the rest of his journey around the
world, via Japan, Siam, Calcutta, Bombay, through the
Chusan Archipelago, the island of Manilla and along the
west coast of Africa. From San Francisco to Cincinnati
he occupied three years with his voyages and land
journeys. While in China he found an extensive field
for the observation of skin diseases, and decided that, if
he followed his father's vocation, he would pay some
especial attention to such ailments. Arriving at home,
he promptly resumed his medical studies, becoming a
member of the Ohio Medical college, and enjoying in
addition the instructions of both his father and Dr. Daw-
son. He took his diploma of Doctor of Medicine in the
summer of 1862, went immediately before the State
board at Columbus, for examination as a candidate for
appointment in the army, passed it successfully, and was
appointed assistant surgeon in the Thirty-fifth Ohio vol-
unteer infantry. He was captured at Chickamauga, and
for three years was detained as a prisoner at Atlanta and in
the famous Libby prison, at Richmond. He was, how-
ever, as a medical man, allowed some favors, and was
presently released by special exchange, arranged by his
friends at Washington. He rejoined his regiment at
Chattanooga, during the cold winter of 1862-3 and the
starvation period experienced by the army there. He
resigned on the day of the battle at Kenesaw Mountain,
.during the Atlanta campaign, from ill health, and re-
turned home. He had then reached the full grade of
surgeon. Returning home, he was made a resident
physician in the Cincinnati hospital, and also went into
private practice. In this he had his father's invaluable
advice and aid, and soon undertook the same specialities
of practice — obstetrics and diseases of women and chil-
dren. He became a member of the staff of the Good
Samaritan hospital and lecturer on skin diseases, and
was afterwards one of the physicians in charge of the dis-
pensary. He has always maintained a large private
practice, but has found time to write occasional papers for
the professional societies and press, and is an active mem-
ber of the Cincinnati academy of medicine, the Obstet-
rical society and the State Medical society. He has been
called to much service as a medical examiner for the
large life-insurance companies, having been examiner,
among others, for the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey for
sixteen years. He is supreme medical examiner of the
Knights of the Golden Rule for the United States, and
grand medical examiner for the Ancient Order of United
Workmen in Ohio. He does not take a very active part
in politics, but retains his membership in the Grand Army
of the Republic.
Dr. Wright was married, in March, 1870, to Miss Eva,
daughter of David K. and Ann Eliza Cady, of Cin-
cinnati, the former a member of the city school board for
thirty years. They have three children living, and one,
a little girl, in the grave. The surviving children are
David Cady, a boy of nine years; Marmaduke B. (named
from the paternal grandfather), in his fourth year; and
Ann Eliza (from the maternal grandmother), aged two
years. Mary L. died an infant in 1874.
DR. P. F. MALEY.
Patrick Francis Maley, M. D., a well-known medical
practitioner in Cincinnati, and ex-coroner of the county
of Hamilton, is a native of the Emerald Isle, being born
in the county Mayo, Ireland, on the 15th of January,
1838. He attended the primary schools of his native
land until the age of thirteen, soon after attaining which
he was removed with his father's family'to the promised
land beyond the sea. Arriving in America in 1851, the
newcomers pushed on to the beautiful' valley of the Ohio,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
443
and settled in this county. Here the young Patrick was
enabled to go on with his course of education, which
soon became highly liberal in its character, and included
a number of branches in the higher ranges of study. His
first business life was as a clerk in the drug store of Mr.
J. P. White, in this city, which proved a good beginning
of preparation for the profession he was to pursue. He
remained with Mr. White seven years, meanwhile taking
a diploma from the Cincinnati college of pharmacy, and
otherwise perfecting himself thoroughly in the details of
the business. His medical reading now began with Dr.
John A. Thacker, also of the city, and he presently be-
came a student in the Cincinnati college of medicine and
surgery, from which he was graduated in 1861. He was
soon diverted from local practice, however, by a sum-
mons to serve his country during the great civil struggle
which broke out about this time. Being appointed
assistant surgeon in the United States navy, he was as-
signed to duty on the gunboat flotilla, upon the western
waters. The next year, near the close of 1862, he was
compelled to resign, by reason of swamp fever, contracted
during his service at Helena, Arkansas. After his re-
covery he recommenced practice at home, but was again
drawn into the public service by a fresh appointment in
the surgical department, for which he was duly examined
and pronounced qualified. He was on duty at Jefferson
barracks, St. Louis, until September 22, 1863, when,
upon his leaving to join the army of General Rosecrans,
just before the battle of Chattanooga, he was presented
with a silver ice-pitcher and salver by the officers and
patients of the hospital at the barracks, as a token of
personal esteem and confidence. The ordinary channels
of communication to Chattanooga being interrupted, he
traveled on foot over the mountains, above seventy miles,
in order to reach the next post of duty. During this
perilous and toilsome trip all his effects and instruments
were lost by the capture of the wagon train conveying
them. Reaching Chattanuga at last, he was put at work
at once in the Critchfield House, which had become a
hospital. He then accompanied a train of sick and
wounded soldiers to Nashville, where he finally resigned
from the service. Embarking once more in private prac-
tice in Cincinnati, he speedily built up a large and lucra-
tive business, which has been steadily maintained and
increased to this day. Dr. Maley has found time, how-
ever, to do the public some service in official positions.
He was an influential member of the board of education
of the city for five years ; was a councilman from the
Fourth ward for two terms; and, upon the death of Dr.
Dougherty, coroner of Hamilton county, in the autumn
of 1872, he was appointed to fill the vacancy; was reg-
.ularly elected in 1873, and reelected for the full term the
next year. The Biographical Encyclopaedia well said of
him during this service: "He has shown his complete
qualifications for this public trust, and the honors of the
reelections conferred upon him by the public indicate
that the people of Cincinnati are amply satisfied with the
care and fidelity with which he discharges his duties."
Although his convictions and political affiliations had
previously been Democratic, Dr. Maley was a supporter
of General Garfield for the Presidency in 1880, and ie-
ceived from him a handsome acknowledgment of the
Doctor's telegram of congratulation, which has been
neatly framed and is among the ornaments of his office
and home at the southeast corner of Eighth and John
streets.
Dr. Maley was united in marriage April 23, 1861, to
Miss Josephine E., daughter of Mr. A. C. Holcombe, a
native of Virginia, and one of the Cincinnati pioneers.
She departed this life on the third day of May, 1880,
leaving two sons — both now grown to manhood — Edwin
Francis, engaged in business as cashier for Rothschild &
Sons, at No. 292 West Sixth street; and George Pollock,
bill clerk in the office of the Cincinnati Southern railroad.
GENERAL HICKENLOOPER.
Andrew Hickenlooper was born in Hudson, Ohio,
August 30, 1837. His youth was mostly spent at school
till in 1854 he entered the office of A. W. Gilbert, city
engineer of Cincinnati. With Mr. Gilbert he remained
three years, being admitted into the partnership. In
1859 he became the city surveyor, in which position he
confirmed the good opinions which has been formed con-
cerning his efficiency and energy as an engineer. In
1 86 1, under the auspices of General Fremont, Mr.
Hickenlooper recruited "Hickenlooper's battery of Cin-
cinnati," afterwards known as the Fifth Ohio independent
battery, with which, soon after, he went to Jefferson City,
Missouri, where he was appointed commandant of artil-
lery at the post.
In March, 1862, Captain Hickenlooper returned to
the command of his battery, and was transferred to
Grant's army at Pittsburgh Landing. Three days after
the bloody battle there, in which he participated, Gen-
eral McKean appointed him division commandant of
artillery. In this capacity he served until after the bat-
tles of Iuka and Corinth, when, upon the complimentary
reports of his superiors, he was ordered by General
Grant, October 26, 1862, to report for staff duty to Gen-
eral McPherson. The connection thus began which was
only terminated by the untimely death of his chief, Mc-
Pherson made him chief of ordnance and artillery, and
instructed him to complete the fortifications at Bolivar,
'and still later he was made, by General McPherson,
chief engineer of the Seventeenth army corps.
Throughout the siege of Vicksburgh, Captain Hicken-
looper had charge of the engineer operations on the
front of the corps, and conducted them so well as to
elicit the warm approval of McPherson. The approaches
were pushed up until some of the enemy's guns were
silenced, and a mine — the first important one of the war
was run under the rebel works. In his honor, Gen-
eral McPherson named one of the forts "Battery Hick-
enlooper," and made special mention of him in his
official reports. In a letter to Halleck, General Mc-
Pherson says: "Captain A. Hickenlooper deserves
special mention for his ability, untiring energy, and skill
in making reconnoissances and maps of the routes passed
444
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
over, superintending the repairs and construction of
bridges, etc., constantly exposing himself day and night.
He merits some substantial recognition of his services."
And again: "I write, without solicitation, to urge the
claims for promotion, by brevet or otherwise, of one of
the best, and, at the same time, one of the most modest
officers on my staff, Captain Andrew Hickenlooper,
Fifth Ohio battery. I first made his acquaintance at
Jefferson city, in 1 86 1-2, and was most favorably im-
pressed with his intelligence and military bearing. .
. On assuming command at Bolivar, Tennessee, in
October, 1862, I was very much in need of an engineer
officer, and, knowing his qualifications, I applied to
Major General Grant, and had Captain Hickenlooper
assigned to me as chief of artillery and engineer officer.
He has made a reputation commensurate with the repu-
tation of the corps. As all the Ohio batteries of light
artillery are 'independent batteries,' there is no chance for
him to obtain promotion in that branch of the service,
and I think it but due that the general commanding
should give him some token of his appreciation, cheer-
ing to the heart of a soldier. I therefore respectfully re-
quest that you will present his name for a brevet com-
mission of colonel or lieutenant colonel." After the fall
of Vicksburgh, the board of honor of the seventeenth
corps awarded him a gold medal, on which was inscribed:
"Pittsburgh Landing, siege of Corinth, Iuka, Corinth,
Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Vicks-
burgh.''
When McPherson took command of the army of the
Tennessee, Captain Hickenlooper was made judge-advo-
cate on his staff, and a little later chief of artillery for
the department and army of the Tennessee. In this po-
sition he accompanied his chief through the Atlanta
campaign. After McPherson's death, when General
Howard took command of the army, Captain Hicken-
looper was returned to his former position of judge advo-
cate, and was made assistant chief of artillery. From
this position he was relieved at the request of General
F. P. Blair, to accept the position of assistant inspector
general Seventeenth army corps, which appointment car-
ried with it the promotion to the rank of lieutenant
colonel. After the campaign of the Carolinas was near-
ly over, he was recommended for a brigadier generalship,
— General Howard indorsing that he "knew of no of-
ficer in the service whom he would more cordially recom-
mend." General Sherman saying : " He served long
and faithfully near General McPherson, and enjoyed his
marked confidence; is young, vigorous and well educat-
ed, and can fill any commission with honor and credit to
the service." And General Grant saying: "He has
proved himself one of the ablest and most energetic vol-
unteer officers, no one having the confidence of his super-
iors in a higher degree." Captain Hickenlooper was ap-
pointed a brevet brigadier general of volunteers, May
20, 1865, and assigned to the command of a brigade
composed of the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, and
Sixteenth Iowa veteran volunteers. After the muster
out of the troops, he was warmly recommended by Blair,
Logan, Howard, Sherman, and Grant, for a commission
as major of artillery in the regular army, or for the of-
fice of United States marshal for the southern district of
Ohio. He was appointed to the latter position, was soon
confirmed, and at once entered upon its duties, being at
the time still under thirty years of age. In this position
he remained four years, when he resumed the duties of
city engineer. In 1872 the Cincinnati Gas Light & Coke
company solicited his services, and in order to secure
them a new office, that of vice-president, was created.
After a few years, Mr. Hickenlooper was made president
of the company, the office of vice-president having been
abolished. The duties of this position General Hicken-
looper discharged well — to the satisfaction of the com-
pany and the citizens. In 1879, General Hickenlooper
was elected lieutenant governor of Ohio, on the Repub-
lican ticket with Mr. Foster. At the time of his nomination
for lieutenant governor, one of his neighbors said: "Gen-
eral Hickenlooper is the most industrious man I ever
knew. He is never idle. His popularity in Cincinnati
is great. His courtesy to everybody is proverbial, and
applicants to him for assistance are never turned away
empty-handed. He is liberal in his ideas of life, and
full of charity, but in his own habits is temperate. He
has always taken an active part in our local politics, not
for fame, honor, or office, but because he deemed it his
duty as a citizen.'' His nomination to the candidacy of
lieutenant governor was without his seeking or knowledge.
He hesitated to accept, but once decided, he went in to
win, and, during his term of office thus far, has fulfilled
the expectations of his friends, and confirmed the high
opinion formed as to his executive and administrative
abilities.
COLONEL DAVID W. McCLUNG.
David Waddle McClung, surveyor of customs for the
port of Cincinnati, and ex-officio collector, etc., is of west
Scotland or Highland stock. In 1730 his great-grand-
father came to this country and settled in Washington
county, New York. His descendants mostly resided in
that State; but his son, Charles McClung, grandfather of
the subject of this memoir, removed to Mifflin county,
Pennsylvania, where David's father and mother were
both born, but were both brought to Ohio by their par-
ents in early childhood, the families settling in Fairfield
county. The father's name was also David; he was mar-
ried in 1824 to Miss Elizabeth Brown, daughter of David
and Elizabeth (McTeer) Brown. Their fifth child and
fourth son was David Waddle, born December 18, 1831,
in Eaton township, Seneca county, Ohio, to which his
parents had removed two years after marriage. His
brothers and sisters were, in due order of birth, Phcebe,
William Clark, Robert, James (deceased in February,
1874), Margaret (died November, 1878), Sarah and Har-
vey (both of whom died in childhood), John Calvin, and
Martha (deceased in August, 1876). But five of this
large family, including David, are now living. The father
died in October, 1867, and the mother in August, 1877.
David was brought up on a farm, which had been the
manual-labor school of his ancestry for generations; at-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
445
tended the country schools in his childhood, which were
very good for the time, the residence of the family being
on the border of the famous Western Reserve; and was
a member of the Seneca County academy, at Republic,
then taught by the Hon. Thomas W. Harvey, since State
commissioner of Schools. Here he prepared for college,
and entered freshman at Muskingum college, New Con-
cord, in October, 1850; remained one term, and then
transferred his allegiance to Miami university, at Oxford,
from which he was graduated A. B. in 1854. During
much of his preparatory course he maintained himself
by teaching school, beginning at the early age of fifteen,
and for a large share of the expenses of his college course
he served the university in various capacities, but had to
create a debt, which was faithfully repaid upon his en-
trance into business life. After graduation he again un-
dertook the pedagogic vocation, but in a higher field,
becoming at first principal of the high schools, then su-
perintendent of public schools in Hamilton, in which
two positions he remained three years. At the expira-
tion of his year as superintendent he accepted the charge
of the Republican organ at the same place, the Hamilton
Intelligencer, which he conducted or assisted in editing
for about two years, in association with his old friend and
classmate, Colonel Minor Milliken. It was the early day
of the Republican party; Butler county was largely Dem-
ocratic; it was an important transition period, and the
Intelligencer bore its full share in fixing the current of pub-
lic opinion. The fight with opponents was at times close
and sharp, and Mr. McClung was himself personally at-
tacked by an infuriated Democrat, and bore from the
conflict an honorable scar which he wears to this day, a
testimonial of the later days that tried men's souls. He
was during this time of editorial work engaged at inter-
vals in the study of the law; and in the winter of 1859-
60 he was appointed by the governor to the position of
probate judge of the county, vice William R. Kinder, who
died in office. Upon the election of his successor— a
Democrat, of course — he spent a few months desultorily
in his law office, but, immediately upon the outbreak of
the war, the call for volunteers being issued Monday
morning, April 16, 186 1, he enlisted in a Hamilton com-
pany as a private soldier, and went with it to Camp Jef-
ferson, Columbus, where it was sworn into service April
24th, and assigned as company F, Third Ohio infantry.
On the twenty-seventh of the same month the regiment
was sent, with five companies of the Eleventh, to estab-
lish Camp Dennison, on the Little Miami railroad, seven-
teen miles from Cincinnati. Mr. McClung was taken
from the ranks, where he was still serving as a private,
and made quartermaster of the camp, in which place of
responsibility and honor he was detained, contrary to all
precedents of the service, until the following March, hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars, in money and property,
passing through his hands meanwhile, not only of quar-
termaster's, but of ordnance stores. He then received a
commission, to date from February 19, 1862, as captain
and assistant quartermaster. He remained at the camp
until June 15, 1862, having meanwhile rebuilt it, in or-
der to fit it for winter quarters; and was then ordered to
Camp Chase, to build the barracks for rebel prison<_rs
there. When the call for five hundred thousand more
was made by President Lincoln, Camp Dennison acquir-
ed more importance than ever, and Captain McClung
was ordered back to equip the regiments forming
therein. From first to last, it is believed that he pre-
pared not far from one hundred regiments for the field.
When the second levy of troops had been equipped, he
supervised the conversion of the barracks at the camp,
during November and December of 1862, into a conva-
lescent hospital. Thence he departed for Madison, In-
diana, where hospitals more convenient to the river were
to be built, and, after getting that work well under way,
he was ordered to Cincinnati, to take charge of the pur-
chase of supplies, in which capacity he served until the
close of the war. His money accounts with the Govern-
ment, during his entire term of service, aggregated about
twenty-five million dollars; his property accounts more
than twice as much. Like other officers in similar posi-
tions, he was from time to time inspected, investigated,
"detectived," and "spied," but never once accused, and
he long since had his accounts satisfactorily balanced by
the officers of tbe Treasury Department. His services
were not finally dispensed with until November 8, 1865,
when he was honorably mustered out, at his own reiter-
ated request. Shortly before this, October 30, he was
breveted major of volunteers, for faithful and meritori-
ous services, on the recommendation of General Ekin
and other high officers of the quartermaster's department.
He returned to Hamilton, and was elected president of
the Second National bank in that city, although not then
a stockholder. In about a year and a half he resigned
that place, and began the manufacture of machinery in
Hamilton, remaining in this business for two years, when
he exchanged his stock in the machine-shop for an in-
terest in the Woodsdale Paper company, of which he
took charge and remained its business manager until
February 1, 1879, when he removed to Cincinnati and
became assistant postmaster. In January, 1881, he was
nominated by President Hayes surveyor of the port of
Cincinnati, and again by President Garfield upen his
accession, when he was promptly confirmed by the senate
and received his commission, of date March 10, 1881.
Such a career as that of Colonel McClung needs no
embellishment or further illustration. His qualities of
mind and character are easily inferrible from this outline
sketch of his rapid and sure advancement to his present
high position.
Colonel McClung was married on the nineteenth of
March, 1861, to Miss Anna Carter Harrison, only
daughter of Carter B. Harrison, youngest son of General
and President Harrison. Her mother was Mary, of the
family of John Sutherland, one of the pioneers of Butler
county. She is a worthy helpmate of her distinguished
spouse. They have no children, and reside on Walnut
Hills, in the First ward of Cincinnati.
446
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
AMOR SMITH, Jr.
The Hon. Amor Smith, jr., collector of internal reev-
nue for the First district of Ohio, is of English stock on
his mother's side, she, nee Sarah Spencer, having been
born in Hull, England, and coming with her parents to
this country when she was quite young. Here she was
married to Mr. Martin Smith, of Cincinnati, and, after
his death in Dayton, to Amor Smith, father of the sub-
ject of this notice. The elder Smith was a son of John
Smith, of Newcastle county, Delaware, and Charity
(Smith) Smith, and came to Cincinnati in 1817 with his
parents when but three or four years old. He removed
to Dayton in 1831, and was married in that place, as be-
fore noted. The mother died in Cincinnati in 1850, of
cholera; the father is still living. In Dayton the younger
Amor was born October 22, 1840. In 1847 his parents
removed to the Queen City, in the public schools of
which he received his elementary education, and then,
at the age of seventeen, became a student at the Sweden-
borgian university, in Urbana, Ohio, but left the school
before graduating, in order to make a beginning of ac-
tive life. He entered the employment of his father,
then a manufacturer of star candles, in Cincinnati, and
became partner with him about the year 1865 in another
line of business, the manufacture of fertilizers, with a
branch of the same in Baltimore subsequently estab-
lished. The name and style of the Cincinnati firm at
first was Amor Smith & Co., and that of the branch
house Amor Smith & Sons, the junior partners in each
case being Amor Smith, jr., and Lee Smith. They are
still, after a lapse of sixteen years, in the same business,
east and west, with the same partners, at the same, stands
in both Cincinnati and Baltimore. For a time they had
the practical monoply of the productions of ammoniacal
products from "cracklings,'' or the refuse of pork-packing
and tallow-rendering establishments, and found it very
profitable. The business has steadily enlarged from year
to year, with a temporary check about 1876, from the
fierceness of competition and the introduction of new
and patented processes. Their orders remain large,
however, and the manufacture is highly lucrative. The
Cincinnati house confines its production to agricultural
fertilizers altogether; the Baltimore branch turns out
special products for use by the makers of such fertilizers.
This division of labor and production is mutually found
advantageous. The youngest partner, Mr. Lee Smith, is
at present the manager of both houses, the father spend-
ing his time and energies mainly upon his farm at
Smith's station, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton
railroad, in Butler county, where he resides, and Amor
Smith, jr., being wholly engrossed with the duties of his
office. The last named, the subject of this sketch was
married in 1863 to Miss Mary Jane, daughter of the
Hon. Henry Kessler, a well known citizen of Cincinnati.
In 1872 he went to Baltimore with his family to take
charge of the business of the branch house, and while
there, on the twenty-sixth of November in the next year,
he was deprived of her companionship by death. He
came back to Cincinnati the next month, for the sake of
his three young children, and again took up his resi-
dence in the Queen City. He has never remarried.
The children are all living — Kessler, Alvin and Leonora
— aged sixteen, fourteen and ten respectively.
Mr. Smith has been a member of the Republican
party ever since his majority, and he has been active
and influential in it from the time he began to take part
in politics, which was very soon after he came of age.
He was elected a member of the Republican county
committee of Hamilton county in the first year there-
after, and has been associated with it most of the time
since. He was chosen to the first board of aldermen
organized in the city government under the two cham-
bered system, and was the youngest member of that
board. He served as chairman of the committee on
streets, the second committee of importance on the
board, the chairmanship of the first, or committee on
finance, being then filled by Mr. John Shillito. In this
capacity, under the law then existing, he was a member
of the board of city improvements, the remaining mem-
bers being Mayor John F. Torrence, ex officio chairman ;
August Wessel and S. W. Bard, elected members; R. C.
Phillips, city' engineer; Milton H. Cook, city commis-
sioner, and Daniel Wolf, chairman committee on streets
in the board of councilmen, members, like himself, ex
officio. Mr. Frank M. McCord, at present clerk to the
superintendent in charge of the erection of the new
Government buildings, was then clerk of the board. Mr.
Smith declined a renomination, and his service in the
council closed with that year. In 1875 he served as chair-
man of the Republican executive committee of the county,
which restored it to Republicanism after the "tidal wave,"
and in the former year secured a large majority in the
county for R. B. Hayes, then running for governor, and
the whole Republican ticket. He was again, the next
year, in the same difficult position, and gave efficient as-
sistance in the election of Governor Hayes to the Presi-
dency. He labored with equal efficiency and success in
behalf of the six million dollar loan proposed to the
Southern railroad, in addition to the ten million dollars
already expended — a triumph achieved in the face of
much local opposition and other difficulties. Afterwards
he was chairman of the committee having in charge the
canvass in the city in behalf of the two million loan,
which had once been lost, and carried it through victor-
iously. During the last Presidential campaign, that of
1880, he was chairman of the campaign committee in
the Lincoln club, which rendered most important ser-
vices in the splendid Republican success of that year.
Of this renowned institution he was one of the incorpor-
ators, and has ever since been prominent and influential
in its councils. In May, 1878, Mr. Smith, in considera-
tion of his known abilities and eminent services to Presi-
dent Hayes and the Republican party, was appointed to
the post of collector of internal revenue of the first
district of Ohio, was promptly confirmed by the Senate,
and assumed charge of the office June 8th of the same
year. His careful management of this office has been
repeatedly testified by the Washington authorities, and
at the close of his first year a formal certificate was sent
by the Hon. Green B. Raum, commissioner of internal
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
447
revenue, saying that "this faithful discharge of a public
trust merits commendation, and I take pleasure in tend-
ering you the thanks of this office therefor." His office
collects a larger sum of internal revenue than any other
in the country, about twelve million dollars per year
passing through it.
Besides the public services mentioned above, Mr.
Smith has assumed other important duties. He was one
of the committee of the chamber of commerce (the
other members being Richard Smith, of the Gazette, Mr.
W. N. Hobart, president of the chamber, and S. H.
Brinton), to negotiate the purchase of the post office
building with the Secretary of the Treasury, for the uses
of the chamber. He took a very active part in the
organization of the first Saengerfest given by the Germans
in the city, and was chairman of its committee on the
press; and also in the ceremonies attending the opening
of the exposition buildings, for which he also served
upon an important committee, and had an especial part
to perform in the march of the Fourth division (civic) in
the procession'.
L. A. STALEY, Esq.
This well-known citizen of Cincinnati, treasurer of
Hamilton county, traces his ancestry on the paternal side
to Switzerland. The first of the family to reach the new
world was Peter Staley, his great-great-grandfather, who
came to this country early in its history. The more
recent ancestors of Mr. Staley on this side are all Am-
erican born. His grandfathers on both sides and two of
his maternal uncles were soldiers of the War of 1812
-15. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Connor, came
from Ireland when an orphan boy, and settled in
Maryland, where he married and brought up his family.
His youngest child and daughter, Rebecca Connor, was
a native of Georgetown. District of Columbia, born in
1809, and was united in marriage at Frederick, Maryland,
the seventeenth of December, 1835, to Henry Staley,
great-grandson of the pioneer above named, and father
of the subject of this notice, and a native of that county,
born in 1810. The youthful pair lived in Frederick,
where two- of their children were born, until r84o. In
that year Mr. Staley came on foot to the Miami country
in company with several. of his neighbors, on a prospect-
ing tour for a place in which to settle his family to
advantage. He fixed his affections upon Dayton, Mont-
gomery county, Ohio, and in the absence of railroads
and of an over full purse, he walked all the way back to
Frederick, nearly six hundred miles, and soon started
with his family for the great west. They settled in Day-
ton, where the elder Staley engaged as a carpenter and
builder and has since resided, in the successful prosecu-
tion of his business. Himself and wife are both still
living. He at the age of seventy-one is now building a
handsome double house in Dayton, as an investment.
He is yet vigorous and enterprising, and has accumula-
ted a good share of this world's goods. The first child
born to Henry and Rebecca (Connor) Staley in this
place was Luke, who was ushere.J into this world August
11, 1840. The public schobls of Dayton offered his
chief opportunities of education, and he pushed his way
pretty well through them, but was ambitious to get into
active life, and when only about seventeen years of age
he took a position as salesman in the dry goods store of
Thomas Shafer, in Dayton, where he remained for one
and a half to two years, and then was compelled by the
state of his health to seek more stirring and out-door
employment. He began to learn the trade of a brick-
mason, and worked for some time at the business, but
did not take very kindly to it, and in the fall of 1861 he
came to Cincinnati and accepted an agency for the Cin-
cinnati Mutual Insurance company, an institution now
merged with others in the Union Central Life Insurance
company, of which Mr. Staley has been the general
agent since 1871, and still retains his agency, devoting
his business energies apart from the duties of his public
office to the interests of this company.
During the whole time the Cincinnati Mutual was in
existence, after Mr. Staley came to the city, he was its
agent until the consolidation, and then took the general
agency above mentioned. Our subject was early in pol-
itics, both in sympathy and action. His father had been
an old-line Jeffersonian Democrat until the rise of the
Republican party shortly afterward. His opposition to
the slave-power and institution of slavery twenty years
before, had led to his removal from Maryland, in the
face of a very eligible offer made by his employer there,
and when Mr. Lincoln became a candidate for the Pres-
idency, he received the warm support of the elder Staley.
Under his advice and influence young Luke likewise
cast his vote for the statesman of the prairies, and has
since been steadfast in his allegiance to the principles
and policy of the Republican party. He is one of the
most active workers in politics in southwestern Ohio,
and his voice is influential in the councils of the party.
He was for a time chairman of the Republican executive
committee of Hamilton county, and also a member of
the Republican State central committee. He had never,
however, sought office, but his services to the party, as
well as his eminent qualifications, in the canvass of 1879
fixed the attention of the Republicans of the county
upon him as a candidate for treasurer, and he was nomi-
nated in July of that year, at the largest convention of
the kind ever held in the city or State, numbering about
one thousand delegates. He shared in the grand success
of his ticket the ensuing fall, and was elected by the
handsome majority of nearly two thousand five hundred.
He assumed the duties of his office in September of the
next year, and has since attended to them with thorough
fidelity and efficiency. The importance of his post may
be estimated from the fact that about six millions of the
public money pass through his office yearly, and the
good people of Hamilton county are to be congratulated
that their financial interests are reposed in hands so
honest and capable.
Mr. Staley's parents are both members of the German
Reformed church, and he has been a constant attendant
upon its ministrations from early childhood, and is a
cordial sympathizer with the practical teachings of Chris-
448
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tianity. He was one of the founders and incorporators
of the Lincoln club of Cincinnati, is specially active
in its membership, and served as one of its directors in
its earlier years. He was one of a committee selected
to form its by-laws and give it a name, and upon his
suggestion the society received its present very fitting
and potent name of Lincoln club.
Mr. Staley has for his wife Lucretia Ellen (Kessler)
Staley, daughter of Mr. Henry Kessler, a well-known
resident of the Queen City, to whom he was united Jan-
uary 9, 1866. They are blessed with four offspring —
Charles Kessler (named from a maternal uncle), born Au-
gust 27, 1866; Henry Kessler, (from his maternal grand-
father, his paternal grandfather also being named Henry),
born August 22, 1869; Laura Rebecca (from her paternal
grandmother), whose natal day is January 19, 1872; and
Ida Kessler (from a sister in-law of her mother), born
June 8, 1874.
HON. W. S. CAPPELLER.
W. S. Cappeller, auditor of Hamilton county, was born
in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1839,
and removed when still a boy to Wayne county, Indiana.
Having lost his father in 1852, he was apprenticed to the
Hon. D. P. Holloway, then editor of the Richmond
Palladium, to learn the trade of a printer; but his uncle,
Philip Dom, of Mt. Healthy, Ohio, offered him the
opportunity of obtaining a finished education at Farmer's
college, of which he availed himself. His mother, who
is still living, watched carefully over his instruction, and
he attributes his success in life to the care and attention
she bestowed on his early education. In 1859 he was
married to Miss Lizzie Killen, of Mt. Healthy, and
embarked in the dry goods and grocery business at that
place. In 1866 he was appointed postmaster at Mt.
Healthy, and held that office until 1872. In 1869 he
was elected clerk of Springfield township, and also clerk
of the township board of education, and was reelected
three times. In 1870 he was appointed by the court of
common pleas one of a committee of three to investigate
the accounts of the officials of Hamilton county, and
discharged his duty with such fidelity and thoroughness
as to elicit the commendation of the people as well as
the press; and the general assembly of the State, acting
upon the report made by the committee, amended the
law relating to the compensation of county officials by a
bill known as the "Hamilton Fee Bill," which is still in
force. Mr. Cappeller served several years as tax omission
deputy in the office of county auditor of this county, and
in the fall of 1877 was himself elected auditor, after one
of the most spirited campaigns in the political history of
the county, being the only Republican elected on the
ticket. He was reelected in October, 1880, by a
majority of three thousand eight hundred and forty-five,
receiving the largest vote and largest majority of any man
on the ticket. His thorough familiarity with all the
details and duties pertaining to the office has enabled
him to meet without embarrassment its increasing labors
and growing intricacies; and he distributes to the differ-
ent funds of Hamilton county five millions of dollars
annually with as much ease and accuracy as his earlier
predecessors distributed one-tenth of that amount.
For many years Mr. Cappeller has been prominently
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
contributing to its publications, delivering addresses, etc.,
and as representative in the grand lodge of Ohio has al-
ways been considered a wise and judicious counsellor.
He was installed Worthy Grand Master of the Right
Worthy Grand Lodge of Ohio, at Canton, on the sixteenth
day of May, 1878, and filled the position with singular
ability and intelligence. In December, 1880, he was
elected to represent the State of Ohio in the Sovereign
Grand Lodge of the world.
Mr. Cappeller is an original thinker and an effective
public speaker, as is evidenced by the demands made
upon his time and services during political and other
campaigns. He is a gentleman of fine social as well as
executive qualities, and by industry and a courteous de-
meanor towards all has been successful in life and at-
tained an enviable and justly deserved popularity.
SAMUEL F. HUNT.
The subject of this sketch was born at Springdale,
Hamilton county, Ohio, on the twenty-second day of
October, 1845. His parents were Dr. John Randolph
Hunt and Amanda Baird Hunt, both from New Jersey.
The following is copied from the tablet in the cemetery
of Springdale:
"Doctor John Randolph Hunt, born at Cherry Hill, near Princeton,
New Jersey, July 3, 1793. Died August i, 1863. A student of the
university of New Jersey, and a graduate of the College of Medicine
and Surgery of New York, and for more than forty years a practicing
physician in the Miami valley. In his death his family lost an indul-
gent husband and father, the profession a faithful practitioner, and the
community an estimable friend and fellow citizen."
Samuel F. Hunt, son of Dr. Hunt, was early led in
the paths of learning by his parents, both of whom were
persons of culture and refinement, and under compe-
tent private instruction laid the foundation for after
eminence in scholarly pursuits. His family connections
were such as to give advantages which he failed not to
improve, and even in boyhood he became known for the
variety and extent of his information, excellency of
speech and polished address. In i860 Samuel F. en-
tered Miami university, at Oxford, where he remained
for nearly four years, going thence to Union college,
New York, where he completed his course and graduat-
ed under the venerable Dr. Nott. Four years later the
college conferred upon him the degree A. M., and about
the same time Miami university awarded him a diploma
as to a regular graduate of the class of 1864, and also
the honorary degree of master of arts. After this, Mr.
Hunt read law in the office of the Hon. Stanley Mat-
thews, and graduated from the Cincinnati Law school in
1867.
In May of that year he started upon a European tour,
visiting the continent and thence beyond Greece, Pales-
tine, Egypt and Arabia. During his travels abroad, his
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
449
letters were published in the Cincinnati Enquirer and
largely copied into the other papers. Upon his return
Mr. Hunt was frequently solicited and made addresses
upon his travels, which were put in permanent form at
the request of numerous auditors.
In 1867 he was nominated for the house of repre-
sentatives, and in 1869 was in the senate, where, by a
vote decidedly complimentary, he was made president
pro tern, and acting lieutenant-governor. He was a
member of the judiciary committee and committee on
common schools, and was the author of the university
bill, the park bill, and other measures affecting the inter-
ests of Cincinnati. When at home he was an industri-
ous memher of the board of education. Previous to
these years, even in boyhood, his powers of oratory were
known and acknowledged, and at the outbreak of the
Rebellion his speeches were those of an uncompromis-
ing patriot, and were enthusiastically applauded. In his
own neighborhood his services are remembered in the
work of recruiting the Eighty-third and other Ohio regi-
ments. In 1862 he went to Shiloh to care for the sick
and wounded; and afterwards, in 1865, went with Gen-
eral Weitzel's advance into Richmond, where he re-
mained several weeks, having charge of the supplies
which were furnished to sufferers in the city.
While in college Mr. Hunt was honored frequently by
being called upon to make the annual and other ad-
dresses before the literary societies and upon great
occasions, and since his graduation he has been con-
stantly in receipt of invitations to make addresses, both
at home and abroad. Among the addresses which gave
Mr. Hunt prominence in scholarly and oratorical way,
mention may be made of those before the Miami lit-
erary societies during the year 1864, also before the
literary societies at Marietta college, Kenyon college,
Georgetown college (Kentucky), Williams college (Mas-
sachusetts), the annual address before the largest assem-
bly of recent years in the university of Virginia, his
address with Governors Hayes and Allen at the unveil-
ing of the soldiers' monument, Findlay, Ohio, and that
at the Grant banquet in 1880.
In 1874, Mr. Hunt was appointed by Governor Noyes
a trustee of Miami university, and at the same time was
made a director of Cincinnati university, at Cincinnati.
From that time up to the present he has been either
director or president in these university boards, by re-
appointment and re-election. Besides serving as secre-
tary of the agricultural society of the county, and mak-
ing speeches at the harvest home festivals in different
townships, Mr. Hunt has found some time to recreate in
politics; and since his entry therein, in 1867, he has
been known as the "Pride of the Democracy" of Ham-
ilton county. Although defeated in the race for repre-
sentative in the year last-named, he was elected to the
State senate; his abilities were at once recognized, and
he was made president pro tern, of that body, being the
youngest man that ever occupied that position. He was
a participant in the Democratic State convention of
1869, and served two years on the State Central com-
mittee. In 1873 he was president of the convention
that nominated Governor Allen, and in 1874 made a
speech on the veto power, in the Ohio Constitutional
convention. This was one of Mr. Hunt's best efforts,
and he refers to it, and justly, with some pride as a good
speech. In 1869 Mr. Hunt was, while president of the
senate, acting lieutenant-governor; and ten years later
was judge-advocate-general, with the rank of brigadier
general.
From the commencement of his profession with the
Hon. Henry Stanberry to the present time, Mr. Hunt has
been an industrious worker in the law, and now enjoys a
lucrative and constantly increasing practice. Still in
the prime of life, of good appearance and pleasant address,
Mr. Hunt is one of the foremost at the Cincinnati bar;
and being rarely gifted with social qualities, his home is the
frequent resort of personal friends of both political parties.
Mrs. Hunt, the mother of Samuel F, is an estimable lady,
whose graces and hospitalities will be remembered kindly
by every visitor at the old home mansion. With her son she
still resides in the comfortable "home of fifty years ago,"
across the street from the academy where Governor Oliver
P. Morton received part of his early education. Here, also,
under the shade-trees of Mrs. Hunt's home may be seen
the first classical academy in this neighborhood, and
near by the little church, from which, as" Mrs. Hunt re-
lates, the first missionary was sent from the west to the
far east. On the brow of a hill on the outskirts of the
village, may be seen the spot where Elliott was killed by
the Indians in 1794. The ancestors of Hon. Samuel F.
Hunt, whose sketch is thus hurriedly written, were re-
lated to the active patriots of the Revolution, the grand-
sires on part of both father and mother having fought in
the battles at Princeton and Monmouth Court House;
and when the pioneer days of Hamilton county are re-
called, and reminiscences verge on the history of noble
fathers on Revolutionary fields, the conversational powers
of Mrs. Hunt are displayed in the best light, and in the
charm of personal narration one may easily perceive that
the honorable eminence of the son is largely due to the
rare mental qualities and superior culture of the mother.
SAMUEL W. RAMP, Esq.
One of the notable features of politics and the public
service in Cincinnati and Hamilton county, is the num-
ber of comparatively young men occupying the most re-
sponsible, and in some cases the most difficult, positions,
by the willing suffrages of the people. Several of these
— as Auditor Capeller, of the county official force, and
Comptroller Eshelby, of the city government — appear
with suitable notices in our galaxy of prominent Queen
citizens; and we are happy to be able to add to the rep-
resentatives of the brain, business tact and ability, and
personal popularity of young Cincinnati, the name which
heads this article — by no means the least in prominence
and responsible duty of those which appear in this vol-
ume. Mr. Ramp is as yet but thirty-six years old, having
been born in this city January 18, 1845. His father, also
named Samuel, was a native of Norfolk county, England,
45°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
born in 1808. His mother, whose maiden name was
Elizabeth Smith, was born in the same county, but two
years later than he who became her husband. They
were married February 6, 1828, in the old country, but
early determined to push their fortunes in the New
World, to which they emigrated in 1834. They remained
in the east a few years, then came to Cincinnati in 1840,
where they have since continuously resided, the father
still pursuing actively the trade of a bricklayer and builder,
which he took up upon arriving here nearly half a century
ago. Three of their children were born in the old
country and three here, but all are now in the grave except
the subject of this sketch. He is the youngest of the
family. His education was received in the public schools
of Cincinnati, and was continued to the A grade of the
first intermediate department, when the needs of the
family, or his ambition to make an independent living,
led him, at the age of thirteen, to abandon the schools
and take an appointment as messenger in the court-rooms
then occupied by their honors, Judges P. Mallon and C.
Murdock. It is a fact of some interest that his business
career began, nearly a quarter of a century since, in the
same building where he is now doing the best and
strongest work of his life. After about two years' service
in the courts, he took a clerkship, though still very young,
in the office of Colonel Oliver H. Geoffroy, then incum-
bent of the office of county treasurer. He remained
with the Colonel during his entire administration and
then made a venture in the banking business, at first as
assistant teller in the First National bank of Cincinnati,
upon its organization about 1863. His experience in
the county treasury peculiarly fitted him for his duties
here, and he was presently advanced to the post of re-
ceiving teller, one of thebest and most important places
in a banking institution. After some two years' service
in this bank, he accompanied its cashier in the formation
of a new bank, the Central National, in which also he
took the position of receiving teller. He remained in
this but one year, and then, in 1866, being as yet but
twenty-one years old, he passed to the Third National
bank, in which he obtained the yet higher office of as-
sistant cashier. His duties here, as elsewhere, were so
performed as to secure the approbation of his superiors,
and to lead to a much longer-connection than with either
of the other banks he served. He was assistant cashier
of the Third National for fourteen years, or until he
assumed the duties of his office in February, 1880. He
obtained this nomination at the great, unwieldly Repub-
lican convention of that year, which comprised nearly
one thousand members, and after five ballots and a
struggle of several hours against other candidates, most
of them his superiors in age and duration of political
service, the choice of the convention fell upon Mr. Ramp;
and the nomination was triumphantly ratified at the polls
in October by a majority of about three thousand seven
hundred. He had well entitled himself to the position,
not only by his fidelity, efficiency, and integrity in busi-
ness, but by his services to the dominant party. He had
taken an active interest in politics from the time he be-
came a citizen, was an original member and is now a di-
rector of the famous Lincoln club, and for a time served
as secretary of the city executive committee. In his new
office his business qualifications have rendered eminent
public service in the transaction of its important affairs.
It keeps the files of all the courts of the city and county,
except the probate and police courts, and otherwise trans-
acts the people's business in important relations. No less
than twenty-three clerks are employed in its multifarious
work.
Mr. Ramp was married June 18, 1868, to Miss Susie
A., daughter of John T. Johnson, the well-known Cin-
cinnati leaf tobacconist, and Ann Elizabeth Johnson.
They have one child living — Ada Lillian, born November
9, 1870; and lost one in 1870 — John Thomas, aged about
eight months.
SAMUEL BAILEY, Jr.,
sheriff of Hamilton couhty, is of North of Ireland stock
on both sides. His great-grandfather on the father's
side was a Scotchman. His father, a native of County
Tyrone, was Samuel Bailey, sr., and his mother, whose
maiden name was Mary Crossen, a native of County
Derry, came over on the same ship, while yet unmarried,
and their families not being with them. The young peo-
ple, thus boldly facing the world alone, came to Cincin-
nati in 1832, and were married here the same year. Mr.
Bailey had received a superior education at home, in the
schools and by his private efforts, and he soon found
employment as a teacher in the schools of the county.
His special talent for figuring served him an excellent
purpose no great while afterwards, when undertaking
large contracts in his regular business. He was a prac-
tical stone-mason and bridge-builder, and, in association
with Mr. Samuel Smiley, he became contractor for large
amounts of stone-work and excavation in the city. Mr.
Bailey, before he came to Cincinnati, sank one of the
piers used at Erie, Pennsylvania. He lived the rest, of
his life in this city, a prosperous and successful citizen,
and died here in 1865, in his sixtieth year. His wife had
preceded him to the grave in 1853, while her family, for
the most part, was still young. All of her numerous
family, indeed, numbering twelve children, died in in-
fancy, except the four who still survive — Daniel and
Samuel, jr., both of Cincinnati, Kennedy B., of Cleve-
land, and Mary, now Mrs. John C. Skinner, also of
Cleveland.
Samuel was born in Cincinnati August 20, 1838, on
New street, east of Broadway, only about four squares
from his present office in the court-house. That whole
part of the city might then have been well called "New,"
and there were many "magnificent distances" in which
the young Baileys and their companions might play. He
was educated in the public schools of that day, and is a
graduate of the Woodward high school, from which he
passed in June, 1858. He then took a position, in Feb-
ruary, 1859, as check clerk on the Little Miami railroad
at four hundred dollars per year. Here he remained
until 1 86 1, when he was employed by the railroad com-
pany and the Cincinnati Transfer company, jointly, as
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
45 1
shipping clerk on the levee. He had in this duty to see
to the handling of vast quantities of valuable property,
especially cotton, which was then being moved from the
south in great amounts, and at one time commanded a
price of five hundred dollars per bale. He never, it is
said, lost a bale of cotton for the railroad. His labors
at this time were exceedingly onerous. On one day he
loaded three steamers with full cargoes, of war material,
principally. For a week together, at times, he did not
take off his clothes. In 1863 he acquired his first inter-
est in the Transfer company, buying a small block of
stock, and was shortly made assistant superintendent of
the company at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a
year. On the first of August, r865, he was advanced to
the superintendency of the company at two thousand
dollars per annum — a position which he has since con-
tinuously held, most of the time at an advanced salary.
He is now one of the principal owners of the Transfer
company, carrying nearly one-half of its entire stock of
one hundred thousand dollars. February 1, 1875, he
was chosen superintendent of the Cincinnati Omnibus
company, in which he is also a stockholder, but resigned
this position on the first of January, 1881, upon assum-
ing the duties of sheriff.
Mr. Bailey entered politics through a channel some-
what unwonted for those who have achieved success in
partizanship. He felt that he owed much to the public
schools of the city, and was not altogether sorry when,
in 1878, he was nominated for member of the board of
education and elected, although a Republican in a
strong Democratic ward, and against a Democrat who
was already on the board and had a party majority of
nearly five hundred upon which to rely. At the expira-
tion of his two-years' term, he was elected, under the
new law providing for twelve members at large, a mem-
ber for the longest term provided for — three years — re-
ceiving the highest number of votes of any man on the
ticket of twelve. This post upon the board he is still
holding, with nearly two years yet to serve. During the
second year of his first term he was chosen a delegate
to the union board of high schools, and was made a
trustee of his alma mater, the Woodward school. He
served in this capacity two years, and then declined a
re-election, from the pressure of other duties. He is
also chairman of the board of local trustees of the sec-
ond district school, on Sycamore street, which he at-
tended in his boyhood. The same year of his second
election to the school board (1880), he was a delegate,
chosen from the county, to the Republican State conven-
tion, which nominated General Garfield to the Presi-
dency. He was an alternate in that great assembly, but
on the final day of nomination, after eleven days of
stormy struggle, his principal happened to be ill, and Mr.
Bailey had the supreme satisfaction of casting his only
ballot in the convention for the nomination of the Men-
tor hero. In the course of the canvass the choice of the
Republican party of Hamilton county, in convention as-
sembled, fell- upon Mr. Bailey as its candidate for sheriff.
He had a strong and popular German as an opponent,
but after an exceedingly arduous and active canvass, in
which he bore full part, he shared in the magnificent suc-
cess of the party at the fall election. He is now doing
admirable and thorough-going duty in the position to
which he was elected, and whose duties he assumed on
the first of January, 1881. He was one of the founders
of the Lincoln club, among the very first to sign the
paper for the incorporation of that powerful organization,
and is now one of its directors.
Among Mr. Bailey's special tastes is that for fine
horses, which he probably inherits from his father, who
was in his day one of the most expert horse-buyers in the
city. He has never, since he was six years old, been
without the ownership of a horse, and now has three
steeds for his own use. This taste also serves the Trans-
fer Company, whose operations Mr. Bailey superintends,
in the purchase and care of its large stable of horses and
mules. He and his family are extremely fond of out-
door exercise on horseback and in the carriage.
Mr. Bailey is of Protestant Irish blood, and a member
of the Third Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, Rev.
Dr. J. P. Kumler, pastor. He was married October 8,
1866, at Catlettsburgh, Kentucky, to Miss Virginia M.
Hanzsche, daughter of a Bavarian printer and extensive
land-owner, but herself a native of Baltimore. They have
five children — two girls and three boys — Virginia Mar-
garet, Mary Emma, Charles Samuel, Fergus Miller and
Dwight Kumler. They have also lost one boy, who died
in infancy.
E. O. ESHELBY, Esq.
Edwin Oscar Eshelby, comptroller of the city of Cin-
cinnati, is of English stock on his father's side. His
mother was born in Dublin, but her parents were also
from England, though the family name, Drennan, seems
to indicate Irish descent. The former, James Eshelby,
was a native of Sunderland, in the North of England,
born in 1807. The two came separately to America,
sometime between 1836 and 1838, and met in Cincin-
nati, where they were married about the year 1839. ^r>
Eshelby was at first a shoemaker, and finally went into
the manufacture of vegetable wines. He was a Govern-
ment official in the late war, and after closing that ser-
vice settled at Stevenson, Alabama, where he engaged in
his former business, and died there in December, 1870.
Mrs. Eshelby died in Cincinnati the same month, only
three weeks before her husband. They left two surviving
out of a family of nine children — Edwin, the subject of
this sketch, and an older sister, Isabella Frances, now
Mrs. W. H. Hudson, of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.
Edwin O. Eshelby was born in this city on the twenty-
eighth day of May, 1851, the youngest child of James
and Margaret (Drennan) Eshelby. He received his ele-
mentary education in the public schools, and closed his
formal training with the intermediate department. When
the war of the Rebellion closed, and his father made his
home and began business in the sunny South, young
Eshelby, then but fourteen years old, could no longer
brook the restraints of the schools, and was determined
45*
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to make an early beginning of active life. He was per-
mitted to join his father at Stevenson, and in a year or
two entered the telegraph office of the Nashville & Chat-
tanooga railroad at that place, easily mastered the details
of the business, soon became an expert telegrapher, and,
within three months after his first efforts, was made night
operator in the same office, at sixty dollars per month.
He was subsequently, as he grew older, during about four
years, otherwise in the employ of the railroad company
as freight agent, express agent, telegrapher at various
points, and for a time in the very responsible position of
night train despatcher at Nashville. He was then scarcely
more than eighteen years of age. He presently returned
to his old home, and operated in the Western Union
offices here and in Chicago. While here he attended
two full courses of lectures in the Cincinnati law school,
and took his diploma of bachelor of law from that insti-
tution in the spring of 1875, and was trien admitted as a
full-fledged practitioner at the Hamilton county bar. He
finds the knowledge and practice gained by his attend-
ance upon the law school specially useful in his present
responsible and difficult position.
Nearly a year before his admission to the bar, June 1,
1874, Mr. Eshelby was united in marriage to Miss Fannie
Jane, daughter of Mr. Jacob S. Lape, a well-known resi-
dent of Cincinnati. For some years he had been an
active worker among the young men of the Republican
party in the county, but had not put himself conspicu-
ously at the front, particularly in the demand for public
office by way of reward for services rendered. He was
one of the early members of the Lincoln club, founded
in February, 1879, and was elected one of the directors.
He was, however, never a candidate for office at the
hands of the party until the second meeting of the Re-
publican city convention, in the spring of 1880. He had
no thought then of receiving a nomination, being engaged
in profitable business with his father-in-law, in the firm of
Lape & Brother. At the urgent solicitation of his
friends, however — the prospects of the party, for special
reasons, being then rather doubtful, and the nomination
of a new man on the ticket for this important office, then
newly created by the legislature, being deemed desirable
— he consented to stand in the canvass, and, with no
effort on his part, he was triumphantly nominated on the
second ballot against three trained politicians and strong
candidates, who had carefully worked ur ^eir respective
canvasses. Only four days thereafter ne was triumph-
antly endorsed at the polls by the electors of the city,
receiving, after his short but energetic campaign, a ma-
jority of four thousand and sixty-two against the highest
majority of any of his fellow-partisans of the ticket of but
one thousand six hundred and four, and against an op-
ponent, Mr. Silas W. Hoffman, who was a veteran and
popular politician, and had -long been an incumbent of
the office of city auditor, to which Mr. Eshelby's present
position corresponds. Within ten days he took charge
of the comptroller's office, whose affairs were then con-
siderably in public discussion and were in the utmost
confusion, and at once set about making necessary re-
forms. A complete system of checks and balances with
other departments of the city government was introduced,
and a thorough-going, business-like system of book-keep-
ing inaugurated, which has resulted in a reformation of
the whole financial business of the city, so far as is re-
lated to this office. The importance of this fact may be
inferred from the simple statement that about six million
dollars, the property of the city of Cincinnati, passes
through his office every year. The burdened tax-payers
of the Queen City may well be congratulated upon the
marked change in the administration of affairs in this de-
partment, than which there is none more important, or,
indeed, as important, in the city government. Under
what is known as the Worthington law, ordained by the
legislature, the comptroller has the veto power upon all
measures involving the expenditure of money from the
municipal treasury; and it is fortunate that this power is
now reposed in judicious and honest hands.
Mr. Eshelby has two children — May Amanda, born
May 14, 1875; and Isabella Sarah, whose natal day is
April 23, 1877. The family reside in the city, at No. 69
Laurel street, in the west end.
L. L. SADLER.
Lewis Lamont Sadler, president of the board of
councilmen of the city of Cincinnati, is of Massachusetts
stock. His father was Elijah Sadler; his mother's maiden
name was Cordelia King. The elder Sadler removed to
Butler county about 1832-3, and settled as a farmer in
Oxford township, two and one-half miles northwest of
the village of that name. Here he spent the rest of his
days, and here he died in 1850. The mother long sur-
vived him, and died in Oxford in February, 1881. At
the old home the subject of this memoir was ushered into
the world August r, 1843, the sixth son and seventh child
of a family numbering in all nine offspring. His boy-
hood was passed upon the farm, assisting as he could in
its toils, and attending for a few months a year the dis-
trict schools of that neighborhood. At the age of fifteen
he went to Richmond, Indiana, and began an apprentice-
ship at the printer's trade in the " Broadaxe " office. He
had previously, when a small boy at home, obtained
some type, constructed a composing-stick of sugar-tree
wood, a "case" of a trunk-tray and some cigar-boxes, and
a "rule" of a spoon-handle, and with these made a hope-
ful beginning in the "black art" of Faust and Gutenberg.
His bent was decidedly toward the honorable profession of
journalism, and he was going on prosperously as a learner,
at the munificent salary of one dollar a week and board,
when he was interrupted at once and forever by soreness
and dimness of eyes, which forbade his proceeding fur-
ther.. He had been at the case less than a year, but
could already do full journeyman's work. He returned,
however, to the farm, where his widowed mother and an
older brother were managing its concerns. Lewis
assisted them for a time, and then, in i860, when but
seventeen years old, took a summer school in the very
building where he had himself received his elementary
education. He taught the young idea here for a school
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
453
year of two terms, when he accepted a similar engage-
ment south of Oxford village, where he swayed the ferule
until July, 1862, when he enlisted as a private soldier in
company C, Ninety-third regiment of Ohio volunteer
infantry, Colonel Charles Anderson commanding. The
regiment rendezvoused at Dayton, and in the summer
moved to the field. Upon the full organization of his
company, Mr. Sadler was appointed fourth sergeant, and
while in camp at Nashville, before the battle of Stone
River, he was promoted to the post of first or orderly ser-
geant. In that action he was wounded in the shoulder
on the first day, during the furious rebel onslaught which
smashed the right of the Federal line, and was disabled
for a time, part of which was spent in a hospital at
Louisville. He rejoined his regiment at Murfreesboro,
and participated in the marches and actions of the army
of the Cumberland, passing unhurt through both days of
the tremendous fighting at Chickamauga, during which
but four men of his company got safely off the field
besides himself. The command of the company often
fell upon young Sadler, and he was recommended for a
commission, which was issued, but withheld on account
of the depletion of the regiment below the requisite
number. He was again wounded in the battle of Mis-
sion Ridge, during the magnificent charge up the height,
and was never able to resume active service. The last
of his soldiering was with the invalid corps, most
of the time as sergeant-major in a detachment sta-
tioned at Nashville, with which he served until the
close of the war. He then returned to his mother's
home, which was now in Oxford, and a few weeks there-
after, in August, 1865, came to Cincinnati to take a course
in a business college, also assisting to keep the books of
Messrs. Fort, Havens & Co. He soon, however, devoted
himself to their book-keeping exclusively, and left the
commercial school altogether. With this firm he re-
mained as an employee. About four years after, Mr.
Havens went out of the' concern, and Mr. Sadler was
admitted to the new firm of Fort, Sadler & Co., in which
he continued to keep the books and manage the- finances
until about two years ago. The firm-name, and its con-
stituent members, remain the same to this day, in business
at the Cincinnati stockyards as commission dealers in
live stock and grain. The house has branches in Pitts-
burgh and New York city, Mr. Sadler being for the last
two years in sole charge of the present house at Cincinnati.
In. this business he has achieved eminent success. When
he came to the city he had just enough money to pay his
matriculation fee at the business college, and is now,
after the lapse of less than sixteen years, possessed of a
handsome fortune and an elegant home at No. 108
Everett street. In the spring of 1876 Mr. Sadler was
chosen by the Republicans of the Fifteenth ward as a
member of the city council, to which he has since been
twice reelected. In his second year of service he was
made chairman of the Finance committee, the most
important one of the council. He was also twice elected
vice-president of the board of councilmen. At the an-
nual organization of that body in April, 1880, he was
chosen by an exceedingly flattering vote to the presidency
of that honorable body, and reelected the succeeding
year to the same position, in which he is now serving
with acceptance.
Mr. Sadler was married June 28, 1871,10 Miss Rebecca,
daughter of Henry Beckman of Cincinnati. They have
three children— Cordelia, Anna, Edna Lola, and Alvin
Lewis Sadler. The oldest of these, a girl of only eight
years, has already developed marked musical and elocu-
tionary abilities, and is a favorite performer in the
exhibitions given by the Odd Fellows and other organ-
izations, as well as in the domestic circle and else-
where. He is a member of Eagle lodge No. 100, of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Lincoln club,
in which he is a stockholder, and of other sundry other
societies.
JAMES G. STOWE.
This gentleman is descended from an old English
family to which belonged Baron Stow, founder of the
great Stow library (or library of the British museum),
one of the greatest libraries of the world; also Sir John
Stow, of Buckinghamshire, England, from whom Stow
village, or parish of that shire, takes its name.
John Stow came from England in 1635, with four sons,
settling in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and founded the fam-
ily of Stowe in America. He was the son of John Stow,
the chronicler and historian of London, a justly famous
man, whose valuable works are copiously quoted by Eng-
lish and American authors.
From Samuel, a son of John, Mr. Stowe traces his de-
scent, through James H. Stowe, cousin of Dr. Calvin
Stowe, husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Mr. Stowe
is a native of Providence, Rhode Island, born June 14,
1841, eldest son of James H. and Julia A. (Freebody)
Stowe. His mother was also of an ancient English family
of Newport, Rhode Island, in its earliest days, the de-
scendants of which are scarcely found anywhere in the
United States, and in Rhode Island away from Newport
and Providence. Her parents were William and Sarah
Freebody, of the Newport family.
Mr. Stowe remained in his native place until mature
years. His primary education was received in the public
schools of that city, and he was afterward graduated from
the Mowry institute, also of Providence, when about
eighteen years of age. He then became a mechanic and
draughtsman under, the instruction of his father, who was
a practical mechanic, and in 1861 he became secretary
of the Burnside Rifle company, which had its title from
Ambrose E. Burnside, since the distinguished general
and Senator, but then a prominent resident of Bristol,
Rhode Island, and inventor of the Burnside breech-
loading rifle, which the company was engaged in manu-
facturing. Mr. Stowe was also engaged at this time
(1861) as superintendent of the Burnside laboratory, a
large establishment for the making of ammunition for the
rifle. While thus employed he devised a machine for fill-
ing cartridges, so efficient and swift as to fill one thou-
sand cartridges in one-fourth of a minute. It has since
come into use in all the United States arsenals. One of
454
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
the original machines at use in the Burnside laboratory
was sold to the Fenians and landed on the coast of Ire-
land, where it was captured by the English Government,
and is now in the British museum. During a part of
this service he was appointed United States inspector of
ammunition with rank, then an exceedingly important
position. August 7, 1865, Mr. Stowe was elected treas-
urer of the Perkins Sheet-iron company, likewise of
Providence, engaged in manufacturing sheet and bar iron,
of which William Sprague, late United States Senator,
was president. At this same time he was secretary of
the American Snow-plow company, in the same city.
Until the fall of 1867 he filled these positions, and then
upon the change of the Burnside Rifle company to the
Rhode Island Locomotive works, with General A. £.
Burnside as president, Mr. Stowe was recalled to his
former associations as secretary of the works, and
relinquished his other positions, the new position requir-
ing all his time. In 1870 he was one of a committee
appointed by eastern manufacturers to visit the States of
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Kansas, for the purpose
of establishing manufactories. In January of the next
year, as a consequence of this visit, and having on his
hands a large machine shop which he had taken as an
investment, he resigned his office in the locomotive
works and removed the machinery of his shop to Bloom-
ington, Illinois, in order to embark in independent busi-
ness. Here the bonus of ten thousand dollars was given
him by the citizens and a partner with suitable site and
buildings. The same year he began the manufacture of
a reaper of his own invention, and other agricultural im-
plements, employing about fifty hands. His connection
at Bloom ington was somewhat unfortunate, and after
sustaining large losses through his partnership, he with-
drew from it, and accepted for a time the agency of the
Superior Mower and Reaper company, with headquarters
at Chicago. He presently withdrew from this, however,
and in 1875 made a favorable engagement as manager of
the Cincinnati branch office of C. Aultman & Co., of
Canton, Ohio, manufacturers of reapers, mowers, engines,
etc., the second largest manufactory of any kind in the
State; the position which he now holds.
During his residence in Cincinnati Mr. Stowe has
taken an active interest in politics, on behalf of the Re-
publican party, and at the April election of 1879 he was
elected councilman for the First ward, and was elected to
his second term in the same ward April 12, i88r. He
has been chairman of the committees on steam-railroads
and light, and was elected vice-president of the council
at its reorganization in April, 1881. He has been one
of the most active and influential members of the board.
During most of his business life Mr. Stowe has had a
taste for journalism and authorship which, notwithstand-
ing his many and engrossing employments, he has found
time to satisfy. In 1867 a very valuable book of his
preparation was published by Henry Carey Baird, of
Philadelphia, who paid the young author handsomely
for the copyright. It is entitled "A Manual for the
Sheet, Bar, and Plate Iron Roller," and is in use in all
the rolling-mills throughout the country. Another work
of his on guns and gunnery had a large sale in this
country and England. While at Bloomington he wrote
much for the Pantograph of that city, and for the Chi-
cago Tribune and eastern papers. Since his removal to
Cincinnati a specially useful book of "Hints to Farmers
on the Reaper and Mower" has been published. Mr.
Stowe at times appears as a lecturer, having pronounced
before various bodies in this country addresses on Physi-
ognomy and Odd-Fellowship. Industrial art in this coun-
try owes not a little to the inventive genius of Mr. Stowe.
He has patented, first and last, no less than thirty ma-
chines and improvements, the principal of which are
the cartridge machine and the reaper before mentioned.
It is truly wonderful that he has been able to accomplish
so much for his years in the various departments of
human activity.
J. B. CHICKERING,
founder and proprietor of the Chickering Scientific and
Classical Institute, was born August 10, 1827, in the
town of New Ipswich, New Hampshire. His grandfather,
Captain Abner Chickering, served in the Revolutionary
war, and his father was a captain in the War of 1812. .
His father was the only brother of Joseph Chickering,
the celebrated piano manufacturer. The subject of our
sketch spent the first years of his life on a New England
farm, where he was trained to habits of hardihood and
economy. At the early age of eight years he lost his
father. From the age of eight to the age of sixteen he
worked on a farm earning his own livelihood and assist-
ing in the support of his mother. He found time for
study, and manifested great quickness of apprehension,
with remarkable power of memory. When sixteen years
old it was thought best that the boy should shift for him-
self, and, Yankee-like, he started out eagerly to try his
fortune. The cash capital with which he began life on
his own account, was but forty-two cents. Impressed
with the excellent Yankee nation that education is the
prime essential to success in any business or profession,
young Chickering determined to go to school awhile, at
all hazards. He made arrangements by which he could
barter honest work for solid knowledge, and in 1843 en-
tered Appleton institute, a most excellent classical and sci-
entific school, located in his native town. For six years
he worked and studied on a average of eighteen hours
a day, and at the end of that time graduated at the head
of his class. The continuity of his course at the acade-
my was broken by the necessity of increasing his earn-
ings, and he found winter employment in teaching dis-
trict and high schools. His active habits and ready skill
in imparting instruction made him very popular as a
teacher. For two or three years after graduating Mr.
Chickering continued a post-graduate course of study,
giving most of his time to reading Latin authors; but
circumstances prevented his completing a full collegiate
course, as had been his long-cherished . plan. Subse-
quently he found time to give three years to the study of
the French and German languages, but he took a greater
interest in and gained greater proficiency in mathematics
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
455,
and natural sciences, for which he possessed a peculiar
aptness. The cast of his mind is peculiarly practical
and methodical. He readily seizes the general features
of a subject, and is rarely mistaken in his judgment as to
the relative value of studies to individuals, or as to the
real breadth or capacity of others, whether they be
teachers, learners, or neither. The term "shrewdness"
well describes the character of his mind. Education has
in every way sharpened and strengthened his faculties,
but the executive genius by which he has won so good a
reputation and accomplished so useful a work, is inborn,
like his common sense and gay, good humor. The fol-
lowing is clipped from the Cincinnati Gazette of Septem-
ber 17, 1877:
It is thirty-three years since the principal of the well-known Chicker-
ing institute first commenced his career as a teacher in the grammar
schools of New England. Here he taught with marked success in
grammar and high schools for eight years, when he was induced to
come to Cincinnati on account of a generous offer made him by Miles
Greenwood. This was in the autumn of 1852. After eighteen months
spent as a private tutor, Mr. Chickering opened a private school in the
beautiful village of Avondale. Inducements being offered for him to
come to the city, he determined to do so, and in 1855 Chickering acad-
emy was opened in George-street-engine-house, with an attendance the
first week of thirty-seven, and during the year increased to fifty-one.
The second year the school record showed an attendance of seventy-
six. Each successive year the attendance continued to increase until
the year 1859, when it was determined to build for the better accommo-
dation of the pupils. The site of the present building was purchased
by Mr. Chickering, a two-story building was erected, and Chickering
academy changed its name to the Chickering Classical and Scientific
institute. The first year in the new building the school numbered one
hundred and fifty-five. Within two years it was found necessary to
add another story to the building for the better accommodation of the
primary department for young boys. From that time to the present
has been a series of years of most remarkable success in the school's
history, the average attendance catalogued being two hundred and fif-
teen per annum. During all these years it has enjoyed the reputation
of being not only one of the largest (probably the very largest) private
schools for boys in the country, but is ceitainly one of the best man-
aged and conducted in every respect.
This school may well challenge comparison in the
almost invariable success of its many graduates to pass
the required examination of the colleges and scientific
schools of this country and of Europe. Since 1864 the
institute has presented the graduates of both classical and
scientific departments with diplomas. No one is graduat-
ed unless he has an average standing of seventy-five per
cent during the middle and junior years, and of eighty
per cent, in senior year. This rule is rigidly adhered to.
This demands of students most earnest and faithful study
and work in all departments, and hence the reason why
those who enter colleges and scientific schools from this
institute have always succeeded without being dropped
from their college classes. At present the school has a
most able corps of fourteen teachers, selected [with
special reference to their fitness to fill the places assigned
them in the school. None but experienced teachers are
"ever employed. The liberality and discriminating judg-
ment of Mr. Chickering have been the means of indue-
S£ several eminent educators to cast the.r lot for a longer
^ Sorter period oi time in the institute. Among
Thesetay be named G. K. Bartholomew, principal of the
young'ad^ school bearing his name, Prttapr Bmf
P. Wright, of Yale college, Professor Tracy Peck, of
Cornell university, Professor E. C. Coy, of Phillips,'
Andover academy, W. H. Venable, author of United
States History and several other works. Mr. Venable
has been associated with the institution for seventeen
years and has contributed very largely to its present emi-
nent success.
Any sketch of the life of Mr. Chickering would be
incomplete if it did not allude to his character as.
a citizen and a Christian worker. He is known in the
city of Cincinnati as a most scrupulously honest and
prompt man of business, and as such has the respect and
confidence of the business men. His industry knows no
rest. He never delegates even the details of his work to
agents, but attends with the utmost care to every item of
his own business. Mr. Chickering is a vigilant and
indefatigable working church member. Perhaps no man
living ever gave more faithful service to Sabbath-school
interests than he has done. He is never absent from his
post of duty, and his punctuality is proverbial. During
thirty-three years he has never been once late at the
opening exercises of his school, nor absent therefrom a
single day. Blest with an unusual degree of health, his,
energy knows no rest. Although so exacting of his own
time and energies, he is nevertheless generous toward
those who do not attain his own standing of promptness,
and punctuality.
On the fifteenth of July, 1857, Mr. Chickering was.
married to Sarah M. Brown, of Harvard, Massachusetts.
Since then their pleasant home has been blessed with
five children, the eldest a daughter, and four sons, all of
whom are living. In closing our sketch it may not be
uninteresting to state that the Chickering family is of the
old English stock, and the lineage can be traced in an
unbroken line to 1138. His mother, whose maiden
name was Boutelle, was of French descent.*
PROFESSOR GEORGE W. HARPER.
Professor George W. Harper, for many years principal
of the Woodward high school, in Cincinnati, was born
in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, August 21, 1832. He
is son of the Rev. Daniel Harper and Sarah (Sims)
Harper, both of old Quaker stock, residing originally
near Philadelphia, but emigrating thence and settling in
Warren county in 1825. They removed to Cincinnati
in 1843, where the elder Harper engaged in the grocery
and commission business, at first on Ninth street, and
afterwards at No. 12 East Columbia (Second) street,
where the business is still carried on under the firm name
of Harper & Winall.
George received the rudiments of education in the
country schools of his native place, and was not intro-
duced to the graded system until he was fifteen years
* The above is a production first written by W. H. Venable for
the Biographical Cyclqpedja of <?r»i<?. 1 t
456
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
old. From his eleventh to his fifteenth year, after the
removal to the city, he assisted his father in his business,
and considers the practical training then received an in-
valuable part of his preparation for active life. He was
then for two years a member of the Tenth district in-
termediate school, taught then, among others, by the
lamented Aaron P. Rickoff and the Hon. Alexander
Ferguson, the latter now an eminent lawyer and railway
man. He then entered the old Central high school, the
first of the grade in the city, and after two years more
in that institution entered Woodward college, in which
he took the usual collegiate course, giving especial atten-
tion to the mathematics, under the teaching of the late
Dr. Joseph Ray, then head of the school. Upon gradu-
ation (taking the valedictory honor) in 1853, he read a
partial course in law; but, through the personal efforts
and solicitation of Dr. Ray, he became a teacher instead
of a lawyer. He seemed, indeed, to be born to the
former vocation. While yet a student he was placed in
charge of a room from which two teachers had retired dis-
comfited and discouraged, and managed it with great
success to the end of the school year. Taking a certifi-
cate of qualification in order to entitle him to pay for
services rendered, and subsequently receiving, without
the least solicitation on his part, an appointment as third
assistant in the Woodward high school, he was easily in-
duced to see that the path of duty and probable success
lay for him in the pedagogic profession. He had rapid
promotion, in a few years became first assistant in the
school, and in 1866 principal, which position he has
since retained, with distinguished honor and success. By
1869 his devoted service had abundantly earned him the
leave of absence which was granted him by the board of
education, and for about four months he enjoyed the
advantages of a tour in Europe, during which he made
special inquiry into the school systems of Great Britain
and the continent, from Scotland to southern Italy, and
as far eastward as Vienna. The observations then made
have been of service to him since, not only in his regular
work, but in the papers he has read and the discussions
in which he has engaged in the teacher' institutes and
associations he often attends. He is an active member
of the State Teachers' association.
In 1873 the trustees of the McMicken fund resolved
to try the experiment of organizing a university. The
effort was entrusted to Mr. Harper, aided by his principal
male teachers. The hours from 2 to 15 p. m. in the Wood-
ward building were fixed, and Mr. Harper and five other
teachers were selected to organize and run the school
for one year, and if it proved successful the trustees de-
termined to enter upon a permanent organization. After
examining one hundred and eighty-six applicants fifty-
six were admitted and organized into classes in Latin,
Greek, German, French, higher mathematics, physics,
and chemistry. The experiment proved successful, and
at the close of the year a permanent organization was
effected, under the name of the Cincinnati university.
Professor Harper has frequently delivered with much
acceptance his . scholarly course of lectures on geology,
in the preparation of which he has been aided by his
fine collection of fossils from the Silurian and other for-
mations. He has made no less than five extended trips
through the South, gathering for his cabinet of fresh-
water and land shells, of which he published a useful
check-list some years ago. He is prominent member
of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, one of its
board of council, and one of the editors of its Journal.
In 1855 he began a series of meteorological observa-
tions in this region, under the direction of the Smithson-
ian institution, which have been continued for twenty-six
years. These have supplied invaluable data (from the
rain records) for the establishment of the sewerage sys-
tem of this city and other important purposes, and in
some cases heavy lawsuits against the city for damages
have been decided by the atd of these records.
In 1865 Professor Harper was elected a trustee of the
Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery; was elected
president of the college in 1868, and again in 1875, and
still holds that position. In this service he has been use-
ful in many ways, but perhaps in none more so than in
the capacity of peacemaker. So highly have his services
been esteemed by the authorities of that institution that,
some years ago, they surprised him by the presentation
of a handsome gold watch and massive chain, bearing
the inscription: "Presented to George W. Harper,
March 20, 1873, by the Faculty of the Cincinnati Col-
lege of Medicine and Surgery."
In 1861 Professor Harper had conferred upon him
the honorary degree of Master of Arts, by Denison uni-
versity.
Mr. Harper became a member of the Trinity Method-
ist Episcopal church in this city in 1847, a* the age of
fifteen, and was a most efficient and useful member un-
til i860, when he removed his membership to the As-
bury church, where he has since been a most active
worker. Two years after his admission to Trinity, he
became a teacher in the Sabbath-school, and in 1869 he
was elected superintendent of the school. Six years be-
fore this, when scarcely yet of age, he was made an
official member, and has since served steadily in that
relation.
July 8, 1858, Mr. Harper was united in marriage to
Miss Charity Ann, daughter of Frederick and Eveline
(Dial) Durrell. She is also a native of Franklin, in
Warren county, but was brought to this city when an
infant. They have had two sons and three daughters
born to them, of whom the sons and one daughter still
survive. The oldest son, E. Ambler Harper, after grad-
uating from the Woodward high school, entered the Cin-
cinnati university, where he has just completed his third
year.
CAPTAIN C. A. SANTMYER.
Charles Augustus Santmyer, United States appraiser
for the port of Cincinnati, had his nativity in. Baltimore
county, Maryland, upon a spot then about three miles
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
45?
from the city, but now probably within its limits. His
father, John M. Santmyer, was a native of Alsace, then
a French province, and at the age of thirteen came with
an uncle to this country, and settled in Allegheny county,
Pennsylvania. He there grew to manhood, and during
the last war with Great Britain was a marine in the ser-
vice of the United States. He was with Decatur on the
Constitution ("Old Ironsides") during the celebrated
sea-fight with the Guerriere, of which, as well as of the
Constitution itself, Captain Santmyer has a number of
interesting relics. He also served in the land forces with
the Pennsylvania contingent, was at the battle of Bla-
densburgh, just before the storming of Fort McHenry,
and was wounded at the subsequent action . of North
Point, from which he suffered slight deformity through
the rest of his life. After his discharge, which was com-
pelled by this wound, he settled in Maryland, and was
married to Miss Mary, daughter of John Elder, one of
the eldest of the English Methodists in Maryland, and
founder of the town of Eldersburgh, in Carroll county, of
that State.
After his marriage, the elder Santmyer located for a
short time at Antioch, Maryland, but finally settled in
Baltimore county, where the subject of this sketch was
born. He there began the manufacture of the old-fash-
oned beaver fur hats, which he continued for twenty-five
or thirty years, when he retired from this business, and
sometime afterwards became interested in the editorial
and business management of the Catholic Mirror, a prom-
inent organ of the* church, published in Baltimore by
John Murphy & Co. He removed his family into the
city, and took a residence on Pine street. The remain-
der of his years was spent there and in religious journal-
ism until his death, very suddenly, of chronic dysentery,
in 1853, aged sixty-three. The mother died twenty
years afterwards, in the same city, aged seventy-three.
They left a family of seven children, five brothers
and two sisters. The youngest son and child was
Charles Augustus, born April 24, 1839, upon the old
place in the suburbs. He began attendance at a
private school, taught excellently by a Miss Locke,
when about six years old, and was afterwards in the pre-
paratory departments of Calvert and St. Mary's colleges,
in the city, and finally at Mt. St. Mary's, Emmettsburgh,
which he left before completing his course, in order to
enter the regular army. This was during the Crimean
war, some years before the war of the Rebellion, He
had preyiously been a member of a military school at
Govanstown, Maryland, though for but a short time; and
the reading of Cooper's novels, with their stirring stories
of Indian and border warfare, had aided to give him a
decided military bent. He was then but eighteen years
old, but was nevertheless accepted as a recruit, and as-
signed to the famous Washington battery (B), in the
^Fourth United States artillery, which made such a con-
spicuous figure in the Mexican war, and is noted in
the 'service as the battery longest mounted in the regular
armyw In this war, by the way, Captain Santmyer had
a brotherJToseph P., who was a captain in the Maryland
regiment led by, the dashing Colonel May, who fell in a
Kc/
charge at Resaca de la Palma. He was also in the late
war, a captain in the Seventh Ohio cavalry. Young Sant-
myer was sent from Philadelphia, where he enlisted, to
Fort Columbus, in New York Harbor, and then to join
the Utah expedition, sent out under the late rebel Gen-i
eral Albert Sydney Johnston. He endured safely all the
miseries of this most toilsome march. After the peace,
the battery was kept in the neighborhood of Salt Lake
and on the plains, engaging in several severe Indian
fights, the hardest of which was on the eleventh of
August, i860, in which a party of twenty-seven, of which
Sergeant Santmyer was one, fought for several hours a
band of the Goshen Utes, numbering about nine hun-
dred, finally beat them off, and, after other battles with'
small forces of the Federal soldiers, they were compelled
to surrender. The next spring the battery was ordered
to sell or destroy large quantities of ammunition and
other property which could not be removed (its means
of transportation having been sold the fall before, by
order of the notorious traitor Floyd, then Secretary of
War, in order to cripple it as much as possible), and to
move to " the States.'' A forced march was made across
the plains, without the weekly halt for " wash-days," then
customary in the movements of troops there. Reaching
steamer facilities at Fort Leavenworth, and then railroads,1
the battery was transported more rapidly to Washington,-
and was at once placed in position on Munson's HilL
Sergeant Santmyer, then the orderly sergeant and
strongly recommended for a lieutenancy, remained with
the command till his enlistment expired, July 7, 1862,
when he returned to Baltimore, and organized and
drilled battery B, of the Maryland volunteer artillery,
which was mustered into the Federal service in Septem-
ber of the same year. He then joined the First Maryland
cavalry as first lieutenant of company M, and was with it
during Siegel's, Stahl's, and Sheridan's campaigns in the
valley of the Shenandoah, then in the subsequent opera-
tions of the Army of the Potomac, including the battle
of Gettysburg, in which he was wounded, as also at
Snicker's Gap and at Berryville, but neither of the
wounds put him out of the fight for more than a few
weeks. He received no permanent harm from the casu-
alties of war, except a serious rupture in the right side,
caused by the fall of a horse upon him at Snicker's Gap.
He was adjutant of the regiment for some time, and in
August, 1864, received his well-earned promotion to the
captaincy of his old company. He accompanied the
regiment thenceforth through all its arduous marches,
innumerable skirmishes and pitched battles, until the
close of the war, and for some months afterwards, when
it was finally mustered out at Baltimore, December 13,
1865.
Soon after the war Captain Santmyer followed his
brother Joseph, who had settled in Cincinnati, and after
nearly a year's rest and medical treatment for relief
from the consequences of his long and hard service,
he obtained a place in the custom house, as storekeeper
during the collectorship of General George W. Neff. He
has since remained continuously in the custom servicb
here, being steadily promoted from place to place,
458
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
until July 26, 1876, when he was appointed to the re-
sponsible and difficult office he now holds, by commis-
sion of President Grant. Much of his previous experi-
ence had gone far to qualify him for this post, and he has
discharged its delicate and laborious duties during now
more than five years, with entire acceptance. It may
naturally be supposed that he takes a hearty interest in
politics, and has done what he could, in many ways, to
promote the success of the Republican party. He is a
very active member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
and has been mainly influential in building up the ad-
mirable post of the Grand Army which is maintained at
his home in Carthage. His affiliations in organized so-
cieties are exclusively with this organization, through
which he has incidentally been enabled to do much good
work in reforming old soldiers that were going to the bad.
Captain Santmyer was married December 10, 1868,
to Miss Helen M. Wright, granddaughter of the vener-
able Dr. Thomas Wright, of Ingleside, Sycamore town-
ship, where they were married, and daughter of Noah D.
and Maria Louise Wright. Their children number four:
Joseph, now eleven years of age; Jessie, a centennial
child, now in her fifth year; Helen, nearly four years old;
and Louise, born December 27, 1879. The family re-
mained for some years at Ingleside, but in April, 1881,
removed to the pleasant residence they now occupy on
Front street, in Carthage.
HON. GEORGE W. SKAATS.
James, the grandfather of Mr. Skaats, was an immi-
grant from Holland, settling among the Knickerbockers
on the Hudson river about the middle of the last century,
coming with his father's family to America while still
very young. He was A lieutenant in the Revolution,
and served honorably until the close of the patriotic
struggle. He survived until 1843, dying in that year at
the age of eighty-eight, in Dearborn county, Indiana,
and was buried with military honors. He had come
with his family to that county in 1817. James, his son,
was one of the party, and resided with his people in
Dearborn county, where they engaged in the business of
farming. James took a farm for himself on Tanner's
creek, seven miles from Lawrenceburgh. In 1823 he
removed to Cincinnati, and opened a grocery store on
Central avenue, on the northeast corner of Longworth
street. After two or three years in this location, he pur-
chased another, an entire acre, at the foot of Fifth street,
where he built a store building. The wharf subsequently
built at this point, about three hundred feet in length, is
still in the possession of the family, and is leased to the
■city. At that time a horse ferry was run from this land-
ing to the Kentucky shore. Here Mr. Skaats was quite
out of the city, for the time being; but he had a large
trade, especially with the Kentuckians, whose custom he
was very favorably situated to attract. For the rest of
his life, so long as he did any business, he remained
here, in the same trade. In i860 he died, at his home
in Cincinnati. He had been a soldier, serving faithfully
in the War of 18 12.
George W. Skaats was one of a very large family of
children, numbering twelve or thirteen, among whom he
was the sixth child, born October 10, 181 6, in New York
city, where his father was then living and engaged in the
grocery trade. At the age of seven months he was
taken with the family to Dearborn county, Indiana, and
seven years thereafter to Cincinnati. Here he received
his education in the city schools, and at the early age of
nineteen started into business for himself, as a grocery-
man, at the corner of Carr and Front streets, purchasing
the stock and good-will of an Englishman named Wil-
liams. By this time young Skaats had saved the hand-
some sum of nine hundred dollars, which he had made
in ferrying persons across the Ohio in his skiff, outside
of school hours, having been thus quite independent of
his father for clothing and personal expenses since the
time he was twelve years old. After about three years
in the grocery business, it was found too confining for
one of his active habits, and he was advised by a physi-
cian to go into a more open-air employment, if he would
save himself from consumption. He then went into
brick-making, which was at that day a very extensive and
profitable business at the West End, it being the transi-
tion period for Cincinnati from a wooden to a brick city.
He had several brickyards, two of them in Barr's woods,
which then covered most of that part of the place be-
tween Sixth and Eighth streets. He made a large
share of the brick for the present court house, and all of
that for the German Catholic church at the corner of
Twelfth and Walnut, and the old Universalist church on
Walnut street, between Third and Fourth streets, besides
large quantities for private purposes. He remained in
this business for about ten years, reaping rich rewards
from it. During the high water of 1847, which invaded
his dwelling on Carr street, near the river, he changed
his vocation to that of a coal dealer, having his yard at
the point where Fifth street crossed the Whitewater
canal, locating afterwards in a large yard at the corner of
Sixth and Freeman streets, where he dealt in coal for a
number of years. Meanwhile, however, in 1851, he, in
company with Messrs. George Coon and Fuller, built a
distillery on the plank road, now Gest street, which
became known from its location as the Plank Road dis-
tillery. He assisted in conducting this until the summer
of 1856, when he sold out and invested very heavily in
coal, much of which he bought at five and six cents a
bushel, and sold it the next winter, in a time of scarcity,
at fifty to sixty cents. From his succes in dealing in "black
diamonds," he was known for a time as the "diamond
king." He then bought the Hazard farm in Delhi
township, on the hill back of the present site of South-
side. It is now occupied by the Protectory for boys,
owned and managed by the Catholic order of the Broth-
erhood of St. Francis. Mr. Skaats lived for more than
eight years on this farm, continuing a coal business" in
the city with his brother-in-law, Mr. Charles E. Argevine
under the firm name of Skaats & Argevine. He then
returned to Cincinnati, making his home on~ Fourth
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
459
street, above Park, and then at a new residence built by
him at No. 96 Dayton street, where he died August 1,
1877, nearly sixty-one years of age.
The father of Mr. Skaats was one of the most ardent
Abolitionists of his day, a thorough sympathizer and co-
worker with Ezra Coffin, Mr. Harwood, and other lead-
ing anti-slavery men of the more pronounced type.
The son was not in full sympathy with them, but was an
old-line Whig, and became an active Republican upon
the formation of that party, remaining with it till his
death. He was elected a member of the city council in
1847, when but thirty-one years old, and served by suc-
cessive reelections until his removal to the country, and
again for about ten years after his return, his later service
being in the board of aldermen, or upper house of the
city government. It is not remembered that he was ever
defeated as a candidate for the council. He also served
for two terms in the Ohio house of representatives —
being elected the first time in 1865, when a resident of
Delhi township, and again just ten years afterwards,
being a member of the assembly at the time of his
death. He was considered a very consistent and useful
member, though not much of an orator; and his judg-
ment was greatly relied upon in committees and in the
sessions of the house. He was connected with the or-
ders of Odd Fellows and Free Masons, in the latter of
which he had advanced to the Scottish Rite, by the cere-
monies of which the final services at his grave were per-
formed. He was also a member of the Universalist
church from 1834 during the rest of his life, worshipping
with the society- on Plum street.
Mr. Skaats was married in Cincinnati April 8, 1845, t0
Miss Zenecia L. Ludlum, first daughter of Likum and
Fanny (Madison) Ludlum. She survived Mr. Skaats,
and resides in the handsome suburban dwelling at Mount
Washington, formerly owned by Captain Benneville
Kline, passing her winters occasionally at the residence
No. 572 West Eighth street, upon her extensive property
in that quarter. They had seven children — four daugh-
ters and three sons, viz :
John Newton, who died of scarlet fever, in Cincinnati,
at the age of eight years.
Clara Ellen, who also died of scarlet fever, nearly six
years old.
Margaret Emma, who died of the same scourge (the
three children departing within twenty days of each other),
about three years old.
George William, residing with his mother.
Fannie L., also at home.
Luella May, married Mr. Charles F. Loudon, of Cin-
cinnati, August zo, 1879, residing at No. 572 West
Eighth street.
James Madison, residing with his mother.
DRAUSIN WULSIN, Esq.
This gentleman, one of the most prominent attorneys
and Republicans of the city of Cincinnati, is of French
descent. His maternal grandfather, however, was of
English blood. The family was from the south of France,
and was first represented in America by his great-
grandfather, who was born in Genoa, Italy, and came
to this country some time in the last century. His
son, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this
notice, was born in New Orleans in 1780, and the
paternal grandmother also there in 1788, when Louisiana
was still under the dominion of the Spaniards. Mr.
Wulsin's maternal grandfather was a native of Mississippi,
born in 1750; but the grandmother also of New Orleans,
in 1786. The elder Wulsin died in that city, leaving a
somewhat numerous family, among whom was Drausin,
the third son, father of the subject of this memoir,
who was born in New Orleans August 6, 1814. He
grew to manhood there, but was the first of the family to
remove his residence from that city. He was previously
united in marriage, however, on the twentieth of January,
1836, to Miss Josephine Young, born August ir, 1818,
daughter of an English father and French mother, whose
maiden name was De Tassy. They remained in the
Crescent City about fifteen years longer, and then pushed
northward, landing with their young family in Cincinnati
in 185 r. His means enabled him to live here for some
years without engaging in active business ; but he subse-
quently invested a part of his property in the piano trade,
and then engaged in pork-packing, ending his days, how-
ever, in comparative retirement, with some attention to
the management of a farm which he had purchased in
Kentucky, and upon which he had resided. He had
meanwhile lived with his family for a few months in each
of the States of Iowa and Indiana. His life was closed
in peace upon his country seat, in August, 1863. The
mother is still living with her children, most of whom are
unmarried, and still form one family. The surviving
children number three brothers and as many sisters —
Aline, Drausin, Lucien, Laura, Clarence and Lillie.
Another brother, Eugene, was a member of the Fourth
Ohio volunteer cavalry, and died a prisoner, one of the
victims of the horrible pen at Andersonville. Two of
the brothers who survive also served in the war of the
Rebellion — Drausin in the One Hundred and Thirty-
sevenCh Ohio infantry, and Lucien in the same regiment
with Eugene. All the family who are alive remain in
Cincinnati.
Drausin Wulsin was born in the French quarter of
New Orleans, June 10, 1842. When the family re-
moved to Cincinnati, nine years afterward, neither he
nor any of the children, nor either of the parents, al-
though one of them had an English father, was able to
speak the English tongue. This made the education of
the children, for the sake of which the father had been
prompted to seek better opportunities in a northern city,
somewhat difficult; but they soon overcame the obstacle,
and received all the advantages the public schools of the
city were then able to offer. Young Drausin went
through the entire course of popular education, as then
organized here, but stopped a little short of graduation
at the Hughes high school, of which he was a member,
in consequence of the removal of the family to Iowa.
The elder Wulsin was an accomplished musician, par-
466
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHlO.
ticularly in the use of the piano, clarionet and guitar;
and he took pains to see that each of his children, boys
and girls alike, was well instructed as a pianist, and they
continue to this day to exercise their gifts in this partic-
ular. Mr. Lucien Wulsin was for some years president
of the Cincinnati musical society, and is a member of the
firm of Messrs. D. H. Baldwin & Co., of Cincinnati,
Indianapolis and Louisville, among the most extensive
dealers in pianos and organs in the northwest. Clarence,
another of the brothers, is a clerk in the same house.
Drausin Wulsin shares the talent of the family in this
respect. After the return from Iowa he studied book-
keeping and became book-keeper for his father, and then
for Messrs. Potter & Wilson, dealers in machinery, on
East Second street, above Broadway. He began the
study of the law in April, 1861, in the office of French &
Cunningham, the former of whom was a highly educated
man, and had been a Baptist minister. The same year
Mr. Wulsin entered the Cincinnati law school, in which
he took nearly the full course, but was again disappointed
of graduation by the removal of the family to Kentucky.
He returned the next year to Cincinnati, and was ad-
mitted to the Hamilton county bar. He began practice
in October, 1862, opening an office at No. 97 r-2 West
End street, in the office of Mills & Goshorn. In about
two years the office was abandoned, and Mr. Wulsin took
the field as a soldier in the One Hundred and Thirty-
seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, one of the hundred-
day regiments called out in the summer of 1864. He
served with his command at Fort McHenry, near Balti-
more, and returned to practice at the expiration of his
term. His office was again with Mills & Goshorn, and
upon the dissolution of that firm he formed a part-
nership with the junior member, Major A. T. Gos-
horn, who has since been renowned as the director-
general of the Centennial exhibition. At the expiration
of a year, Mr. Goshorn withdrew from the profession and
became a manufacturer, a*nd Mr. Wulsin took as a part-
ner Henry P. Belknap, jr., who is now an orange-planter
in Florida, In 1870, Mr. Lewis E. Mills, the former
partner of Major Goshorn, returned from a European
tour, and the next year, the firm 'of Wulsin & Belknap
having been dissolved, Messrs. Wulsin & Mills joined
their professional fortunes in a new partnership. Mr.
Mills afterwards returned to Europe, where he died, and
Mr. Wulsin, in February, 1875, took as a partner James
H. Perkins, jr., son of the well-known literary character
of the same name, who is prominently mentioned in our
chapter on literature in Cincinnati. The next year Mr.
Perkins was made assistant city solicitor, which neces-
sarily broke up the firm of Wulsin & Perkins. Mr. Wul-
sin's next and his present partner is William Worthington,
esq., son of the renowned Cincinnati lawyer of the last
generation, the Hon. Vachel Worthington, and worthy
inheritor of his talent and integrity. The partnership
has endured continuously since 1877, and has proved
thoroughly congenial and efficient, winning a large prac-
tice and high position at the Cincinnati bar.
Mr. Wulsin has found time for some official positions
and duties. In 1869 he was elected to the city council
from the old Sixteenth ward, and served two years. Six
years thereafter he was chosen from the same ward to the
board of education, in which body he served four years,
during a part of which time he represented it upon the
Union board of high schools. A Republican from the
beginning of his political life (his father and grandfather,
although Southerners and Southern-born, were both
practical Abolitionists, and the latter, at his death, liber-
ated every slave he owned) Mr. Wulsin has naturally
been active in the advocacy of Republicanism. He was
one of the original members and founders of the Lincoln
club, and has assisted not a little in the growth of its
membership and influence. In February, 1880, he was
elected to the handsome position of president of the club,
and his administration of its affairs was triumphantly en-
dorsed by a reelection in the spring of 1881. He has
no ambition for any higher office than this, nor for mem-
bership in any other social organization.
Mr. Wulsin was married December 21, 1875, in Cin-
cinnati, to Miss Julia, eldest surviving daughter of Col.
Enoch T. Carson. They have no children, but maintain
their own establishment in a pleasant residence on Eighth
street, between Race and Elm.
JAMES S. WHITE,
of Madisonville, one of the leading lawyers of Cincin-
nati, was born in the town of Cumminsville on the fifth
of May, 1 81 6. He comes of the very earliest pioneer
settlers of Hamilton county. His genealogical history
dates back to the days of Edward White, of Somerset
county, New Jersey, who figured in colonial and Revo-
lutionary times, and was the father of four sons and one
daughter — Captain Jacob White, and his brothers Amos,
Ithamer and Edward, and Elizabeth White. At an early
period the family removed to Washington county, Penn-
sylvania, where these sons grew to manhood before the'
Declaration of Independence was adopted and published,
and there encountered the harassing life of frontiersmen,
as well as participation in the sanguinary conflicts for
American Independence.
About the year 1788 Captain White came to Hamilton
county, and was one of the small party that commenced
the village of Columbia, being the earliest settlement
in the Miami valley, made within the limits of Judge
Symmes' purchase. He, after a preliminary examination
of the surrounding country, returned to Pennsylvania,
and brought a brother and sister on his return to Colum-
bia. Being a bold, fearless adventurer, he left the settle-
ment and on July 23, 1792, selected what is now section
one in Springfield township (the location of which is where
the Hamilton County Agricultural fair-ground is situated,
now a short distance east of Carthage, and on his land),
seven or eight miles in the wilderness, and built a block-
house, locating it at what was then the third crossing of
Mill creek, to which he removed his family and began an
improvement. This place was known as White's station
and was one of the centres of the Miami settlements. It
consisted of the families of David Flinn, Andrew Goble,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
461
Andrew and Moses Pryor, and Lewis VVinans, who fol-
lowed the adventurer and built cabins on either side of
the creek and contiguous to the block-house, part of
which was enclosed with it by a rough log fence. This
was soon after the commencement of the Indian war,
during which time these palefaces were made the object
of an attack by a strong party of Indians, who were re-
pulsed and compelled to retreat. Captain White was a
good, practical lawyer by study, experience and practice,
in his own and others' cases, being, by reason of the new-
ness of the country, under the necessity to undertake the
causes by their solicitation, and also plead most of his
own cases in court. He owned the centre wharf by a
good and clear paper title — all the land north of the Ohio
river from low water mark to Front street, and from the
west side of Broadway to east side of Main street; but by
being kind and indulgent allowed the city to obtain a
title by prescription. He brought suit for the recovery
thereof finally, but it was decided by a majority of one
of the court against him. The decision is reported in 4
Peters' United States Reports. Captain White died in
Gallatin county, Kentucky, on the twentieth of July,
1849, in the ninety-third year of his age.
Amos White, his brother, and grandfather of J. S.
White, moved to a farm between Glendale and Sharon-
ville, where he raised a large family of eleven children:
Edward, jr., John, Amos, jr., Joseph, Benjamin — father
of J. S. — Jacob, Levi, Reuben, Sarah, Mary, and Jane.
Most of these children lived to a ripe old age, Jane and
Amos being about ninety years old at their death. Jacob,
being the only surviving member of the family, now
lives in the Stale of Illinois. Levi, a sketch of whose
life is given elsewhere, was a minister of the Gospel in
the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Amos White, the
father, was an active man in the church himself, and his
house being a stopping-place for the pioneer ministers
who frequently made his place the end of their day's
journey, it was not unusual to have a general in-gathering
of the people for religious service when a preacher was
known to come that way. He afterwards built "Salem,"
a brick church on his farm. His good wife, Miss Mary
Wells, was formerly of Baltimore. Her parents were of
the society of Friends or Quakers. She exhibited the
simple neatness of the Quaker domestic life and manners.
Amos White was the neatest and best agriculturist of
the Miami valley. Of these children all lived to a good
old age except Benjamin, who died at the age of twenty-
four, when J. S., his only child, was but four or five
months old. He had previously entered into the War of
181 2 as a substitute for his brother Joseph. The com-
pany was raised at Cincinnati and was of Hull's army ;
but while in the service he endured a severe spell of ty-
phoid fever, from which fell disease he never fully recov-
ered. He was in the army about six months.
In 18 14 he was married to Miss Mary Smith, of Lau-
rel Hills, Virginia, then living in Hamilton county, on
Mill creek, with whom he lived only about eighteen
months before his death. She was cousin of United
States Senator Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, her
mother being one of the Stevens family. She was born
March 25, 1793. She came with her parents from the
State of Pennsylvania to Hamilton county, Ohio, when
a child. Her husband's early death left her in loneli-
ness and sorrow. She was afterwards married to Joseph
Ludlow, a prominent man in the Methodist Episcopal
church; but in 1862 he died, and she was again left be-
reaved. In 18 1 6 she was converted at a camp-meeting
held by Rev. Russell Bigelow, and continued for fifty-
one years a faithful Christian, when she died in the sev-
enty-fourth year of her age. She taught her son, J. S.,
the alphabet by directing his attention "to the initial let-
ters of chapters in the Bible.
Mr. White, the subject of this sketch, began his active
life without assistance from others, although he was
slender and not strong. His stepfather, who was a
builder, chose for him that occupation, a trade too irk-
some and heavy for one. of his physical abilities. He
learned the trade and in his early years worked at it
quite vigorously. Several structures of Madison ville
still stand to attest the good work of his early manhood,
while he was in his minority.
This labor was too severe for his strength, and being
of studious habits and endowed with quick perceptions,
he was earnestly advised by Dr. John Jewett, for whom
he was then doing a job at his trade, to change his oc-
cupation for that of a physician ; and, after consideration,
he availed himself of the opportunity, and read medicine
for about one year with his friend, Dr. John Jewett, until
his studies were interrupted by the death of his precep-
tor. He was then advised by Dr. Alexander Duncan to
study law, but, feeling the need of a thorough literary
education, he determined to enter college. For this pur-
pose he had to resort again to his trade to earn a suf-
ficient sum for his college expenses. His career through
college illustrates the character of the man. Without
advantages of previous preparation, he necessarily entered
college unequally equipped for the race. Besides, he
found it necessary to labor for his support during vaca-
tions. But his native determination and tenacity of pur-
pose carried him to the wished-for goal.
He completed his classical course at Miami university,
Oxford, Ohio, in 1841. Among his classmates and col-
lege friends were Charles L. Talford, George E. Pugh,
United States ex-senator; Henry Snow; John S. Williams,
United States Senator for Kentucky; Rev. John G. Fee,
the noted Abolitionist, also of Kentucky; Judge Joseph
Cox, Judge Jacob Burnett, Judge Alexander Paddock
S. F. Covington, A. Brower, and others of the Cincinnati
bar; General Durbin Ward, Colonel John Groesbeck,
and E. Denison. He began the study of the law, but
was compelled to labor at his trade to help him through.
He studied law with Judge Joseph Cox and Henry Snow,
of Cincinnati, who have been his life-long kind friends,
and who, after some preliminary study, encouraged his
early efforts by occasionally putting business in his hands,
and in 1846 he was examined for admission to the bar
by a committee consisting of Judge Alphonso Taft,
Judge Charles Fox, A. N. Riddle, Henry Starr, and Wil-
liam Corry. He passed a creditable examination, and
immediately entered upon the practice of his profession,
462
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and has since become one of the most useful and valu-
able members of the Cincinnati bar. He is a very mod-
est man, and is ever prone to rate himself lower than his
brethren. But if perfect truth, courage and fidelity,
joined with intelligence and industry, make a first-class law-
yer, then is Mr. White such. His word is as good as his
bond, and his courtesy is equal to his courage.
Mr. White was not ambitious for office or place ; he
never permitted himself to become a candidate therefor,
although often solicited by his friends. Some of his
clients have had many opportunities of weighing him in
the balances, and he has never been found wanting, or
as guarantor to his friends. His special forte is the settling
of large estates, and his performance of this duty has
won him an enviable reputation. His success is in great
measure due, not merely to the courage and courtesy of
which we have spoken, and to his well known integrity
and intelligence, but to his careful foresight and pains-
taking preparation, which has no doubt cost him many
fees he might have earned by undertaking cases in haste,
but has earned him the well-deserved confidence of all
who know him, so that with Mr. White once employed
is twice employed. He is not a lawyer from whom as
well as to whom clients run, but when a client has once
learned his value he is sure to return to Mr. White at
the first emergency. Thus he has secured a host of
friends whose confidence is worth much to him in his
profession.
Mr. White was married in 1846 to Sarah A. Stewart,
daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Stewart, early pio-
neers of the county. He is the father of six living chil-
dren— two sons and four daughters. His son, Benjamin
S. White, the oldest child, is a lawyer, with some inclina-
tions to political preferments. The younger son, J. S.
jr., is strictly business in his manner and habits.
Mr. White has always taken an interest in horticulture
and fruit growing. He is the owner of several tracts of
land, some of which are planted with almost every fruit
and flower that grows in this climate. His residence is
beautifully situated on a plat of several acres of land in
Madisonville, that in the blooming season of the year
produces a luxuriance of flowers of unsurpassing beauty.
He has been an active member of the Cincinnati Horti-
cultural society and American Wine-grower's association
for many years, and on account of the interest he has
taken in this subject has won for himself the name of the
granger lawyer.
Mr. White is a man of less than medium height and
weight, of light complexion, has a well-cut mouth, a
deep, clear eye, and marked features generally; is quick
to discern, fluent of speech, and possesses a lawyer's
readiness with the tongue. He is amiable, peaceable,
and benevolent; assists others in need and distress, and
has endorsed for his friends often to his loss. He is
hospitable and generous, and no one has ever experienced
his society without pleasure.
Mr. White is a man, and as such no doubt has faults,
but no one is quicker than he to see and correct them.
His naturally good constitution, invigorated by early labors,
and not impaired by any excess, promises him a long life
of continued usefulness. However this may piove, when
the inexorable angel of death shall call him, Mr. White
will leave a good name and a life filled with good works,
and be followed to his grave by the tears of his children
and with the sorrow of his professional brethren.
S. F. COVINGTON
was born in Rising Sun, Indiana, November 12, 18 19.
His father was a native of Somerset county, Maryland,
and came west and settled in Rising Sun in 1816. He
was married, January 7, 1819, to Mary Fulton, daughter
of Colonel Samuel Fulton, who built the first log house
in that section of the country in 1798, on the place where
Rising Sun now stands. Colonel Fulton was a native of
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and with his father had
served in the war of the Revolution. Upon the restora-
tion of peace they removed west, first stopping a couple
of years at Newport, Kentucky, then locating where
Rising Sun now is. The father, John Fulton, died in
1826. Colonel Fulton, after a residence there of fully
fifty years, during which time he held many important
positions under both the Territorial and State govern-
ments, died January 15, 1849, ln the eighty-seventh year
of his age.
The subject of this sketch received his education,
with the exception of a single year at Miami university,
at the schools of his native village, which was famed for
its good schools from its earliest history to the present
time. At the age of twelve years he entered a country
store, and for the next six years took as much time from
that employment as his means would allow in attending
school. Leaving college in the autumn of 1838, he en-
gaged as clerk on a steamboat, where he continued, with
intervals in shipping produce to the south by flatboats,
until March, 1843, when, at the solicitation of his fellow-
citizens, he established and took charge of a newspaper
at Rising Sun called the Indiana Blade, the object be-
ing to procure a division of Dearborn county and the
location of the county seat at Rising Sun. Efforts for
the accomplishment of this object had been made at in-
tervals for the thirty years preceding. The Blade divided
the county, and, in 1844, Rising Sun was made a county
seat.
Soon after the establishment of the Blade, on the
second of April, 1843, Mr. Covington was married to
Miss Mary Hamilton, second daughter of Jonathan
Hamilton, then a resident of Rising Sun, but whose
family, originally from the same section of Pennsylvania
as Colonel Fulton, were among the pioneers of Colum-
biana county, Ohio. Five children were born of this
union. The eldest, George B., entered the Union army
July 4, 1 86 1, having then barely entered upon his seven-
teenth year. After serving as quartermaster-sergeant of
the Seventeenth Indiana regiment, he was promoted by
Governor Morton to the adjutantcy of the same regi-
ment, and shared in its many engagements, commencing
in Virginia and continuing through Kentucky, Tennes-
see and Georgia. He was wounded in battle at Pump-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
463
kin Vine Church, Georgia, May 24, 1864, and died June
1, 1864. The second son, John I., graduated at Miami
university in 1870, and has since devoted himself to in-
surance, being at this time superintendent of the Insur-
ance Adjustment company of Cincinnati, an institution
of great value to both insurers and insured. The eldest
daughter, Harriet, graduated at the Cincinnati Young
Ladies' seminary in 1868, and in 1874 was married to
Rev. James H. Shields, now pastor of the Presbyterian
church of South St. Louis, Missouri. The second
daughter, Mary, graduated at Highland institute, Hills-
borough, Ohio, in 1874, was married to Joseph Cox,
jr., son of Judge Joseph Cox, in 1879, and died July 26,
1880. Florence, the youngest daughter, graduated at
Highland institute in 1880, and remains with her parents.
When the new county of Ohio was authorized in 1844
the sheriff appointed by the governor to attend to its
organization was called from the State by business. He
appointed Mr. Covington his deputy, so that he was the
first person to act officially in that county. He was
chosen auditor at the first election in the county without
opposition. The county was small and there was but
little for county officers to do, the fees and emoluments
of no one of them being sufficient to devote the hours
required by law in attending at the office. The occu-
pants of the several offices had a pride in being the first
officers of the new county, which was their only motive
for accepting the places. This led to the appointment
of Mr. Covington as a deputy, and at one time when he
was auditor he acted as deputy clerk of the circuit court,
deputy county recorder, deputy county treasurer, and
deputy school commissioner, really attending to the
duties of every county office except those of sheriff and
coroner. In the spring of 1846 he was chosen a justice
of the peace by an almost unanimous vote. He was
well known as a Democrat of the most pronounced type,
yet when he came before his fellow-citizens as a candi-
date he was supported strongly by the Whigs. Soon
after being elected justice of the peace he was appointed
postmaster at Rising Sun, and served in both capacities
until the autumn of 1847, when, having been elected
a member of the State legislature from the district
composed of the counties of Ohio and Switzerland,
and which was pretty evenly divided between the two
parties, by a vote of more than two to one over his Whig
competitor, he resigned the office of justice of the peace,
because of the constitutional prohibition in relation to
the same person holding two offices under the State con-
stitution. One legislative term satisfied all his ambition
in that direction, and he resolved never again to be a
candidate for legislative honors. About this time he
made a narrow escape from a considerable loss by being
security on an official bond, and he resolved never to
accept an office requiring an official bond or go as bonds-
man upon one, to which he has ever since adhered.
He holds that if the electors select a dishonest or incom-
petent man they should be held responsible for his frauds
and his errors, and not some innocent bondsman whose
family may be forever pecuniarily ruined. While a
member of the legislature he purchased the Courier
newspaper at Madison, Indiana, and upon the adjourn-
ment of the legislature resigned his office of postmaster
and removed to Madison and took charge of that paper.
This was the year of the Presidential contest between
General Cass and General Taylor. Madison was a strong
Whig city, but very few of her merchants or leading men
being Democrats. The Banner, a Whig paper, was pub-
lished daily and weekly and had a good patronage.
The Courier was a weekly paper and had but a limited
patronage. The new editor took hold with a determin-
ation to make the Courier a success. He was uncom-
promising in his politics, yet he advocated the cause of
the Democratic party in a way so as to avoid giving per-
sonal offense, and soon the business became prosperous.
In due time a daily Courier was issued. It gave atten-
tion to the business interests of the city, took the tele-
graphic news, which the Banner did not, and with all its
sins of Democracy soon grew into public favor. The
Banner has long since ceased to be published. The
Courier has enjoyed prosperity from the day of its first
appearance, now thirty-two years ago.
In 1848 Mr. Covington sold the Courier to Colonel
M. C. Garber, recently deceased, and returned to Rising
Sun and engaged in merchandising, which he continued
but a short period. He again turned his attention to
shipping produce south in flatboats and to insurance, en-
gaging in the latter business in Cincinnati in 1851, and
in which business he has ever since, with but slight inter-
ruptions, continued, having been associated with the
management of companies in all these intervening years,
and is at this time president of the Underwriters' asso-
ciation. He was one of the incorporators of the Globe
Insurance company of this city, in March, 1865, and
was its first secretary, having resigned the secretaryship
of the Western Insurance company of this city to accept
that position. He was chosen vice-president of the
company in 1867, and president in January, 1874, which
position he now holds. At the spring election in 1870,
Mr. Covington was elected from the Seventeenth ward
as a member of the first board of aldermen, was ap-
pointed chairman of the committee on the fire depart-
ment, and thus became, ex-officio, a member of the
board of fire commissioners. The next year he was
chosen president of the board of aldermen, at the close
of which he retired from the board.
The legislature of Ohio at its session of 1875-76
enacted a law providing for a board of police commis-
sioners to be appointed by the governor for the city of
Cincinnati. Without solicitation on the part of Mr.
Covington, or any previous knowledge of the wishes of
the governor, R. B. Hayes, the appointment was ten-
dered him by telegraph, and accepted. Mr. Covington
was chosen president of the board at its first meeting,
and served until the duties of the office became such a
tax upon his time and so interfered with his business that
he was compelled to resign.
As a delegate from the Cincinnati chamber of com-
merce, he attended the convention held in February,
1868, at which was organized the National board of
trade. He was elected a vice-president of the Cincinnati
464
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
chamber of commerce in 1868, again in 1869, and again
in 1870. In 1872 he was chosen president of the same
body, and was reelected in 1873, thus serving two
terms. He was elected a representative of the chamber
to the National Board at Chicago in 1873, and was then
elected a vice-president of the National Board, and was
elected a representative annually and continued a vice-
president of the National Board up to 1880, when the
Cincinnati chamber of commerce withdrew its member-
ship from the National Board of Trade.
Mr. Covington was elected president of the Cincinnati
board of trade in 1878. In 1879 the board of trade
and the board of transportation were consolidated, and
in 1 88 1 he was elected president of the consolidated
board, being the first instance in which any person had
been elected a second time to the presidency of that or-
ganization. Mr. Covington has for many years taken
an active part in all matters affecting the business inter-
ests and commercial prosperity of Cincinnati. His fa-
miliarity with transportation and insurance, his knowl-
edge of boating and boatmen, and the deep interest he
has taken in the improvement of the navigation of our
river, have made his services in that direction of great
value to the transportation interests of our city. He
was for a long time chairman of the committee of the
chamber of commerce on the Louisville and Portland
canal, and as such contributed largely to the early and
successful completion of that important work, by going
before the committee on commerce in Congress and pre-
senting its claims to their consideration. He also repre-
sented the chamber before congressional committees in
opposition to bridges across the Ohio river likely to
obstruct its navigation. He was, during several years,
chairman of the committee on river navigation in the
board of trade, and by his reports upon that subject at-
tracted public attention to the value of our river or pub-
lic highways, and their importance to the manufacturing
and commercial interests of the city or routes of transit,
and thus secured congressional aid for their improve-
ments.
Mr. Covington's whole life has been passed so near
the city, and so much of it within the city, that he may
during the entire time be classed, with no great impro-
priety, as a citizen of Cincinnati. Commencing as far
back as 1833, he was familiar with the city and acquain-
ted with very many of its citizens. That acquaintance
has been so kept alive by almost daily communication
when a resident, and by frequent visits when not a resi-
dent, that but few persons now living here know more of
the city and its inhabitants, during the past fifty years,
than he does. He has seen it grow from a population
of but little, if any more than thirty thousand, to its
present great proportions, and watched its progress in all
these years with a deep interest and just pride, feeling
closely identified with it in all its material interests, and
that its prosperity conduced to his own.
charles Mcdonald Steele.
This gentleman, one of the best known business men
and successful stock operators in the Queen City, is of
Scotch descent, his father, Thomas Steele, a native of
Edinburgh, emigrating to this country in 1815. Three
years afterward, in Philadelphia, he was married to Miss
Maria Phipps, a native of Pennsylvania. The couple re-
moved to Cincinnati with their young family in 1841,
where the father died of Asiatic cholera, July 21, 1849. the
mother surviving him and remaining a widow for more
than thirty years. She died of paralysis, January 21,
1880, and was buried beside her husband in the beauti-
ful Sprimg Grove cemetery. Their son Charles was
born in Philadelphia, April 24, 1841, six months before
the removal to the valley of the Ohio, where, in Cincin-
nati and Hartwell, he has since continuously resided.
After some training in the public schools, he entered the
Western Methodist Book Concern as an employee, and
while here met with an accident which has ever since partly
deprived him of the use of his left hand. He soon after,
in 1854, began active life again as a news agent on the
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, which humble
position he filled satisfactorily, and with good financial
results, for several years. During the last year of the
war of the Rebellion he was agent for the Adams Ex-
press company at Murfreesborough, Tennessee. Some
years afterwards, in 1870, he made a beginning of a
career as a city contractor, taking the contract for con-
structing the Smith street, Clark street, and Mill street
sewers during the next two years. In 1875 he was the
builder of a part of McLean avenue, in the city. In the
execution of his several contracts he was highly success-
ful, realizing a profit in three years of about thirty thou-
sand dollars. On the first of April, 1873, Mr. Steele
purchased and subdivided a tract of land in the Mill
Creek bottom, a venture which his friends confidently
predicted would be a financial failure. Within the short
space of a fortnight, however, he surprised them, and
very likely himself, by selling his subdivision at a net
profit of about eleven thousand dollars. Already, in
1872, he had removed his residence from Cincinnati to
Hartwell, in which he bought and subdivided a tract
equal to about one-fifth of the village plat. From this
he has sold more than two hundred lots, and also twenty-
five houses, there and elsewhere in the village. It may
here be remarked that Mr. Steele has laid out as many
as three subdivisions in the county, and has made a suc-
cessful operation of each venture. He has, indeed,
handled as much real estate to advantage as any opera-
tor of his years in the county. At Hartwell he naturally
takes an active interest in every enterprise that promises
its material, mental, or moral development. He was
mainly instrumental in securing the incorporation of the
village, after a hard and somewhat protracted struggle;
was its first mayor, and was twice reelected to that office;
projected and sustained nearly half the cost of the beau-
tiful Methodist Episcopal church building at Hartwell,
and subscribed liberally to other church enterprises; and
has been a member of the Hartwell board of education
for six years. He has been liberal with his means in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
465
expenditures for all legitimate purposes, but is economi-
cal withal, husbanding and managing his large estate
with care, and indulging in no expensive personal habits.
After the death of his father, during the long survival of
his mother, he was her sole support, and took especial
pleasure in the performance of all filial duties. He still
retains a large block of real estate property in Hartwell,
which is one of the prettiest and most interesting sub-
urbs of Cincinnati, in which city he has also a valuable
estate, and there, at No. 235 West Fourth street, keeps
his office. He is now serving as president of the Ross
Road Machine company, at a salary of three thousand
six hundred dollars per annum. In all his business en-
terprises and relations he exhibits indomitable energy
and courage, and is considered a remarkably good busi-
ness man. Prompt and exact himself in the perform-
ance of his contracts, particularly in making payments
(no note or other obligation of his has failed of punctual
attention at maturity), he expects others to be so, and
holds them firmly to their agreed stipulations. He is a
man of strong affections, and a good hater withal, upon
occasion ; but is personally genial, thoroughly social and
companionable. Rising from very humble beginnings,
he has become one of the leading citizens and marked
m^n of Cincinnati and its suburban towns.
In the fall of 1861 Mr. Steele was married to Miss
Mary E. Thompson, daughter of R. P. Thompson, esq.,
a well known resident of Cincinnati. She is a graduate
of the Wesleyan* Female college, in the city, and a lady
of refinement and culture. They have five children —
Thomas M., Stella V., Charles W., Robert T, and Alice
M. Steele. Mr. Steele has but one brother living — the
Rev. Thomas A. Steele, a minister of the Presbyterian
faith.
COLONEL C. B. HUNT
was born in 1833, at Somerset, in the State of Vermont,
and soon after, his parents, Manson and Johanna Hunt,
moved to Pontiac, Michigan. In the common schools
of the neighborhood the son received the first rudiments
of a plain education. In the year 1847, when but four-
teen years of age, he volunteered in the First Michigan
regiment, company C, and went to Mexico. Here he
was employed principally in escort and guard duty be-
tween Vera Cruz and Cordova, until the cessation of
hostilities. For his services the "boy soldier" drew the
pay of a private together with a warrant for one hundred
and sixty acres of land. In 1850 Private Hunt came to
Cincinnati; but there were attractions yet remaining in
the Lake State, and returning in 1853 he was married at
Royal Oak, to Miss Ann Eliza Durkee, with whom he
lived happily twenty-seven years. The short service be-
tween Vera Cruz and Cordova was long enough to fix
Mr. Hunt's inclinations, and in 186 1 he was one of the
first to respond to the call for troops, and with Captain
Burdsall got up the Independent cavalry, which was also
known as Burdsall's dragoons. Going into camp at
Carthage, near Cincinnati, the men paid all expenses,
perfected their organization, and in quick time rode
59
away to Buchanan, Virginia, where General McClellan
was in command. After the battle of Rich Mountain,
in which he actively participated, Colonel Hunt was des-
ignated to scout duty, he having thirty men. He con-
tinued in this sort of service until the expiration of his
time, when he returned to Cincinnati and, in ten days,
made up a cavalry company of a hundred men. These
were for the three-years service, and went immediately
to St. Louis, where they were made a part of what is
known as "Merrill's Horse," or Second Missouri cavalry.
While in this department of the west, Colonel Hunt
served under Generals Fremont, Sherman and Steele;
and having shown a peculiar aptness in scouting, was al-
most constantly in the saddle. In 1862 he was specially
appointed to select his men, find the rebel Poindexter,
and "bushwhack him out of the country." This duty
was satisfactorily done, Poindexter being constantly
harassed, thrashed unexpectedly and out-scouted and
bushwhacked, till nothing remained of him. For seven
months Colonel Hunt was in charge of the post at Glas-
gow, Missouri, after which he went through the Red
River campaign, in which, as he says, he became expe-
rienced in the good, bad and indifferent features of the
cavalry service.
Colonel Hunt worked his way steadily from a private's
place, a lieutenantcy, captaincy, majorship, to the position
of lieutenant-colonel. He was mustered out in 1865 at
Nashville, Tennessee, his last service being performed
when the "ten thousand rebels" surrendered at King-
ston, Georgia. In 1876 he was commissioned as colonel
of the First regiment Ohio national guards, which com-
mand he has ever since held. In 1877 this regiment
was called to Columbus and Newark, where the colonel
was on duty for three weeks, while Governor Thomas L.
Young was suppressing the railroad strikers. Governor
Young and Colonel Hunt were highly commended for
their courage and wisdom in so managing the military
forces as to protect the property and thoroughly sup-
press the rioters.
Colonel C. B. Hunt is now an unmarried man, his
wife having died in 1880. He is the well-known propri-
etor of Hunt's hotel, on Vine street, and is a popular
citizen, easy in address, affable with all who have any
business with him, and enjoys a good reputation. The
colonel is now forty-eight years of age, trim-built, of
dark complexion, and modest in his bearing and con-
versation.
LOUIS G. F. BOUSCAREN.
Louis Gustave Frederick Bouscaren, consulting and
principal engineer, and ex -superintendent of the Cincin-
nati Southern railroad, is of French descent, the eldest
son of Gustave and Lise (Segond) Bouscaren, of the
island of Guadaloupe, in the West Indies, where the
Bouscarens have been prosperous sugar-planters for sev-
eral generations. Here Louis was born on the twentieth
of August, 1840, the third child and first son of a family
of eight children, equally divided as to sex. His boy-
hood was spent on the ancestral plantation. When ar-
466
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
rived at suitable age he came under the competent
instruction of his mother, who instructed him in the rudi-
ments of learning until he was thirteen years old. The
family had by this time removed (in 1850) from Guada-
loupe to a farm in Kentucky owned by the elder Bous-
caren, about half-way between Cincinnati and Lexing-
ton. Three years afterwards Louis was sent for a few
months to St. Xavier's college, in this city, and then
went to the land of " La Belle France," to receive further
education, in response to the summons of Napoleon
III, as a token of regard to the memory of a paternal
uncle, General Henry Bouscaren, of the French army,
who had been killed at the head of his division at the
siege of Laghouat, in Africa. He entered the Lycee St.
Louis, in Paris, one of the great government schools,
and remained there six years, engaged in classical and
general studies, and then successfully passed an examina-
tion for admission to the Central School of Arts and
Manufactures, in the same city. He entered this insti-
tution in 1859, and at the end of three years was gradu-
ated with the diploma of mechanical engineer, the
seventh in rank in a class of one hundred and thirty.
He returned at once to America, coming on to Cincin-
nati, and, after a little delay, caused by his then imperfect
knowledge of English, he obtained employment as
draughtsman for Messrs. Hannaford & Anderson, the
well-known architects, and afterwards became assistant
engineer, under Chief Engineers T. D. Lovett and E. C.
Rice, of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, and while
there, under Mr. Rice's direction, prepared the plans
and specifications for the large iron bridge now in use
by that road over the Great Miami river. His next en-
gagement was with Lane & Bodley, engine-builders and
manufacturers of machinery. Here his practical educa-
tion and genius as a designer and engineer had a better
field for exercise than with the architects, and he justly
deems this an important step in his advancement. After
two years with this house he engaged for a few months
in the preliminary survey of the southern part of the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad. He then
went with Mr. Rice, with whom he had been associated
previously, to Illinois, where he superintended the sur-
vey and location of the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre
Haute railroad, and as engineer built the western divi-
sion, from Greenville to St. Louis. When the road was
leased to the Pennsylvania company he went to St. Louis
to survey and construct the St. Louis & Southeastern
railroad, from that city to Evansville, Indiana, with a
branch from McLeansborough to Shawneetown. He
was during these operations again in his old position as
assistant engineer to Mr. Rice, who was chief engineer
of these roads. As such Mr. Bouscaren also took charge
of the survey and construction of the railway from Cairo
to Vincennes. Completing that he returned to Cincin-
nati, where he had an offer from Mr. T. D. Lovett, then
consulting engineer of the Cincinnati Southern railroad,
to make the necessary surveys and plans for the bridges
of that great highway over the Ohio and Kentucky
rivers. With the commencement of building opera-
tions upon this road, Mr. Bouscaren accepted the post
of chief engineer in charge of construction, under Mr.
Lovett's administration. When the latter gentleman re-
signed, in 1877, his place was offered by the trustees of
the road to Mr. Bouscaren, whose work had in every way
approved itself to them, and was by him accepted. He
had, meanwhile, supervised the construction of the great
bridges' of the road, for which he was first taken into its
employ, and they, with other fine structures on this line,
are among the monuments of his genius and skill. Soon
after his appointment, the duties of superintendent were
added to his already onerous responsibilities, which he
carried successfully until the road was completed, when
they were properly transferred to another, who took the
superintendency solely in charge. Mr. Bouscaren has
since remained the consulting engineer of the trustees
of the road, joining to his official duties the carrying of
a general business in civil and mechanical engineering,
especially railway building, at his office at 1 34 Vine street.
He is also consulting engineer for the New Orleans &
Northwestern railroad, now in course of construction.
His large abilities and superior general and technical
education have thus abundant opportunity for practical
application in important fields of labor. He is a mem-
ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers; of the
Institute of Civil Engineers of England, the oldest of
the kind in existence; and of the French Societe des
Engenieurs Civile. Apart from these professional asso-
ciations, he has not cared to multiply his memberships,
nor take active part in politics.
HON. JOHN FEHRENBATCH.
This gentleman, at present United States supervising
inspector of steam vessels for the Seventh district, is of
Gaelic stock, his parents both being French. John
Fehrenbatch, his father, was a native of Bordeaux, and
came to this country many years ago, locating in Roch-
ester, New York, where he still resides. His mother,
nee Marie Weaver, was also a native of France, and was
married to Mr. Fehrenbatch in 1843. In the city of
Rochester the subject of this sketch was born, June 29,
1844. After a single year in the public schools he en-
tered a woollen factory at the early age of eight years,
running one of the machines therein. He remained in
this business, working full hours but attending night-
schools, as he had opportunity every winter, until he was
strong enough to undertake a more robust business,
when he began his apprenticeship at blacksmithing, and
served through his term. He then, at the age of seven-
teen, went to Peterborough, Canada, to learn the trade
of machinist with Messrs. Mowry & Son. He served a
full apprenticeship of three years with them, and then
came to Cincinnati. These employments not only fitted
him for the subsequent responsible duties laid upon him,
but enabled him to find employment readily in a city
where mechanical operations are so extensive. ■ He took
a temporary engagement as a journeyman machinist
with Charles Winchell, who had a machine shop in the
city and is still residing here; but as his main object in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
467
returning to the States was to assist in the war for the
Union, then in progress, and he had come to Cincinnati
for the purpose of enlisting, he shortly entered the United
States military railroad service. He was stationed at
Nashville and kept actively engaged in building locomo-
tives for the Federal railways. This service lasted until
near the close of the war in March, 1865, when Mr.
Fehrenbatch was honorably discharged and went North
to Indianapolis, where he took employment with E. T.
Sinker & Co. as a machinist. He here entered the Pur-
due business college, studying and practicing his lessons
of evenings, until he had triumphantly completed his
course.
After a brief visit to the old home in Rochester he
was recalled to Indianapolis by Messrs. Sinker & Co.,
and given employment as foreman of the governor de-
partment of their works. Here he remained until Sep-
tember, 1870, when at a convention held in Cleveland of
the association representing the mechanical engineers of
the United States and Canada, which was formed in
1859, he attended as a delegate of the Indianapolis
branch, of which he had been president for the preced-
ing two years. He was at this session elected president
of the International association of North America, being
then but twenty-six years old — a very handsome and un-
doubtedly well-merited honor. He resigned his fore-
manship in consequence of this election, removed to
Cleveland, then and now the headquarters of the organi-
zation, and devoted himself to its interests. By virtue
of his office he- was editor of the Mechanical Engineer,
a monthly periodical which was the organ of the -associa-
tion and devoted to topics relating to steam engineering.
During his presidency he was called to visit nearly every
city in the United States, in which he delivered lectures
upon matters interesting to the profession, thus greatly
enlarging his experience and fund of information and
thought. He was constantly solicitous of the rights and
privileges of mechanics and laboring men generally, and
had frequent opportunity to render them special service.
He was elected president of the Industrial Congress of
the United States, which met in Cleveland in July, 1873,
and was the largest body of representative workingmen
that ever assembled on this continent ; delegates from
more than five hundred thousand organized working-
men of all trades and vocations.
In October, 1875, Mr. Fehrenbatch was elected to the
house of representatives in the State legislature, from
the Cleveland district, and served through the Sixty-
second general assembly. He was chairman of the
committee on commerce and manufactures, of that on
public works, and of the select committee appointed to
investigate the subject of contract convict labor, as car-
ried on in the penal institutions of the State, and its
effect on manufacturing interests in Ohio, upon free
labor and the reformation of the convict. In due time,
after a thorough and lengthy inquiry, he reported, on be-
half ot the committee, against the letting of convict labor
out on contract. During his legislative career he also
became the creator of the State Bureau Labor of Statis-
tics, whereby the interests of the toilers have been
greatly enhanced and information concerning them and
their labors have been widened.
By successive reelections for terms of two and four
years, at Albany and Louisville, he had been retained
at the head of the international body of Mechanical engi-
neers but on the first or May, 1877, he resigned the presi-
dency to accept the government position he now holds, by
appointment of President Hayes, July istofthat year.
The headquarters of the supervising inspector had been at
Pittsburgh; but the new appointee succeeded in hav-
ing the office removed to Cincinnati, where it has since
remained. The importance and responsibility of the post
may be inferred from the fact that his \ district in
eludes the Ohio river and all its tributaries above
Carrollton, at the mouth of the Kentucky. The
official records of the office demonstrate the fact that
during the period of his incumbency, now nearly four
years, there have been fewer accidents and less loss of
life and steamboat property than during any correspond-
ing period in the same region since steamboat navigation
was introduced. During 1880 four million five hun-
dred thousand persons were transported on steamers
within his district, and not one of them was even injured
by the casualties of navigation.
Mr. Fehrenbatch has been actively engaged in politics
ever since he became of age, and is well known through-
out the State as a logical, eloquent and effective Repub-
lican speaker, especially to the workingmen. He was
one of the founders of the famous Lincoln club, in this
city, and is a prominent stockholder in it. He is presi-
dent of the Cincinnati branch of the organization of
mechanical engineers, an active member of Kilwinning
Lodge, No. 356, of Free and Accepted Masons, the Cin-
cinnati Chapter No. 3 Royal Arch Masons, and the
Cincinnati Commandery No. 2 of Knights Templars. He
has advanced to the thirty-second degree in Masonry, of
the Ancient, Accepted Scottish Rite — the last except
a purely honorary degree. From very humble begin-
nings and the severest toils he has advanced to his pres-
ent distinguished and highly useful position. Mr.
Fehrenbatch was a wdower when married to his pres-
ent wife January 8, 1879. She was Miss Mary Jane
Kissick, of a Cincinnati family. He has three chil-
dren by his successive marriages — two girls and one
boy — who are living, and has buried three children.
GEORGE K. DUCKWORTH.
George King Duckworth, one of the best-known young
business men of Cincinnati, and a prominent Demo-
cratic politician, was born at Lebanon, Warren county,
Ohio, June 18, 1847, oldest child and only son of Jesse
Corwin and Elizabeth (King) Duckworth. There was but
one more child in the family, a daughter, Lizzie Jane(
now Mrs. J. F. Trader, of Xenia. The Duckworth stock
is English, as also the King family, the first of whom to
emigrate to this country was Isaac, grandfather of the
subject of this sketch. He was a pioneer settler in
Monroe, Butler county, where his daughter, Elizabeth,
468
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
was married to Jesse Duckworth. Mr. Duckworth's
father, George, was an old resident of Lebanon, where a
part, at least, of his family were born. His son Jesse,
when grown to manhood, became a farmer and promi-
nent dealer in stock, to which business, then a large one
in the Miami country, he was specially adapted, and in
which he accumulated a considerable fortune. He died
comparatively young, at the age of thirty-seven; and the
mother had died two years before, from exposure and
cold, contracted after the birth of the second child. The
father married again, and very fortunately, so far as the
children, as well as he, were concerned. The name of the
second wife was Mrs. Clementine (Van Note) Washington,
her first husband having been the Rev. Oswald Washing-
ton, a Methodist clergyman, who died a few months after
marriage, of cholera, in the dreadful year of 1849. He
was a brother of the well-known Cincinnati builder and
contractor, George W. Washington, who was killed in this
city, in May, 1881, by falling from a coal elevator he was
building. The new Mrs. Duckworth proved an excellent
mother to her second husband's children, and brought
them up with care. She is still living with her step-
daughter, Mrs. Trader, at Xenia.
George K. Duckworth's early years were spent alto-
gether in Lebanon. He entered the public schools of
that place when about seven years old, and passed
through all the grades, completing the course in the high
school in i860. He then entered the dry goods store of
Messrs. Hardy & Budd, in Lebanon, as a clerk, and
served about a year, and after some other clerical services
he determined to push his fortunes in a larger field, and
in 1862, at the age of fifteen, he came to the Queen
City. Here he obtained a position in the great dry
goods shop of Messrs. Shillito & Co., as a salesman, and
then went rapidly through the grades of promotion, and
at the end of about three and one-half years found him-
self superintendent of the entire establishment, at a
salary widely removed from his humble beginnings in the
store. He served in this capacity not far from three
years. A few months before leaving it he invested some
means received by inheritance from his father, in the
business of redistilling and rectifying, with the firm of
H. H. Hamilton & Co. Deciding in a short time to em-
bark in trade for himself, he formed, with Mr. P. B.
Spence, the firm of Duckworth & Spence, in the com-
mission business, and dealing in flour, grain and hemp.
His truly remarkable losses by fire had already begun,
however. In 1870, the house of Hamilton & Co. was
completely burned out; and the establishment of Duck-
worth, Kebler & Co. (composed of Mr. Duckworth and
George P. Kebler), successors to Duckworth & Spence,
in 1876, was subsequently a prey to the fire-fiend. The
business had, before the dissolution of Duckworth &
Spence, been substantially changed to the trade in whole-
sale liquors, in which the new firm was carrying a heavy
stock, with light insurance. They resumed business
at once, however, in new quarters, but merely to wind up
the affairs of the firm. It was dissolved the same year
of the fire (1877), when Mr. Duckworth devoted himself
solely to the business of the old White Mills distillery,
which he had bought some years before, and had run it
on his own account. He has since confined himself
solely to this business, which has grown upon his hands
until now he has perhaps the finest distillery property in
the country, with a yearly volume of transactions ex-
ceeded by very few other houses of the kind in the city.
In July, 1876, he suffered another heavy loss, in the de-
struction of his entire works by fire, kindled by a stroke
of lightning. Notwithstanding his defeated hopes,
although still a young man, his means have very hand-
somely accumulated, and have been largely invested in
city property. He has expended liberally, however, es-
pecially for the benefit of the Democratic party, which
has commanded his allegiance from the beginning of his
political life. He has long been an active worker in pol-
itics, and, when the board of city commissioners was
constituted by the legislature, Mr. Duckworth was ap-
pointed, by Police Judge Wilson, as the single member
for the five-years' term. He was offered the presidency
of the board, by vote of a majority of the members, but
declined the position.
A high compliment was paid Mr. Duckworth during
the last Presidential campaign, in the giving of his name
to a large club of the young Democrats of the city,
which was a new organization and made a conspicuous
figure in the canvass of that year. Its organization has
been retained; a beautiful club-house, of two rooms, on
Seventh street, has been fitted up for it; its membership
has been increased to more than seven hundred, and it
promises to become a very powerful factor henceforth in
the politics of southwestern Ohio.
Mr. Duckworth was joined in marriage December 9,
1869, to Miss Lucy, daughter of Henry and Lucy L.
(Porter) Bishop, and niece of ex-Governor Bishop.
They have two children — Lillian Belle, born on the six-
teenth day of June, 1872; and Willie Kebler, born on
the seventeenth day of November, 1873. The family
resides in an elegant mansion, at No. 256 Fourth street,
near the Grand hotel.
MORTON MONROE EATON, M. D.,
of No. 120 West Seventh street, Cincinnati, has been a
resident of Ohio but four years, but has in that time es-
tablished a fine reputation in the treatment of diseases
peculiar to women. The doctor's reputation is not con-
fined to Cincinnati, but extends all over the United
States, and he has patients constantly from other distant
cities and States sent him by other physicians, or by those
he has treated. The doctor never advertises. This ex-
tended reputation is due to his success and to the popu-
larity which his work on the Diseases of Women has
given him. This large and very complete volume of
about eight hundred pages, is fully illustrated with original
drawings, and is issued from the press of Boericke &
Tafle, New York.
Mr. Eaton is a man in the prime of life, being but
forty-one years of age. He was born in Pelham, Massa-
chusetts, April ax, 1839. His father was a farmer, who
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
469
was calLd to occupy many positions of trust in the State
of Massachusetts. Morton was educated at Amherst,
and went to Illinois in 1855. In Chicago he studied
medicine with the late Professor Daniel Brainard, for-
merly president of Rush Medical college. Dr. Eaton
graduated from this college in 1861. He was appointed
resident physician of the city hospital of Chicago, where
he remained two years. He then removed to Peoria,
Illinois, where he was made surgeon of that post in the
time of the war of the Rebellion. At this time he passed
his examination as a surgeon, with the rank of major,
but did not enter the service on the field, on account of
the death of his father just at this time. He, however,
made five trips to different parts of the south for the san-
itary commission, under the direction of Governor Yates,
of Illinois, distributing sanitary stores and assisting the
wounded and needy to get home or to suitable hospitals.
Dr. Eaton commenced writing for medical journals
while a student, and he was rewarded in 1867 by being
made an honorary member of the Internatioual Congress
of Paris, France. He is now president of the City Ho-
moeopathic Medical society, of Cincinnati, a position he
has held two years. In 187 1 the doctor adopted the ho-
moeopathic system of medicine. He was twice elected
first vice-president of the State society of Illinois. He
is now an honorary member of this society as well as the
Indiana institute and the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons of Michigan. He is, of course, a member of the
American Institute of Homoeopathy. In societies he
always takes a leading part, enjoying them better than a
party, as he says.
Dr. Eaton has a pleasing, though dignified, address.
He might, perhaps, have increased his popularity by
greater sociability; but his studious habits have inter-
fered with his engaging in the usual round of society life.
In religion Dr. Eaton is a Congregationalist, having
joined that church in his youth in Chicago.
Dr. Eaton married, at the age of twenty-one, Miss
Eliza Payne, of Galesburgh, Illinois, a graduate of Knox
college. She died some four years since, and he is now
married to Miss Sutherland, of Peoria, Illinois, one of
the most charming of women. He expects during this
summer (1 881) to take his beautiful wife to Europe, and
combine business with pleasure in attending the World's
Homoeopathic convention, in London. Dr. Eaton's book is
already used in England and Germany as a text-book in
colleges, as well as in all the homoeopathic colleges in
the United States. Dr. Eaton's health is not the best,
but by care he is enabled to enjoy comparative ease. He
has been prospered financially, and is, in this respect, in
independent circumstances. On coming to Cincinnati
he was an equal partner with Professor S. R. Beckwith,
and when Professor Bartholow went to Philadelphia, Dr.
Eaton took his office, where he still remains. He has an
extensive interest with ex-Mayor Davis and others in nine
thousand two hundred acres of the Tennessee Valley
Coal association, and is also a stockholder in the new
Metropolitan bank, of Cincinnati.
The doctor has been a hard student, as the thoughtful
countenance and sprinkling of gray hair attest. He
constantly writes for medical journals. In his department
of medicine he has made several improvements in surgi-
cal instruments and has invented some useful new ones
which bear his name. He says he has never been un-
kindly treated by his professional brethren of either
school. This is doubtless due to the courtesy he has ex-
tended to them, as we'll as their appreciation of his abil-
ity and skill.
The doctor's mother is still living and in good health.
He has one own brother, F. L. Eaton, of F. L. Eaton &
Company, Cincinnati. He has one sister living in
Illinois, and one step-brother, Shelby M. Cullom, the
present governor of Illinois.
CAMPBELL JOHNSTON AND FAMILY.
The subject of this sketch settled in Cincinnati about
the year 1820. He was born in county Derry, Ireland,
and, with his younger brother, James (who was for many
years city treasurer of Cincinnati,) emigrated to this coun-
try during the War of 1812, their young hearts full of sym-
pathy for^the American flag. After some years spent in
Pennsylvania and at St. Louis, trading, the two brothers
entered into a wholesale grocery, dry goods, and hardware
business on the west side of Main, a few doors below Sec-
ond, and carried on a successful business until 1832, when
he retired to a large farm near Mt. Carmel, in Clermont
county, Ohio. The style of the firm was C. & J. Johnston.
He died there in 1843. He was universally esteemed and
respected. He never made any enemies, for, whether as
merchant or farmer, he was absolutely fair and honest
with all with whom he came in contact. In religious
faith he was a staunch Presbyterian, and worshipped at the
old frame building where now stands the imposing First
Presbyterian Church edifice, on Fourth street, near Main,
Dr. Joshua Wilson then being pastor. So zealous was he,
that, upon his removal to Clermont county, with the as-
sistance of his brother James, he organized a society and
erected a substantial church building there, which to-day
has a numerous and influential congregation. As a
merchant he was full of enterprise and adventure, mak-
ing many voyages in the keel-boat to New Orleans with
produce, returning laden with sugar, molasses, etc., the
only motive power being the pole, the paddle, and shore
line. Months were consumed in a trip, attended with
great labor as well as many dangers. As a farmer he was
progressive, expending much in the introduction of fine
breeds of horses and cattle. In politics he was an un-
flinching Democrat, a great admirer of Andrew Jackson,
whom in personal appearance he much resembled. He
married Miss Jerusha Sandford, of Bridgehampton, Long
Island, New York, meeting her here while she was on a
visit to relatives. She survived him, dying in 1854. She
was a devoted wife, a kind mother, and lived the life of a
true, noble, Christian woman. They sleep sweetly in
beautiful Spring Grove. Five children were born of their
marriage, all of whom are living — John, James S., and
Nancy C. born at Cincinnati, and Hannah H. and Rob-
ert A. born at Mt. Carmel, Ohio.
470
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
John is a prominent member of the Cincinnati bar.
He was educated at Miami university — served through
the Mexican war — read law with General Thomas L.
Hamer and Judge Storer, and graduated at the Cincin-
nati Law school. He practiced several years at Batavia,
Ohio; served one term as prosecuting attorney, and as
State senator for Clermont and Brown counties, having
been elected on the Democraric ticket. In 1864 he joined
his brother Robert in the practice at Cincinnati. It was
his form of indictment under the stringent liquor law en-
acted under the new constitution that stood the test of
the supreme court. It forms part of the syllabus in the
case of Miller vs. State (Third Ohio State Reports, page
475), Judge Thurman announcing the opinion of the
court. He married Miss Lamira Gregg, of Moscow,
Ohio, and now resides on Walnut Hills.
James S. is an extensive farmer and stock and fruit
grower in Bond county, Illinois. He married Miss Mal-
vina Simkins, of Clermont county, Ohio.
Nancy C. is the wife of our prominent and influential
citizen, Thomas Sherlock, residing in the beautiful
suburb of Clifton. She has been twice married, her first
husband being the late General Panel Turpin, near New-
town, this county.
Hannah H., unmarried, resides with her sister, Mrs.
Sherlock.
Robert A. resides at Avondale, near Cincinnati; was
born in 1835, anc> educated at Hanover college, Indiana,
where he graduated in 1854. He taught school for a
time while reading law, and in 1857 graduated at the
Cincinnati Law school, and at once entered the practice
there. From 1861 to 1863 he was a member of the city
council. He served as a private soldier in the one hun-
dred days' call, in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth
Ohio National guard, Colonel S. S. Fisher, the regiment be.
ing stationed at Fort Spring Hill, on the Appomatox river,
near City Point, Virginia. He was for six years mayor of
Avondale, and, in 1876, after twenty years of successful
practice, was elected upon the Democratic ticket a judge of
the court of common pleas, which position he now holds,
and is its presiding judge, the bench of the First Judicial
district being composed of seven members. He married
Miss Elizabeth T. Moore, near Batavia, Ohio.
HENRY VARWIG,
manufacturer of bungs and faucets, at Nos. 421 and 423
West Court street, and member of the board of aldermen
from the Fifth district (Twentieth ward), is a native of
Hanover, now a province of Prussia. His parents were
Joseph Henry and Maria (Brenkmann) Varwig. Both
families represented in this union had been agriculturists
from time immemorial, and his father pursued the same
vocation near the city of Osnabruck, in Hanover. In
T841 he brought his family, with a party of immigrating
friends and relatives, to this country, and came to Cin-
cinnati at once, where some acquaintances of theirs had
preceded them. The elder Varwig went into the brick-
making business at the corner of Linn and Findlay
btreets, now closeh built up, but then open ground for a
long distance each way. He did well in this branch of
manufacture, but in about three years changed to the re-
tail trade in groceries on Findlay street, between Linn
and Baymiller, and carried on that business until his
death. He left a moderate property and two children,
one a half-sister of Henry Varwig, the child of a second
wife. Henry's mother died in the fatherland, about
1838, before the emigration of her husband, and his
father was remarried after he settled in Cincinnati.. His
only son, the subject of this notice, was born November
30, 1835. He was in his sixth year when the family
came to this city, soon entered the public schools, and
took nearly the full course therein, stopping when a
member of Woodward college, after about two years' at-
tendance. He then took a full course of book-keeping
and business instruction in Bacon's commercial college.
He was now in his eighteenth year, and secured a po-
sition at once as book-keeper in the clothing store of
Bernhard Varwig, his uncle, on the corner of Court and
Main streets. He remained at this post about three
years, and then went into the retail grocery business by
himself, on Findlay street. For a few years he followed
this vocation, but when the mechanical bakery was
started here, in 1857, proposing a "new departure" in
the methods of his trade, he became a salesman in the
establishment, but left it in a year or two, and, after a
year's vacation, started a cracker bakery of his own on
Court street, next door to the premises he now occupies,
and in a building which he used as a part of his works
during the war. At this period he carried on a very
large contract business for the Government — perhaps the
largest of the kind in the city — making hard bread for
the army and navy. He was conlpelled by his heavy
contracts and the energy and success with which he filled
them, to enlarge his wor.ks until they had the capacity of
consuming two hundred barrels of flour per day, or, to
put it differently, of turning out nearly eight hundred
boxes of "hard tack" in the same period. At one time
he held and executed the largest contract of the kind
ever given to a western house, amounting to about two
hundred and seventy thousand dollars, which paid for
three millions of pounds of bread. At the same time his
bakery turned out large quantities of crackers, of the dif-
ferent varieties, for the city trade, and to fill wholesale
orders from many points more or less remote. This
business proved very profitable, and left Mr. Varwig in
excellent shape to invest in other lines of enterprise.
He sustained some heavy losses, at one time twenty-
three thousand dollars by the failure of a banking house,
but courageously went forward, and, a few years after the
close of the war, converted his bakery into what seemed
a more hopeful line of manufacturing, the same in which
he is now engaged. He has not had, nor has he now,
any partners, but has had the ability to manage the var-
ious lines of business in which he has been engaged,
however extensive, by the energies of his own brain. He
manufactures the Varwig self-ventilating beer faucet, a
device of his invention, whose patent he solely controls,
and of which he is the only manufacturer. It has proved
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
47i
a very popular appliance, and makes its way far and
wide. Mr. Varwig has agencies in Europe and in all
parts of the United States, and his shipments are very
large, aggregating an annual amount of about fifty thou-
sand dollars.
Ever since he became of age, Mr. Varwig has taken a
hearty interest in American politics, and has been a vig-
orous worker in the canvasses, clubs, and at the polls,
particularly among the electors of his own nationality.
For about twenty-five years he trained with the Dem-
ocratic party, but recently experienced a change of heart,
and transferred his allegiance to Republicanism. In the
spring of 1878 he was chosen to the board of aldermen
from the Fourth district, and had very creditable assign-
ments to committees of the board. Two years after-
wards, having meanwhile removed his residence to his
present home at No. 553 Court street, he was again
placed in nomination and re-elected to the same board,
but this time from the Fifth district. His name has often
been mentioned in connection with important city and
county offices, and he has several times been honored
with very flattering votes or with nominations at the
hands of the party conventions. He is now a member
of the Lincoln club, and is also in connection with the
Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of
Honor, and sundry other societies.
Mr. Varwig has for his wife she who was Miss Emily
S. Brenner, eldest daughter of JohnC. and Ida Antoinette
(Aehle) Brenner. The date of the wedding was Novem-
ber 9, 1858. Their children number two sons and as
many daughters — Ida, born November 12, 1859; Emma,
born April 29, 1861; Rudolph, born November 12,
1863; and Harry, born April 25, 1866.
CAPTAIN LEWIS VOIGHT.
This gentleman, head of the firm of Lewis Voight &
Son, dealers in paper-hangings and decorations, and
manufacturers of window-shades, at No. 205 Central
Avenue, is a native Cincinnatian, born January 7,
1837. His ancestors on both sides are German. His
mother, nee Margaret Helmuth, came to the city in 1830,
and was here married to Mr. Henry Voight, father of the
subject of this notice. He died in 1839, and Mrs.
Voight remarried about two years afterwards, to Christo-
pher Stager, also a resident of Cincinnati. Lewis was
trained in the schools of the city, but left the day schools
at the early age of thirteen, then beginning, in a meas-
ure, independent life as an errand-boy in the tailor-shop
of Mr. N. Haddox, on Main street, and then as an em-
ploye in other establishments, coming by and by to the
ticket office of the Little Miami railroad, during its oc-
cupancy by Mr. P. W. Strader, and to be collector of the
Cincinnati Omnibus line and messenger in the office of
Irwin & Foster, steamboat agents. While still a youth
he attended the night schools for about two years. At
the age of sixteen he began to learn the paper-hanging
business with S. Holmes & Son, on Main street near
Fifth, and was not yet twenty when his apprenticeship
ended. For about two years longer he worked in the
same business as a journeyman. April 28, 1858, he was
joined in marriage with Miss Susanna M., eldest daughter
of Michael and Mary (Gerlich) Friedel, of Cincinnati.
Her mother was then widowed, the father having died
of cholera during the terrible year of 1849. She is slso
a native of the Queen City.
At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, Mr.
Voight raised the larger part of a company for the Fed-
eral service, which was finally received into a Kentucky
regiment — the Twenty-third infantry. He was elected
captain by vote of the company, and duly commissioned
by Governor Beriah Magoffin early in the summer of
1 86 1. His regiment was assigned to the army of the
Cumberland, and marched and fought during his period
of service under Generals Buell and Rosecrans. He was
made provost marshal at Murfreesborough, Tennessee, in
the summer of 1862, was in the subsequent retreat of
Buell to the Ohio and in the engagement of the advance
guard with Bragg's army at Munfordsville, and the pre-
vious action at Woodford, Tennessee, in which his regi-
ment was on the skirmish line. He was also with his
command in the bloody battle of Perryville, and was
afterwards, in the winter of 1862, provost marshal at
Glasgow, Kentucky. Shortly after the struggle at Perry-
ville, Captain Voight was subjected to a severe attack
of rheumatism, which finally so disabled him that he was
compelled to resign his commission, in January, 1863.
Returning to his home, and measurably recovering from
his ailments, he bought out a small business, only
four doors above his present place, and re-entered his
old trade of paper-hanging. By diligent industry and
economy, his wife attending the store while he personally
labored in the handicraft here and there about the city,
they gradually increased their business, until now the
firm of Voight & Son carries one of the largest, most
varied, and otherwise superior stocks of paper-hangings
and decorations in the State, and commands an extensive
business in the ornamentation of the beautiful shops,
offices, and homes of the Queen City. In 1866 Mr.
Voight, the previous year having removed to his present
more spacious quarters, embarked also in the manufac-
ture of window-shades, which has become an important
branch of the business.
During the engrossing pursuits of his vocation, Mr.
Voight has found time to do the city and State some
service. In r872 he was elected to the board of alder-
men, the upper branch of the municipal legislature, from
the Seventeenth ward. In this body he served six years,
or three terms, and was then chosen a councilman from
the same ward for two years. In the former body he
was a member of the finance committee, the most im-
portant one of the board, in which he served three years,
and during his second term was vice-president of the
board. In the fall of 1878 he was chosen one of the
Hamilton county delegation to the house of representa-
tives in the State legislature, aud was there again assigned
to the important committee on finance, and otherwise
faithfully served his constituents and the State.
472
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Captain Voight has for many years been a prominent
Mason in the city; is a member of the historic Lafay-
ette lodge No. 8 1, whose story is related elsewhere in
this book, and has reached the highest degrees in the
York Rite and the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and
is a member of the Cincinnati Commandery No. 3,
Knights Templars. He took his thirty-second degree in
Masonry in 1866, when not yet thirty years old. He has
also gone through all the degrees and passed all the
chairs in the lodge and encampment of Odd Fellowship,
and was a representative for two terms to the Grand En-
campment of the State. He is in full membership in the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Grand Army of
the Republic, and the Cincinnati society of ex-army and
navy officers. From the beginning of his political life he
has been associated with the Republican party and is an
active worker within the organization, being often a del-
egate to the various conventions of the party. He has
from childhood been a member of the First English
Evangelical Lutheran church in Cincinnati, to which
most of his family belong. The children number four —
Lewis William, twenty-three years old, in business with
his father as junior partner, already a Knight Templar,
and in other respects a prominent young citizen; Elmore,
fifteen years of age, a student in Hughes high school;
Florence Gertrude, now in her twelfth year; and Lewis,
aged nine, named from his father. The family resides
in a pleasant home at No. 153 Barr street, Cincinnati.
CALVIN W. STARBUCK,
son of John and Sophia (Whipple) Starbuck, was born
in Cincinnati on the twentieth of April, 1822, and died
November 15, 1870. His father, John Starbuck, was an
old Nantucket whaler, who, after following the sea for
many years, removed to Cincinnati and purchased a
residence on the west side of Vine street, just above
Front, where Calvin was born. Like almost all in the
west at that early period in the history of the city, his
parents were of limited means, though having enough,
with industry and frugality, to maintain existence in that
"golden mean "so favorable to habits of sobriety and
thrift. Young Calvin received such education as his
parents could afford, and while yet a boy was obliged to
rely on himself. He commenced his career in a print-
ing office as an apprentice, and after finishing his trade,
having saved some money, he resolved on starting a
newspaper. At the age of nineteen he founded the
Cincinnati Evening Times. Being the fastest type-setter
in the west, and desiring to economize his funds until
his enterprise proved self-supporting, he for years set up
a great portion of the paper himself, also assisting in its
delivery to subscribers. From this humble beginning
the Cincinnati Times grew until it had the largest circu-
lation of any newspaper in the west.
On January 1, 1845, Mr- Starbuck was married to
Miss Nancy J. Webster, by whom he had twelve chil-
dren, nine of whom survived him — three sons, Frank
W\, Dji.iel F. M. and Calvin W.; and six daughters,
Clara B., Fanny W., Ella M., Jennie, Jessikate and
Sallie W. He was a most kind husband and indulgent
father.
While a very assiduous and careful business man, his
whole nature seemed to be devoted to the relief of the
less fortunate of his fellow-beings. To his generosity
and exertions is mainly due the success of the Relief
Union, one of the most deserving of our charities. Be-
sides his devotion to this institution, his private charities
were numerous, no needy person being turned empty-
handed away. He was "great in goodness," and that,
too, not in the kind which is vapid, sentimental and
pretentious, but which is practical and efficient. His
nature was a well-spring of benevolent sympathies. They
did not need to be pumped by special, pressing ap-
peals to give forth occasional and stinted supplies, but
they were perennial and fresh, flowing forth in the spon-
taneity of their own nature, responding to the magnet-
ism of every appeal of suffering, of sorrow, and making
for themselves channels in every avenue of life along
which the headwaters of his benevolence might flow.
Mr. Starbuck also largely interested himself in the
founding of the Home of the Friendless and in build-
ing up the Bethel institution.
He was foremost in patriotic works when the republic
was in peril. When the Government called for funds
with doubt as to the liberality of the capitalists, Mr.
Starbuck at once stepped forth with his cash as a matter
of duty. When in 1864 the final effort was to be made
for crushing the Rebellion, and when the governor of
Ohio tendered the home guards for one hundred days'
service, Mr. Starbuck went as a private, when his busi-
ness demanded attention and when a substitute could
easily have been secured. He proved an excellent sol-
dier, serving until the expiration of his term of service
and receiving an honorable discharge. To the families
of those of his employes who enlisted he continued to
pay their weekly salaries.
Mr. Starbuck never made a public profession of re-
ligion, but he reverenced Christianity and sought to em-
body its spirit in his life. Owing, doubtless, to his early
training, he did not value the forms of an outward pro-
fession, but esteemed the spirit more than the letter and
the reality more than the symbols that represented it.
^ The time may come when the name of Calvin W.
Starbuck will fade away from the memories of the citi-
zens of Cincinnati, but it will not be" until the widows of
this generation are dead; it will not be until the poor,
beggarly urchin of to-day shall have told his children's
children the kindness of this good man to his mother, to
his brothers and sisters, and to himself; it will not be
until there are no poor in Cincinnati that shall need the
benefactions of a relief fund; it will not be until the ex-
istence of such an institution itself shall have been for-
gotten, and its transactions obliterated from the records
of mankind. Till then the name of C. W. Starbuck
will be remembered; till then his memory will be
blessed, and the people of the community will speak it
forth as one of the monuments of their noblest civiliza-
tion, the example and inspiration of every worthy deed.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
473
He may not be remembered as a rich man, an editor or
statesman, but far down in the distant future he shall be
held in grateful and loving remembrance as a good man
and the friend of the poor.
SAMUEL SHERWOOD SMITH,
son of Levi and Hannah (Holland) Smith, was born at
Solon, Cortland county, New York, August 30, 1803,
being one of a family of eleven brothers, named in the
order of their seniority as follows, viz: Wright, Josiah
Silas, Oliver, Holland, Marcus, Martin, Solomon, Orrin
and Samuel Sherwood, twins, and Lemuel, who all lived
to the age of manhood, and were known as the "sixty-
foot" Smiths. Most of the brothers were above the aver-
age height, Samuel being the shortest in stature, and was
the most delicate in health, but outlived them all. His
early educational advantages were meagre, owing to the
primitive condition of his native State, no schools be-
ing established as yet.
His father, while serving with the American army at
Bunker Hill, was wounded by a British bullet, which was
never removed and incapacitated him for manual labor.
The work of the farm, which consisted of forty acres of
bounty land in Cortland county, New York, devolved
on the sons, and their early life was that of tillers of
the soil. At the age of fifteen, the eldest brother^
Wright, shipped on the frigate Constitution, at Boston,
Massachusetts, serving for three and a half years, and
participating in the numerous engagements of the war
with Algiers. At the expiration of his term of service
he had saved all his allowance for "grog," which fur!
nished him with the means to engage in mercantile pur-
suits in Boston and subsequently in Albany, New York.
From the last-named place, accompanied by his brother
Samuel, he proceeded, in 1816, to move west. Their
first objective point was Olean, on the headwaters of the
Allegany river, which they reached after a laborious
journey by wagon in the spring of 181 7. Here they
constructed a raft, on which was provided a habitation
for their use and comfort during the prospective voyage
to Cincinnati, where they arrived in due course of time.
They secured accommodations for residence in a double
frame building situated on the north side of Fourth
street, just east of Plum, which property our subject
afterwards purchased, and in 1844 erected thereon what
was then considered a fine dwelling. In the construc-
tion of this building was first introduced in Cincinnati
the Dayton limestone which has since become so pop-
ular.
At the age of fourteen, and soon after his arrival in
Cincinnati, Samuel became interested in the doctrines of
the New Church, as taught by Emanuel Swedenborg,
and regularly attended the services which were held
by the few believers at the residence of Rev. Adam
Hurdus, on Sycamore street. The first public worship of
the Swedenborgian Society of Cincinnati was held on
the thirty-first of August, 1818, in Mr. Wing's school-
house, on Lodge street, Rev. Mr. Hurdus officiating.
60
Mr. Smith has never swerved from his early religious
convictions, and has ever been a consistent member of
the First New Church society of Cincinnati, contributing
to its support as well as to other denominations. From
181 7 to 1822 he was employed by his brother Wright in
his manufacturing business, and afterwards, for a time,
entered the river trade, carrying produce generally to
New Orleans by flat-boat. In 1827 he began business
on his own account, the capital for which was obtained
by discounting a note for three hundred dollars at three
months, and endorsed by his brother Wright. In all his
subsequent mercantile career he has never had occasion
to need an endorser, having rigidly abstained from buy-
ing goods on credit or giving a note. With the proceeds
of the above-mentioned note he purchased a canal-boat
and horses, and engaged in the freight and passenger
traffic between Cincinnati and Dayton, to which last-
named point the canal had just been opened. In this
undertaking he was quite successful and was soon en-
abled to pay off his only obligation, and to purchase a
lot on the southeast corner of Main and Ninth. On
this lot he built a two-story frame store and dwelling, in
which he lived and carried on his business of general
merchandizing.
The subject of this sketch was married August 17,
1826, to Margery McCormick, who died June 18, 1832,
and by whom he had three children, all dead. He was
married to Elizabeth Andress (who was of English birth)
in Cincinnati November n, 1832, by whom he has had
ten children, six of whom are living, viz: Samuel S., jr.,
Sarah Elizabeth, Edwin F, Virginia, Fanny, and Charles
Stembridge. Mr. Smith was active in his sympathy for
the Union cause during the Rebellion, and was repre-
sented by one son, who enlisted at the first call for
troops, after the firing on Fort Sumter, and who served
until incapacitated by physical disability. He was one
of the original subscribers to the Spring Grove Cemetery
association in 1844, and the Cincinnati Astronomical soci-
ety in 1842, and is identified with early history of the Cin-
cinnati Horticultural society and Young Men's Mercan-
tile Library association. He was elected trustee to the
city council April 3, 1843, and was assigned to many
important committees during his term of service. He
was for many years a director of the Washington Insur-
ance company, and has served in that capacity in the
Cincinnati Equitable Insurance company for about forty
years, being elected president of the last-mentioned com-
pany on January 9, 1867, and has since been annually
reelected to that position.
WILLIAM BEAL DODSON
was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 31, 1787. He
was the son of John Dodson, of Shrewsbury, England,
who emigrated to America in 1771, and landed at An-
napolis, Maryland, where he met and married Eleanor
Howard March 2, 1778. The Howard family was one of
the old and honored families of Maryland. They had
seven children born to them, William being the third son.
474
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
General Wayne and his legion, by their recent victory
over the Indians — secured by a treaty at Greenville that
year — made it possible for emigrants to settle and culti-
vate the arts of peace in the then Northwest Territory.
In that year commenced an emigration to Ohio from all
parts of the old States, and Maryland sent her portion of
citizens to the new El Dorado. " The West" was the
word after the glorions peace, and John Dodson was
among the first to determine that he would lay a new
foundation in a free State, where his children might earn
and enjoy their own fortune. Accordingly in the year
1795 he, with his wife and family, started to make a new
home in the then far west, travelliug over the mountains
in wagons. William was then a boy of eight years. In
November, 1795, they landed in the village of Cincin-
nati, purchasing a farm a short distance out, in Spring-
field township. Here a log cabin was erected, and while
building a guard of armed men was employed to protect
them from the Indians, who were far from peaceable in
those days, and it is told as an incident of that time
that while attending church the men had to carry their
guns for fear of an attack from the Indians.
William remained for some years on the farm with his
father, and then came to Cincinnati, where, as a carpen-
ter, he was an efficient mechanic, and was active in all
that pertained to the workingmen. He afterwards be-
came a master-builder and did the carpenter work on the
second court house built in Cincinnati. The first one
built in the village was on the north part of the square
between Fourth and Fifth streets, fronting on Main, but
in 1814 this was burned down and the new court house
was Built farther out, as far up as two squares above
Seventh on Wayne street, which, in early days, was the
boundary of the in-lots of Cincinnati. The carpenter
work of this court house was all done by William Beal
Dodson. He was also the builder of the noted Pearl
Street house, a very grand hotel in its day, below Third
on the east side of Walnut street. He was one of the most
active workers of the Episcopal church in Cincinnati,
when they held their services in the old Wing school-
house, corner Sixth and Vine streets. He served as ves-
tryman for several years, and often as a lay-reader when
a clergyman could not be found. He was a very earnest
politician in his day, and, though never caring to hold any
public office, was at one time county commissioner, and
during his term of office many of the improvements of
the city were made.
Mr. Dodson was married December 7, 1825, to De-
borah Slarbuck, daughter of John Starbuck, of Nantucket,
Massachusetts, to whom nine children were born.
In 1850 Mr. Dodson bought a beautiful home on the
hillside overlooking the city near Fairmount, which he
improved and named "Cypress Villa," where he retired
from the cares of active life. In 1861 he was elected
president of the Cincinnati Pioneer association, and to
the day of his death took an active interest in the society.
Nearly eighty years of his life were spent here. He
watched a village grow up into a city, with its boundless
influence. William Beal Dodson died January 26, 1875,
aged eighty-eight years.
WILLIAM HENRY COOK.
William Henry Cook, A. M., M. D., was born in New
York city, January, 1832. His father was abuilder; and
soon after moved to Williamsburgh (East Brooklyn),
where he was a leading contractor and prominent citizen
greatly respected. The family moved to Canada in
1840, and returned in 1847. The son, an early and eager
student, received a classic education, the removal in
1847 interrupting his college course. He chose med-
icine as his profession by the advice of L. N. Fowler,
with whom he travelled several months; and graduated
at Syracuse. After some practice in the country, he
opened an office in New York city and attended the
hospitals there for a year or more. In October, 1854, he
took up his residence in Cincinnati. Independent in
thought and of great energy, he adopted the Physio-
Medical system of practice, believing it to be based on
the immutable laws of nature. To him, numbers and
mere human authority are nothing; for these, if in error,
will be overthrown by the truth, and to find this truth in
science is to him the only object worthy of an honest
man. He is a tireless worker in his espoused cause,
bringing to it a philosophical mind, thorough education,
fine literary talents, and the enthusiasm of profound con-
viction. He has elevated this system to a very high
scientific standard, and is its acknowledged head.
Dignified and courteous, he never uses personalities
toward opponents, but respects their motives while dif-
fering from their opinions and believing that some day
all will see medical truth alike in Nature. His opponents
bear testimony to his uprightness, sincerity, and high
scholarship. He was the mover in organizing the Physio-
Medical institute in 1859, and has ever since been its
dean and one of its professors, and for eleven years has
held the chair of Theory and Practice. He is a superb
teacher, and enjoys a wide experience and the culture
obtained from one of the largest private medical libraries
in the city. His lectures draw students from Maine to
Oregon, and he is professionally consulted from every
State. He has been eminently successful in several
lithotomy operations and other capital surgery. While
making a business, he taught some private classes in
botany and chemistry. In May, 1861, he saw the coming
need for female nurses, organized a Florence Nightingale
society of nearly one hundred prominent ladies, and
instructed them in nursing and hospital duties. General
McClellan warmly approved this work, which was the
initiatory movement to the famous Sanitary commission
of the war. In 187 1 Lawrence university, Wisconsin, con-
ferred on him an honorary Master of Arts. In 1872 and
subsequently he conspicuously advocated a system of State
medical laws, by which a very high standard of professional
education would be enforced and corrupt colleges be over-
turned, yet the rights of the people and of individual
conviction be secured. His articles were very widely
copied. He is a rapid writer; clear, elegant and forcible in
style. Few men surpass him in literary taste and power,
or in literary culture. Since January, 1855, he has edited
the Cincinnati Medical Gazette and Recorder, and pub-
lished the following text-books: Physio-Medical Surgery
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
47S
octavo; Woman's Book of Health, duodecimo; Physio-
Medical Dispensatory, large octavo; Spermatorrhea, duo-
decimo ; Science and Practice of Medicine, large octavo,
two volumes.
Dr. Cook is a modest and retiring gentleman, carrying
the impress of the refined and dignified scholar. He is
greatly beloved by his patients, as well for his faithful-
ness, tenderness, and glowing cheerfulness, as for his
high professional skill. He is an embodiment of
professional courtesy and honor; and a city or a country,
as well as the several medical societies to which he
belongs, may be proud of such a gentleman and scholar.
For more than thirty years he has been a consistent
member of the Methodist church, in which he holds the
highest official positions. M. C. W.
SAMUEL EELLS
was born in Westmoreland, Oneida county, New York,
on the eighteenth of May, 1810. His father was Rev.
James Eells, for many years pastor of the Presbyterian
church in that town, and he was third in a family of
seven children. The culture and habits of his home
were eminently adapted to his peculiarities of mind and
heart during the opening years of his life, and he was wont
to refer to the influences that affected his childhood as hav-
ing determined his whole career. This was more remark-
able on account of his natural self-reliance and indepen-
dence, and afforded proof in his boyhood of that union of
an affectionate disposition with a vigorous intellect which
was so pleasing in his mature years. He was admirably
qualified to be a leader, in whatever circle he might be,
winning by the kindness that always was prominent, ex-
citing interest by his wit and genius, and swaying by the
acknowledged force of his character and mind; so that,
being chief among the young persons of his native vil-
lage, he furnished occasion to not a few of the prophets
who cast his horoscope, to predict a brilliant career for
one who so often delighted and surprised them by his
exhibitions of rare gifts.
In August, 1827, he became a member of the fresh-
man class in Hamilton college, but in a few months his
health failed, and it was doubtful whether he could con-
tinue his studies; but after a year's interval, during
which time he travelled much by sea and land, he re-
sumed his college life, and was able to pursue it till he
graduated in 1832. The discipline and education of
this year, just at the period when they would have most
influence, were probably of more importance as bearing
on his future, than the contributions of any other single
year of his life. He had tested and learned himself, than
which there is no knowledge of more value to one who
proposes to attempt an elevated career. He had studied
men, and the lessons furnished him so early opened the
way to success on many occasions of difficulty afterwards.
He had come in contact with the rough world and en-
countered some of its severest tests of the human will
and energy, and felt that he could face what might meet
him hereafter without trembling, though no aid should
be given him save that of the unseen Helper. The
stripling who took his place in college the second time,
was very unlike the boy who was there before, and he
was soon able to make his mark among the unusual
number of brilliant young men who were at that time in
the institution. After preparation in the office, and un-
der the instruction of Hon. Sampson Mason, of Spring-
field, Ohio, Mr. Eells commenced the practice of law in
Cincinnati, in February, 1835, poor, unknown, without
patron or friends. For several weeks he did not have a
case, and his first opportunity to appear at court was as-
signed him by the judge in defence of a man without
money or friends, who was indicted for larceny. By de-
grees, yet very slowly, he attracted the attention of some
of the eminent men who at that time occupied the bar
in Cincinnati, and in November of that year was invited
by Salmon P. Chase to become his partner. This was
more than his ambition could have anticipated, far more
than he had dared to hope. Mr. Chase had been in suc-
cessful practice for several years, and even then had
given promise of the distinction he afterward attained;
so that the young man to whom he was attracted, realized
the necessity now imposed on him to task every power
to do justice to his position, and to the duties which
were at once thrust upon him. As an advocate he was
likely to succeed, as he did, because of his fondness for
forensic address, and the gifts which especially qualified
him to affect those before whom he might so appear.
But, as a counsellor, he needed much thorough study
and the more established habit of discriminating thought,
and he resolved in this respect to excel. His success
may be best learned from the words of some of the dis-
tinguished men who knew him well, and are pleased to
honor one who was their associate for but a short time.
Chief Justice Chase said of him :
To a most persuasive and prevailing eloquence, he joined the grace
of high literary culture arid the strength of profound legal knowledge,
while in the walks of private companionship he was equally endeared
by his tenderness and his manliness. If I were to rely wholly on my
own recollection, the account would be brief indeed; but it would be
all eulogy— a sun that scarcely rose above the horizon ere it hastened
to its setting, but during its course all radiant with the light of mind,
and its setting with new and softer glories from the world which needs
no sun.
Hon. W. S. Groesbeck wrote of him thus:
Samuel Eells was an extraordinary young man, and if he had lived
would to-day have been known and honored throughout the Nation.
He had every quality to make himself distinguished. He rose here, at
our bar, very rapidly, and had a reputation which has never been sur-
passed among us by any one so young. Young as he was, he made to
the courts and juries some as able and eloquent arguments as I have
ever heard. It was a great pleasure to hear him. He was logical and
classical, and at times very grand and eloquent. There was nothing
foolish about him, and he was equal to any situation in which he found
himself. It is not often we meet such a man. Once known, he can
never be forgotten.
Mr. Eells remained in partnership with Mr. Chase for
three years, during which time the business of the office
increased, and he became so well known that it was evi-
dent he would be wise to assume an independent posi-
tion. Advised by the fir* and excellent friend whose
kindness and established reputation had been of so much
advantage to him, and also by others who desired his ad-
vance, he opened an office of his own in November,
476
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
1837. His business multiplied beyond his strength, and
was of a most desirable kind. His acquaintance soon
became extended. His reputation passed beyond the
limits of the city to which he had so lately come as a
perfect stranger, and the path seemed open to the reali-
zation of the most glowing visions his ambition had ever
pictured.
He was flattered by frequent persuasions from his
friends that he would enter political life, and high offices
in the State were offered him, but he declined to be
turned in the least from the profession he had chosen,
with prophetic devotion replying that he did not expect
to live more than a few years, and he was resolved to crowd
those years with as much success as a lawyer as God
would give him strength to attain. He lived less than
six years in that profession, if we reckon those fragments
when he was absent and when he was disabled, though
still attempting to do something in his office. Yet it is be-
lieved that few young men in our country have reached
more satisfactory rewards, and left more eminent and
abiding proofs of success than Samuel Eells.
CHRISTOPHER VON SEGGERN, esq.
This gentleman, a well-known attorney and ex-coun-
cilman of the Queen City, is of German descent, a
native of Delmenhorst, Oldenburg, where he was born
March 26, 1827, the first son of Frederick and Catha-
rine (Kramer) VonSeggern. October 18, 1829, his
father left Bremen with his family for the promised land
in the great western world. They landed at Baltimore
on Christmas day, and thence journeyed westward, over
the mountains to Wheeling, by wagon and on foot, the in-
fant Von Seggern, the subject of this sketch, being car-
ried a large part of the way on his father's back. From
Wheeling they went to Cincinnati, where the father
found work at his trade as a journeyman blacksmith at
Holyoid's carriage- shop, on Sycamore street, where the
old National theatre now stands, remaining under an em-
ployer until 1832, when he set up in business for himself.
He was the first German blacksmith in the city to do so.
At the early age of ten, young Christopher was brought
into contact with the sterner realities of life by labor at
driving a horse and cart. At twelve he began to Jearn
the trade of his father, but in two years was transferred to
the wagon-shop attached to the paternal establishment,
where he remained at work six years. At the age of
twenty, without any apprenticeship, he took up the trade
of coopering, at piece-work for the firm of Gibson &
Armstrong, at the old White mills, on Western avenue.
About six months later the coopers at their shop were
drowned out by back water from Mill creek, and he re-
turned to his father, laboring for him until August 15,
1848. This is the date of the happy event of his mar-
riage to Miss Louisa Wagner, of Cincinnati. The next
day he entered the office o# David T. Snelbaker, esq.,
then justice of the peace,, and afterwards mayor, as his
clerk, at the munificent salary of three dollars a week,
which his occasional fees as interpreter in the court us-
ually increased to about six dollars. In 1850 he was
advanced to the post of deputy sheriff during the term
in that office of the late C. J. W. Smith. Two years
later he was taken into the county recorder's office, and
served here six years, at the same time with Messrs.
Oehlmann, Lloyd, Schopnmaker, and Dr. Bean, who
assisted him in devising the admirable system of refer-
ence to the titles of all the real estate in the county,
which is known as the "General Index." It is still used
in the office with great satisfaction, and has been exten-
sively copied elsewhere. His spare hours during his
several clerkships and deputy's career had been employed
in the study of the law, and in 1857 he was regularly
admitted to the bar, in whose practice he has ever since
been very extensively and profitably engaged, especially
in commercial and record business.
In 1 85 1 Mr. Von Seggern was elected to the city coun-
cil as a member from the Ninth ward of that day, and
was again chosen to that body in 1852, 1855, 1858,
i860, 1863, and 1869. In 1861 he was made president
of the council. In 1858 he became a member of the
board of education, served two years, and was reelected
in 1863, serving thence by successive reelections until
1869, in 1866 being chosen vice-president of the board.
In 1869 he was once more chosen to the council and
served his two-years' term, finally closing his service in that
body in the spring of 187 1. All these responsible posts
Mr. Von Seggern filled with acceptance to his constituents
and the community, reflecting honor upon him during
twenty years of consecutive public service, and since. As
a lawyer in full practice, he invariably bestows much care-
ful research and thought upon the preparation of his cases,
and always speaks to the point. He is a man of quick
perceptions, generous impulses, and fine feelings, ex-
tremely jealous, withal, of his honor. These manly
qualities have secured him the confidence of the citizens
of Cincinnati, and have placed his success as a practi-
tioner beyond a peradventure. His firmness of purpose
and strength of will to do or to be may be fitly illus-
trated by the following incident : When about sixteen
years of age he assisted in the organization of the old
fire company No. 7, and, although at the time unable
to write, having had but three months' schooling in Eng-
lish at the First District school on Franklin street, he was
elected secretary of the company. Instead of declining
on account of this defect, he resolved at once to be
equal to the emergency by learning the art of writing in
English, simultaneously with the assumption of his offi-
cial duties in the company. This was the turning-point
in his history, for the mental discipline and culture in-
volved in this, his period of self-education, together with
the real progress made in knowledge, enabled him to as-
sume the duties of a clerkship and ultimately the prac-
tice of law.
Mrs. Von Seggern is also still living, and in the enjoy-
ment of excellent health. She has proved herself a help-
mate indeed in all the walks of life" by cordially cooper-
ating with and supporting her husband in his public and
private enterprises. They have had twelve children, of
whom six are living.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
477
CHAPTER L.
PERSONAL NOTES.
Israel Ludlow. — -The following notice of the Ludlow
family was received after the personal sketch of Colonel
Israel Ludlow, in our chapter on Losantiville had passed
through the press. It has been courteously prepared for
this work by a gentleman who shares the Ludlow blood
— the Rev. Ludlow D. Potter, D. D., president of the
Glendale Female college:
General Benjamin Ludlow (an officer in the Revolu-
tionary war) resided at Long Hill, bordering the Passaic
valley, three miles from New Providence. His residence
was on the north side of the Passaic river, the boundary
line between Morris and Essex (now Union) counties,
and ours on the south side. So he was in Morris county
and we in Essex. He was quite a noted character, and
his family residence a marked feature in that region —
the abode of more than ordinary refinement and culture
in his day. He, his wife, and all his children, except
two, were buried in the graveyard in New Providence.
He and his wife imbibed the French infidelity so prev-
alent about the close of the Revolutionary war. On
his deathbed he renounced his infidelity through the
faithful labors of Rev. Dr. W. C. Brownlee, who subse-
quently wrote a sketch of him and his religious death-
bed discussions, and it was published in a thick tract by
the American Tract society, entitled "The General."
Subsequently his widow passed through a similar experi-
ence, and the pastoral labors resulted in her conversion
also. This formed the subject of a second tract, entitled
"The General's Widow." The tracts, I think, were sub-
sequently suppressed at the request of the family. Gen-
eral Ludlow had a large family, but most of them died
with consumption after reaching maturity, or before.
His eldest son, Cornelius, graduated at Princeton col-
lege in 1816. His youngest son, George, was long
sheriff of Morris county, but subsequently became de-
ranged, and, I believe, died in an asylum. His eldest
daughter married Dr. John Craig, of Plainfield, New
Jersey, and outlived all the rest, but died childless.
They all renounced infidelity and died in the faith.
None left children except Cornelius. Colonel Israel
Ludlow, of Cincinnati, was a brother, or half-brother of
General Ludlow ; I think a half-brother. The first wife
of the late George C. Miller, of Cincinnati, was a daugh-
ter of Colonel Israel Ludlow, and Mrs. Whiteman and
the late Mrs. Charlotte Jones, of Cumminsville, and
their brother and sister, were Colonel Ludlow's grand-
children. The old Ludlow mansion in New Jersey,
which I visited a few years ago, has passed entirely out
of the family. Indeed, the family is nearly extinct.
Hon. T. M. McCarter, a distinguished lawyer and judge
in New Jersey, a graduate of Princeton in 1842, is a
grandson, I believe, of Cornelius Ludlow, mentioned
above.
Matthias Denman was still living at his old home, in
Springfield, New Jersey, in August, 1853, when he gave
his deposition in the suits of the city of Cincinnati
against the First Presbyterian church and the county of
Hamilton, for recovery of the square between Main
and Walnut, Fourth and Fifth streets. In that deposi-
tion he states that he was first here in late December,
1788, and afterward revisited the place four times, for
about one month in 1798, a month in 1801, about a
fortnight in 181 1, and ten days in 182 1. He stated that
when the Miami purchase was conceived, Judge Symmes
was a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and that his
arrangement with Symmes for a share in the purchase
was made in January, 1788. Colonel Ludlow was his
agent- on the ground for the transaction of all his legal
business here until the transfer of his interest in the site
of Cincinnati to Joel Williams.
William Stark, M. D., of Eight street, was born Feb-
ruary ir, 1836, in Gervitsch, Austria. In 1846 he went
to Prussia, and became naturalized, graduating in the
Berlin university in 1858; entered the Prussian army
just after a course of medicine was completed in this
university and in that of Vienna. In i860 he was made
assistant surgeon, and in 1863 surgeon of the regiment ;
in 1866 was promoted to assistant general of staff in the
army of surgeons. This was also the year he came to
Cincinnati and located on Ninth street, between Elm
and Plum. He removed again to Ninth, near Walnut,
and in 1876 to 51 West Seventh street, where he now is.
In 1 86 1 he was married to Caecelia Kaiser. His two
sons, Segmar and Oscar Stark, leave shortly for Berlin
and Paris to complete their course of medicine in the
universities of those places. The doctor is physician of
the Jewish hospital.
John M. Scudder, M. D., physician, lecturer, author
and editor, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Septem-
ber 8, 1829. At an early age his father died, and he was
thrown upon his own resources for sustenance and an
education. He was educated at the Miami university,
Ohio, and at the Eclectic Medical institute, of Cincin-
nati, and was appointed in the latter as one of its
professors in the year 1856. In this college he filled
the chairs of anatomy, obstetrics, and diseases of women
of pathology and practice of medicine. He is au-
thor of "A Practical Treatise of Diseases of Women,"
1858: "Materia Medica and Therapeutics," i860; "The
Eclectic Practice of Medicine," 1864; "On the Use and
Inhalation," 1865; "Domestic Medicine," 1866; "Dis-
eases of Children," 1869; "Specific Medication," 1871;
"On the Reproductive Organs and the Venereal," 1874;
"Specific Diagnosis," 1874; and in addition to this
large amount of work has edited and published the
Eclectic Medical Journal since 1862. He owns the
Eclectic Medical college of Cincinnati, and is its manager,
as well as one of its lecturers, and is a member of most
of the eclectic societies of the United States. He has
accummulated a large fortune in the successful practice
of his profession, and in the large sale of his books,
which are considered generally as authorities on the sub-
jects of which are treated.
Frederick Forchheimer, M. D, was born in Cincinnati.
He graduated from Woodward high school in 1870. In
medicine he graduated in the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York city. After this he spent several
478
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
years abroad, visiting the universities of Wurzburg,
Strasburg, Prague and Vienna. Upon his return to
the city he was appointed instructor in normal and path-
ological histology in the Medical College of Ohio. He
held this position for three years, at the same time filling
the chair of medical chemistry and medical physics.
After this he was appointed to the chair of physiology,
which he still fills. He is, in addition, professor of clini-
cal diseases of children and physician to the Good Sa-
maritan hospital.
Elkanah Williams, M. A., M. D., ophthalmologist, of
Cincinnati, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, De-
cember 19, 1822. At ten years of age he went to Bed-
ford academy, and in 1847 graduated in Asbury college,
Greencastle, Indiana, after which he pursued a course
of medicine in Bedford and Louisville, under leading
physicians, and graduated in the Louisville university in
1850. He returned to Indiana and pursued his practice
for two years, when, upon his wife dying, he returned to
Louisville and attended a third course of lectures. In
1852 he came to Cincinnati, and in the fall of the same
year crossed the Atlantic, mastered the French language,
and attended a course of lectures in Paris on opthal-
mology; then went to London and studied under Bow-
man Critchett and Dixon of the London Royal Ophthal-
mic society — the uses of the opthalmoscope having been
learned under the famous Desmarres, in Paris, it fell to
Dr. Williams' lot to introduce it in Cincinnati. In 1854
he went to Vienna and studied under Beer Rosos, Jaeger,
and Stellwag-von-Carion. Then he went to Prague ; then
to Berlin, where he pursued the study of his adopted
specialty several months in each of these places. In
1855 he returned to Cincinnati, and opened an office for
the exclusive treatment of the ear and eye. In 1856 he
was invited to conduct the eye clinics in the Miami
Medical college, and he thus established the chair of
ophthalmics in the county. For twelve years he was
ophthalmologist of the Cincinnati hospital. During the
war he was surgeon of the marine hospital. In 1862 he
again visited Europe, and attended the ophthalmological
congress in Paris, and in 1866 he made a third trip for a
similar purpose. In 1872 he went to London on the
same errand. He is a member of the ophthalmological
colleges of the old and new world, and a prominent
member of many medical societies in America. Dr.
Williamrhas made ophthalmology a specalty during his
life, and deservedly has made it a success.
William De Courcy, M. D., of 428 Court street, was
born in Campbell county, Kentucky, in the year 1849.
His father was a physician of that county, while his
grandfather and great-grandfather on his mother's side
were pioneer settlers of that State. When the doctor
was twenty years of age he graduated in the Ohio Medi-
cal college, his father having graduated there also. He
received his preparatory education in the Walnut Hills
academy, of Campbell county, Kentucky. In 1873 he
married Miss Fannie McCarty, of Cincinnati. She
graduated in Hughes' high school in 1868, taking the
Shield medal at that time. The doctor has been a suc-
cessful practicioner in his profession.
Thaddeus A. Reaniy, A. M., M. D., professor of ob-
stetrics, clinical midwifery, and diseases of children, in
the Medical College of Ohio, was born in Frederick
county, Virginia. At the age of three years he moved with
his parents to a farm in the vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio,
where his mother, aged eighty, still resides in the same
house into which they first moved, and where his father,
Jacob A. Rearny, died in 187 1, aged eighty. Dr. Reamy
received his degree of A. M. from the Ohio Wesleyan
university, of M. D. from Starling Medical college. From
1857 to i860 he was professor of materia medic* and
therapeutics in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and
Surgery. On its organization he was commissioned as
surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-second regi-
ment Ohio volunteer infantry, remaining in active service
but a few months, when he resigned to take his seat in the
general assembly of Ohio, being elected to that body
from Muskingum county. In 1865 he was elected pro-
fessor of puerperal diseases of women, and diseases of
children, in Starling Medical college, which position he
held until after his return from Europe in the spring of
1870. In March, 1871, he removed from Zanesville,
Ohio, to Cincinnati, and was soon after elected professor
of obstetrics and clinical midwifery, and diseases of
children, in the Medical College of Ohio, which position
he still holds. In 1872 he was appointed gynecologist
to the Good Samaritan hospital, which position he still
holds. He is a member of the American Medical asso-
ciation, the American Gynecological society, of which he
is first vice-president; the Ohio State Medical society, of
which he is ex-president; the Cincinnati Obstetrical
society, of which he is ex-president; the Cincinnati
Academy of Medicine, of which he is now president.
He is corresponding member of the Boston Gynecolog-
ical society, and of many other medical associations.
Although not strictly a specialist, Dr. Reamy's reputation
is most widely known as an obstretician and gynecologist.
•He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Was married in September, 1853, to Miss Sarah A.
Chappelear. Their only child, who was the wife of Dr.
G S. Mitchell, Dr. Reamy's associate in business, is now
dead.
S. C. Ayers, M. D., 64 West Seventh street, is a native
of Troy, Miami county, Ohio. His parents moved to
Fort Wayne, Indiana, soon after his birth, and that city
was his home until he became a permanent resident of
Cincinnati ten years ago. He received a high school
education at home, and afterwards went to Miami uni-
versity, Oxford, where he graduated in the class of 1861.
He was among the first to volunteer in the first three
months' service, and served his time out in West Vir-
ginia, in company B, Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry,
Captain O. J. Dodd commanding. He attended-lectures
at the Medical College of Ohio in the winter of 1862-3,
and in the following spring was appointed medical cadet.
He served in this position one year, in the meantime
attending lectures in the winter of 1863-4, and gradua-
ted in March, 1864. He immediately went to the Cum-
berland hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, where he served
a year as acting assistant surgeon United States army,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
479
and then went before the army board for examination.
He was commissioned assistant surgeon United States
volunteers, and ordered to New Orleans, where he was
soon put in charge of Barracks United States army gen-
eral hospital. He was honorably mustered out of the
service in February, 1866. He immediately devoted
himself to diseases of the eye and ear, and in the au-
tumn of that year became a student of Dr. E. Williams,
of Cincinnati. After spending several months with him,
he returned to Fort Wayne to practice his specialty. In
1870-he went abroad and studied at the various eye and
ear clinics, spending most of his time in London and
"Vienna. In the fall of 187 1 he entered into partnership
with Dr. E. Williams, which position he now fills. He
has been a member of the staff of the Cincinnati hos-
pital for the past ten years, and is an active member of
the State and local medical societies.
William Clendinin, M. D., was born in Cumberland
county, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1829. At the age
of fifteen he was put in the drug store of Dr. John
Gammil, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and after four
years he became a regular medical student under
the doctor and attended his course of lectures in the
Ohio Medical college, graduating with the degree of
M. D. in 1851. He practiced his profession in connec-
tion with Dr. R. D. Mussey for one year, and afterwards
with his son, Dr. William Mussey, five years. He held
the position of demonstrator of anatomy in the Miami
Medical college one year ; and after this college was com-
bined with that of the Ohio Medical college held the
position until 1849, when he went to Europe and took
private lessons in anatomy and surgery, and also at-
tended of Velpeare, Trousseau, Malgaigne and other
eminent men of the Royal Medical college of Paris.
He also attended lectures under a number of eminent
men in the Royal College of Surgeons of London. After
an eighteen months' stay abroad he returned home and
gave his time and medical advice in the army. He
served at Camp Denison, Ohio, in the second battle of
Bull Run, and afterwards took charge of Emery General
hospital, in Washington.
He became medical director of the Fourteenth army
corps under Thomas, and afterwards assistant medical
director of the Department of the Cumberland, and
afterwards medical inspector of hospitals, which position
he held until 1865. He was offered a consulate by John-
son to St. Petersburgh, but declined that offer and ac-
cepted a professorship of surgery and surgical anatomy
in the Ohio Medical college, after returning to Cincin-
nati. He was also health officer of the city at this time.
This was during the cholera epidemic in which the doc-
tor's services were of material benefit in the sanitary af-
fairs of the city, and the present sanitary system of our
city is due to the bills he drafted, and which were after-
wards enacted as law in the State legislature of Ohio.
He is also author of health laws of the State now in force
by act of the legislature. He was one of the origina-
tors of the health association. He has been since 1865
a professor in the Miami Medical college, and belongs to
a number of medical societies. He is also a medical
lecturer of some note, and in all has done much toward
leaving the condition of society better for being in it.
Dr. A. J. Howe was born in Paxton, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, on the fourteenth day of April,
1826. He lived on a farm with his parents till he was
old enough to attend Leicester academy. In that insti-
tution he fitted for college, and entered Harvard univer-
sity at the age of twenty-three. He graduated in 1853,
and began at once to study medicine. He pursued his
studies in the colleges and hospitals of New York and
Philadelphia, and took a degree at the Worcester Medi-
cal institution. Within a year of that time he was made
professor of anatomy in the Eclectic college of medicine,
in Cincinnati. The circumstance led him to settle in the
city, and seek a professional living. In i860 he was
elected professor of surgery in the Eclectic Medical in-
stitute, a position he has filled successfully every year
since. He has written a work of fifteen hundred pages
on the general practice of surgery, and in journal arti-
cles has recorded some original contributions to operative
surgery. He has executed nearly all of what are denom-
inated "great operations," and many of them several
times. He is a ready writer, and contributes largely
to each issue of the Eclectic Medical Journal, as well
as occasionally to the pages of other periodicals. He
has a taste for natural science; and for several con-
secutive years has been curator of comparative anatomy
in the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. In 1879
he became a member of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Joseph Watson, M. D., a native of the First ward, re-
ceived his education in Wood high school and graduated
in the Ohio Medical college in 1876, having studied un-
der Dr. James T. Whittaker, at that time lecturer on
materia medica in the college. Dr. Watson, after spend-
ing one year in the hospital located at 584 Eastern ave-
nue, where, on account of his youthful appearance, he
made but slow progress at first, but his continuity won
for him success eventually, and he is now having a good
practice, conforming his attention largely to sugery. His
father, Joseph Watson, had charge of a squadron of five
boats on the Mississippi during the war, and was next in
command to Commodore Leroy Fish. Dr. Watson was
married in 1881 to Miss Katie Hink, of Cincinnati.
Charles M. Sparks, M. D., physician, having an office
at 1333 Eastern avenue, was born at Delaware, Ohio, in
1835, but received his education at Sunbury, this State.
He has spent some time in preparing himself thoroughly
for the practice of his profession, having studied under
an able preceptor — Dr. William Ford, of Johnstown,
Ohio — seven years, and then took courses of lectures in
both the Physio Medical and in the Eclectic College of
Medicine of Cincinnati. He is also a student of all the
schools — interesting himself in the allopathy and homoe-
opathy systems as well. He is a member of the Eclectic
Medical association. He was married in August, 1862,
to Miss Mary Gregg, of Delaware, Ohio, and came here
in 1872.
William N. Nelson, M. D., 486 Eastern avenue, Cin-
cinnati, was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1850, where
480
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
he received his early education afterwards. He studied
medicine under Dr. Lightfoot, of Flemingsburgh, his na-
tive State, and graduated in the fall of 1870 in Jefferson
Medical college, and came to Cincinnati in the year
1876. He has held the position of district physician in
the First ward and is making some headway in securing a
good practice. He was married in 1876 to a daughter
of George B. Morris, of Flemingsburgh, Kentucky. His
father, Isaac Nelson, now a retired merchant, was in that
business in Maysville, Kentucky, from 1849 until 1870.
He now resides in Cincinnati.
C. L. Armstrong, M. D., of Cincinnati, is a native of
Brookville, Indiana, and is a great-grandson of Captain
John Armstrong of Revolutionary fame, who was killed
at the battle of Bunker Hill. His father was a lawyer of
Brookville. His maternal great-grandfather, La Bloy-
teaux, was an early pioneer of Hamilton county, and a
founder of Mt. Healthy. Dr. Armstrong was born in
1844, graduated in the Cincinnati College of Medicine
in 1868, and has since that time practiced his profession
in this city; he is at present police surgeon of Cincinnati,
and is examining surgeon of some half-dozen of our
leading insurance companies; he has also been district
physician of the city. During the war he was one of the one
hundred and fifty of the "Forlorn Hope" company who
volunteered to carry ladders to mount the walls of Vicks-
burgh, and one of the twelve only who came out alive, but
was seriously wounded by three different shots. He is a
member of the Academy of Medicine and takes great in-
terest in his profession.
W. H. Taylor, M. D., president of the Cincinnati
Medical society, vice-president of medical staff of Cin-
cinnati hospital, and professor of obstetrics in Miami
Medical college, was born in Cincinnati in 1836. His
great-grandfather came to the city in 181 3. His grand-
father was a physician, and his father was a prominent
man who was killed in the great fire in Cincinnati in
1843. The doctor graduated in the Ohio Medical col-
lege in 1858; became a resident physician in i860; was
made member of medical staff of hospital in 1866; pro-
fessor of materia medica at the same time vice-presi-
dent of medical staff in the hospital in 1879; president
Cincinnati Medical society in 1880.
J. M. Shaller, M. D., of 535 Sycamore street, was born
in Cincinnati May 19, 1856. He was educated in the
public schools of Cincinnati and in the Military academy
of Lexington, Kentucky, graduating there in 1876. He
engaged in the prescription business, and afterwards grad-
uated in the College of Pharmacy, Cincinnati. He studied
medicine under Dr. A. J. Miles, and graduated in the
College of Medicine and Surgery, of Cincinnati, in 1878,
and in which he has filled an assistant's position in theory
and practice. He had charge of the clinical department
one year after graduation.
William Owens, M. D., of Cincinnati, professor of ma-
teria medica and therapeutics in Pulte Medical college, of
Cincinnati, was born in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio,
April 24, 1823. He early gained a love for books and
travelled extensively through the West Indies, Florida,
and South America. He learned the cooper tradu; at-
tended Woodward college, going to school the half of each
day and working at his trade the other half. In 1846 he
entered a drug store, and in the following year he was
made hospital steward of the First regiment Ohio volun-
teer infantry, in the Mexican war. While in the drug
store he attended lectures during the day and at night
served as night clerk, and graduated in 1849. He was
immediately appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the
Eclectic Medical college, and held that position for two
years. The Western College of Homoeopathy, at Cleve-
land, Ohio, offered him the same office, which he accepted,
and while filling it attended a full course of lectures on
the homoeopathic materia medica and therapeutics. In
1859 he returned to Cincinnati. In 1855 he purchased
an interest in the Water Cure, at Granville, Ohio, and
afterwards at Yellow Springs, Ohio. These enterprises
proved to be failures, financially, and he returned to Cin-
cinnati in 1858. He served through the war, holding
the positions of first lieutenant, captain, and assistant
surgeon, finally taking charge of Branch No. 16, United
States hospital, at Nashville, Tennessee. After the war
he returned to Cincinnati and assisted in founding Pulte
Medical college, in which he occupied the chair of anat-
omy for two years, and that of materia medica and thera-
peutics, which he still retains, and is also dean of the
faculty. He held the office of examining surgeon for
pensioners for four years. He is a member of medical
societies and has written many articles for medical jour-
nals, and is an able defender of the school of homoeop-
athy.
F. J. Fogel, M. D., of Cincinnati, was born in Gallip-
olis in 185 1, and came to this city with his parents in
1855. When fourteen years of age we find him in busi-
ness for himself — running a periodical store in Indianap-
olis. He afterward studied medicine under Dr. Silvey, in
Everton, Indiana, and while an undergraduate practiced
his profession two years to enable him to complete his
course in college, graduating in the Ohio Medical college
in 1873. He has now practiced his prosession in this
city nearly eight years. In 1876 he was appointed dis-
trict physician of his ward, and has been reappointed
every year since. His office is at No. 94 Clinton street.
J. T. Knox, M. D, located at No. 82^ East Third
street, was born in Butler county, Ohio, October 1, 1846,
and lived on his father's farm until he was fifteen years of
age. After this time he attended college at Miami uni-
versity, Oxford, for four years ; was engaged in the drug
trade for three years at Hamilton. He was married to a
daughter of Dr. Henry Mallory, of Hamilton, November
2, 1870; graduated at Ohio Medical college in the class
of 1874; immediately began the practice of medicine in
Cincinnati, and has thus far been successful.
Colonel A. E Jones, M. D., was born in Greensbor-
ough, Green county, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1819, and is
the son of Robert and Anna (Eberhardt) Jones. His
early education was carefully nurtured under the guid-
ance of his parents. At the age of fifteen he entered the
dry goods store of his father, and also engaged with his
father in the manufacture of window glass in the first
factory built west of the Alleghany mountains. In 1837
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
481
we find him a student in the old Cincinnati college, and
in 1838 at Washington college, Pennsylvania, and later a
student in Philadelphia. In 1841 he began the practice
of medicine in his native town, and ere long ranked
among the best and most successful physicians of his
place. In 1845 he married Miss Jane R. Metcalf, niece
of Governor Thomas Metcalf, a former governor of Ken-
tucky. He, in 1846, resided in Fulton. In 1848 he was
president of the town council of Fulton. In 1852 he
moved to Walnut Hills. He was for five years a mem-
ber of the city council. At the breaking out of the late
civil war he was selected to take charge of the military
matters of Cincinnati, as acting brigadier general with the
rank of colonel. In 1862 he was appointed military
governor, performing the functions of that office during
the Kirby Smith raid and until April, 1863, and in May,
1863, by request of President Lincoln, was made provost
marshal of the First district of Ohio. At the close of the
war he began the practice of medicine on Walnut Hills.
In the intervals of 1865 and 1868 Dr. Jones devoted his
entire time to the practice of his profession, acquiring a
large and lucrative practice. Ur. Jones, amid the rou-
tine of public and private life, has been actively engaged
in preparing a history of Cincinnati, which is to be pub-
lished in two volumes.
I. D. Jones, M. D., was born in Newtown, Hamilton
county, Ohio, November 13, 1843, and ls the son of
Daniel Jones, a pioneer of Hamilton county. Our sub-
ject, in 1865, graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan univer-
sity, of Delaware, Ohio, with the highest honors. He
then returned to his native county and for several years
was engaged in teaching school, being principal for two
years of the California, Ohio, schools. He soon after
began to attend lectures at Ohio Medical college, where
he graduated in 187 1. Dr. Jones was at one time resi-
dent physician of the Good Samaritan hospital. After
graduating in medicine in 187 1 he soon after came to
Walnut Hills and began the practice of his chosen pro-
fession, where he met with good success. In 1876 he
formed a partnership with his brother, John E. Jones, in
the practice of medicine. Dr. John E. Jones was also
born in Newtown, Hamilton county, Ohio, January 27,
1834, graduating from the Ohio Wesleyan university in
1858, and from the Ohio Medical college in 1863, when
he entered the army as assistant surgeon, where he served
until the close of the war, participating in a number of
battles. At the close of the war he returned to Hamil-
ton county, since which time he has been actively en-
gaged in the practice of medicine. In 1876 the firm of
Jones & Jones was formed, and to day is doing a large
practice.
Zoheth Freeman, M. D., born July 17, 1826, in Mil-
ton, Queens county, Nova Scotia, attended lectures at
the Buffalo Medical college, Buffalo, New York, during
its first session, and was its first matriculant. He gradu-
ated at the Eclectic Medical institute of Cincinnati,
spring session of 1848; was professor of anatomy and
operative surgery in the Eclectic Medical college in
Rochester, New York, at its first session in 1848, also in
1849; demonstrated anatomy in the Eclectic Medical
institute at Cincinnati during the winter and spring ses-
sions of 1848-9; was professor of anatomy and demon-
strator of anatomy in the Medical college of Memphis,
Tennessee, during its first session in 1849, also in 1850,
giving the first lectures on anatomy in that institute and
assisting to establish that college, also practicing medicine
and surgery in that city for two years. He returned to Cin-
cinnati and was professor of anatomy and demonstrator of
anatomy in the Eclectic Medical institute during the two
sessions of 1851 and the spring session of 1852; was
professor of surgery in the same institute from 1853 to
J855; was then elected professor of the principles and
practice of medicine and pathology, and lectured during
the session of 1855-6; was then reelected to the chair
of professor of surgery, and occupied it until 1870. In
187 1 was made professor of clinical medicine and sur-
gery, and still occupies that position. He has been in
active practice of surgery and medicine in Cincinnati
since 185 1. The greatest number of students in attend-
ance of lectures at the Eclectic Medical ^institute any
one year, including spring and winter sessions, was four
hundred. He was married October 9, 1856, to Ellen
Ricker, daughter of Hon. E. T. Ricker, Clermont county,
Ohio. She is distinguished as an artist in carving. His
only son, Leonard Ricker Freeman, born December 16,
i860, is a student in the McMicken university, Cincin-
nati. He is a lover of natural history and has made
nice collections of Indian relics, minerals, etc.
Joseph Garretson, M. D., of Cincinnati, was born in
York county, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1808. When
thirteen years of age his parents moved to New Lisbon,
Ohio, where he engaged successfully with his father in
the farming business. He began the study of medicine
under the eminent medical professor, George McCook,
uncle to the Generals McCook. He practiced his pro-
fession in New Richmond, Ohio, Richmond, Indiana,
,and other places, previous to coming here in 1865, and
has been successful in his practice since that time in this
city. Dr. Garretson possesses remarkable health and
vigor of life for one of his age. For over forty years he
has not eaten animal food, and for over fifty-five years he
has not drank tea nor coffee. He gives himself a good
shampooing every night before going to rest, with a dry
Turkish towel, and always takes a warm bath in the
morning, and has never had any ill health. His son, Dr.
George Garretson, is a practicing physician in Walnut
Hills.
George Edwin Jones, M. D., of Cincinnati, was born
in New York city in 1835, in which place he received
his education. At the age of nineteen he began the
study of medicine and graduated in the Ohio Medical
college September 26, 1861. At this time he went to St.
Louis, Missouri, and entered the naval service on the
gunboat flotilla under Rear Admiral Foote, afterwards
Rear Admiral C. H. Davis acting assistant surgeon. At
the bombardment of Fort Charles a sad catastrophe oc-
curred on his steamer, caused by a single shot of the en-
emy entering the steam drum, effecting an explosion. The
doctor was badly scalded, and otherwise injured, necessi-
tating his withdrawal from service. Afterward, by order
61
482
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
from medical department United States navy, at Wash-
ington, D. C, he was put on detached duty. In 1864
he resigned, and from that time to this has continued his
practice (to a great extent gynecological) in this city.
The doctor has been very kindly treated by his superior
officers, who regard him as a man possessing more than
ordinary patriotism during the war. Rear Admiral Foote,
and Davis, as well as the authorities at Washington have
shown, by their warm letters of friendship, the kindliest
regard for him, and have expressed themselves respecting
his worth in the profession, to the service, in the strongest
terms. He was professor of anatomy in the dental
school of Cincinnati several years after the war, and was
also professor of microscopical anatomy for two years.
He was married to Miss Ellen Yale Roots, daughter of
Philanda Higley Roots, in the year 1866, and by this
union is the father of three children. The doctor is the
inventor of a topographical water map, an improvement
in geographical maps for illustrating water depressions
the same as mountain elevations. This is a device so in-
genious and instructive as to make it worth anyone's
while to visit him for the purpose of examining it. For
the purpose of object teaching it excels any yet of the
kind we have ever seen.
Charles M. Lukins, M. D., of Cincinnati, was born in
Troy, Harrison county, Ohio, February 12, 1847. He
was raised a farmer's boy, and inured to the hardships of
an agricultural life. He began the study of medicine in
1876, and after attending the required number of lec-
tures, graduated from the Pulte college, Cincinnati, in
the spring of 1879, with the degree of M. D. He is
demonstrator of anatomy in his alma mater, and is also
assistant surgeon in the department of eye and ear of
free clinics. His office is No. 278 Race street. ' The
doctor has two brothers, also physicians. One is located
at Cleveland, Ohio, the other at Troy, same State.
D. W. Hartshorn, M. D., of Cincinnati, professor of
surgery in Pulte Medical college, was born August 1,
1827, in Walpole, Norfolk county, Massachussets. He
received an academical education, then studied medicine,
graduating with the degree of M. D., in Harvard college^
in 1854. He practiced his profession in his native
town until 1857, when he removed to Urbana, Ohio, and
continued the same until the outbreak of the late un-
pleasantness, when he went to Washington, and after
receiving an appointment from Lincoln, confirmed by the
Senate, was placed under Fremont, at Paducah, Ken-
tucky, as brigade surgeon. He was, after the battle of
Fort Donelson, transferred by order, and became med-
ical director under General C. F. Smith, and again
transferred to the same position under General W. T.
Sherman, where he remained in charge of hospitals and
other work he had laid out, for one year. An intimacy
of the strongest attachment had sprung up between the
doctor and General Sherman, and from letters, of which
the latter wrote, we judge that Dr. Hartshorn's abilities
were adjudged to be of the highest order by the General.
His social standing was marked as well. By special
order of General Grant he was removed to Young's
Point, Louisiana, to act in conjunction with C. H. Liub
surgeon, United States medical director. He was as-
signed to this place March 4, 1863. After the war he
resumed practice, coming to Cincinnati, where he has
been ever since. He has filled several positions in the
Pulte Medical college, having been its treasurer, professor
of anatomy, dean, and at present professor and lecturer
on surgery. In 1858 he was married to Miss Mary A.
Knight, of Maine. The doctor is enjoying a good prac-
tice, and is a man of recognized abilities, being a grad-
uate of the regular school as well as that of homceopathy.
Theodore Martin Wittkamp, A. M., M. D., was born
in Cincinnati. After receiving a common school educa-
tion, was sent to St. Xavier's college, where he received
the degree of A. B. in 1872, whence he was sent to the
Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1874,
March 10th, entered as resident physician to the Cincin-
nati hospital; served one year. June, 1874, received
the degree of A. M., at St. Xavier's college; 1875, re"
ceived the degree of M. D. at Cincinnati College of
Medicine and Surgery; 1876, appointed dispensary phys-
ician at Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery; the
next year, assistant to chair of women's and children's
diseases, same institute. This position he still holds.
He is recording secretary to alumni of his alma mater.
Dr. Robert Ballard Davy was born near Fairmount,
Somerset county, Maryland, on the twenty-fifth of May,
1847. He received his education at the Washington
academy, in Princess avenue, and came to Ohio in the
fall of 1865. While visiting a friend at Felicity, Ohio,
he undertook the study of medicine, and two years later
obtained the degree of M. D. at the Jefferson Medical
college of Philadelphia. Returning to Felicity, he prac-
ticed his profession successfully for five years, and then
removed to Cincinnati. In 1875, aftertwo anda half years'
residence in Cincinnati, he went to Europe and spent a
year in visiting the universities and hospitals of the old
world. He at present occupies the chair of physiology
and chinical diseases of the throat in the Cincinnati Col-
lege of Medicine and Surgery, and is a member of the
Cincinnati Medical society, the Academy of Medicine,
and the Ohio State Medical society. He is the author
of a number of papers, having written quite extensively
for the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic, and other medical
journals.
Joseph Rausohoff, M. D., F. R. C. S. England, was
born in Cincinnati on the twenty-sixth of May, 1853.
His parents are Germans by birth. His father, Nathan
Rausohoff, although a native of Westphalia, has resided
in this country fifty-seven years. At the age of six Dr.
Rausohoff entered the public schools of Cincinnati, and
continued in them until he graduated with merit from
Woodward high school in 1870. In the fall of this year
he commenced his medical studies at the Medical College
of Ohio, where, after three years of diligent work, he
obtained a gold medal awarded to the author of the best
thesis on a special theme, competition being open to all
the alumni of the institution. After a rigid competitive
examination, Dr. Rausohoff was elected interne of the Cin-
cinnati hospital, where he practised from March, 1873, to
March, 1874. Having now obtained his degree, and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
483
exhausted the fountains of medical learning in his native
city, he spent the next four years of his life at the uni-
versities and hospitals of Wiirzburg, Vienna, Berlin,
Paris and London, devoting especial attention to the
study of diseases of the skin and surgery. In London
the doctor was appointed Fellow of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England, a title and honor obtained, we
believe, by only one other member of the profession in
the United States. Upon his return to the city of his
birth, Dr. Rausohoff was chosen demonstrator of anato-
my at the Medical College of Ohio, a position which he
occupied until the death of Professor Laudon R. Long-
worth, when he was appointed his successor to the chair
of anatomy and clinical surgery. During the last two
sessions of the Medical College of Ohio, the oldest
institution of its kind in the west, the subject of this
sketch has lectured upon his special branches both in
the amphitheatre of the college and of the Good Samar-
itan hospital. The opportunities afforded by hospital
and private practice have been grasped by the doctor,
who, notwithstanding the paucity of his years, has
achieved an enviable position among medical men. In
March, 1877, Dr. Rausohoff married Minnie, eldest
daughter of Julius Freiberg, a lady as distinguished for
her attainments as amiability. The birth of a son has
added not a little to the happiness of the parents.
James Taylor Irwin, D. D. S., was born in Buckskin
township, Ross county, Ohio, in 1833. In his early
youth he removed to Greenfield, Ross county. He was
educated in the academy at South Salem, in the same
county. He was an adventurous boy, and at one time
took a pedestrian tour over the mountains and over the
Eastern States with a couple of boy companions. At
the age of seventeen he came to Cincinnati and entered
the office of Drs. J. & J. Taylor. He spent five years
in this office, and during these years took three courses
in the Ohio Dental college, whence he was graduated.
He was then for a short time a demonstrator at the col-
lege, and took an especial interest in mechanical dentist-
ry, in which he became quite proficient. He then took
a trip throughout the northwest of our country, and
practiced about six months in Dubuque, Iowa. He
came thence back to Cincinnati and went into partner-
ship with Dr. James Taylor from 1857 to 1866. Since
then he has carried on his business alone. He built
himself a very handsome building exclusively for his
business", on West Seventh street, where he still practices
his profession. He has since added to it a winter resi-
dence for his family. He was married in July of i860
to Miss Annie M. Underwood, of Cincinnati. He. is a
member of the Mississippi Valley Dental association,
the Ohio College Dental association, and the American
Dental society.
Jonathan Taft, D. D. S., was born in September of
1820 in Russellville, Brown county, Ohio. At the age
of two the family moved to Adams county, Ohio, where
Dr. Taft acquired some knowledge of Latin, Greek and
mathematics in an academy. He was afterward engaged
in farm labor and school teaching. In 184 1 he began
the study of dentistry under Dr. George D. Teetor, of
Ripley, Ohio, and after eighteen months began the prac-
tice, which he has kept up ever since. He practiced in
Xenia for six years, during which time he did much to
advance the then imperfect knowledge of this profession.
He then entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery,
whence he was graduated in 1850. In 1854 he was ap-
pointed professor of operative dentistry in this college,
and has probably taught longer in this capacity, without
interruption, than any one living. During most of this
time he has been dean of the faculty. He has been a
member of the Ohio Dental College association since its
organization in 1852, and for twenty years has been its
secretary. In 1856 he became part proprietor of the
Dental Register of the West, and in a few years be-
came its sole proprietor. The paper is now called
the Dental Register. In 1857 he removed to Cin-
cinnati. In 1858-9 he wrote a treatise on "Opera-
tive Dentistry," which was received as a text-book in the
colleges and has been translated into German and other
languages. Dr. Taft is a member of all the principal
dental societies, and his labors have been conspicuous in
over fifty different societies. He has been presiding
officer of the board of examiners in dentistry appointed
by the State, ever since its organization. In 1875 ne
was appointed professor of the principles and practice of
operative dentistry in the Dental college of the Univer-
sity of Michigan. Dr. Taft is an earnest and profound
student, a public-spirited citizen, and a conscientious
Christian.
Dr. T. C. Bradford, M. D., was born in October,
1835, in Cincinnati. After acquring an education in
the institutions of his own State, he pursued his studies
in Jefferson college, in Philadelphia, and afterwards in
the Bellevue Hospital college, in New York city, whence
he was graduated in 1864. His advantages for a thor-
ough medical education were thus the very best. In
.1864 he returned to Cincinnati and began the practice
of his profession. The death of several of the oldest
physicians of both schools opened a road to success to
a man of ability, and Dr. Bradford soon attained this
success. Dr. Bradford is absorbed in the practice of his
profession. He has a very fine medical and miscellane-
ous library. He is treasurer, a member of the faculty,
and one of the incorporators of the Pulte Medical col-
lege. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian
church. He was married in October, 1868, to M. A.
McCroskey, of his native city.
Samuel Wardle, D. D. S., was born in Leicester, Eng-
land, in 1822, and came to America in 1832. After
working on a farm for five years, he became an appren-
tice to a silversmith in Philadelphia. After two years
and a half of this service, he ran away and determined
to go to sea. After several trials he made satisfactory
arrangements with a whaler, the "William C. Nye." In
this ship he made a voyage of twenty-two months, full
of adventure. The ship doubled Cape Horn, went to
the sea of Kamschatka, touching the famous island of
Juan Fernandez on the way, and finally entered the har-
bor of San Francisco in .1843. Mr. Wardle returned
with his ship to New London, Connecticut. Thence he
4»4
HtS?ORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
returned to Philadelphia and was employed in doing
mechanical work for dentists, in which he became a very
skilful workman, and met with very great success. He
soon opened an office of his own. In 1853 he came to
Cincinnati. On leaving Philadelphia he was presented
with a large gold medal by fourteen of the most promi-
nent dentists in the city, as "a token of appreciation of
his skill in mechanical dentistry." He established a
dental furnishing house, and manufactured artificial
teeth; but, on account of the costliness of material, he
fell back on his profession for a livelihood. In 1859 he
received a diploma from the Cincinnati College of Den-
tal Surgery, then the second dental college in the coun-
try. He manufactures all the teeth which he uses in
his practice, and also those intended for peculiar and
difficult cases taken in charge by other dentists. He has
received the first premium on artificial teeth every year
in the Cincinnati industrial exposition, and the first pre-
mium in dentistry on the only occasion on which he en-
tered the lists. He received first medals from Mechan-
ics' institute, Cincinnati, and from the State board of
agriculture; also, premiums from New York, Philadel-
phia and Baltimore; also, in 185 1, a certificate and
medal at the World's fair, in London, England. He is
an active member of the Mississippi Valley Dental
association, and an honorary of the Pennsylvania Asso-
ciation of Dental Surgeons. He was married to Miss
Margaret A. Little in 1846.
A. C. Carr, of Cincinnati, a native of New York, came
to Licking county, Ohio, with his parents when quite
young, in the year 1843. In this county he received his
education and performed manual labor on the farm until
1864, when he began to teach school and further do for
himself. He took a thorough course of training in the
legal profession, and was admitted to the bar in 1873,
previous to which time, however, he engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits about five years, but since the year 1873 has
been practicing his profession, having his office in Tem-
ple Bar. From 1873 until 1875 he held a membership
in the Cincinnati board of education; at present he is a
member of the city council, having been elected to that
office successively four times.
Mr. Charles H. Stephens was born in Cincinnati, Ohio,
October 2, 1841. He was graduated from the Hughes
high school in 1858, and a few months. after began the
study of law with the firm of Lincoln, Smith & Warnock.
He was admitted to the bar in 1863. In a few years he
became a partner in the firm with which he had studied.
He was elected to the board of education in 1872 and
was a member for six years. He was also made a trustee
of Thomas Hughes, the founder of the Hughes high
school, in 1870, and he still holds that position. He is
now a member of the firm of Lincoln, Stephens & Com-
pany, in the practice of law.
Ira B. Maston, judge of the probate court, is a native
of the city. He received his early education in Cincin-
nati; studied law here and in 1857 began the practice of
his profession in the courts of this place. In 1872 he
was elected judge of the probate court, which position
he still holds.
Judson Harmon was born in Newtown, Hamilton
county, Ohio, February 3, 1846. His parental ancestors
were among the first settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts,
and northern Connecticut, and later of Jefferson county,
New York. He graduated at Denison university, Gran-
ville, Ohio, June, 1866, and at the Cincinnati Law
school, April, 1869. On June 1, 1870, he married
Olive Scobey, of Hamilton, Ohio, and has three children.
In October, 1876, he was elected one of the judges of
the courts of common pleas, which office he held until
April, 1877, when his election was successfully contested
before the senate of Ohio. In April, 1878, he was
elected one of the judges of the superior court of Cin-
cinnati for the full term of five years.
Mr. W. M. Ampt, a lawyer by profession, was born in
Trenton, Butler county, Ohio, February 1, 1840. Both
his parents emigrated from Germany, one in 1832 and
the other in 1837, the father coming from Hesse-Darm-
stadt, and the mother, whose maiden name was Rosa,
from Bavaria. Mr. Ampt is descended from Abram
Ampt, a Protestant minister in the Rhine country from
1696 until 1727. The son of Abram was Abraham
Francisca Ampt, who, in 1715, was a student at Heidel-
berg university. He also was a Protestant minister, and
died at Dalsheim, near Worms, in 1735. The latter left
two sons, Frederick and Abram, the first of whom, the
great-grandfather of W. M. Ampt, entered Heidelberg
university in 1 744 as a theological student. Both went
to Holland and entered the Holland army, the former
returning to Germany, while the latter remained in Hol-
land, and became a professor of philosopy at Neuchatel,
dying at the age of eighty-two years, leaving many de-
scendants, of whom C. G. Ampt, major general, com-
manding the fortress at Nymwegen in 18 16, was his son.
Frederick Ampt, the great-grandfather of the subject
of this sketch, was for thirty years or more burgomeister
at Flonheim. He had two sons, who, after studying
jurisprudence for some time at Heidleberg, entered the
government civil service, in which they served for many
years. Their descendants have scattered to Germany,
England, France, Algiers, and one, the father of W. M.
Ampt, came to America nearly fifty years ago, and is now
living near Dayton, as one of the German pioneers of
Ohio. W. M. Ampt graduated at Oberlin college in 1863.
He was chosen by vote of his class, numbering seventy-
five, as the veledictorian, and during his college career
was an active member of his literary society. In 1866
he graduated from the Albany Law school, and in the
same year was admitted to the bar both in New York and
Ohio, settling in Lima, Ohio, where he served as city
solicitor. In 1864 and 1865 he was in the quartermas-
ters' department of the United States as chief clerk, and
in 1862 came to Cincinnati, during the Kirby Smith raid,
with a company of college students, of which he was
captain. In 1867 he located in Cincinnati, where, two
years later, he was one of the Republican nominees for
the legislature. In consequence of the "reform" move-
ment of that year the whole ticket was defeated. In
1870 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Hamilton
county, and two years later was endorsed for reelection
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
485
by the Republican nomination, but the Greeley move
overwhelmed the ticket by six thousand majority. At
the request of the Ohio State Republican committee, in
1876, Mr. Ampt went to Florida and took part in the
contest before the Florida returning board. He was
placed in charge of several counties, among others Ham-
ilton county, in which he secured the rejection of two
precincts, that had given Governor Tilden one hundred
and sixty-three majority. In 1878 Mr. Ampt introduced
the Grant resolution in the Ohio State convention, at
Cincinnati, and gave the first impulse to the Grant boom
that two years later so much excited the country. After
a short trip to Europe in 1879, visiting Ireland, England,
Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and France, he
returned, continuing his advocacy of Grant for the pres-
idency, by a series of articles on the third term, for
which General Grant afterwards expressed his thankful
appreciation.
Mr. Charles Evans was born in Warren county, Ohio,
in 1843. He graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan uni-
versity in the class of 1863. After the war he read law
with Mr. Samuel Shellabarger, of Mansfield, Ohio. He
graduated from the law department of the University of
Michigan in 1866. After this he settled in Springfield,
Ohio, where he practiced until 1872; thence he came to
Cincinnati, where he has practiced ever since. He was
elected county solicitor in the fall of 1880. Mr. Evans
was appointed United States district attorney for the
southern district of Ohio in March, 1878, and resigned
in the fall of 1879.
Mr. E. C. Williams was born May 10, 1842, in
Cincinnati. His father, George W. Williams, was one
of the oldest settlers in this part of the State. Mr.
Williams was educated in the public schools of the city,
and in 1861 was graduated from Woodward college. He
enlisted in April, 1861. He was transferred to the gun-
boat flotilla, then a part of Fremont's army. This flotilla
was soon transferred to the United States navy. In this
Mr. Williams served throughout the war, being engaged
in all the famous fights through which this flotilla passed,
Vicksburgh, Fort Donelson, etc. At the close of the
war he went to the Harvard Law school, whence he was
graduated in 1867. He then returned to Cincinnati
and was nominated for the State legislature, but defeated
by a coalition between the Democrats and the German
element. He entered into partnership with the well-
known W. S. Scarborough. In 1877 Mr. Scarborough
retired from business, and Mr. Williams formed a part-
nership with Mr. A. B. Champion, with whom he is still
engaged. Mr. Williams is now a member of the city
school-board. In 1851 he was elected librarian of the
Young Men's Mercantile Library association. In i860
he began the practice of law with Edward F. Noyes, late
minister to France. At the outbreak of the war he en-
tered the Thirty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, of which
his partner was colonel, and afterwards major. On May
1, 1865, he was appointed surveyor of customs for Cin-
cinnati by President Andrew Johnson, but was removed
the following October on account of his not endorsing
the President's policy. He then formed a partnership
with several gentlemen and founded the Cincinnati
Chronicle, an evening paper, of which he was the first
business manager. This paper afterwards became the
Cincinnati Times. In May of 1869 he was reappointed
surveyor of customs by President Grant, and held this
post until his death, which occurred January 13, 1881.
On August 10, 1862, he was married to Miss Louisa
Wright, who survives him with two sons.
Mr. Reuben H. Stephenson, late surveyor of customs
of the port of Cincinnati, was born at Lancaster, New
Hampshire. Until his sixteenth year he was educated
in the dirtrict schools and at a neighboring academy.
From 1838 to 1842 he taught school and prepared for
college. In the last-named year he entered Dartmouth
college, at Hanover, New Hampshire, as a sophomore.
He was graduated in 1845. He came in the same year
to Cincinnati, and for three years taught in Vevay, In-
diana, Newport, Kentucky, and in Louisiana. He
returned to the city in 1848. At this time he entered
into partnership with Mr. Otis C. Wright, opening a
school called the Collegiate Institute. Mr. Wright left
the city in 1849 on account of the cholera, and Mr.
Stephenson carried on the school alone. Mr. Stephen-
son, with some other gentlemen, founded the Cincinnati
Literary club, of which very many distinguished men
have been members, such as R. B. Hayes, Salmon P.
Chase, etc.
Mr. Jesse L. Wartman, of the United States custom
house, was born in Lewisburgh, Virginia, in 1830. He
came to Cincinnati when four years old. His father
having died, he came to the city to live with his grand-
father, Mr. Bohlen, who is well known among old Cin-
cinnatians. Since he first came to Cincinnati, Mr.
Wartman has resided for ten years in southern Indiana,
and for two years in Keokuk, Iowa. In the last named
place he was married to Miss S. W. Cossler. One son
was the only fruit of this marriage, Harry L. Wartman.
He died of consumption in his twenty-first year. Mr.
Wartman has been engaged for the past nineteen years
in the custom house in the city.
Hon. Chaning Richards is a native Cincinnatian, hav-
ing been born here on the twenty -first of February, 1838.
His given name is the family designation of a maternal
ancestor. His maternal grandmother was a sister of
General Jonathan Dayton, one of the original proprietors
of the Symmes or Miami Purchase. His uncle, Dr.
Wolcott Richards, was the first of the family to reach the
Queen City. He came in 1830, his brother, Chaning,
father of the subject of this notice, following two years
afterwards, and becoming a prominent merchant here.
He died in Washington in 1879. Young Chaning was
educated in the famous academy in Cincinnati conducted
by Professor E. S. Brooks, and at Yale college, from
which he was graduated with the class of 1858. He
then took a course in the law school of his native city,
going through in one year and receiving his diploma in
1859. At once he entered upon practice, but imme-
diately upon the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion
enlisted in the Guthrie Grays, or Sixth Ohio infantry
with which he served through the West Virginia cam.
486
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
paign, and subsequently, in the organization of new
. troops, served as aid-de-camp on the staff of General
Wade, at Camp Denison. In January, 1862, he was
commissioned first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Missouri,
afterwards more fittly the Twenty-second Ohio infantry,
and served with it through the campaign of Forts Henry
and Donelson and at Shiloh, and remained nominally
connected with it to the end of the war. He was much
of the time, however, on staff and detached duty as ord-
nance officer with General Kimball at the siege of Vicks-
burgh and provost marshal (subsequently military mayor)
and judge advocate at Memphis. In this city the close
of the war found him on duty. He was mustered out
of service with the grade of captain and resumed prac-
tice in that place, remaining until March, 1871, when he
returned to Cincinnati and began business as a member
of the firm of Stanton & Richards. In September fol-
lowing he was appointed assistant United States district
attorney. In February, 1877, he was appointed district
attorney by President Grant, having meanwhile served
continuously as assistant, and reappointed by President
Hayes in January, four years thereafter. His official ca-
reer has amply justified those appointments. The busi-
ness of no other court, probably, has been so closely
kept up, and more faithfully and ably attended, than that
of the southern district of Ohio. At the present moment
cases are on trial which have been instituted only with-
in the last half year, which is truly a phenomenal fact
in the courts of this grade.
Charles Jacob, jr., late mayor of Cincinnati is a native
of Glan-Miinchweiler, in the Pfalz, Bavaria, where he was
born November 24, 1834. He came to this country in
1852, and shortly afterwards to Cincinnati. From very
small beginnings he advanced to a large and profitable
business, and is now head of the firm of Charles Jacobs,
jr., & Company, pork and beef packers, corner of Sec-
ond and Vine streets. He early engaged in politics,
and acquired considerable influence, especially among
his countrymen. He was elected by the Republicans
mayor of the city in 1878, but was defeated as a candi-
date for reelection by a coalition of Democrats and dis-
affected Republicans. He was married in October, 1857,
to Miss Catharine Wuest, by whom he had several chil-
dren.
Joseph Benson Foraker, a judge of the superior court
of Cincinnati, born near Rainsborough, Highland county,
Ohio, July 5, 1846, and was reared on a farm. When
but sixteen years of age he enlisted as a private in com-
pany A, Eighty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, July 14,
1862. He served, until the close of the war, with the
army of the Cumberland, and in the meanwhile rising by
regular promotions to the rank of first lieutenant and
brevet captain of the United States volunteers. After
the close of the war he resumed his studies and gradua-
ted from Cornell university, at Ithaca, New York in
1869, it being the first graduating class from that insti-
tution. He read law while at school in addition to his
regular studies. August 16, 1869, he located in Cin-
cinnati. Here he pacticed law until April, 1879, when
he was elected judge of the superior court. He was
married October 4, 1870, to Miss Julia Bundy, daughter
of the Hon. H. S. Bundy, of Jackson county, Ohio.
They have four children.
Howard Douglass was born January 21, 1846, in Cin-
cinnati, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar by the su-
preme court of Ohio January 22, 1867. He was elected
a member of the board of education April, 1869, and
was reelected April, 1871; he was also a member of the
Union board of high schools in 1870. He was nomi-
nated for the State senate in 1879, but resigned. In
April, r88i, he was elected a member at large of the
board of education for three years.
Rev. W. J. Halley, rector of the cathedral, Cincinnati
was born in Ireland November 14, 1837. He came to
Cincinnati in the year 1853, and completed his collegi-
ate course at St. Mary's seminary, of Cincinnati, after
which he was ordained pastor and became assistant in
that capacity until he succeeded the Right Rev. C. B.
Borges. He has been connected in the work since the
seventh of July, i860, having been in the cathedral since
that time.
Rev. Edward Cooper, D. D., district superintendent
of the missionary and Sabbath- school department of the
Presbyterian board of publication for the synods of Co-
lumbus, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Indiana south, and Ten-
nessee. He was born near Troy, Rensselaer county,
New York, and graduated at Union college. Devoting
a few years to teaching, he was eminently successful as
principal of the academy at Aurora, and afterwards at
Waterloo. He then accepted the invitation of the New
York State Teachers' association to edit the Teachers'
Advocate, a weekly paper, devoted to the interests of the
profession. After two years he gave up this position to
take the District School Journal, the organ of the State
superintendents of common schools, and became one
of the proprietors and editors of the Syracuse. Daily
Journal. Disposing of these interests, he purchased one-
half of the Troy Daily Post, with which his editorial
labors closed after two years. He returned to educa-
tional pursuts, and was president of the Odd Fellows
Female college, at Paris, Tennessee, an institution that
acquired eminence under his administration. At the
commencement of the war he was president of the Fe-
male institute and pastor of the church at Brownsville,
Tennessee, which positions he relinquished to become
identified with the interests of the north. For three
years he was principal of the-academy and pastor of the
church at Munroe, Butler county, when he was appointed,
without solicitation, chaplain to the Eighth Ohio volun-
teer cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He
then took charge of the academy and became pastor of
the church at Bloomingburgh, Fayette county, and after
three years accepted a call to the Presbyterian church of
Atchison, Kansas, where his labors were eminently suc-
cessful for nearly nine years. He was then invited to
organize and superintend the important operations of the
board of publication in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys,
which position he has since held. The contributions to
the misssonary fund of the board of publication are
economically applied to its systematic and efficient work,
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
487
by personal family visitation and gratuitous distribution
of its fine Christian literature in sparsely settled regions
where there are limited opportunities for religious instruc-
tion. The missionaries of the board organize Sabbath-
schools and lay the foundation for churches among the
destitute, and when in the bounds of congregations
greatly assist pastors by the distribution of sound doc-
trinal and evangelical literature. Every paper, tract, or
volume continues the influence of the missionary after
he has gone, and thus neighborhoods are brought under
the power of religious truth. This work in the Ohio and
Mississippi valleys, under the supervison of Dr. Cooper,
is accomplishing much good and has strong claims upon
the benevolence of the large and intelligent denomina-
tion as one of its most efficient agencies of its growth
and usefulness.
Rev. Gottlieb Brandstettner, pastor of the First German
Evangelical Protestant church of Green township, was
born in Rhein Baiern, Bavaria, in 1830. He belongs to
a family of ministers. Gottlieb came alone to America
and took a course in theology, completing his studies
in 1856, after which he engaged in the ministerial work
at Peppertown, near Evansville, Indiana, and at other
places. He came here May 1, 1876, and has since taken
charge of the congregation and Sabbath-school, acting as
its superintendent. He also gives instruction, three days
in each week, to the children of his congregation who
are taking a course preparatory to confirmation. The
church building, a fine brick structure, was erected in the
year 187 1, in which service and Sabbath-school have
been held ever since. A graveyard of some four acres
lies just back of the building. He was married July 24,
1857, to Miss Katharine Wittkamper, of Cincinnati, and is
the father of five children, four sons and one daughter.
One son, Henry, born in 1859, died in 1880, a most prom-
ising young man. He possessed a natural genius for draw-
ing, taking up the art and completing the course almost
without the aid of instruction; he, however, spent one year
in Cooper institute, New York. He was engraver for Still-
man & Co., Front and Vine streets, Cincinnati, Ohio, and
has left some beautiful sketchings of which "A scene on
the Ohio," "Church-yard Scene," "Lick Run Church''
show a master hand in the work. He was also of great as-
sistance to his father in his church work, being a musi-
cian, and of great service in Sabbath-school work. As the
pride of his father's family he was greatly missed from
that circle. Rev. Brandstettner is exercising a great in-
fluence for good among his people, and of which the
membership of his church feel proud.
M. S. Turrill, principal of the Twenty-sixth Cincinnati
district schools, was born near Pleasant Ridge in this
(Hamilton) county February 8, 1831. His father, Heman
B. Turrill, was a native of New Milford, Connecticut,
emigrating from there in August, 1818. His mother was
a daughter of James Wood, of Chatham, New Jersey,
whose family was among the early pioneers of Pleasant
Ridge.
Mr. Turill's youth was spent at the district school, and
on his father's farm; but at the age of fifteen, he attended
Farmers' college giaduating from there in 1851. Select-
ing teaching as a profession, his chief preparation was
made at Summer institute, and by employment in district
schools a portion of time during his college years. In
December after graduation, he taught first in the "Roll"
district, west of Cumminsville, and after three years'
service there, was elected superintendent of the Cum-
minsville graded school in January, 1854. With the
exception of two years as assistant in the Thirteenth
Cincinnati district in 1857 and 1858, and another year
as a partner with his father-in-law, Caleb Lingo, esq., in
the sash and blind business in 1866, he has been con-
tinuously in charge of the Cumminsville schools, which,
in 1873, wnen the village was annexed to Cincinnati,
was renamed the "Twenty-sixth district." From 1867
to 1872 he was yearly elected corporation clerk of Cum-
minsville, and in 1868 was appointed by Judge E. F.
Noyes as one of the Hamilton county board of examiners
of teachers, serving in that position three years with A.
B. Johnson, of Avondale, and John Hancock, superin-
tendent of the Cincinnati public schools. In addition
to his school work, he is a contributor to educational
periodicals and literary magazines, and has frequently
made reports of the State Teachers' associations of Ohio,
Indiana, and Kentucky for various newspapers. During
the past three years he has been one of the executive
committee of the Ohio teachers' association, acting as
secretary. As an educator and disciplinarian, his talents
are unquestionable; and many of his former pupils are
filling honorable positions in professional and public life.
As a geologist, he has a deservedly extended reputation,
and has collected a valuable cabinet of minerals and fossils
of Ohio and other States. Associated with him as educa-
tors in the Cumminsville schools, have been the follow-
ing: Isaac H. Turrell, Charles E. Jones, Henry Doerner,
Louis Kolb, Frederick Conrad, Edward S. Peaslee, Wil-
liam Henke, Frank W. Bryant, Mary H. Smith, Electa
R. Stanford, Ann J. Moore, Ann M. Wright, Sarah Cum-
mins; Janette Thomson, Marilla Buck, Belle Kingsbury,
Leonora Heddrington, Martha Heddrington, Mattie
Wright, Mary L. Lingo, Lydia G. Stanford, Belle Trask,
Belle Murdock, Augusta Tozzer, Kate Smedley, Mary E.
Dunaway, Mary Walker, Emily McMichael, Mary A. Hun-
newell, Amanda Roller, Mary C. Lakeman, Emma East-
man, Alice Bates, Carrie S. Hammitt, Emma DeSerisy,
Louise Kieffer, Rosa Kromenberg, Helen Matthes, Emilie
Kusterer, Carrie L. Peters, Minnie G. Little, Emma
Strong, Ametia Butler, Bertha Grabert, Emma Huene,
Mary Hill, Hannah R. Hunter, Marion Henderson,
Matilda L. Walke, Frieda Bischoff, Emma VonWyck,
Sallie Nunneker, Ella M. Stickney, Mary A. Bohlander,
Daisie J. McElwee, Fannie Cist, Katie Girard," Belle C.
Hicks, Mary E. Applegate, Emma Multner, Hattie E.
Taylor, and Lida Hammitt.
It may not be amiss also to state that Mr. Turrill is
one of the charter members of Hoffner lodge, F. and A.
M., and has attained to the thirty-second degree in the
Masonic order; he is also one of those who instituted
the Presbyterian church of Cumminsville in 1855; and is
an enthusiastic worker in the Chautauqua Literary and
Sciemilic ciick-, now in the fourth year of its organization.
488
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
He was married in 1862, to Miss Mary L. Lingo, and has
a pleasant family consisting of four daughter and a son,
and resides in the Twenty-fifth ward of this city.
Rev. R. J. Myer, president of St. Xavier college, Cin-
cinnati, was born in St. Louis, November 8, 1841. He
graduated in the St. Louis university in 1858, but not
satisfied with this attainment, he spent yet a number of
years in quest of knowledge. He was at Boston and
Georgetown three and four years respectively, also in
Europe. He completed his theological course of study
in Woodstock college, Maryland. After returning from
Europe he filled the office of vice-president of the col-
leges in Chicago and here — each two years — and returned
from the first-named place to take the presidency of the
college so well and favorably known, August 18, 1879.
The college is in a flourishing condition.
G. F. Junkerman, superintendent of music in the pub-
lic schools of Cincinnati, was born in Dielefeld, Prussia,
December 8, 1830. He perfected his collegiate and mu-
sical education in Prussia and England, and when eigh-
teen years of age came to Cincinnati, where he taught
mathematics one year in Zion college, then in the graded
schools of Cincinnati, and afterwards was principal of one
of the schools. During the war he had charge of the
schools at Mount Washington, and during the interval
hours of rest and duty, became drill master of troops en-
tering military service. Company A, of the Cincinnati
regiment that was so fearfully decimated at the battle of
Bull Run, was drilled for service by Mr. Junkerman.
From 1831 until 1878 he was assistant superintendent of
music in the public schools, and since 1878 up to the
present time (1881) has filled the position of superintend-
ent of that department of instruction, having under him
six assistant superintendents. The method used by Mr.
Junkerman is the "Movable Do'' system, being consid-
ered preferable to that of the "Fixed Do" system. He
has labored with an enthusiasm worthy of his calling to
raise the standard of musical education to a higher plane
of influence than that of the Teutonic kirmess, it being
purely classical instead. He has written music, many
songs, and exercises to meet the especial wants of the
Cincinnati schools; he is also an author, his work com-
prising many of his own selections, as well as those of
others, and is used in the high schools of the city. He
was the first to establish the Home Parlor concerts, of a
classical character, so greatly appreciated by the refined
and educated of our midst. He was also the first vice-
president of the first meeting of the Philoharmic Society
of Cincinnati, which orchestra was formed about the year
185 1. He has carefully prepared himself for the respon-
sible position he now holds, and is meeting with a grand
success in his work.
Eliab Washburn Coy, principal of Hughes high
school, was born in Maine in 1832. His father was a
minister of the Baptist church, having spent twenty-five
years of his life in that work. The subject of our sketch
learned the shoemaker's trade, and with the earnings thus
collected fitted himself for college in Lawrence academy,
Groton, Massachusetts, and graduated in Brown univer-
sity in 1854. He immediately cam j west and took char -e
of the Peoria high schools, and also edited the Illinois
Schoolmaster at the same time. He also practiced law
in that place about three years, but being called to the
Illinois normal university, he went there in 187 1 and
took charge of the high school, where he remained until
1873, when he came to Cincinnati and took the princi-
palship of the Hughes high school. In 1863 he was
married to Miss Gena Harrington, daughter of Rev.
Moses Harrington, of the Baptist church. She is a grad-
uate of Framingham normal school, Massachusetts.
D. C. Orr, first assistant teacher in the Second inter-
mediate schools of Cincinnati, was born in Miami coun-
ty, Ohio, in 1822. He was raised on a farm, and until
seventeen years of age attended no school except a few
weeks each winter season in an old-fashioned log cabin.
He was accustomed to the hardships of pioneer life in
clearing land of forest timber, of tilling the soil, of plow-
ing the ground and plying the axe and grubbing hoe.
He received in all about eighteen months schooling, a
term of six months being granted him by his father, at
one time, to finish up his course, probably did him the
most good. With this flimsy preparation he began
teaching, having been called to take charge of the school
consisting of school-mates with whom he had always
been associated; and here he taught several terms, re-
ceiving a dollar a day and boarding around. Not hav-
ing an opportunity for attending school himself, he laid
out a course of study in the natural sciences, mathe-
matics, history and ancient languages, and for fifteen
years of diligent study, and with increasing interest in
his work, followed it out in full and in detail. He also
mastered a course in medicine, graduating in the Star-
ling Medical college, but his literary or collegiate work
was attested in an examination before the Cincinnati
board of education in 1866, John Hancock then being
superintendent. He was examined for a position as
teacher in the schools, and, as remarkable as it may
seem, stood the crucial test, coming out with a perfect
certificate, after having been examined in eighteen differ-
ent branches of study. He practiced medicine some,
but was not successful. His career was varied; taught
in different places until 1866, since which time he has
been in Cincinnati. During the war he took an active
part in politics, and was offered a majorship by Governor
Morton, of Indiana, but refused it. He has written
considerably, and was correspondent for the Cincinnati
Gazette part of the time during I he war. Mr. Orr is in
every respect a self-made man, and is winning the suc-
cess in life he deserves.
Edward H. Pritchard was born in Cincinnati June 23,
1840; educated in the schools of the Queen City; went
to the Thirteenth district until his twelfth year, when he
obtained a situation in a shoe store; remarned there
nearly three years, then returned to the Thirteenth dis-
trict. In 1855 he was admitted to Woodward high
school, and graduated second in his class in 1859. He
began to teach in November, 1869, in the Cincinnati
Orphan Asylum school, under control of the board of
education. In i860 he was elected second assistant of
the Second intermediate school. In 1864, after having
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
489
spent two years as first assistant of the Third district
school, was elected principal of the Eighteenth district
school, where he remained until January, 1870; then he
was transferred to the new Twentieth district, which he
organized In June, 1870, he was elected principal of
the Third intermediate school, which he also organized ;
and he has been in that position ever since.
Charles H. Evans, principal of the Third district
schools, was born in Sidney, Ohio, in 1838. His father,
General Washington Evans, had charge of the militia
under General Harrison at the battle of the Thames.
In 1839 the family moved to Springfield, Ohio, where
Charles H. received his education, graduating from the
Witten burg college in 1858. In 1861 he volunteered as a
private soldier in the Forty-fourth Ohio volunteers, and
fought through the war, being mustered out as major of
his regiment, the Eighth Ohio cavalry. After the war
he engaged in business until 1869, when he again went
to teaching, having the principalship of the high schools
in Springfield; and afterwards he was principal of the
high school and superintendent of the Dayton schools.
In 1874 he was called to Cincinnati, where he has been
since in charge of the Third district. In 1874 he was
married to Miss Grace Arnold, the only niece of Stone-
wall Jackson. He was again married to Miss Katie
Armstrong, formerly a teacher in the schools of Cincin-
nati.
C. J. O'Donnell, principal of the Fifth district school,
was born in New York in 1845; graduated in the Ford-
ham college, of that city, in 1865, and after completing
a course in the law, practiced that profession for a short
time; then came to Cincinnati, where he taught for a
time as an assistant teacher, and was then elected princi-
pal of the schools, as mentioned above.
J. H. Laycock, principal of the Eighth district school,
was born in Clermont county, September 3, 1850; was
reared a farmer's boy, but received an academical educa-
tion, and afterwards partly completed a classical course
of instruction in the Ohio university at Delaware, this
State, teaching during intervals. He was principal of
the Moscow (Ohio) schools, for three years, in which
he became recognized as a successful teacher and dis-
ciplinarian. He had charge of other schools as princi-
pal, and has always been actively engaged in institute
work, having been for thirteen years past identified as
one of the leaders of his native county in work of that
kind. He was called to Cincinnati in 1869 as assistant
teacher in the Ninth district school. In 1868 he secured
a life certificate under an examination of the State ex-
aminers of Ohio schools. He was principal of the
Tenth district school, but in 1874 took the principalship
of the Eighth district schools, where he is at present.
H. H. Raschig, principal of the Tenth district school,
was born in Cincinnati, March 18, 1841. Mr. Raschig
was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, and
taught in them the greater part of his life. Entering the
Tenth district school in 1846, the year of its organiza-
tion, he passed through its different grades, and entered
the Woodward high school in 1853. He graduated in
1857, and in 1858 began teaching in the Ninth district
school, since which time he has been connected with the
public schools. His experience as a teacher ranges
through all the grades of the school system.
August H. Bode was born in Peine, a city of the
former kingdom of Hanover, July 3, 1844. After care-
ful preparation he entered the renowned polytechnical
school at Hanover in the year i860; diligently pursued
the study of mathematics, natural science, and engineer-
ing for four years, and graduated from that school in
1864. In the same year he went to Berlin to hear lec-
tures at the university, aud at the Royal Polytechnic
academy. The death of his father occurring at this
time compelled him to abandon his cherished scheme of
preparing himself for teacher of mathematics and kin-
dred sciences at higher institutions of learning, and to
enter at once into practical life by accepting, in 1865, a
position as draughtsman in a Berlin machine foundry. His
desire to become acquainted with America led him, in
1866, to take a position offered him as engineer of an
ocean steamer plying between Hamburgh and New
York, and after repeated trips across the ocean and in-
land visits, he determined to make this land of the free
his home. He settled at once in Cincinnati, and re-
turned to his first love, teaching, though not to teach the
higher branches, but the veriest rudiments of knowledge
to the six-year-olds in the Thirteenth district school,
where he was appointed assistant teacher towards the
end of the year 1867. In 1869 he was promoted to
the position of first German assistant teacher of the
Second district school, and in 1872 was transferred as
first assistant teacher to the Second intermediate school,
and finally returned to his starting point in Cincinnati by
being elected principal of the Thirteenth district school,
which position he still occupies. Mr. Bode is an inde-
fatigable worker in school and out of school. The
German readers in use in the Cincinnati schools were
partly compiled, partly revised by him. He has pub-
lished several series of writing books, and a "History of
Methods of Elementary Reading." He received the
degree of bachelor of laws from the Cincinnati college,
and has been admitted to the bar.
Peter J. Fox, principal of the Seventh district school,
is a native of Ireland ; received his education in Dublin,
and came to America in 1845; taught as assistant teacher
until 1875, when he was elected to the principalship of
• these schools.
F. G. Wolf, first German assistant in the Seventh dis-
: trict school, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1831,
! and after receiving a liberal education emigrated to the
United States in 1854, where he taught in the States of
New York, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, coming to Cin-
cinnati in 1878.
Joseph Grever was born September 14, 1849, m Dam-
me, Oldenburg. He was educated at the commercial
college in Sohne, and trained for his profession at the
teachers' seminary in Vechta, which he attended for two
years, from 1867 till 1869. His singular efficiency as an
educator was at once recognized by an appointment as
teacher in the Moehere Buergerschule in Damme. Here
he taught one year, when the breaking out of the Franco-
49°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Prussian war took him from his peaceful pursuits and
transferred him to the theatre of war. He participated
in all the battles in which the army of the Red Prince
engaged from Metz to Mars la Tour. Was decorated
for his valor and promoted to the rank of ensign. After
peace was concluded, he followed the invitation of rela-
tives who had long been settled in Cincinnati, to make
this city his future home, and he arrived here in Novem-
ber, 1871. He was appointed in 1872 as assistant
teacher in the Tenth district ; promoted to the position
of first German assistant teacher in the Twenty-first dis-
trict in 1873, and in 1876 transferred to the Thirteenth
district, one of the largest German -English schools of
the city, where a wide field for usefulness was opened to
him, which he at this time still cultivates with great
assiduity and pronounced success.
Charles G. Roth, teacher in the Twenty-fourth district
of Cincinnati, was born in Saxony in 1839. He received
his education at Plauen. Came to Cincinnati in April,
1862, and began teaching in the Fifth district schools,
and with an exception of two years spent as music
teacher in the St. Paul's Episcopal church, Indianapolis,
Indiana, has been in the schools of Cincinnati since his
coming to this country. In 1877 he was changed from
the Fifth to the Twenty-fourth district.
Francis Ellis Wilson, first assistant teacher in the
Twenty-second school district, Cincinnati, was born near
New Palestine, Clermont county, Ohio, September 4,
1843: Most of his education was obtained from his
mother, she, herself, being a finely educated woman, and
possessed intellectuality to a very high degree. He went
one year to college at Delaware, Ohio, and afterwards
took charge of the schools in Salem and Mount Wash-
ington, this State. In 1864 he went into the hundred
day service, and upon his return took charge of the
schools in Riverside, also afterwards in Storrs, but in
1877 came to Walnut Hills, where he has been success-
fully engaged in the duties of the school-room ever since.
His pupils rarely fail to bestow upon him some token of
their appreciation every year. The Public School, of
which he is editor and proprietor, is a home journal,
meeting with a grand success. It is largely patronized
by the teachers of city and country. Its visit to us is
always welcome.
George W. Nye, principal of the Twenty-second school
district is a native of New York State, where he was
born in 1822. He came to Cincinnati in 1847, and in
1849 was elected to an assistant's position in the Tenth
district, and afterward principal of those schools. He
remained here in all six years, and then, in 1856, went
to Iowa and assumed charge of the schools in Keokuk,
but after a three years' stay returned to Cincinnati, and
was elected principal of Walnut Hills schools, which
were at that time independent of the city, and where he
has been for twenty-two years. In 187 1 these schools
were annexed to the city, and in 1872 the new building
—one of the largest and most costly in Cincinnati-
was erected. His wife, formerly Miss Emily C. Conklin,
was, previous to marriage, a teacher in the Cincinnati
schools.
Martin Dell, first German assistant teacher in the
Twentieth district school, is a native of Germany, where
he received a liberal education, both literary and musical.
When twenty years of age he emigrated to New York
in which city — also in Cleveland and Wheeling after-
wards— he followed the profession of teaching, and in
which calling he has been successful. He is also a music
teacher and organist of marked ability. In 1879 ne was
married to Miss Pauline Schweiter, of Cincinnati, for-
merly an experienced teacher in the city schools.
C. C. Long, principal of the Twentieth district school,
Cincinnati, was born in Butler county in 1830. He came
to Cincinnati when twelve years of age, and received an
education in its public schools, perfecting his course
afterwards in Asbury university, Greencastle, Indiana.
He was principal for a time of the Talmud institute, this
city, but after a short stay, left the school-room and went
into business in New York city, where he remained five
years. He engaged to become private secretary to Col-
onel Guthrie, of the Sixth Ohio regiment, but he soon
returned to the school-room — a position he is in every
way fitted to hold. He was at first elected as first assist-
ant teacher in the First intermediate schools, but in 1878
he was elected to the principalship of the Twentieth dis-
trict, which position he still holds.
George W. Burns, principal of the Eighteenth district
school, Cincinnati, was born in Ashland county, Ohio,
February 24, 1848, in which county he received his early
education, preparing himself for college at the Savannah
academy, where he taught as one of the faculty part of
she time in lieu of his tuition. He also taught country
schools, and by his own unaided exertions graduated in
Bethany college, West Virginia, in the year 1873, taking
the degree of A. B. He afterwards held a professorship
in Farmers college at College Hill, filling the chair of
mathematics, but after a three years' stay resigned. Since
that time (1879) he has been principal of the Eighteenth
district schoool. He was married July 1, 1880, to Miss
Ormsby, daughter of Professor George S. Ormsby, of
that place, so well known to the teachers of the State.
J. B. Schudemantle, principal of the Fourteenth dis-
trict school, was born in Cincinnati October, 1842. Both
of his parents came from Germany when young, and his
father being poor, it became necessary for him to assist,
during the vacation months, in his father's cooper shop.
, He graduated in the Woodward high school in 1861,
and immediately became a teacher in the orphan asylum,
but resigned before the year was up to accept a position
as master's mate on the gun-boat Mound City. Fortu-
nately he was delayed and the boat left for White river
without him, and was there blown up, most of the crew
perishing. In 1862 he became first assistant in what is
now the Fourteenth school district (the school he also
attended himself), and in 1870 was elected its principal,
which position he now holds. In 1871 he was married
to Miss Mary A. Hunter, formerly a teacher under him
in the schools.
Casper Grome, first German assistant in the Twenty-
first district school, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in
1849. He attended Hamelburg college in his native
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
491
country, but graduated in Vincennes college, Westmore-
land county, Pennsylvania, in 1867. He afterwards went
to Oswego, Kansas, where he taught some time, but com-
ing to Cincinnati in 1876, for his wife, Miss Martha Viola
Striker (married at that time), he was induced to resign
his position there and remain in the Paris of America —
where he has since been in this school, in his present po-
sition. He resides at No. 13 Fillmore street, Cincinnati.
M. D. Kellar, M. D., of No. 644 Main street, Cincin-
nati, was born at Miamisburgh, Montgomery county,
Ohio, January 7, 1843. He was three years in the army
of the Cumberland, connected with the medical depart-
ment at Nashville and Murfreesborough, Tennessee. He
graduated at the Miami Medical college, Cincinnati, in
1868, and was in the Cincinnati hospital, since which
time he has been in active practice in the city.
G. W. Oyler, principal of the Twenty-first intermedi-
ate and district school, was born in Hamilton county,
Ohio, in 1828, and received his education in the public
schools of Cincinnati, after which he taught school and
went to Farmers college, completing its course in full.
This was preparatory to a law course, which he completed
in the Cincinnati Law school, graduating from that insti-
tution in 1854. He has been teaching since 1856 — a
small portion of the time in a private school, but by far
the largest portion as principal of the Twenty-first district.
His labors have been onerous, inasmuch as he has
charge of five buildings in all — there being twenty-seven
teachers. He has both district and intermediate grades.
He was married in 1858 to Miss Carrie Prudens, former-
ly a teacher in the city schools.
Carl L. Nippert, first German assistant in the Twelfth
district school, son of Rev. Louis Nippert, formerly well
•known in Cincinnati, now president of a college in
Frankfort-on-the-Main, was born in that town, Germany,
in 1852. He received his education in the Polytechnic
school, in Zurich, Switzerland, and in Carlsrhue, graduat-
ing in 187 1. He came to America in 1876, in the inter-
ests of the Centennial commission from that country, and
from there to Cincinnati, where he has been teaching
ever since, coming to the Twelfth district in 1877. His
father was formerly a pioneer minister in the Methodist
Episcopal church of this city, but was sent by the church
to Europe in the interests of Methodism.
Hugo Haenger, of the Twenty-first district school,
Cincinnati, was born in New York city, in 1848. He
received his education in the public schools of that city,
and in Dayton, Ohio, and has been in charge of the A
grade of the intermediate department of this school since
1874.
Charles S. Mueller, of the Twenty-first district school,
was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1842. He came
with his sister to America in 1852, graduated in the old
Polytechnic school of the city in 1864, since which time
he has been teaching, now having charge of a building
in Sedamsville, in the Twenty-first district. He was
married to Miss Sophia Troescher, formerly of Germany.
He has his residence on Price's Hill.
Alexander Torges, jr.-The hero of this sketch has
passed through many storm's, but as a good sailor, steered
his life-boat, with steady hand, over reefs and rocks, and
reached the harbor in which safely anchored it can brave
the storms of life. He has seen many lands and in the
battles of life has gained many a victory, and though
young in years, can look proudly to the past and in the
future. "I will" is the motto on his coat of arms, and what
he willed he has with clear head and rare perseverance
carried out. He has lived through scenes which make
men of youths, and his career shows that life counts
not by years, but by .deeds. Alexander Torges, jr.,
was born September 2, 1845, in Holzminden, a pleas-
ant little city on the Weser, in the duchy of Braunsch-
weig, in Germany, where his father was in the employ
of the government, and later settled in Magdeburg
and Seesen. After Alexander Torges, jr., had received
his preliminary education at Jacobson institute in Seesen
he visited the commercial college at Magdeburg. No-
vember, i860, the Torges family left for America, where
young Alexander found employment directly on his
arrival in New York, but not being to his taste he gave
it up and followed a seafaring life, for which he had a
decided inclination. He began his new life as cabin
boy on the ship Edward, and gained a knowledge of the
roughest side of sailor life, but his motto "I will" kept
him up bravely; nothing could lessen his courage nor
weaken his resolute determination. On the second trip
of the Edward, while passing the Azores, they encoun-
tered a severe storm, and coming across a disabled ship,
the sailors at the risk of life saved twenty-six brave men
from the jaws of death. A few years later, the Edward
on her return trip from China, was pursued on the coast
of Borneo by dastardly Chinese pirates, but a favorable
breeze carried the ship Edward beyond their reach. Af-
ter a voyage of two hundred days, the Edward landed
in Bremenhaven, whence young Torges visited the places
in which he had spent his youth, and then entered his
name as sailor on a ship bound for Naples. In February,
1867, the ship was wrecked, but the crew took to the
boats and after much suffering landed in Plymouth,
where Alexander Torges, jr., was taken sick in conse-
quence of so many hardships passed through during the
last trip. On his recovery he returned to New York
and entered the service of a coast steamer, but after
repeated entreaties from his parents, he at last gave up
the seafaring life and left for Cincinnati, where his
parents at that time resided. Here he was engaged as
agent for the Germania Life Insurance company. In
1869 he chose the business of commission agent, and as
such has extended his business over the entire Pacific
coast, which occasions a deal of travel, he having crossed
the continent fifty times. On one of his stage trips
through California, the passengers were robbed by high-
waymen. Through his presence of mind a large sum of
money which he had with him was not found, but a val-
uable gold watch and chain were taken, which he, how-
ever, recovered later. After Mr. Torges had travelled by
land and water over one-half the world, he tried a new
field for his labor, and spent large sums of money on the
Courier, a newspaper which was at the time, May, 1874,
in a sinking condition, and which it was impossible to
492
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
save, but seeing that there was a field in Cincinnati for
another German paper, he started, on the twenty-fifth of
August, 1874, the Cincinnati Freie Presse, as a seven
column four page evening paper, which was printed at
another establishment. Despite the heavy opposition
which met him on every side, he found it necessary after
three months to enlarge and make a morning edition of
his paper. One year later he edited his weekly paper,
and later on started his penny evening paper, entitled
the Tagliche Abend Presse. With steady perseverance
and an energy that never flagged, he has accomplished
wonders in the space of seven short years. Bought a
Hoe press, the largest of its kind ever built, erecting and
occupying a building devoted entirely to the business of
his newspapers. Having fought for the true and right
principles at all times, and won many a battle for the
Republican party, we find him at the age of thirty-five
the proprietor of the largest German paper ever issued,
and the only man in the United States who edits two
German daily papers, and can call them his own. Octo-
ber 17, 1876, he married Miss L. Michaelis, a lady from
New York city, from which marriage has sprung two
children, a girl and boy. It seems the daring sailor has
anchored his life-boat in safety, and we hope that love
which is stronger than chains on anchors will keep it
there.
Michael Kneiss, German, assistant in the Third inter-
mediate was born at Hayenfeld, Bavaria, July 6, 1830.
He received his education in the Latin academy and
gymnasium in Speyer and Munich, and came to this
country February 19, 1861. In 1862 he was appointed
German teacher* in the Sixth district, afterwards in the
Seventeenth district, then the Twelfth district, coming to
the Third intermediate September, 187 1, where he has
been ever since, and is known as one of our most com-
petent and successful instructors.
Henry H. Fick, superintendent of drawing, Cincinnati
public schools, born in the free city of Lubeck, Germany,
August 16, 1849, came to this country after completing
the course of studies of a widely renowned school of his
native city, in May, 1864. Occupied for a period of five
years in clerking in New York city and Cincinnati, his
special aim was to extend and deepen the knowledge of
the English language. Carrying out the dictates of his
inclination, he turned his attention to teaching, having
been appointed third reader teacher of the newly built
Twentieth district school, which position he exchanged
shortly for a place in the newly organized drawing de-
partment. Under the supervision of Superintendent N.
Forbriger he was in a short time promoted to the place
of first assistant. ' The illness of Mr. Forbriger threw the
responsibility of managing the department upon his
shoulders, and upon the death of the same (November
1878), Mr. Fick was, by resolution of the board of edu-
cation designated acting superintendent. August, 1879, he
was elected superintendent, which position he still holds.
Besides being a member of many teachers' and pedagog-
ical associations, Mr. Fick enjoys the membership of the
Cincinnati Literary society and of the German Literary
club. To the city of Cincinnati belongs the credit of
having been first in this country to organize a system of
instruction in drawing for all the grades of the common
school, and to place drawing upon a footing equal to that
of the other studies of the curriculum. H. Eckel, esq.,
was instrumental in effecting the passage of a resolution
of the school board, authorizing a reorganization of the
drawing department, September, 1868. Previous to this
time there had been isolated attempts at drawing in dif-
ferent schools. There were even several drawing teach-
ers. But the reorganization provided for the uniformity
of teaching, systematizing of subject matter, and by the
election of Arthur Forbriger as superintendent gave the
charge of the department to a responsible person. In
the course of time one first assistant and three assistant
teachers constituted the corps of drawing teachers. The
success of drawing in the Cincinnati schools, attributable
alike to the efficiency and conscientious work of those in
charge and to the excellence of the system in use, has
attracted the favorable notice of educators in all parts of
the country and abroad. The reputation gained by the
displays in the expositions at Vienna, Philadelphia and
Paris, and sustained in our own annual industrial exposi-
tions, is not only national but world-wide. All the chil-
dren, from the lowest grade to the highest, take part in
the study unless physically disabled. The beneficial in-
fluence of the instruction is seen in the exactness, neat-
ness, methodical arrangement and general appearance of
the pupils' every-day work, in the intelligent appreciation
of, and the love for, the beautiful in nature and art, and
the value may be felt, as expressed in material dollars
and cents, by increased aptitude and greater fitness for
all mechanical work which presupposes a correct eye
and a trained hand, guided by an intelligent and quick
observation.
O. Armleder, of the firm of O. Armleder & Co., 324
and 326 Elm street, is a native of Cincinnati, in which
city he received his education after leaving the public
schools, completing his course in St. Xavier's college in
1877. He also completed a commercial course in the
Queen City college, and became book-keeper for the
Cincinnati Lager Beer Bottling company until in the
year 1879, when he became the head of the firm him-
self.
William S. Flinn, principal of the Ninth district
school, born November 30, 1845, is a great-grandson of
Captain James Flinn, who was burned at the stake in
1790, and son of Ambrose Flinn, who now resides in
Columbia township. Captain Flinn and his family, con-
sisting of wife and two sons — Thomas and William —
came to Columbia with Major Stites, November 15,
1788, where they remained during 1788 and 1789.
During the winter of 1788, while in search of some
horses, Captain Flinn was captured by the Indians, but
in a few days afterwards made his escape. In the fall of
1789 he went back to his own home in western Pennsyl-
vania, and after attending to his affairs there embarked
in a flat-boat at the mouth of the Great Kanawha river
with John May, Charles Johnson, and Jacob Skyles, and
the two Misses Fleming, for Cincinnati,- which place he
was destined never to see. On their way down they
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
493
were betrayed by two white men on shore, who feigning
terror and destruction by the Indians induced the boat
to land to take them in. The little crew, upon urgent
solicitations of Captain Flinn and the Misses Fleming,
but opposed by others, agreed to run near the shore to
allowCaptain Flinn to land, when, upon so doing, he was
captured immediately by the decoy whites and the In-
dians, who soon made their appearance, fired into the
boat, and killed or captured them all. Captain Flinn
was taken by the Indians up to Sandusky, and there
cruelly tortured to death by burning him at the stake.
His last words were: "May God have mercy on my
soul." His widow was left with four children, and did
not know for some years after what became of her hus-
band. She and her children — Jacob, born March 16,
1790; William, Thomas and Elizabeth, moved to In-
dian Hill about the year 1800, and, in 1838, having
lived to a good ripe old age, she died. Thomas died
when twenty years of age. Elizabeth married Jacob
Parker, and reared a large family, and her youngest
son, Jacob, has a large number of descendants in
Indiana. William, her eldest son, died in April, 1867,
aged eighty-two years. One of his sons was Judge
Jacob Flinn, of the common pleas court of Hamilton
county. But two children of William Flinn are now
alive—Isaac, aged sixty-six, and Ambrose aged sixty-
one.
Christian Rapp, principal of the Brown Street school,
was born in Cincinnati the fourth of March, 1850. Dur-
ing his early years he worked in a rolling-mill and took
private lessons at night, and in this way educated him-
self, with the exception of a short stay in Lebanon
schools, Lebanon, Ohio. He had charge of a colony in
the Twenty-first district school in 1872. In 1873 he was
transferred to the Fourth district, where he remained un-
til September, 1880, when he came here. He is the
patentee of the reversible slate invented in 1876, and
now generally used in the schools of the city and coun-
try. He is also patentee of a fire hydrant, now meeting
with success.
Theodore Meyder, German assistant of the Brown
Street school, is a native of Germany; received his edu-
cation in the gymnasium of Nuertinger, and taught three
years in Germany; emigrated to America in i860. In
1862-63 he was in the army, as leader of the regimental
band of the Fifty-second regiment, Kentucky volunteers.
He had charge of the high school in Piqua, Ohio, also
in Hamilton City, Ohio. In 1878 he came to Cincin-
nati, where he has been since, as German assistant of this
school.
George F. Sands, principal of the Fourth intermediate
schools, Cincinnati, is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He
graduated in the Hughes high school, Cincinnati, in 1855,
since which time he has been teaching in the city schools
of Cincinnati, taking charge of these schools twenty years
ago
R P McGregor, principal of the deaf mute school,
„us born in Lockland, Hamilton county, Ohio, April 26,
1849. Lost hearing by brain fever at the age of eight;
went to the State institution for the deaf and dumb, at
was
Columbus, to be educated, and graduated therefrom in
1866; graduated from the National deaf mute college in
1872; taught for three years in the Maryland institution
for the deaf and dumb at Frederick, Maryland; came
to this city in the fall of 1875, when the day school
for deaf mutes was opened and was placed in charge
thereof. This school is the second of its kind established
in the United States. There are only three others, viz:
in Boston, Chicago and St. Louis, but the time is not
far distant when every large city will have one of its own.
John B. Heich, of Cincinnati, was born in England
in 1835. He was educated in his native country and
emigrated to America when fourteen years of age. He
was appointed clerk of the board of directors of the
Ohio Mechanics institute in 1856, and has held that
position ever since. He was the originator of the school
of design, founded in 1856, and sustains the relationship
of principal to the institution at the present time, having
in charge ten teachers this year. During the war he was
secretary of the Cincinnati United States sanitary com-
mission of this city, and from 1857 to i860 he was sec-
retary of the Cincinnati industrial exposition each year.
He takes great interest in the Ohio Mechanics institute,
and shares largely in the responsibility of its manage-
ment.
W. S. Jaques, of 130 West Sixth street, Cincinnati, is
a graduate of one of the oldest colleges of medicine in the
city. He has an extensive practice that not only reaches
the States and territories of this country, but the foreign
countries also. The Cincinnati Commercial, Gazette,
Enquirer, and Times, have each commended the doctor
in the highest terms of his treatment of the various cu-
taneous, nervous and chronic diseases, and recommend
him as an honorable and conscientious medical practi-
tioner. He has been an energetic worker, and has suc-
ceeded in establishing a large patronage.
Bernard Tauber, M. D., of Cincinnati, was born in
Austria in 1849; studied in the gymnasium at Teschen,
and entered the university in 1866. He also perfected
a course of study in the Virginia university, and also in
the Bellevue hospital, New York. In 1871 he also
graduated in the Cincinnati College of Medicine, after
which he practiced his profession in Paducah, Kentucky,
and was appointed examiner of army pensioners of the
Government at that place. He returned to Europe and
took up a specialty, studying the diseases of the throat
and lungs, and attended courses in the various colleges
of Vienna, Tubinger, London, Paris and Heidlebergh.
In 1875 he came to Cincinnati and located as a specialist,
paying his sole attention to the .diseases of the nose,
throat and larynx, and lectures on these branches. He
fills the chair of hygiene in the Cincinnati College of
Medicine; is an honorary member of the Tri-Stafe Medical
society; of the Ohio State Medical society; of the
Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati; of the South-
western Kentucky Medical society; and the only mem-
ber from Ohio of the Laryngological association of New
York. The doctor is yet but a young man, but he seems
to have attained some eminence in his specialty.
E Bonaparte Reynolds, M. D., specialist, was born in
494
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
1 83 1 in the State of New York. In 1851 he graduated
in Woorcester, Massachusetts, and afterwards practiced
his profession in Albany and Rochester, New York. In
1854 he came to Cincinnati and located on Sycamore
street, and has during these intervening years built up
for himself a large paying practice. He was married, in
1854, to Miss Sarah Van Horsen, of New York. His
father was a Revolutionary soldier, and his mother drew
a pension on this account up to the year 1880, when she
died.
James Pursell Geppert, M. D., physician and surgeon,
was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, on the fifth of Decem-
ber, 1850. His early education was received in the
public schools, and later he attended the Gallia academy,
from which he received a diploma. After graduating he
was connected with his father, who was the leading mer-
chant in his line, traveling principally. Afterwards he
entered the printing and publishing business, and ac-
quired a practical knowledge of the art preservative.
He owned in whole or part a number of printing and
publishing establishments which were attended with vary-
ing success. At different times there were published in
these establishments two dailies, one' weekly and four
monthly publications. During 1873, while connected
with the Cincinnati Medical Advance, he began the study
of medicine, and in 1877 graduated from Pulte Medical
college and the School of Opthalmology and Otology.
After this he pursued a special course of study in science
in the University of Cincinnati for two years. In 1877
he was appointed to the chair of chemisty and toxicology.
In 1878 he delivered lectures on microscopy and histol-
ogy. In 1879 he was appointed to fill the chair of sani-
tary science, upon which subject he is at present lecturer
in the Pulte Medical college. The doctor is a member
of the American Institute of homoeopathy, Western
Academy of homoeopathy, chairman of the Bureau of
Sanitary Science, and member of the publishing com-
mittee of the Homoeopathic Medical society of Ohio-
secretary (for the past three years) of the Cincinnati
Homoeopathic Medical society, through whose efforts
mainly this society was reorganized and sustained ; vice-
president of the Institute of Heredity, Ohio Mechanics
Institute Department for the Promotion of Science, etc.
He is also publisher and editor of the Cincinnati Medi-
cal Advance, having been associated with the journal
since its first volume, or during the publication of eleven
volumes.
Thomas F. Shay, of the law firm of Shay & Kary,
Temple Bar, Cincinnati, is of Irish parentage, his father
coming from Longford, Leinster, of that country, when
about nineteen years of age, and died in Cincinnati
about the year 1866. Thomas Shay completed his course
of education in St. Xavier's college, after which he
studied law under Charles H. Blackburn, and upon grad-
uation entered into partnership and practiced his profes-
sion conjointly with his instructor. He remained with
Mr. Blackburn seven years as a member of the firm but
was compelled to retire for short time on account of a
severe case of sunstroke. Mr. Shay afterward started
alone in Temple Bar, but has lately formed a partnership
with Mr. Kary. In 1879 ne was elected a member of
the Cincinnati school board of education, which position
he still holds. His practice has been largely of a crim-
inal character, having had, in his time (and he is yet a
young man), one hundred and eighteen cases of murder
in the first degree to defend, beside a large list of cases
of a less serious character. Mr. Shay is a hard worker,
has a fine law library, and a good practice. In 1879 he
was married to Miss Josephine Costigan, of Somerset,
Ohio, whose father and brothers were lawyers of that
place.
Lewis G. Bernard, general manager of the Cincinnati
Mutual Life Insurance company, was a native of New
York State, and having received his education in the nor-
mal school at Albany, he came to Cincinnati in 1864.
For a while he kept books for Dixon, Clarke & Co. In
1874 he was elected clerk of the board of city improve-
ments, and afterwards for the board of public works, or-
ganizing the first set of books used for the purpose. In
1877 he was elected county clerk, the only Democrat,
we believe, ever elected to that office, either before or
since. He is at present managing the Cincinnati Mutual
Life Insurance company.
A. E. Berkhardt, who was very well known in the fur
trade, was born in 1835, in Herschberg, near Zenis-
beucken, in the Palatinate of the Rhine. When he was
ten years of age, his father died, leaving his mother with
three children, one of whom, a daughter, was already in
America. The rest of the family, consisting of the
mother, a daughter, and the subject of the sketch, came
to America and came immediately to Cincinnati. Mr.
Berkhardt's education was begun in Germany and was
continued until his fourteenth year, when his mother
died. He then entered the manufactory of Mitchell,
Rammelsburg & Co. at a salary of one dollar a week;
afterwards he went to work for a hatter, Jacob Theis. He
advanced step by step until he attained the highest post.
He then went into partnership with F. B. Berkhardt and
took charge of his principal's business. They moved into
larger quarters at 113 West -Fourth street, where they are
now. They export vast quantities of hides and furs from
foreign markets. Their business is very extensive. Mr.
Berkhardt was married in 1871, to Miss Emma A. Erk-
enbrecher, and is now the father of four children, three
sons and one daughter.
Mr. Robert Mitchell, one of the most prominent busi-
ness men of Cincinnati, was born in the north of Ireland
in i8n, and came to this country with his family in 1824.
The family went to Indiana, then a part of the western
wilderness. After enduring the hardships of pioneer
life and by hard application acquiring an education al-
most without a teacher, Mr. Mitchell came to Cincinnati
at the age of twenty, with no capital excepting his strong
personal character and indomitable will. After trying
various employments, Mr. Mitchell apprenticed himself
to the business in which he is now engaged. He served
his time and there commenced business on his own ac-
count which he carried on for five or six years. He then
took advantage of the introduction of wood-working ma-
chinery and established a small factory. Mr. Frederick
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
495
Rammelsburg became his partner in this business in
1846, and this partnership continued until the death of
Mr. Rammelsburg in 1863. After various reverses from
fire, financial panics, etc., the business has reached its
present condition. From five to six hundred men are
employed. The works comprise four separate buildings,
three, seven stories high, and one, six stories high. Besides
these there is the salesroom, seven stories high. The es-
tablishment is probably the largest of the kind in America.
From 1863 to 1867 Mr. Mitchell managed the business
alone. Since that time then the employes have been
allowed to take stock and share in the profits. Mr. Mit-
chell's two sons are engaged in the business with him.
Mr. I. G. Isham came to Cincinnati in 1832, with his
father, who is still living at the advanced age of eighty-
two and is well known among the residents of the city.
Mr. Isham, sf., was engaged in the wholesale dry goods
business in the firm of A. W. Isham & Co. Mr. Isham,
jr., started in business life in 1847. He was engaged in
ship-chandlery and steamboat furnishing. He was also
interested in the navigation of our western rivers. He
continued in this business until 1870. He is now en-
gaged in the manufacture of gas machines and is also a
dealer in gas fixtures, gasoline, and other gravities of
napthas.
Mr. Charles C. Jacobs was born in the duchy of Old-
enburgh, Germany, in 1826. He came with his family
to Baltimore in 1838. They walked across the moun-
tains to Wheeling, West Virginia, and came thence to
Cincinnati by boat. In 1839 Mr. Jacobs was bound out
as an apprentice in the cordage manufacture, in which
business he is still engaged. He was a member of the
old volunteer fire department for some fifteen years, be-
ing its captain for several years. He commenced business
for himself in 1848. His manufactory is the largest and
oldest of the kind in the city. He ships to all parts of
the country. He has been a member of the board of
aldermen for nine years and has been their vice-president.
He was married to Miss Maria T. Busker in 1851. They
have had six children, two of whom, a son and a daughter,
are now living. The son, Charles W., is in business with
his father. Mr. Jacobs is a very active and enterprising
citizen, and has done much to build up the city.
Mr. John Van, one of Cincinnati's self-made men, was
born in Montreal, Canada, ot French parents. He went
to Troy, New York, in 1838 and thence came to Cin-
cinnati in 1842. At that time where the Burnet House
now stands was the country, where weary citizens went to
take the air after their day's toil in the city. Mr. Van
went into the business of steamboat furnishing on Col-
umbia street in 1846. About this time he invented the
steamboat stove. He has been quite an inventor, having
taken out eighteen letters-patent, among which was one
on the first wrought iron cooking-range in 1855. During
the war he furnished the whole camp west and south,
with his army range by contract with the Government.
He now furnishes the regular army with the same range.
He has been engaged for the past nineteen years in a
very heavy business on East Fourth street, manufactur-
ing ranges and culinary apparatus. He has branch
houses in St. Louis and San Francisco, and his business
extends all over the globe.
Mr. Brent Arnold was born in Bourbon county, Kentuc-
ky, in 1845. He was educated at the Kentucky university,
Harrodsburgh, Kentucky. His college course was inter-
rupted by the war, but was continued afterwards. At the
close of his college course he came to Cincinnati and for
two years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He then
entered the railroad business in which he has been en-
gaged ever since. He is now general agent of the Louis-
ville, Cincinnati & Lexington railway. He has been twice
elected a member of the chamber of commerce and once
director of the Young Men's Mercantile Library associa-
tion. In the fall of 1 880 he was elected a member of
the city council from the Eighteenth ward, with a major-
ity of five hundred. This ward usually gives a Repub-
lican majority of one hundred and fifty, and, as Mr.
Arnold is a Democrat, his majority is the largest ever
given in the ward. *
Allen & Company, wholesale druggists. — Prominent
among the numerous houses engaged in the wholesale
drug trade in Cincinnati stands the firm of Allen & Com-
pany, at the southwest corner of Fifth and Main. This
house was established more than fifty years ago, and
ranks as one of the oldest landmarks of the city. They
•occupy an extensive building four stories in height, be-
sides a large warehouse in the rear. They carry a very
heavy stock of everything in the general drug line, em-
bracing drugs, medicines, paints, oils, window glass, dye
stuffs, druggists' sundries, etc., everything being arranged
in the most perfect and systematic manner, and making a
very fine display. They have secured an extensive trade
in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana principally, which is
steadily increasing.
Mr. Samuel N. Pike, builder of Pike's opera house,
and one of the most prominent citizens of Cincinnati,
was born in New York city in 1822. He was of Hebrew
extraction. Until the age of sixteen he pursued his
studies at Stamford, Connecticut. He then went to
Florida and embarked in the grocery, dry goods and
crockery business at St. Joseph. He also speculated in
cotton. He there accumulated about ten thousand dol-
lars, quite a fortune in those days. Being of a roaming
disposition he soon went to Richmond, Virginia. There
he engaged in the foreign wine and liquor business, which
he carried on with great success. He then went to Bal-
timore, Maryland, where he engaged in the wholesale dry
goods business, with but little success. Hence, after two
years, he went to St. Louis, Missouri. As his fortune
did not change, he determined to go to New York city.
On his way he stopped at Cincinnati, and was so pleased
with the city that he determined' to locate his business
here. This was in 1844. He opened a dry goods es-
tablishment on Third street, whence he removed to
Pearl. The business did not prove successful, and, clos-
ing it, he purchased a grocery and rectifying establish-
ment. In the memorable flood of 1847 nearly all his"
stock was stolen by river pirates. He kept his misfor-
tune a profound secret, and, though almost ruined, soon
built up a large business. He then turned his attention
496
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
to building. In 1853 he erected an elegant block on
Fourth street, below Smith, still an ornament to the city.
When Jennie Lind visited this country he became such
an ardent admirer of her songs that he determined to
build an edifice in Cincinnati worthy of the best artists
in the world. The result of this was the first opera
house, which, after a delay caused by the financial panic,
was completed and opened February 22, 1859. It was
the largest and most magnificent in the country. It was
destroyed by fire in 1866. About this time Mr. Pike
was obliged to divide his time between Cincinnati and
New York. After a time he built the present magnifi-
cent block and also the finest opera house in New York
city. He also engaged in a vast scheme of reclaiming
the salt marshes of New Jersey. In 1867 he was nom-
inated for mayor of Cincinnati, but refused on account
of his spending so much time in New York. He died
of apoplexy on December 17, 1872, leaving a property
of nearly three millions. Mr. Pike was a self-made man,
a man of wonderful energy and indomitable will; and
withal a man of refinement, being an amateur musician
and somewhat of a poet, he was a man full of public
spirit and abounding in charity. He left a wife and
three daughters.
Joseph Jones. — This venerable pioneer, noted on page
68 of this volume as still living, has died since the state-
ment was written and printed. On the morning of the
twenty-fifth of April, 1881, at his residence in Cincin-
nati, he departed this life, aged ninety-five years. His
death elicited many expressions of interest and regret,
including elaborate notices in the newspapers.
Coffin. — Mrs. Elizabeth Coffin, widow of Levi Coffin,
the eminent Abolitionist, and "president of the Under-
ground railroad," who came to Cincinnati in 1847, died
at her home in Avondale on Sunday, May 22, 1881.
She is mentioned on page 97 of this volume as still living.
C. R. Mabley & Co. commenced business in Cincin-
nati March 31, 1877. C. R. Mabley was born in Eng-
land, and has had some thirty years experience in the
clothing business. J. T. Carew, the other partner, was
born in Michigan and has had about sixteen years expe-
rience in the clothing business. They occupy one of the
most magnificent buildings in the city at numbers 66, 68,
70, 72, 74 West Fifth street, Cincinnati. It is built of
the finest stone and has a frontage of over one hundred
feet; is four stories high, and the show windows (of which
there are seven) are each fronted by a single sheet of
French plate glass. Three years ago this block was di-
vided into five stores, each tenanted by a merchant who
thought he was doing a pretty large business; to-day the
entire building, from basement to roof, is occupied by one
concern, and that concern is Mabley's mammoth clothing
house in its various branches.
The Mosler, Bahmann & Co. safe, vault and lock fac-
tory is a bee-hive of industry, and their safes are of un-
surpassable security and superb finish, from the largest
bank vault to the smallest office safe. Their name is a
guarantee of what the trade wants it will get from their
factory in a condition of superior excellence, since noth-
ing but the best material is used and none but the best
workmen employed. Theirs is a place in the business
world that few reach. Many a bank, many a great estab-
lishment, as well as thousands of smaller ones use Mos-
ler, Bahmann & Co's safes. Why? Because they have a
first class reputation ; they are the bete noir of burglars
and the impenetrable bulwark against fire. We believe
that the first burglar to conquer a safe, vault or lock of
this firm is to be discovered. So fruitless have been the
attempts of that gentry to get ahead of Mosler, Bahmann
& Co. that the thing is regarded as an impossibility. As
to fire, many of this firm's safes have passed through the
hottest tests. With what result? A complete victory for
the safes and vaults, the books, plate, papers, money or
whatever may have been therein being in an excellent
state of preservation. This is a superb record, one that
has secured the fullest confidence of trade and the envy
of rivals. Mosler, Bahmann & Co. began the manufac-
ture of safes, bank vaults, locks etc., thirteen years ago.
Their factory is immense, measuring nearly three hundred
feet on Water street from No. 164 to 174, with part of
their building running back to Front street, where they
have a frontage nearly one-third as great. They employ
three hundred hands. Many of their safes, vaults and
and locks are sent abroad, particularly to Saxony and
other German States. The officers of the company are :
Henry Mosler, president; Frederick Bahmann, vice-pres-
ident; Otto Bahmann, secretary; and Lewis Buse, treasu-
rer, each of whom have a high standing among the busi-
ness men in the city.
Henry Brachmann was born in Nordhusen, Prussia,
in 1806. In 1830 he emigrated from Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, to Ohio, and began the business of whole-
sale wine and liquor dealing in Cincinnati, which he con-
tinued for nearly fifty years. At the organization of the
Little Miami railroad company he was one of its direc-
tors, holding that position for six or seven years. In 1840
he was elected as a member of the city council, where
he served about six years. In 1852 he was sent to the
legislature by Cincinnati, being the only Whig elected in
Hamilton county. In 1862 he was again chosen by the
Republican party and served a term of four years. In
the year 1876 he became president of the Cincinnati &
Portsmouth railroad, and three years later purchased the
road, preferring to give his whole attention to its man-
agement. His wife, Rosalia Brachmann was born in
1804. They have six children.
Duhme & Company, the famous jewelry firm, have
their extensive ware-rooms and work-shops at the south-
west corner of Walnut and Fourth streets, in a splendid
seven-story structure, built of iron, stone, and brick, and
as nearly fireproof as such a building can be made.
The house was established in 1838, and has risen from
humble beginnings to its present great magnitude. Her-
man Duhme and R. H. Galbreath have for many
years been the members of the firm. Its displays of
jewelry, clocks, watches, plate goods, etc., and the curi-
ous processes carried on in the building, are truly won-
derful. About two hundred workmen in the various
departments are employed.
Samuel R. Smith, of the firm of Lane & Bodley, was
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
497
born in Old Hadley, Massachusetts, about the year 1831.
When fifteen years of age he went to Chicopee Falls, of
that State, and learned the machinist trade, which he
has followed during the intervening years sjnce that time.
In 1855 ne went t0 Canaan, New Hampshire, where he
was married to Miss Ellen L. Miner. During the world's
fair in New York, soon after his marriage, he met Mr.
Bodley, who made him an offer to come to Cincinnati
which he accepted. The firm of Lane & Bodley are
manufacturing a saw-mill patented by Mr. Smith some
twenty years ago. He is a successful machinist, being
the patentee of several things which are in extensive use
at the present time.
O. L. Parmenter, of Cincinnati, established his paper-
works at No. 189 Third street,' this city, a few years since,
and is now the manufacturer and sole proprietor of the
Queen City egg case, now so extensively used instead of
straw, barrels, etc., as formerly. He alsj> manufactures
cigar, tag, and paper cigar-cases, articles of great use and
of which he is the sole manufacturer. His trade is a
lively one and is building up rapidly.
Michael Ryan, of the well-known firm of Ryan Brothers,
pork-packers, was born in Johnstown, County Kilkenny,
Ireland, on the sixth of October, 1845. He came to
America with his parents in 1853, when not quite eight
years of age, and arrived in Cincinnati early in the
month of June of that year. Although being an Irish-
man by birth, which he looks upon as an honor, his
education, training, and habits are American. Mr. Ryan
attended school at St. Xavier's on Sycamore street, Cin-
cinnati, until his fourteenth year, when he went to work
and "was admitted as a partner with his three other broth-
ers, who were then extensively engaged in the butcher-
ing business. The four brothers — Matthew, John,
Richard, and Michael — have always maintained this
partnership formed thus early in life, and have been very
successful and prosperous in business. They are now
one of the largest pork-packing firms in Cincinnati.
Michael Ryan has always been a Democrat in politics,
but has never been an office-seeker. In 1878, however,
his friends forced him to run for alderman in the First
aldermanic district, and he was elected by a very large
majority. He has filled that office ably and well, and is
quite popular in that board, so much so that his friends
urged him for the chairmanship at the last organization
of the board. He received the entire support of his
party, but of course could not be elected, the board be-
ing largely Republican in politics. Mr.- Ryan has filled
many positions of honor and trust, and has never been
known to betray the confidence which has been placed
in him. He was chairman of the city convention that
nominated William Means for mayor of Cincinnati.
Mr. Ryan was married in 1876 to Miss Maggie McCabe,
and has two children. Still in early manhood, a life full
of promise is before him.
Charles C. Campbell, of Cincinnati, was born in
Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and came to
Cincinnati from Steubenville, Ohio, December n, 1849.
He received a comm&n school education, principally in
Cincinnati, and learned the trade of machinest in the
63
Little Miami railroad shops at Columbus, Ohio, which
occupation he followed for a number of years. Being a
man of remarkable energy and perseverance he has been
engaged in various business enterprises. He represented
the^Third ward in the board of education two years, dur-
ing the famous Bible controversy. Was elected to the
board of alderman April, 1878, for a term of four years.
He has been urged a number of times to become a can-
didate for various public offices — as county commissioner
and State senator — but has invariably refused. He has,
however, always occupied a prominent place in local
affairs on the Democratic ticket.
D. J. Dalton, councilman of the Sixth ward, Cincin-
nati, was born in this city in the year 1843. After re-
ceiving a good public school education he was made
inspector of provisions, which position he held four years.
He was for a time connected with the Short Line rail-
road, and was elected councilman for this ward in 1881.
In 1862 he was married to Miss Delia Carroll, of this
city.
Peter C. Bonte, vice-president of the decennial board
of equalization, Cincinnati, was born in Dearborn coun-
ty, Indiana, November 20, 1820. The ancestral line of
this family is traceable to Demerest de la Bonte, an em-
inent Huguenot who was executed as a heretic in Paris
in 1550. When three years of age, Mr. Bonte's father
removed to Cincinnati, where he conducted an establish-
ment for the manufacturing of cordage. Mr. Bonte
served an apprenticeship, and after thoroughly learning
the business took charge of the establishment himself.
He carried on the enterprise in Cincinnati and in New-
port, Kentucky, it being conducted on an extensive scale.
Mr. Bonte was twice elected to the city council. During
the war with Mexico he was elected captain of the Jeffer-
son Greys, a private company raised in the city, but the
quota of Ohio being full their services were refused. In
1879 he was elected a member of the decennial board of
equalization, and by that body made its vice-president.
N. H. Shrader, member of the annual city board of
equalization, is a native of Cincinnati, born December
11, 1851. He received a common school education, but
at the age of sixteen, on account of the limited means
of his parents, was apprenticed to Walter Stewart, archi-
tect, 177 West Fourth street ; he was afterwards with H.
Bevis, architect, 167 Central avenue, for three years.
Was six years as book-keeper and manager for B. Damen-
hold & Co., plumbers. In 1878 he was elected to the
city council from the Fourteenth ward by a large majori-
ty, and in the fall of 1880 was elected chief clerk of the
decennial city board of equalization, and in the spring of
1 88 1 was elected member of the annual city board of
equalization for three years. Mr. Shrader has many
friends who are anxious to make him a candidate for the
State legislature in the coming election, which position
he would fill ably and well.
George W. Guysi was born in Cincinnati in 1833, and
is descended from a French Huguenot family that fled
from that country to Switzerland. Charles Frederick
Guysi (formerly Guise) and Elizabeth Stadler Guise, his
parents, came to America in 181 8, and located in Cin-
498
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
cinnati in 1825. In 1840 he helped to start the German
Republicaner, a Whig paper, of which he was editor.
George W. carried it in 1848. In 1849 he became a
gauger, working first for W. R. Taylor, but in 1854 was
elected gauger himself for three years. In 1862 he was
the first United States gauger of the Second district of
Ohio, under the internal revenue laws. Mr. Guysi cor-
rected the McCullough tables and the Tralles hydrome-
ter— full of errors — and the demonstrating of the same to
the United States coast survey officials led to an appoint-
ment by Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury,
as a special agent of the treasury department. His du-
ties required him to visit all the gaugers in the United
States, and the distilleries. He also assisted a commit-
tee of eminent men of the National Academy of Science
to revise the McCullough tables and prepare a new hy-
drometer. He also assisted the Hon. David A. Wells,
special commissioner, to report a new internal revenue
law, which passed in Congress in 1866. Mr. Guysi made
the first raid on the contraband distillers of New York
city, having twenty-nine seized on the ninth of March,
1866. He resigned in 1868, and embarked in business,
which was not successful, and in 1875 was again ap-
pointed gauger at Cincinnati.
Michael Zenner, coal dealer, of Columbia, was born in
Germany in 1837, and came to this country in 1852 with
his father, who settled his family first in Albany, New
York, but afterwards removed to Chicago, then to Buf-
falo, and came to Cincinnati in 1865. He has been in
the coal business ever since, having lived in California
one or two years previous, where he carried on the same
business. In April, 1880, he was elected to the city
council, which position he still holds. In 1868 he was
married to Miss Catharine Ich, who came from Germany.
James Richie, merchant, of Cincinnati, also Swiss con-
sul for Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, was born Decem-
ber 15, 1829, in Switzerland, and received his early edu-
cation in Zurich, his native town, afterwards completing
his course in Woodward high school for English
branches, and in European schools for the fuller course.
He has been in the dry goods business, Nos. 65 and 67
Pearl street, for many years. He received his appoint-
ment as Swiss consul during Johnson's administration,
and has held the position ever since. November 3, 1853,
he was married to Miss Mary Moore, whose parents came
from Montreal, Canada, when she was seventeen years of
age, in 184T.
Colonel I. F. Waring, of Madisonville, Columbia
township, was born August 25, 1799, in Columbia. He
received but a common school education, but has been a
close student of natural philosophy and chemistry for
over forty years. He has been a careful farmer, and has
paid considerable attention to agriculture and horticul-
ture, having been a member of those societies for many
years. He has always prided himself in doing well what-
ever he attempts, and rarely fails to leave a favorable im-
press in the performance. In former times he com-
manded a company, as drill officer, and his commanding
appearance and thoroughness in military tactics, soon
promoted him to the commander of a regiment. About
the year 1868 he purchased for himself an amateur
press, with necessary type, and began writing and print-
ing, having since that time printed books of his own edi-
torship— Comments on the Bible, a small work of some
pretentions, a poem of sixty pages, on the Bible, and also
a book of miscellaneous poems. These works strongly
mark the characteristic traits of the man.
H. A. Rattermann, of Cincinnati, was born October 4,
1832, and came with his parants from the old country
in 1846 to Cincinnati, where his father followed his
trade, cabinet-making, and he worked in the brick-yards.
The family were in poor circumstances, nevertheless Mr.
Rattermann saved of his means, bought books, learned
to read and to write English very well. He also studied
painting, music and other branches. In 1850 his father
died and he himself became a cabinet-maker, but in the
winter of 1853-4 he was thrown out of employment on
account of the^ strike of the cabinet-makers. He had
saved a few dollars, which enabled him to take a thor-
ough course in a business college. After completing his
course he was employed as a book-keeper in his uncle's
office at a small salary. Later he started a grocery, with
which he soon became dissatisfied. Seeing the necessity
for a fire insurance company among the Germans, he
formed a plan and called a meeting of his friends to or-
ganize such a company (1857), whose secretary and bus-
iness manager he has been for more than twenty years.
He is devoted to literature and art, and under the nom
de plume of "Hugo Reinmund," he has written a num-
ber of poems; he has also written several romances, a
history of the great American west (in German), also an
historical sketch of Cincinnati. For many years he*was
the editor of the Deutschen Pionier. In politics he is a
Democrat, and one of the best speakers of the party; in
the noted Tilden campaign he stumped the State of
Ohio. As has been stated, Mr. Rattermann is a lover
of music and art. He was director of St. John's church
choir for several years, and he was influential in the or-
ganization of the following singing societies: Sanger-
bund (1850), Mannerchor(i85i)and Orpheus (1868).
Daniel Z. Byington, assistant superintendent of the
United Railroad Stock-yard company, Cincinnati, was
born in the city December 12, 1834. His father, Zebu-
Ion Byington, was one of the well-to-do pioneer- citizens
of the place. He was city marshal, keeper of the jail,
and for a long time kept a hotel on Main above Fifth
street. Mr. Byington went to Brighton when young and
learned the butcher's trade, but when seventeen years of
age began work for the Western Stage company, and af-
ter a two years' stay, drove a "call wagon," disbursing
moneys for the American Express company, where he
remained three years. He afterwards held a position in
the mail service on the river. He has been superinten-
ding at the stock-yards for over nine years. When he
was young, Mr. Byington promised his mother that he
would never use tobacco or whiskey in any form, and
has never since that time smoked or chewed the weed
nor drank ardent spirits of any kind. He married Miss
Josephine Kelly in 1855, and since that time celebrated
his silver wedding.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
499
Robert H. West, of the firm Daniel Wunder & Co.,
was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1847. His father
died when he was but twelve years of age, when he
came to Cincinnati; and being in poor circumstances,
had to make his own way, get his own education at odd
hours and during leisure times, all of which he has suc-
ceeeded in doing. He began working for Joseph A.
Patterson, in whose family he also lived three years.
His mother came to the city afterwards, and his work
largely contributed towards supporting her and her fa'm-
ily. His father was a steamboat captain, but lost his
wealth in 1857. Mr. West was with Krohn, Feiss & Co.,
wholesale and retail cigar manufacturers, eight years,
until 1868, when he married Miss Kate Wunder, daugh-
ter of Daniel Wunder, since which time he has been in
the live stock business. Mr. Wunder going out in 1875,
he, in company with Mr. Long, has had charge of the
business since.
Daniel Weber, of Cincinnati, was born in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, in 1833. He removed with his parents to
Cincinnati, in 1841, where he has since resided. He
engaged in mechanical pursuits until the breaking out of
the war, in 1861, when he entered as a private in the
Thirty-ninth regiment Ohio volunteers, and served with
that regiment until the close of the war, in 1865. He
was successively promoted to lieutenant, captain, major,
lieutenant colonel and colonel of the regiment. He was
elected sheriff of Hamilton county in 1868, and served
one term; has since been engaged in mercantile pursuits.
He is now a member of the well-known firm of Weber,
Luper & Co., one of the leading firms in the city en-
gaged in the live stock trade.
Henry Behring, carpenter and builder, No. 12 Baker
street, is a native of Hanover, Germany. When about
fifteen years of age he emigrated to this country, coming
directly to Cincinnati, where he embarked in business
for himself. In 1865 he built a good, substantial house,
No. 249 Dayton street, at that time on the edge of the
city. In 1854 he was married to Miss Margaret Ort-
man, who is also a native of Germany. Mr. Behring is
a member of the Cincinnati board of education, now ser-
ving out a second term in that office.
H. J. Berens, wholesale and retail grocer, Cincinnati,
was born near the river Weser, in Germany, in 1843.
In 1850, when seven years of age, he came to Cincinnati,
where he has received his education and performed the
part of a prominent citizen, having served first on the
board of aldermen, and also as a member of the board
of education for six years of his life. He was married in
1877 to Miss Mary Jane Malloy, of Cincinnati, a native
of Ireland. His father was a teacher in Germany, also
his eldest brother, who is engaged in that work in Han-
over, of that country.
W. Kleinoehle, receiving clerk of the county treas-
urer's office, also proprietor of an establishment corner
of Twelfth and Walnut streets, was born in Freiburg,
Baden, Germany, October 29, 1828, in which country he
followed merchandising until about 1850, when he emi-
grated to America. He did business awhile in the
cities of New Orleans, Shreveport, Louisiana, Louis-
ville, Kentucky, Evansville, Indiana, and came to Cin-
cinnati in 1855, where he still lives. He was book-
keeper for ex-mayor Jacob nine years ; was United States
assistant assessor for five yaars; was with Wernert
Goettneim & Co. four years; was cashier of the county
treasurer's office for four years. Mr. Kleinoehle has for
many years suffered severely with rheumatism, so much
so that he is now more or less compelled to confine him-
self to the duties of his restaurant and saloon.
Frederick Pfeister, assistant superintendent of the
United Railroad Stock-yards company, was born in
Cincinnati in April, 1846. He received his education in
the Cincinnati public schools, graduating in Woodward
in 1858. He was with Tyler, Davidson & Co., hardware
merchants, Nos. 140 and 142 Main street, eight years,
and afterwards superintendent of the yards at Brighton
station, but left that to accept the assistant superintend-
ency of the United Railroad Stock-yards company,
having himself an interest in the company. The Twenty-
fourth ward, in 1879, elected him by a large majority to
a membership in the city council, he running ahead of
his own party ticket. He has also held the presidency
of two building associations. His father, Frederick
Pfeister, came over from Rahrbach, Germany, in 1831.
He kept a boot and shoe store on Main street, and was
a prominent man, filling many positions of honor and
trust in the city before he died, in 1873. Mr. Pfeister
was married to Caroline Hagenbush. She was born in
Billigheim, Germany, February 28, 1848, and was a
daughter of Dr. John and Barbara Hagenbush, her great-
or grand-uncles being Carl Joseph Boye, chief officer of
customs, and Adolph Boye, chief justice under King
Ludwig, and George Boye, general under Napoleon I.
Mr. F. Thompson, of Cincinnati, was born June 7,
1822, in the city of Wheeling, Virginia, where he was
educated. In 1835 he removed to Hebron, Licking
county, Ohio, and in the service of Cully & Taylor, pork
packers and grain dealers, he remained three years, re-
ceiving sixty dollars for the first year and board. From
there he went to Taylor & Brother, Zanesville, Ohio, and
remained there several years as their salesman. In April,
1843, he came to Cincinnati, to a dry goods establishment
formerly known as the Bee Hive, where, after remaining
several years, he entered the wholesale grocery house of
Thomas H. Miner & Co., and was there several years,
and afterwards formed a partnership with Mr. Fisher,
senior member of the firm, and went into the pork-pack-
ing business, but withdrew from the firm in the year
1848. He next engaged with the firm of Bales, Whit-
cher & Co., wholesale dealers in hats, caps, furs, etc.,
and afterwards went into the business, with Mr. Whitcher
as partner, under the name of M. F. Thompson & Co.,
and continued until the death of his partner, when he as-
sumed all liabilities and paid to the administrators of
the estate a profit of nearly twenty thousand dollars.
He afterwards associated with S. Goodrich and Calvin
Feeble, under the firm name of Thompson, Goodrich &
Co., and continued the business some time. The -city
of Cincinnati has called him to the city council, in which
membership he has filled the chairmanship of commit-
5°o
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tees on finance, water works, and of other important
interests represented by that body. He has been con-
nected with the mercantile library for over twenty years.
Fred Klimper, a native of Germany, born March 10,
1832, at Velssa and Vechta, grand duchy of Aldenburg.
When three and one-half years old his father died and
his mother moved to Lohne in 1839, emigrated to Am-
erica, and came to Cincinnati in the fall of the same
year, and settled at the northeast corner of Sixth and
Sycamore streets. In 1840 his mother married Captain
J. H. Puttmann, and for twenty years carried on the
grocery business at 64 Sycamore street. Fred, the name
by which he is generally known, received but a limited
school education. In 1845 ne started out in time to
earn his bread at the printing business, first with A. Pugh,
corner Fifth and Main street, from there- to the Liberty
Hall arid Cincinnati Gazette, where he remained until
1847, when, tiring of the printing business, he engaged
with A. & J. Wolf, No. 76 Main street, as stock-keeper
in the clothing business. In February, 1851, he entered
the employ of Messrs. Heidelback, Seasongood & Co.,
in the same capacity, and from stock-keeper advanced to
salesman, and for a number of years represented said
firm on the road. Remained with said firm until 1875,
nearly a quarter of a century. In 1874 he opened a
merchant tailoring store at the northwest corner of Main
and Seventh streets. In 1877 he was elected a member
of the Sixty-third general assembly, and has proved
himself an industrious, sensible legislator. He is a
peerless, constant old-line Democrat, and deserves the
confidence of the people irrespective of party. In 1852
he married Miss Dora Kroger, by whom he had ten chil-
dren, seven boys and three girls, of whom nine are
living — six boys and three girls.
Z. Getchell, of Cincinnati, is a native of Maine, born
in the year 1832. He became an orphan when three
years of age, and was thrown in a helpless condition
upon a cold, unsympathizing world, receiving nothing
except what he earned himself. This was true even to
the wearing of his first pair of shoes. When eight years
of age he formed two resolutions which he has carried
out to the letter; the first was never to drink a drop of
ardent spirits, the second was never to use tobacco in
any form. He was the colaborer of Neal Dow, and
helped to form the famous Maine liquor law. Before
the war he went to New Orleans on his way to Europe,
but sickness detained him, and he was made superin-
tendent of the street railway of that city, but upon the
breaking out of the Rebellion he was pressed into the
service and required to build the famous New Orleans
howitzers — a battery of six pieces of flying artillery. He
had formerly superintended the manufacturing of cotton
gins and presses for Chapman & Gunison, and being
found a mechanic of no ordinary genius, was put to this
work, but he constructed the batteries in such a manner
as to render them inoperative. He was next pressed
into the naval service, and was the assistant superintend-
ent in the construction of the Great Louisiana, but again
keeping his right hand from knowing what his left hand
did, secretly tunnelled the sliding and bilge ways together
and so detained the launching of the boat for twenty-one
days. For this he was suspected, and the day he was to
be hung Farragut entered the harbor. He again served
the Union, being on the Louisiana. Commodore Mc-
intosh ordered that the heavy sixty-four Parrot rifle
changed in position so as to bring it to bear upon the
Union forces. But all the guns then bearing on our
forces were dismantled, first to make ready and the big
gun changed, but not mounted for use, when Farragut
let loose hail and shot, clearing the boat, the river, and
captured the forts. Such is a brief outline of this remark-
able man.
James Hopple, 42 and 44 West Second street, whole-
sale grocer, was born in Cincinnati in 1815. His father
was a tobacconist, having come from Philadelphia and
located on lower Market street in 1805. His store, cor-
ner of Third and Main streets, was near a large apple
orchard, which Mr. Hopple remembers well. James
was raised in the store, received a good education, and
afterwards completed a course in the Ohio Medical col-
lege, of Cincinnati, graduating about the year 1849.
He practiced his profession some ten years, but lived on
his farm in Clermont county nearly twenty years. He
has always been prominently connected with the busi-
ness interests of Cincinnati, he and his brother Richard
having built the Spring Grove railroad in i860; and he
having also been connected with various positions of the
fire department of the city. In 1837 he was married to
Miss Julia L. Pease, who was raised by W. L. Clark, a
large pork dealer of the city at that time. He is the
father of three children, of whom one son, James C, is
with him in the business.
Julius Engelke, of Cincinnati, was the youngest of
four brothers, and was born at Hartzberg, at the foot of
Hartz mountains, Prussia, in Hanover, in the year 1839.
His parents were wealthy and of the Protestant persua-
sion. His father died about the time he was born; and
when nine years of age he was put in charge of an uncle,
where he remained until fourteen years old. He then
went to another uncle, who taught him the saddlery
trade, and whom he served four years as an apprentice.
When about twenty years of age, in 1854, he emigrated
to America, following his brothers Fred and William,
and worked at his trade. When the war broke out he
served in the hundred-day service. In 1864 he began
business for himself, in which he has been successful up
to the present time. He has been a member of the
Turners' association for twenty-five years, and its presi-
dent several terms; has been an Odd Fellow for twenty
years; has been eight years in the city council; has been
president of several building associations; has been a
member of Fire Company No. 2, on George street, using
a hand engine from 1855 to 1858; and has worked in
Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
John Straehly, the well-known dry goods merchant, at
501 Vine street, came to Cincinnati with his parents
from Germany, when but ten years of age. His father
was poor and empty-handed, making it necessary for
John to do for himself even during the tender years of
his life. He secured work in a dry goods house, and for
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
S°i
seven years plied his apprenticeship, after which he
opened up a store on Central avenue, and remained
there from 1855 to 1861. He then removed to where
he is at present located, since which time, owing to close
application to business, having not lost a day from the
store in seventeen years, he has succeeded in accumula-
ting a small fortune. He has been honored with position
in the city council, and is at present a member of the
board of education of the Cincinnati schools.
John W. Legner is a native of Europe, but in 1847,
when about two and a half years old, his parents came
to Cincinnati. Since i860 he has been on Central ave-
nue, near Ninth, now over twenty-one years in one place.
He is a strong Republican, and is a member of the city
council, now serving out his second term. During the
war he was a member of company B, Ohio cavalry, and
was wounded December 16, 1864, at Nashville, Tennes-
see, while in the act of discharging his carbine. His
wife, Miss Lydia Leonard, is a daughter of John Leon-
ard, a wealthy retired merchant of Urbana, Ohio.
Henry Schlotman, president of the board of equaliza-
tion of Hamilton county, is a native of Germany; came
to this country with an older brother and sister when
but thirteen years of age, his parents having died when
he was but three years of age. His career has been va-
ried. For a time he followed the river, then became a
manufacturer of the Venetian blinds, on Sixth and Vine.
From 1863 to 1867 he served in the city council; in
1866 was elected sheriff of the county; in 187 1 was
nominated by the Republican party for the legislature,
but the whole ticket was defeated. He then again be-
came a manufacturer until 1878, when he was elected
by the council as a member of the decennial board of
equalization.
H. Wiethoff, deputy State supervisor of oils, No. 26
East Second street, Cincinnati, was born in Prussia
April 12, 1833. His parents both died when he was
but twelve years of age, since which time and until
eighteen years old, he worked upon different farms as
helper, but at the end of this time he emigrated to this
country, landing in Baltimore in 1851, and came to Cin-
cinnati in 1852, and until the year 1856 worked as day
laborer, assisting gaugers and helping in brick-yards, the
former employment helping him in what seemed to be
his life-work afterwards. He was first appointed assistant
gauger under W. R. Taylor, and remained so until 1863,
when he received the appointment as assistant gauger by
the city council. In 1865 he was appointed United
• States gauger, and 1871 commercial gauger by the Cin-
cinnati Chamber of Commerce, which position he now
holds. In April, 1881, he was reelected a member of
the city council, and in May, 1881, he received his com-
mission as a deputy supervisor of oils, which lasts until
1883.
F. W. Gerstle, of Cincinnati, was born in Flemhngen,
Bavaria, Germany, in 18 19. He received a good educa-
tion, and then taught two years in Hainfield. His father
died when he was but eleven years of age. His brother
is a Catholic priest and has officiated in that capacity now
over fifty years. He came to America in 1850, and
travelled over the whole of the United States during a
period of about six years with different circuses, the last
of which was with Dan Rice. In 1847 he visited his
fatherland, and again was there a (ew years ago. He is
a member of the German Pioneer association, being one
of two who started it. He has been its president, and
has also served as its secretary for many years, and as a
token of regard the society, in 1880, presented him an
elegant gold watch in consideration for services rendered.
Mr. Gerstle has been for fourteen years president of the
Cincinnati Philharmonic society; three years its secre-
tary and two years its treasurer. He has always taken
an interest in that branch of study, having been a music
teacher in Germany. In 1873 he was struck with par-
alysis, one whole side being seriously effected. In 1875.
he began the livery business with his son, at 120 and 122
Court street.
Hon. Joseph Siefert, of Cincinnati, was born Decem-
ber 11, 1810, in Waldburg, Germany. He attended
the common schools until fourteen years of age, and then
learned the trade of masonry and stone-cutting, which he
followed for several years, when, in the military draft, he
drew number five and was booked for six years, but, after
serving three years in the service, he hired a substitute,
which cost him a hundred American dollars, and in 1834
left home for America, landing at Baltimore, and travel-
ling on foot via Wheeling, Virginia, and Portsmouth,
Ohio, came to Cincinnati, where he began, in a half
hour after his arrival, a vigorous use of the trowel, laying
stone for Mr. Hickcock, from whom he received one
dollar and seventy-five cents a day. At the end of six
months he obtained a contract on his own account from
Mr. William Doman, building agent of the United States
bank. From this on he entered largely into this busi-
ness, frequently employing from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty hands. He built the Little Miami
depot, the first large tank for the gas company, Lang-
worth's nine cellars and a number of brewers' vaults.
He was member of the Soldiers' Relief union, for the
Tenth ward, and for eight years represented that ward in
council. For seven years he was chairman of the sewerage
committee, and headed the committee on the city in-
firmary for four years; was a director of Longview asy-
lum for nine years; was captain of a company during
Kirby Smith's raid, and has done much to relieve his
ward from the draft. He has made two trips to Europe,
the city council seeing him off with a band of music and
was welcomed back by the Pioneer association in the
same way, of which society he was an honored member.
George Weber, of the firm of Weber Brothers, on
Main near Ninth street, was born August 28, 1845. His
parents came from Hanover, Germany, in 1826, and his
father afterwards established the large factory now owned
by Mr. Weber and his brother Martin. In 1876 Mr..
Weber was put forth by the Republican party for county
sheriff but defeated, and again in 1878, when he carried
the county by a majority of two thousand votes, defeat-
ing the ex-mayor, W. E. Johnson, the'opposing candi-
date. The party has received his services many times
and in many ways in performing committee work, and
502
HISTORY. OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
especially during the Hayes campaign. He was married
to Miss Hortye, of Cincinnati, December 14, 1867, and
is pleasantly located in a nice residence on Eighth street.
John Schneider, proprietor of mills and bakery 524-
528 Walnut street, is a Bavarian by birth, coming to this
city in 1854. He was educated in Germany, and served
the allotted soldier period required by the laws of that
country, after which time he went into the bakery busi-
ness. In 1857 he started just opposite his present loca-
tion, but changed over to the spacious buildings he now
owns in 1865, since which time his business has increased
to large proportions. He is patronized now by every
State in the great south, and makes a specialty of rye
flour and rye bread. During the war he took an active
part in drilling companies for active service. He is a
strong Republican and has served in the council cham-
ber, but does not want nor care for office. He was mar-
ried in 1857 to Miss Kate K. Shaeffer, a former school-
mate of his in Europe.
Frank H. Talke, farrier, 1 1 7 1 Vine street, was born in
Prussia August 13, 1832. He was one of ten children
and learned his trade under his father. He came to
Cincinnati in 1853 and started a shop near the corner
of Main street and the Old Hamilton road, afterwards at
the corner of Linn and Hopkins streets, then at 58 Free-
man street. In 1858 he entered the army of the west in
the United States quartermaster's department, but re-
turned to his old trade soon after on Vine street, No.
702, coming to 1171 of that street, where he is now com-
fortably situated in business, in 1 865. His wife, Miss
Dora Neunecke, of Germany, came to this country about
the same time he did. They were married in the year
i?56.
Shaller & Gerke, now located at the corner of Canal
and Plum streets, is a firm having had an existence of
thirty years standing. The firm, Eagle brewery, employs
a force of fifty men, who are all engaged in the manufac-
ture of beer, its production being about fifty thousand
barrels per annum. About three-fourths of this is sold
as city trade, the rest being shipped to their customers in
Ohio and Indiana. The premises upon which the brew-
ery stands measure one hundred and fifty feet on Plum
to two hundred and seventy-five feet on Canal street.
Frederick Roos, of Cincinnati, was born in Witten-
burg, Germany, in 1834. Came to Cleveland when
eighteen years of age, and was head waiter for the Weddell
House of that city for ten years, after which he came to
Cincinnati and entered into business with Mr. Rebel, under
the firm name of Roos & Rebel, on Vine street; but
after a short time commenced operations for himself in
the famous Atlantic garden, where he continued until
his death which occurred September 25, 1880, having
been proprietor of the last-named place for thirteen
years. He was married in 1874 to Miss Haveria Hoch,
who emigrated to America in 1866.
John Remier, a native of Cincinnati, received his early
education in the city schools, and at the breaking out of
the late war went into the service as forage master, going
first to Clarksburgh, Virginia. He was in General Rose-
crans' headquarters, and with the army in the two great
battles of Stone River and Chickamauga. He was after-
wards in the one hundred day service, also in the Fifth
Ohio cavalry when the army was disbanded. After re-
turning to Cincinnati he began his present business, but
did not move to his sample rooms on Fourth and Cen-
tral avenue until the year 1871.
D. L. Billingheimer, proprietor of billiard hall 210-
212 Vine Street, was born in New York June 28, 1849.
His parents were emigrants from Germany in 1834. In
i860 they removed to Cincinnati, where Mr. Billing-
heimer received his education, and taking a liking to bil-
liard playing became engaged in that business. In 1868
he took lessons of Professor Deery, the champion player
of America, and became a known billiardist throughout
the country himself, having no equal for one of his age.
After leaving the International billiard hall he took charge
of the billiard hall of the St. James' hotel, working un-
der H. P. Elias, where he remained three years, and
after a short stay in Chicago returned to Cincinnati and
opened a daily market on Central avenue, and began in
the commission business, but was burned out, losing
every dollar he owned. He next embarked in the bil-
liard business, starting up where the coliseum now stands,
with five tables; but after two years' stay removed where
Frederick Hunt kept a hall, next to the Enquirer office,
and opened up with eleven tables, and from there re-
moved "over the Rhine,'' tore up the old Germania the-
atre, and established a hall having fifteen tables. He
came here during the year 1879, having bought
out the property that formerly belonged to Philip Tie-
mans, where he is nicely located with a la/ge paying cus-
tom. His hall is lighted by the Brush dynamo-electric
machine, and gives a light equal in power to twelve thou-
sand candles, and is said to be the only billiard hall in the
United States lighted by this kind of machine.
F. Vormohr, proprietor of a flourishing dye house on
Woodward avenue, was born in October, 1843, in Ger-
many. He came here about the year i860, and, after
working in a harness shop three or four years, started for
himself in the dyeing business on Green street, afterwards
moving to his present location, where he has been suc-
cessfully engaged for some years. He married a Miss
Anna Wessaler, formerly of Germany.
George A. Hauck, of Cincinnati, was born in Hanover,
Germany, in 1829, and when twenty-eight years of age
— in 1865 — came to this city, since which time he has
built up for himself a successful business, operating first
on Plum and Findlay streets, but finally opened up at
No. 823 Central avenue, near Mohawk bridge, where he .
is at present manufacturing for beer brewers and wine
merchants. He has been twice married ; his present wife,
Maggie Boiler, came over in 1865.
A J. Gilligan, of No. 211 Vine street, is of Irish
birth, being born near Sligo, in the province of Connaught,
in 1844. In 1862 he left his parents, and his Eric home,
and came to Cincinnati, where he has been ever since,
in charge of rooms, as noted above. He has frequently
been put to usefulness by the members of his party
(Democratic), and has also held positions of trust. He
has been treasurer, for some years, of the Sons of St.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
5°3
Patrick, who have so long celebrated their patron saint
on the seventeenth of March of each year at the Grand
hotel, of this city.
John Abbihl, of Cincinnati, was born in Switzerland,
but in i860 came with his parents to this city, having
lived first, however, on a farm near Cleveland. When
nineteen years of age he had charge of the bar at the
Gibson House, and afterwards the one at Walnut Street
House. In 1862 he went south, but, on account of sick-
ness, in 1863, returned to his adopted city, and to a place
where the good people of his acquaintance frequently
honored him with positions of trust, having been coun-
cilman six years (Republican), and offered him the office
for the fourth term, but this he refused. He has been
treasurer of the Swiss Benevolent society ten years, and
for sixteen years a member of the Odd Fellows society.
He is a genial, warm-hearted person, having an open
hand and purse for those in need of sympathy and help.
In 1868 he opened a restaurant at No. 82 Vine street,
where he may be found now.
Charles Doll, of Cincinnati, member of the city coun-
cil, is a native of this place, and is in the transfer busi-
ness, No. 285 Sycamore street. In 1864 he was married
to Miss Mary McGorem, of Cincinnati.
William Reedlin, of Cincinnati, proprietor of concert
and ball rooms, No. 469 Vine street, was born in Baden,
Germany, November 20, 1850. His father was a black-
smith, which trade William learned and worked at after
coming to Cincinnati, until 1877, when he gave up the
farrier trade for the proprietorship of his rooms on Vine
street. He was married August 2, 1877, to Emma Hoff-
mann, late of Germany.
The members of Currier's famous band in Cincinnati,
are as follows: Peter Bohl, cello (National theatre),
April 14, 1871; George Wolf, bass drum, August 12,
1871; H. Schath, B clarionet, May 1, 1872; C. Schroe-
der, B clarionet, August 18, 1874; C. Esberger, piccolo,
April 30, 1876; A. Peters, cymbals, June to, 1876; M.
Esberger, alto, November 9, 1877; George Loehman,
piccolo, October 3, 1877; A. C. Geiger, drum, October 3,
1877; C. Weiss, trombone, October 10, 1877; H. Burch,
clarionet, September 7, 1879; C. Reinhart, clarionet, Sep-
tember 7, 1879; H. Seivers, tuba, November 24, 1879;
C. Wild, tuba, October 11, 1879; W. Peters, clarionet,
March 18, 1880; A. Peters, cymbals, July 1, 1878; R.
Menge trombone, August 15, 1880; O. Koenke, cornet,
September 25, 1880; George Schath, tenor horn, May
25, 1872; F. Storch, cello, March 7, 1871; F. Wiede-
man, tuba, June 27, 1871; W. Heckle, flute, June 2,
1871; C. Kopp, violin, March 29, 1871 ; B. Kruger, cornet,
March 29, 1871; W. Zench, clarionet, January 18, 1872;
G. Klnesner, tenor horn, April 20, 1871; R. Kuhn, tenor
horn, May 13, 1872; A. Stengler, clarionet, December 9,
1878. Edgar Rogassi Kutzleb in 187 1; L. Ballenberg's
last engagement with Mr. Currier was April 14, 187 1.
Henry Wielert a native of Hanover, Germany, born
1836, came here with his parents when fifteen years of
age; learned the tinner's trade and continued with his
father on Court street, until in 1862, when he entered
the service as second lieutenant of the Sixth Ohio volun-
teer infantry. He was wounded at Hartsville, Tennessee,
in consequence of which he was discharged from service.
After returning home he continued his former trade until
in 1865, when he established himself at 514 Vine street,
where he has been ever since.
Charles S. Smith, manager of the Vine Street opera
house and the coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio, is a native of
Kentucky. He received a good common school educa-
tion, and afterwards partly completed a collegiagte course
of study in St. Louis. About the year 1855, he went
into the theatre business. He travelled first with the
Bateman children, taking them, as their manager, all
through Europe and Australia. He was also in the dra-
matic agency for some years, and learned, during that
time, much pertaining to the profession. He has fre-
quently organized prominent combinations; has manged
different houses, and taken charge of leading troupes; is
well known in New York and all larger cities where he
has spent much time in his business. He is now mana-
ger of the two houses mentioned above. His wife and
two children are dead, and this leaves him without any
relation in the country.
Mr. Joseph Rasch was born in Ehrenbreitstein, on the
Rhine in 1841. After travelling over Europe for some
time he went to sea and followed the seafaring life for
several years He came to this country in 1868. He
first settled in New York city, being interested in a cigar
factory. He lived there for three years. Thence he
went to Chicago and engaged in the same business. He
lost everything by the great fire in 1871. After that he
went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and again started in the
same business. After a year and a half he started in
business in St. Louis, where he remained for four years.
Thence he came to Cincinnati, where he is now engaged
in business.
Mr. F. A. Grever, one of the prominent clothing mer-
chants of the city, was born in the duchy of Oldenburg
in 1826. He emigrated to this country in 1844, and,
landing at New Orleans, came immediately to Cincinnati.
For six years he was employed on a steamer between
Cincinnati and New Orleans. In 1850 he started with a
friend in the tailoring business. After ten years he
formed a partnership with several gentlemen and started
in the wholesale cloth business, in which he is still en-
gaged. Mr. Grever is quite a prominent man, especially
among the Germans. He has been president of the
German Pioneer association ever since i860.
W. B. Dennis, of 146 Plum street, is son of Charles
Dennis, who settled in June, 181 2, in Williamsburgh
township. He was born in New Jersey in 1780, and em-
igrated from that State to Ohio. He died at Williams-
burgh in 1825. He was a constable in new Jersey, but
held no office here. Lived quietly upon his farm and
entertained travellers. His wife's maiden name was Lucy
Briggs. She was born in 1776, and died in 1878. Their
children were, Warden B., John, Charles, Louisa, Weal-
thy, Abby and Mary. W. B., the subject of this sketch,
was born in Gloucester county, New York, in the year
1808; removed to Ohio with his parents in 181 2; moved
to the city of Cincinnati in 1825. He followed the busi-
5°4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ness of a mason for thirty years, and after gaining a
competency quit that business for the more genial busi-
ness of real estate broker, which he has followed in the
same office since 1849, t0 tne credit and competence of
himself and respect of his neighbors. Mr. Dennis mar-
ried Leddie Bunker Folker, of Nantucket, Massachu-
setts, November 28, 1828.
E. F. Kleinschmidt was born in the kingdom of Han-
over, and emigrated to Ohio from New York in 1839.
His wife was Mary Glindkamp. He has two brothers
living. Mr. Kleinschmidt began the business of dry
goods and clothing dealer when he first came here, in
1839, and followed it until about the year 1855, when he
closed out on account of ill health, and was out of busi-
ness till 1861, when he received the appointment of rev-
enue assessor. He remained in that position till 1868,
then associated himself in the distilling business with Mr.
John Gerke, and was in that line with him and other par-
ties for several years, when he retired from business. He
was chosen township trustee in 1852, and served in that
capacity much of the time till his part of the town was
incorporated in the city of Cincinnati. In 1870 he also
served as justice of the peace a part of the time. He
was a member of the house of representatives in 1870,
and a member of the senate in 1876-7.
A. C. Webb, M. D., is a grandson of John Webb, who
came to Cincinnati in 1789. The elder Webb was born
in Monmouth county, New Jersey, in 1784, and emigra-
ted from New Jersey to Ohio. He died in this count)',
of which he was a leading farmer. His wife's maiden
name was Hannah Frost. The surviving members of the
family and their places of residence are: Sidney Webb,
Hamilton county ; and L. A. Webb. Ferdinand Webb,
father of A. C. Webb, was born in 1807. He married
Harriet Durham. They have three children living: A. C,
Fred., and Hattie, all living in Hamilton county. A. C.
Webb was born near Newtown, Ohio, in 1847, was
graduated at the Ohio Medical college, in the class of
1871, since which time he has been practicing in Cincin-
nati. Fred. Webb was born near Newtown in 1854.
In 1876 he established the drug business at 167 Eastern
avenue.
John Zumstein, a prominent county commissioner, is
a son of Peter Zumstein, who settled here in 1850, and
became a safe builder. The elder Zumstein was born in
Bavaria, and emigrated to Ohio from Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania. He died here in September, 1880. Mr. Zum-
stein has five brothers and two sisters, all living in Cin-
cinnati.
Valentine Borman settled in Cincinnati in 1856. He
was born in Germany in 1831, and came thence to Ohio.
In 1865 he became identified with the saloon business
at 206 Vine street. He is well known and respected by
a large circle of friends.
John Mondary came to Cincinnati in 1847. He is a
native of Bavaria. He followed the vocation of tailor-
ing until 1862, since which time he has been identified
with the saloon business. Commencing in the Four-
teenth ward, he changed to the eighteenth. His present
place is 212 West Sixth street. He was one of the
leading Democrats in his ward. His word is known to
be as good as his bond.
John H. Flege, grocer, was born in Oldenburg, Ger-
many, November 20, 1821. Came to the United States,
and landed in Baltimore, in 1842, then direct to Cincin-
nati, arriving here in October of the same year. Coming
here poor, he went to work at day's labor, carrying lum-
ber and working in the pork houses. He then was porter
in Babbitt, Good & Co.'s establishment for twenty-six
years. Here he managed to save a little money. He
purchased a farm in Kentucky, where he remained until
1872, when he returned to Cincinnati, soon after enter-
ing his present business. Mr. Flege was married in
Cincinnati in 185 1, to Miss Margaret Meyer, of Ger-
many, having come to Cincinnati as early as 1848. By
this marriage they have four children living.
William Edward Brachmann, of the well-known firm
of Brachmnan & Massard, liquor dealers, was born October
21, 1837, in Frankfort on the Oder. When he was
three years of age his family came to America. They
settled in Cincinnati, but, after William had been in
school for several years, they moved to a farm in High-
land county. In 1861, at the outbreak of the war, Mr.
Brachmann enlisted in the Forty-seventh Ohio regiment.
He advanced step by step until he became captain, which
office he held when he left the army in 1865. He was
wounded in the siege of Vicksburgh. After the war he
took up his abode in Cincinnati. He entered into part-
nership with Mr. Charles Glassner in the wine and liquor
trade at 168 Elm street. After twenty months he entered
into partnership with J. P. Massard at 79 and 81 West
Third in the same business. This firm have a very wide
reputation. Mr. Brachmann is one of the five owners of
the Cincinnati, Georgetown & Portsmouth railroad, of
which he is treasurer. He married Miss Georgia Robb,
of Highland county. They have two daughters and one
son.
John Samuel Massard was born near Vevay, Canton of
Vaud, Switzerland, May 14, 1794, came to America in
1817, and died in Cincinnati April 10, 1836. His wife,
born Marianne Cler, also a native of the Canton of Vaud,
is still living. John Peter, their son, was born October
12, 1828, became a baker and then a saddle and harness
maker, and in 1854 settled in this city as a druggist in
partnership with his brother. He was married April 16,
1857, to Miss Mary Jane, only daughter of Hiram Fraser.
In the fall of 1858 he went into the steamboat business
and in 1863 into the wholesale liquor trade with Henry
and William Brachmann. Five years afterwards he drew
out of this firm and started anew in the same business,
with W. E. Brachmann. His wife died May 20, 1875,
without issue, and, on the thirteenth of November, 1877
he married Miss Nettie Skinner, of Lebanon. He now
resides on Price's Hill.
R. E. J. Miles, manager of the Grand opera house,
Cincinnati, was born in Culpeper, Courthouse Septem-
ber 19, 1834. At the age of seventeen he became principal
of the first free school established in Covington, Ken-
tucky, and held that position for three years and during
that time contracted a liking for stage life and made his
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
SOS
first appearance as "Alonza" in Rollo, or the death of
"Pizzarro. " In 1855 he organized a troupe for the rendi-
tion of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and after meeting with grand
success from this tour in 1857, adopted the stage as
his profession. In 1862 he opened an engagement with
the owner of the celebrated horse "Minnehaha" and
afterwards played star engagements in all the chief cities
of the country. In Albany, New York, he first bought out
the Menken as Mazeppa. He was one year superintendent
of oil works in Vanceburgh, Kentucky, but in 1868 he pur-
chased a lease of the National theatre in Cincinnati. In
1873 he determined to engage in the circus business, and
opened Robinson's new gpera house, and in the ensuing
year opened the New Grand opera house of which he is
now lessee and manager. He was married in 1860, to
Emily L. Dow, exmember of the Cooper opera troupe.
His career has been a checkered one, but in the main
very successful.
William Eberhart, retired gardener near Winton Place,
was born in Germany February 1, 1824, came to the
United States and landed in Philadelphia in 1844, thence
to Cincinnati. Arriving here in October of the same
year, he began work as a laborer. He soon after entered
a stove foundry, where he worked for some seven years.
In 185 1 he began his gardening business which he con-
tinued up to 1877, since which time he has retired. Mr.
Eberhart was married in 1848, to Miss Minnie Deck of
Germany. She came to Cincinnati in 1847. They have
four children. Mr. Eberhart is a member of the German
Protestant church.
' C. Keller, retired, Cumminsville, was born in Bavaria,
Germany, October 7, 1822. He came to America and
landed in New York in 1845, thence to Columbus, Ohio,
working at the baker trade. In December, 1847, he
came to Cincinnati, remaining but a short time; he then
went to Louisville and other points south. In 1848 he
enlisted in the Government service for the Mexican war.
He went to Mexico, where he was taken sick, and suf-
fered very much. He then returned to Cincinnati, then
to Columbus and in 1849 returned to Cincinnati and the
same year located at Cumminsville, where he started
in the bakery business in a frame building, near where
Keller's hotel is located. In 1859 he erected Keller's
hotel and carried on business there very successfully.
Mr. Keller has taken an active part in the improvements
of Cumminsville. He has represented the city in coun-
cil. He was married to Miss Anna Ritz, of Germany,
by whom he has had five children, all living.
F. J. Schabell, gardener, Cumminsville, was born in
Strausburg, France, August 23, 1822; came to the
United States and landed in New Orleans June 7, 1845,
thence to St. Louis, Missouri, and July 20, 1846, came
to Cincinnati, Ohio, which has been his home ever since.
Here he began to work as a laborer, working by the day.
In 1852 he began the gardening business for himself,
which business he has continued ever since. He is now
one of the oldest gardeners. In 1852 he married Miss
Catharine Schultz, of Germany. She came to Cincinnati
in 1848. They have five children living. They are
members of the Catholic church. Mr. Schabell, by hard
work and good management, owns seven acres of fine
land.
Andrew Seifert, dairyman, Cumminsville, was born in
Germany May 31, 1835. He came to the United States
and landed in New York in 1852, thence to Cleveland,
Ohio, and in 1854 to Cincinnati, where he worked in a
cooper-shop; he was also engaged in other business. In
about 1866 he entered the dairy business on a small scale,
since which his business has grown very large and profit-
able. He is also engaged in manufacturing cheese, which
work is principally performed by his wife, who is quite a
genius. She has invented and put up a steam churn,
which is the only one of the kind in America. Mr. Seifert
was married in Cincinnati, to Miss Catharine Kautz of
Germany. 1'hey have -seven children.
Charles Gering, Cumminsville, was born in Prussia,
Germany, December 30, 1825. He came to the United
States and landed in New York in 1853, thence to Phila-
delphia, and July 28, 1854, came to Cincinnati. In
1 86 1 Mr. Gering enlisted in the Fourth Ohio cavalry,
company E, where he served three years and four months
in the late civil war, participating in a number of battles
and marches. He was honorably mustered out, when he
returned to Cumminsville, where he has been one of its
honored citizens ever since. Mr. Gering was a watch-
man at Spring Grove for some three years. He was mar-
ried in Germany to Miss Fredericka Clayburg, and when
she died, he was remarried to his present wife, Miss Sophia
Straus, in Cincinnati.
J. M. Schmid, contractor and builder, Camp Wash-
ington, was born in Wurtenburg, Germany, November
20, 1845. He came to the United States in 1865, lo-
cating in Cincinnati. In 1867 he came to Camp Wash-
ington, since which time he has been very prominent in
building up the place. He began business for himself
some two years ago, since which time he has erected a
number of large buildings. He employs as high as
seven men, and is recognized as one of the leading con-
tractors and builders in Camp Washington.
Henry Lehmann, contractor and builder, Camp Wash-
ington, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1836. He
came to America, landing in New Orleans, in 1859.
He came to Cincinnati in May, i860. Here he began
his trade as a carpenter, which business he has continued
ever since. He has been in the contracting business for
himself for the last thirteen years, during which time he
has put up most of the leading business blocks and pri-
vate residences of Camp Washington. He employs a
number of first-class workmen, and to-day is the oldest
as well as one of the leading contractors in the vicinity.
Charles F. Brenner, butcher, Camp Washington, was
born in Germany, December 25, 1826. He came to
America, landing in New York, and in 1849 located
in Cincinnati, which has been his home ever since.
Here he began butchering, working by the day at ten
dollars per month. In 1853 he moved to Camp Wash-
ington, and to-day is one the oldest as well as one of the
most successful butchers of Camp Washington. Mr.
Brenner was married in Cincinnati to Mrs. Louisa Hust,
by whom he has nine children.
64
5°6
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
J. Lang, Cincinnati, was born in Baden, Germany, in
1816. He came to America and landed in New York
city in 1840, from thence he came to Cincinnati. Here
he began to -work at his trade as a baker, which he had
learned in Germany. After following his trade for a
number of years Mr. Lang entered his present business,
which he has carried on ever since. He was married in
Cincinnati to Miss Catharine Ammann. Her parents
were early settlers of Hamilton county.
Mrs. Mary E. Graybehl, Cincinnati, is the wife of the
late John Graybehl, who was born in Germany, March 9,
1818. He came to the United States and landed in
New Orleans in 1840. Thence he went direct to Cin-
cinnati. Arriving here very poor he went to work as a
laborer, working by the day. He- soon after entered the
butcher business which he carried on very successfully.
He was married, February 28, 1843, to Mary E. Dorn.
berger, a native of Germany. She came to Cincinnati
at an early day. With the assistance of his wife Mr.
Graybehl accumulated a good property, which was the
fruit of their industry and good management. He was
a man liked by everyone for his honesty and truthfulness.
He died, respected and honored, August 30, 1880, leav-
ing a wife and two children to mourn his loss.
John S. Baldwin, suprintendent of the Wesleyan cem-
etery, Cumminsville, was born in Elizabethtown, New
Jersey, April 14, 1822. In 1833 he came to Cin-
cinnati, and here worked at his trade as a carpenter.
In 1847 he took charge of the Court Street cemetery,
where he remained for some ten years. In 1857 he took
charge of Wesleyan cemetery, where he has faithfully re-
mained ever since. Mr. Baldwin is to-day one of the
oldest sextons and cemetery superintendents in the State
of Ohio. The Wesleyan cemetery by his management,
is to-day one of the neatest and well-kept cemeteries
around Cincinnati.
Joseph Reis, foreman Henry Deman's rope manufac-
tory, Cumminsville, was born in Germany, November 22,
1838; came to the United States, and landed in New
Orleans in 1846, and the same year came to Cincinnati.
At about fourteen years of age he began to learn his
trade of rope maker. This business Mr. Reis has fol-
lowed, principally, ever since. He has been in the pres-
ent employ for the last eleven years, and the foreman of
the factory for the last nine years. He is one of the best
posted men in this line of business around Cincinnati.
Mrs. Mary Enderlee, dairy, Cumminsville, is the widow
of the late John Enderlee, who was born in Wedenburg,
Germany. He came to the United States in 1850, set-
ling in Cincinnati. He engaged in steamboating on the
Ohio river for several years, and also worked in a pork
house in Cincinnati. In about i860 he began the dairy
business, in a small way, on Liberty street, and then
moved to Finley street, Lick run. In 1866 he moved to
the present homestead, and here, by his honesty and fair-
dealing he worked up a good, large, profitable dairy bus-
iness. He died, respected and honored, December 28,
1871, of heart disease, at fifty-three years of age, leaving
his wife and eight children to mourn his loss. The dairy
business is carried on by the family. They have thirty-
eight cows. The children's names are John, William,
Louis, Sophia, Mary, Frederick, Caroline, and Treasea.
John Pahls, merchant, Cincinnati, was born in Bava-
ria, Germany, November 5, 1807, and came to America
in 1837, landing in New York city, where he remained
until 1838, when he came to Cincinnati, which has been
his home ever since. Here he began to work in the
Broadway House as porter and waiter, where he remained
six years, when he entered business for himself at his
present location, and is now the oldest merchant in the
vicinity. Mr. Pahls was married in Cincinnati, in 1840,
to Miss Annie M. Friend, of Germany. They have three
children living. Mrs. Pahls died of paralysis in 1879, at
the age of seventy years and five months.
John Bailie, merchant, Cincinnati, was born near Bel-
fast, Ireland, September 4, 1803, and came to America
with his parents, landing in Boston about 1816. There
he learned the baker's trade. In 1829 he came to Cin-
cinnati and began to work at his trade. In 1835 he
began business for himself, in the rear of his present lo-
cation. Here he gradually improved in business until
now he is one of the oldest, as well as one of the most
successful bakers of Cincinnati.
George Schneider, proprietor of Schneider hotel, Cin-
cinnati, was born in Bavaria, Germany, January 23, 1828,
and came to the United States, landing in New Orleans
in 1845, remaining in that vicinity until 1847, when he
came to Cincinnati. Here he worked as a laborer, then
at steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and
as a baker for some nine years. He worked in a boat
store in Cincinnati about two and a half years, when he
engaged in the saloon business on Front street, then on
Broadway. In 1877 he remodelled his present hotel. He
was married in 1854 to Miss Lena Wintercon. She died,
and he married his present wife, Caroline Richter, in
1871.
Frank Rauth, of Cincinnati, retired from business, was
born in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, January 5,
181 1; came to the United States and landed in New
York city, April 28, 1832, and commenced farming in
Herkimer county. He the went to Herkimer city, and
learned the shoemaker's trade, going thence to Columbus,
Ohio, then to Springfield, and in the fall of 1835 came
to Cincinnati. He worked at his trade until 1836, when
he married, and began to attend bar for Joseph Darr.
In 1837 he entered business for himself on the corner of
Front and Lawrence streets, continuing until 1 881, when
he retired from business, after a very successful career.
G. H. Rechtin, merchant, of Cincinnati, was born in
the province of Hanover, Germany, June 15, 1816; he
came to the United States and landed in New York city
June 15, 1837. He went to Cleveland and then to Cin-
cinnati, the same year, where he worked as a laborer.
In 1842 he entered the grocery business as a clerk. In
1847 he went into the grocery business for himself, on
the corner of Central avenue and Ninth street. He was
in the mercantile business one year in Evansville, then
returned to Cincinnati and entered business near his
present stand. In 1857 he moved to his present store,
where he has remained ever since. He married in Cin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
5°7
cinnati Miss Barbara Hubber, of Germany, by whom he
has ten children.
Mrs. Mary C. Miller, who has a grocery at Corryville,
was born in Germany and with her parents came to the
United States in 1838, first settling in Pittsburgh, com-
ing from there to Cincinnati. Here Mrs. Miller's moth-
er died and soon after, in 1849, her father died. Mrs.
Miller married the late Andrew Miller, who was one of
the old pioneers. He died respected and honored in
1866, leaving wife and children to mourn his loss. Mrs.
Miller has been engaged in the grocery business in Cor-
ryville for the last sixteen years; consequently is one of
the oldest settlers of this place.
Charles Koheler, retired merchant, of Cincinnati, was
born in Byron, Germany, January 28, 181 2. After
learning his trade as a shoemaker, he in 1836 came to
America and landed in Baltimore. He then visited sev-
eral large cities and in May, 1837, came to Cincinnati,
where he remained a short time, then worked a few
months on the Whitewater canal in Indiana. Soon after
he began work at his trade, and in 1845 opened a boot
and shoe store on Main street, between Fourth and
Fifth, which he carried on very successfully until he re-
tired from business in 1875. February 23, 1841, he
married Miss Mary Ann Keesler, who came to the city
in 1836. They have six children living.
Joseph Darr, of Cincinnati, was born in Wetzler, near
Frankfort, Germany, April 27, 1799, and is the son of
Michael Darr. Our subject sailed from Amsterdam for
America, and after a voyage of seventy-eight days landed
in Philadelphia in November, 1819. He then went to
Pittsburgh, and embarked on a flat-boat down the Ohio
river, going with a family to Cape Girardeau, Missouri,
then going to New Orleans. He afterward made twen-
ty-four voyages" down the Mississippi river to that port
from St. Louis and Cincinnati, trading in produce. In
1828 Mr. Darr began business in Cincinnati, opening a
restaurant on Front street, which he continued for some
ten years. He then moved to a farm of three hundred
and twenty-two acres near Carthage. September 30,
1828, he married Theresa Walliser, of Elser, France,
who came to Cincinnati in 1828.
Mrs. Mary Grommelmann, Cincinnati, is the wife of the
late Frank Grommelmann, who was born in Hanover,
Germany, November 9, 1816. He married Mary Stork, of
Hanover, Germany. They, with one child, in 1847, carae
to America and landed in Baltimore, thence came direct to
Cincinnati. Here he began to work as a laborer, but
soon after obtained work in a foundry where he managed
to save a little money and entered the grocery business,
which he followed for some twenty years. He was a
sufferer from a stroke of paralysis for some seven years,
from which he died June n, 1880, respected and hon-
ored, leaving a wife and four children. Mr. Grommel-
mann was a member of Cincinnati Holy Trinity church,
being at one time one of its trustees.
K. Dickmann, expressman, Cincinnati, was born in
Germany April 15, 1838. He came to Cincinnati about
1865 and went to work on a farm, and soon after driv-
ing a dray. Being very industrious he saved money, and
with a capital of one hundred and forty dollars he started
his present business, with one wagon. He worked hard,
and by good management his business has gradually in-
creased, and he now owns nine large moving cars and
seventeen fine horses. He employs twelve men and is,
perhaps, one of the largest as well as one of the safest
movers of furniture, etc., around Cincinnati.
W. Helmholz, cooper-shop, Cincinnati, was born in
Germany, where he learned his trade as a cooper. In
1859 he came to America and landed in New York,
coming direct to Cincinnati. Here he has been engaged
in the cooper business ever since, with the exception of
the time he was in the late civil war. He enlisted in
company C, Twenty-ninth Ohio -volunteer infantry, and
after serving his time he was honorably mustered out,
when he returned to Cincinnati. He is now employing
three hands and manufacturing first-class work.
Otto Mildner, proprietor of the Miami calico print
works, was born in Germany, learning the art of calico
printing under his father, whose family dates back over
two hundred years in the calico printing business. Our
subject came to Cincinnati in 1863; without any capital
he went to work, and by hand made a bolt of calico.
He has been very industrious and is now doing a thriving
business, and ere long will occupy his large works
to be erected in Cumminsville. Mr. Mildner has im-
ported a calico printing machine from Berlin, the only
one of the kind in America. By this machine he has a
capacity for manufacturing fifteen hundred yards per day.
He employs six hands and has the capacity to manufac-
ture over six hundied styles of calico.
J. C. Spills, professor of music, Cincinnati, was born
in Hanover, Germany, June 24, 1815, and came to the
United States and landed at Baltimore in 1839, thence to
Cincinnati, arriving here January, 1840. Here he gave
instruction in music and dancing, introducing the waxed
floor, the first in Cincinnati. His dancing-schools were
attended very largely. Professor Spills has played in the
orchestras of some of the old theatres of Cincinnati —
Woods, National, Shyers. The professor has given in-
struction in dancing in the more prominent halls of Cin-
cinnati. His success has been very good, and to-day he
is the oldest as well as the most successful dancing-
school teacher in Cincinnati.
Henry Alexander, jr., butcher, of Camp Washington,
was born in Cincinnati in 1849, and is the son of Henry
Alexander, one of the oldest butchers of Cincinnati. In
1876 our subject commenced the butcher business for
himself in Camp Washington, and has built up a good
business. He married Miss Mary Wulfhorst, a native
of Cincinnati.
B. Miller, saloon-keeper, of Cincinnati, was born in
Prussia, Oldenburg, Germany, March 3, 1825. He
came to the United States, landing in New Orleans in
1844, and came to Cincinnati in December of the same
year. Here he began work at his trade, blacksmithing,
but after continuing several years he entered his present
business.
J. Anton Lange, dealer in boots and shoes, Cincin-
nati, was born in Prussia, December 25, 1825. After
S°8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATi, OHIO.
learning the shoemaker's trade, he came to America,
landing in Baltimore in 1840. July 10th of the same
year he arrived in Cincinnati, and began work at his
trade, which he has followed ever since. He has been
located in his present place of business since July 10,
1848. In 1848 Mr. Lange married Miss Agnes Ralph-
sen, of Germany, and has six children. Mr. Lange is
one of the charter members of the German Pioneer
society.
William Kraft, butcher, at Camp Washington, was
born in Germany September 12, 1830, and coming to
the United States, landed in New York in 1847. He
began work on a railroad, then went into the butcher
business in Pittsburgh. Soon after, he came to Cincin-
nati, and about 1854 located in Camp Washington,
where he has been engaged in the butcher business ever
since. Coming to the city in poor circumstances, Mr.
Kraft, by hard work and attention to business, has
been very successfnl. In 1852 he married Catharine
Schueler, and they have had ten children. Mr. Kraft
has been a member of the school board for some nine
years.
John Eger, of Cumminsville, was born in Prussia,
Germany, April 7, 1846, and coming to the United
States, landed in New York city in 1868. After spend-
ing two years in Louisville, Kentucky, he came to Cin-
cinnati, and entered the wagon-shops of Peter Ludwig,
where he is now engaged. Mr. Eger is also engaged in
the saloon business, being the owner of a nice, quiet
place. He married Miss Josephine Grainer, daughter of
one of the old pioneers of Cincinnati.
William Ahlborn, boots and shoes, Cincinnati, was
born in Hanover, Germany, February 16, 181 8. At the
age of eighteen he began to learn his trade as a shoe-
maker. In 1838 he sailed for America and landed in
Baltimore. He then went to Columbus, Ohio, worked
at his trade a short time. In 1839 he came to Cincinnati,
and has been working at the shoe business ever since;
now one of the old pioneer shoemakers of the city. In
1849 he began business in his present place, where he
has remained since. In 1841 Mr. Ahlborn married
Miss Catharine Dobbler; she died. He then married
his present wife, Miss Louisa Walschmiat. He has eight
children — two by his first and six children by his present
wife.
Peter Bohl, shoemaker, Cincinnati, was born in Rhine
Bavaria, Germany, February 25, 1809. After learning his
trade as a shoemaker, he, in 1833, came to America,
and landed in New Orleans, thence to Cincinnati, arriv-
ing there July 7, 1833. Here he began to work at his
trade, which he has continued ever since. In 1858 Mr.
Bohl began to keep a hotel, which he continued up to
1870, when he returned to his old trade, shoemaking,
and is to-day one of the .oldest shoemakers in active
business in Cincinnati. He married in Cincinnati,
April 7, 1838, Miss Barbara Conrad, of Germany, by
whom he has eleven children.
Louis Havekotte, wagon manufacturer, Cincinnati,
was born in Franklin county, Indiana, 1842. At eighteen
years of age he began to learn his trade as a blacksmith.
He came to Hamilton county, working in Cincinnati.
He was a soldier in the late civil war, enlisting in com-
pany C, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Ohio volunteer
infantry, where he served his full time, and was honor-
ably mustered out. He returned to his trade in Cincin-
nati and established business for himself in 1866 on Elm
street. In 1875 he began at his present stand, and to-day
is doing one of the largest businesses in his line in the
city, manufacturing a greater portion of the milk wagons
of Cincinnati, employing twenty-one hands. The firm
is now Havekotte & Bode.
George J. Schwab, saloon-keeper, Cincinnati, was born
in Baden, Germany, October 18, 1829. He came to
America and landed in New York city. He located in
Cincinnati in 1858. Mr. Schwab was for a time a resi-
dent of Portsmouth. He began at his present place of
business, located on Court street, some two years ago,
since which time he has been meeting with good success.
He married in Cincinnati Miss Agath Sahm.
Valentine Gradolf, butcher, Camp Washington, was
born in Germany February 20, 1839, and came to the
United States and landed in New Orleans in 1861, com-
ing direct to Cincinnati. Here he began to work at the
butcher business. In 1865 he embarked in business for
himself, and is now one of the old and successful
butchers of Camp Washington. Mr. Gradolf married in
Cincinnati Martha Bauhsanaert.
George Renner, malt house, Cincinnati, was born in
Germany, April 15, 1824. He came to America and
landed in New York city in 1852, then to Pennsyl-
vania, where he remained but a short time, when, in
October, 1852, he arrived in Cincinnati. He is now
engaged in the malt business, and is meeting with
very good success, handling a large lot of malt yearly.
He was married in Cincinnati to Miss' P. Himler, of
Germany. They have one child.
John Bouvy, boots and shoes, Cumminsville, was born
in Loraine, Germany, in 1832, and came to America
and landed in New York, thence to Cincinnati in 1833.
Here he began to work at his trade as a shoemaker,
which trade he learned in his native country. M. Bouvy
is one of the oldest shoemakers of Cumminsville. Since
lacating here he has been very successful. He erected
his present store in 1866. He has represented Cum-
minsville in the council for one term very satisfactorily.
Gottfried Hegner, Cincinnati, was born in Bavaria,
Germany, May 5, 1825. Came to America and landed
in Baltimore, then direct to Cincinnati, in 1846. Learn-
ing his trade as a wheelwright in Germany, he, after
arriving in Cincinnati, worked at his trade in different
places. He also operated a mill at Palestine, Ohio, for
a number of years. His milling business in Cincinnati
has been very successful. He is now one of the oldest
millers of Cincinnati. He was married in Cincinnati to
Miss Barbara Heiselmann, of Germany. They have two
children living.
Barbara Kubisch, Cumminsville. She was born in
Baden, Germany, August 18, 18-23, and came to Amer-
ica landing in Philadelphia in 1853, then to Baltimore,
from there to Cincinnati, February 22, 1854. She was
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
5°9
married in 1854, to William Muhlig, of Baden, Ger-
many; he came to Cincinnati at an early day. He
eelisted in company F, Thirty-second Ohio volunteer
infantry, and was killed by a shell at the battle of Chick-
amauga, September 19, 1863. Mrs. Kubisch married
for her second husband Frank Kubisch, who was a
prominent citizen of Cumminsville. He, returning from
a meeting of the school-board, the night being dark, he
fell into a pond of water, and before assistance came
was drowned. She has three children, two by her first
husband and one by her second.
Theresa Wichman, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, De-
cember 6, 1 86 1.
Herman Giesken, merchant, Cumminsville, was born
in Hanover, Germany, in 1820. He came to America
and landed in New Orleans in 1847, and in 1848 came
to Cincinnati. Since his arrival here Mr. Giesken has
been engaged in several branches of business. He has
been in the dairy, cattle dealing, and grocery business,
respectively, which he has followed for a number of years.
In 1870 he returned to the grocery business, which he has
continued since. Mr. Giesken has made a visit to his
native country, where he remained for several months.
He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Theresa Neamiller.
They have five children.
Leonhard Graf, Cumminsville, was born in Baden, Ger-
many, October 9, 1831. He came to America and landed
in New. York in i860, thence direct to Cincinnati. Here
in 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighth Ohio
volunteer infantry, company C, as a private, where he
served faithfully until the close of the war; participating
in the battles and marches of his regiment, receiving
three flesh wounds at the battle of Resaca. He was for
seventeen months color-bearer. At the close of the war
Mr. Graf returned to Cincinnati. In 1867 he com-
menced business in Cumminsville, where, in 1879, he
lost his house by fire. He immediately rebuilt, and to-
day he owns a very fine property and is doing a good
business. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Barbara
Hermann.
William Staddon, tailor, Cumminsville, was born in
England about 181 1. He came to America and landed
in New York in 1837; he then went to New Orleans and
from there to Cincinnati in 1838. Here he commenced
to work at his trade (tailor), which he had learnt in Eng-
land. Being a very fine workman he had no trouble in
finding work, and was soon recognized as one of the best
tailors in Cincinnati. In 1839 Mr. Staddon moved to
Cumminsville, which has been his home ever since. He
is one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of
the place. He was married in England to Miss Man-
ning, who accompanied him to Cincinnati. They reared
an adopted son— Charles W. Manning.
Frederick Dhonan, wagon manufacturer, Cummins-
ville, was born in Prussia, Germany, January 12, 1828,
and came to the United States and landed in New Or-
leans, and form thence came direct to Cincinnati, arriving
here May 5, 1849, with but two dollars. He went to
work at his trade— wagon-maker-and being very indus-
trious he managed to save enough money so that in 1852
he began in the blacksmith and wagon manufacturing
for himself in Cumminsville. Here he has been steady
at work ever since, and to-day is one of the oldest as well
as one of the most suecessful business men of the place.
Mr. Dhonan was married in 1852, in Cumminsville, to
Miss Caroline Icerman, of Germany, by whom he has
eight children. Mr. Dhonan is a member of the German
Protestant church, of which he has been the treasurer for
some nine years.
Anton Kasselmann, dairyman, Cumminsville, was born
in Germany in 1835. He came to America, landed in
Baltimore and came direct to Cincinnati, arriving here
in 1850. Here he learnt his trade as a stove-moulder in
one of the large foundries, which business he followed
for some eleven years. He managed to save a little
money, and in 1863 he moved to Cumminsville and
began his dairy business, with a small capital. Since
then Mr. Kasselmann, by his good management, has
been very successful, now owning a good property and a
large dairy stock. He was married in 1857 to Miss
Anna Hunighake, of Germany, by whom he has eight
children.
Peter Ludwig, blacksmith, Cumminsville, was born in
Germany in 1829. He came to America and landed in
Baltimore in 1854, and from thence came direct to Cin-
cinnati. With the exception of a short time in Butler
county Mr. Ludwig has been a resident of Hamilton
county since 1854. Here he began his trade as a black-
smith, being about the first to locate in the neighborhood
where he is now in business. He is doing general black-
smith and wagon work, meeting with good success. He
is a member of the German Lutheran church. He was
married in Cincinnati to Miss Liza Miller, of Germany,
by whom he has two children.
Philip Siebert, Cumminsville, was born in Hesse-
Darmstadt, Germany, December 28, 1840, and came to
America with his parents in 1842. They lived in Indi-
ana, where his father died. Philip went to Camp Wash-
ington in about 1848. In 1861 he entered the army, en-
listing in the Fourth Ohio cavalry, company E, as a
private, and served faithfully for three years and two
months, participating in the battles and marches of that
regiment. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Perry-
ville, remaining prisoner but a short time. At the close
of his service he returned to Camp Washington, follow-
ing his old occupation of gardener. He then moved to
Cumminsville. In 1872 Mr. Seibert started in his pres-
ent business. He was married in Camp Washington in
1865 to Miss Mary Berkman.
Jacob Vogel, pork-packer, Cincinnati, was born in
Germany, July 14, 1828. He came to America, landing
in New Orleans, and then came direct to Cincinnati, ar-
riving here in January, 1853. Coming here in poor cir-
cumstances he went to work as a day laborer, and saving
a little money embarked in selling pickled tongues, then
in the market selling smoked meats, where he continued
for several years. He then engaged in killing, and pack-
ing pork, first employing about ten hands. Mr. Vogel's
business has gradually increased until now he is one of
the most successful pork-packers of Cincinnati, employ-
5*°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ing about forty-five men. He was married, in Cincin-
nati, to Miss Mary Schuck, of Germany, by whom he has
five children.
Jacob Stengel, butcher, Camp Washington, was born
in Germany, January 28, 1832. He came to Amer-
ica in 1852, landing in New York city, where he
remained until i860, engaged in the butcher business.
He then came to Cincinnati, where he continued at the
butcher's trade. In 1866 he moved to Camp Washing-
ton, where he has been identified as one of the success-
ful butchers. Mr. Stengel was a soldier in the late civil
war, enlisting in company F, Tenth Ohio volunteer in-
fantry, where he served as a faithful soldier for three
years and three months, participating in the battles and
marches of the regiment. He was married in Cincinnati
in 1865 to Miss Catharine Vogel.
Peter Bochmann, merchant, Camp Washington, was
born in Germany, in the year 18 16. He came to the
United States, locating in Cincinnati in 1845, where he
commenced to work at his trade, shoemaking, which bus-
iness he has been engaged in ever since, and he is now
one of the pioneer shoemakers of Cincinnati. Mr. Boch-
mann was married in Cincinnati to Miss Catharine Au-
berger, of Germany, by whom he has three sons, who are
all working in the shoe store with their father. Their
names are Peter, William, and August.
George Reber, of Hamilton, was born in Germany,
March 9, 1826; came to the United States, landing in
New York in 1852, and in 1853 came to Cincinnati. He
followed farming for a time, and then engaged in his
present business. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss
Magdalena Highbecker, of Baden, Germany.
Fred Bosch, Cincinnati, was born in Germany in
the year 1835. He came to America and landed in
New York; then came direct to Cincinnati in 1864. He
began business on Vine street in the city, and remained
there up to 1873, when he moved to his present place of
business. Mr. Bosch was married in Cincinnati to Miss
Elizabeth Hebbig.
Charles Kline, foreman of Snodgrass' tannery, Camp
Washington, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 12,
1839, and is the son of Adam Kline, one of the old pio-
neers of Cincinnati. Our subject, when sixteen years
of age, began to learn his trade as a tanner, which busi-
ness he has followed ever since, with the exception of
his service in the army. He enlisted in the Fourth Ohio
cavalry, company M, and served full time, being a faith-
ful and brave soldier, participating in the battles and
marches of his regiment. Mr. Kline was married in Cin-
cinnati to Miss Catharine Lushier, of Germany, and they
have seven children living. Mr. Kline has been foreman
of Snodgrass' tannery for the last eleven years.
Adam Renner, Cincinnati, was born in Rhine, Bavaria,
Germany, May 1, 1830, and came to the United States
and landed in New Orleans in 1847. In 1848 he came
to Cincinnati. He commenced in the barber business
which he carried on for a number of years on Main be-
tween Twelfth and Canal streets. He then entered the
present business on Sixth street; then farmed a short time.
He soon after came to Camp Washington and has been
engaged in his present business ever since. He was mar-
ried in 1851 to Miss Margaret Kuhn. She since died.
He then married his present wife, Miss Louisa Renner,
daughter of Philip Renner, who came to Hamilton
county at an early day. They have seven children.
J. Justice Gans, Camp Washington, was born in
Hessen, Germany, May 15, 1815. Came to Amer-
ica and landed in Baltimore, June 6, 1838, thence
to Cincinnati, arriving here July 5th of the same year.
Here he began to run a carding and weaving machine,
which he continued about one and a half years. He
then moved to a farm in Springfield township, Hamilton
county, where he remained engaged in farming some
thirty-eight years. He then moved to Camp Washington,
retiring from business. Mr. Gans was married in Ger-
many to Miss Caroline Gerke. She died, and he then
married Miss Minnie Jordan. They have two children
living.
F. and C. Wuest, proprietors Mohawk wagon manu-
factory, Cincinnati. — This firm was formed in 1878, but
the business was first established at an early day by their
father, who was a practical mechanic. He came to Cin-
cinnati in 1855. His sons grew up in the business, and
to-day F. and C. Wuest operate one of the most success-
ful businesses in the city. They employ seventeen hands.
Their building covers a large space of ground. They
make a specialty of manufacturing butcher wagons and
other strong work. Part of their shops are located in the
old Bull's Head tavern, which was one of the first build-
ings built in this neighborhood, and was used for a tavern
and a dancing hall.
C. B. Hoehne, M. D., was born in Wurtemburg, Ger-
many, November 4, 1832, receiving a thorough educa-
tion in the city of Vienna, graduating from one of the
leading institutions of that city in 1862. He then be-
gan his practice in Vienna, where he remained for sever-
al years with good success. In 1868 Dr. Hoehne came
to America and located for a short time in New York
city. In 1869 he came to Cincinnati, where he has re-
mained since, engaged in the successful practice of his
chosen profession. He was located on Race street for
some five years, doing a large and lucrative practice, but
is now located on State avenue, in the suburbs of the
city.
Reinhold Schneibold, foreman of the Western brew-
ery, was born in Germany, July 17, 1849, where he, at
the age of fifteen, began to learn his trade as a brewer.
After following this business in Germany until 1865, he
came to Cincinnati and entered the employ of the Nei-
haus brewery, working there a short time. In 1869 he
entered the employ of the Western brewery, where he
gradually worked himself up until 1878, when he was
made its foreman, and has faithfully filled the position
since. He is recognized as one of the best posted
brewers in the city.
Adam Metz, butcher, was born in Loudow, Germany,
October 19, 1810. He came to the United States, and
landed in New York July 15, 1832, going to Portsmouth
and working on the canal at that place, where he con-
tracted a fever. In 1838 he came to Cincinnati, and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
513
smiths. — This establishment was formed in 1875 by
Jacob Froehlich, who was born in Germany. He came
to Cincinnati and worked at his trade, established the
present busines and employed two hands. Being very
successful, he built up a large and profitable business.
He died in May, 1879, respected and honored for his
good qualities. The present firm was then formed, con-
sisting of Conrad Froehlich and Anton Froehlicher, both
practical workmen, having had a number of years ex-
perience in the blacksmith and wagon trade. These
gentlemen do a' general wagon manufacture and re-
pairing.
Cooper & Welland, carriage manufacturers. — This firm
is composed of Samuel Cooper and Harry Welland, and
was first established in 1880. Samuel Cooper is one of
the old settlers of Walnut Hills. He built and carried
on the first livery stable in that place. He is now in the
livery business, and keeps on hand some of the best
stock in that line that can be found in the livery trade.
Mr. Harry Welland, the junior member of the firm, was
born in Cincinnati, October 8, 1859, and is the son of
Henry and Annie (Martin) Welland, who are old settlers
of Cincinnati. Our subject, at fifteen years of age, be-
gan to learn his trade as a carriage painter. This busi-
ness he has followed ever since learning his trade in the
shop; he is now half owner. He has been very in-
dustrious, and, by hard work and good management, has
got a fair start. He is recognized as a number one car-
riage painter, and a good manager of his business. The
shops are doing a good business, as the people of Walnut
Hills are realizing that they can get as good work done
at Cooper & Welland's as they can get by going else-
where. Mr. Welland was married January 29, 1880, to
Miss F. B. Hartmann, daughter of Henry Hartmann.
Quinton Eagle, manufacturer of shoe uppers, was born
in England, and in 1857 came to America, locating in Cin-
cinnati. In 1858 he established business in Cincinnati.
In about 1864 he moved to Walnut Hills. Here he en-
tered in his present business in a two story frame house
fourteen by thirty-four feet in size. He has here all the
modern improvements, and employs as high as eighteen
hands, doing a general custom-work for the city trade.
Mr. Eagle has had some forty-two years' experience in
boot and shoe business, and since locating on Walnut
Hills, he has been successful in the manufacturing busi-
ness.
George Stribley, shoe-manufacturer, the subject of
this brief notice, was born in England, having come to
America and located in Cincinnati in 1847. He worked
at his trade as a shoe-maker near his present place of
business. In 1849 he entered the manufacturing busi-
ness in a meagre way on McMillen avenue, near Kemper
lane, Walnut Hills, thence to McMillen, near Gilbert
avenue. He commenced, with two hands, manufactur-
ing shoes by hand up to 1862 or 1863, when he purchased
a McKay sole sewing-machine, being the first to introduce
this machine west of the Alleghany mountains. While
on McMillen avenue his business grew very rapidily; he
was employing as high as fifty hands. In 1873 he moved
his business to 89 Pearl street, and in 1879 moved to the
present building, No. 12 Fourth street, which is one of the
largest shoe manufactories in the country, employing be-
tween four hundred and five hundred hands. In July,
1874, the firm of G. Stribley & Co. was formed, com-
posing George Stribley & Frank Droppelman, which has
been very successful in operation ever since.
George Lapthorn & Sons, shoe-manufacturers. This
firm is composed of George Lapthorn and his two sons,
George and Thomas H., all practical shoe-manufacturers.
George Lapthorn, sr., was born in England, and in 1850
came to Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade, when
he soon after moved to Walnut Hills and established the
present business, commencing in a small frame building
in the rear of his present shops. Here, by the help of
the family, he manufactured some one hundred and fifty
to two. hundred pairs of shoes per week, his business
having since then gradually improved until now they oc-
cupy the present brick building, a two-stories high, twenty
by forty feet in size, and part of a two-story frame on the
right. Here they employ some thirty hands in the manu-
facture of shoes, with all the modern improvements, with a
capacity of turning out eight hundred pairs of shoes per
week, doing the very best of work and finding ready sales
for their goods in the city. George Lapthorn, jr., was
born on Walnut Hills. He entered the shoe business
with his father, and has continued at that business ever
since; he attends to collecting, and is the general man-
ager. Thomas H. is superintendent of store room and
men's department. He is also a native of Walnut Hills,
and has been actively engaged in the business.
B. G. Harff was born in Cologne, Germany, September
19, 1847, and is the son of Albert and Josephine (Scho-
enefeld), both parents natives of Germany. Dr. Harff,
after receiving a thorough school education at Cologne,
began to prepare himself for the practice of medicine.
He entered the university at Bonn on the Rhine and
graduated from there July 26, 1875, receiving the
highest honors. Graduating from one of the leading
medical colleges of Germany, he practiced his profession
in the Cologne hospital for some six months; he was also
in the St. Thomas and Bartholomew hospitals of London
for a short time. He was engaged by the English govern-
ment to bring emigrants to Australia, where he visited
and remained some five months. In 1877 he was mar-
ried to Miss Amelia Kaeuffer, of Germany. They both
sailed for America and located in Cincinnati, locating on
Elm street. Here the doctor remained until 1880, when
he moved to Walnut Hills, where he is meeting with very
good success.
B. H. Moormann, retired, was born in the kingdom of
Hanover, Germany, August 3, 1823, and is the son of
Gerhart and Elizabeth (Hellman) Moormann. In 1839
our subject came to America and located in Cincinnati.
Being in poor circumstances he entered a hotel on Main
street, working in the kitchen at five dollars per month,
where he soon after became porter; he then went to the
Henrie House, working as porter, when soon after he was
made clerk, which position he filled for a number of years.
He afterwards entered the dry goods business, which he
was very successful in, retiring from business in 1870,
5'2
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Durrell. Here Mr. Durrell and wife held their golden
wedding, and in this room her funeral sermon was
preached. She died December 7, 1876, aged seventy-
one years, seven months and twenty-eight days. They
have four children living. Mr. Durrell was for ten years
school director, in which he took a very active part.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which he
has been an elder for the last twenty years.
Joseph S. Cook was born in Northfield, New Hamp-
shire, September 28, 1815, and is the son of Robert H.
and Esther (Hunt) Cook. When very young he, with his
parents, moved to Boston, Massachusetts. There he
learned his trade as a builder, and afterwards removed to
Brooklyn, New York, where he engaged in business. In
1839 he came to Cincinnati, and located on Sixth street.
Here he commenced to work at his trade, and soon after
he had the largest force of men at work in the city
building sewers, cisterns, and general plastering work.
Being a very successful builder he continued in the busi-
ness fifteen or twenty years, when, one day, he was made
a present of about fifty fine plants by Mr. Nicholas Long-
worth. From this start he gradually grew into the nur-
sery and florist business, since which he made the finest
display at the first Exposition, and carried off some of
the highest honors. He did a large and profitable busi-
ness. At one time he had over one million five hundred
thousand trees in his nursery, his florist business was very
complete, and he owned one of the finest salesrooms in
the west, attending to the largest orders for theatre and
other decorations. He is to-day one of the oldest flor-
ists of Hamilton county. Mr. Cook was married April
14, 1841, to Miss Catharine M. Williams, whose family
were among the earlier settlers of Cincinnati. Mr. Cook
moved to his present residence in 1848, and it has been
his home since.
Henry Fasse, saloon-keeper, was born in Prussia, Sep-
tember 9, 1833, and came to America in 1851, landing
in New Orleans, and then came to Hamilton county,
where he engaged in farming for a short time, when he
moved to the opposite side of his present place of busi-
ness, building a little frame house, the first in the neigh-
borhood. From there he moved to his present place of
business. Here he has erected a good hall for the sing-
ing societies which meet here. He has made good im-
provements on his place, and has one of the most attrac-
tive places in the vicinity. He was married in Cincinnati
to Miss Gieser, by whom he has had six children.
J. A. Orth, grocer, was born in Montgomery county,
Ohio, April 6, 1823. He is a carpenter by trade. In
1853 he came to Cincinnati, and in 1849 engaged in the
grocery business in that city. In 1878 he built his pres-
ent place of business, and moved to Walnut Hills. Here
he keeps one of the most complete and neatest groceries
on the Hills.
B. H. Boedker, grocer, was born in Germany, April 18,
1835, losing his father and mother when he was seven
years of age. In 1854 he sailed for America, coming
direct to Cincinnati, he located in Fairmount, where he
learned the chair-maker's trade. He followed that busi-
ness but a short time, when he entered a grocery store as
a clerk, at three dollars per month; from that, by his strict
attention to business, he was raised to six dollars per
month, and then to twelve dollars. He then entered a
grocery in Fulton, where he soon after, by hard work and
good management, became the owner of a grocery. He
remained in Fulton a year and a half, when he sold out,
moved to Cincinnati, on the corner of Court and Cutler
streets, and in 1862 Mr. Boedker moved to Walnut Hills,
being one of the first merchants on the hill. Here by
his good management he has been very successful. He
has filled several offices of public trust with honor, hav-
ing been trustee of Mill Creek township, and also repre-
sented Woodburn in the council for one year. He is an
active member of the Catholic church, and has eight
children.
Fred Kraus, druggist, was born in Budwers, Bohemia,
Austria, May 1, i8r4. He received a thorough educa-
tion, graduating at the Vienna university on. July 22,
1863. He was for a time drug clerk in the old country,
and also for eighteen months served a similar position in
the army during the Austrian war. In 1869 he came to
America and landed in New York city, coming direct to
Cincinnati, where he accepted a clerkship in a leading
drug store, which he followed up until he began business
for himself. He, in 1870, moved to Walnut Hills, since
which time he has been very successful, doing a good
business. He has also established a branch drug store
on the Madison road and Huckelberry street. Mr. Kraus
is perhaps one of the best posted druggists in the city,
doing a large manufacturing business in the drug line.
Isaac Huffman, merchant, Walnut Hills, was born in
Carthage, Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1828, and is the
son of John Huffman, who was born in Virginia, he
being the son of A. Huffman, also a native of Virginia.
John Huffman, with his parents, came west and located
in Kentucky, in 1808, where they remained until 1810,
then moved to Hamilton county, Ohio, on a farm. Our
subject was raised on the farm, engaged in farming and
gardening. In 1859 he moved to Walnut Hills, and in
i860 entered the grocery business in the rear of his
present locction, on the old Montgomery road. In
the year 1873 he erected his present stone block, and
commenced business. Here he has remained ever since,
now one of the oldest, if not the oldest, business men on
Walnut Hills. Mr. Huffman was married, in 1852, to
Miss Jane Kemper, daughter of Presley Kemper, a pi-
oneer of Hamilton county. She is also a native of
Hamilton county. Since Mr. Huffman established bus-
iness at his present stand, he has built up a leading and
profitable trade.
William Reudigs, druggist, was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, in 1854. After receiving a thorough education,
he entered the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, where he
graduated in 1876 with honors, receiving the highest
medal of his class of twenty-two members. He then
came to Walnut Hills and established his present busi-
ness, which he has been very actively engaged in ever
since, building up a large and j profitable trade. Mr.
Reudigs' father is one of the old pioneers of Cincinnati.
Froelich & Froehlicher, wagon-makers and black-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
sis
J. George Schneider, merchant, was born in Hesse-
Darmstadt, Germany, May 20, 1820. Here he learned
his trade as« tailor, and in 1846 came to America, land-
ing in New York city; thence went to Philidelphia, work-
ing at his trade until 1847, when he enlisted for five
years, or during the war with Mexico, entering as a pri-
vate in the Eleventh Pennsylvania. He went with his
regiment to Mexico and participated in the engagements
with that regiment. He was honorably mustered out at
the close of the war and returned to New York, thence
to Philadelphia, then to Pittsburgh, where he married, in
1849, Mary Take, of Germany, and soon after came to
Cincinnati, arriving here in November of the same year.
Here Mr. Schneider began to work at his trade, tailoring,
which he has continued ever since. In connection with
his tailoring he is in the grocery business. They have
five children.
Christian Jahres, superintendent German Protestant
orphan asylum, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany,
in 1826. He came to America in 1857, and located in
Kentucky, where he was engaged in farming; thence went
to Cincinnati, where he entered the mercantile business,
which he followed for a number of years, when he went
to Alabama and engaged in farming in that State for
some six years, when he returned to Cincinnati. He was
for a short period collector for Weber's brewery, when in
in 1878 he was appointed to his present place, which he
is filling with entire satisfaction.
Rev. Charles Moench, pastor German Protestant
church at Mt. Auburn, was born in Germany Janu-
ary 30, 1850, and is the son of Charles and Emma
(Sack) Moench, both parents natives of Germany. Our
subject received a very thorough education in Europe,
in the Halle and Leipsic universities. In 1873 Rev.
Moench came to America, and in 1876 was ordained as
minister at Millersburgh, Ohio, since which time he has
been actively engaged in preaching, located at Youngs-
town, Cleveland, Kenton, and at his present place, taking
charge of this congregation in 1880.
Rev. Alexander Hughes, pastor of the Church of the
Holy Cross, was born in Armagh, Ireland, in June, 1845,
and came to America in 1865. After receiving a thor-
ough education he was ordained as pastor at West Ho-
boken, New Jersey, May 25, 1872, since which time he
has filled the pulpits of several leading churches in West
Hoboken, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. In 1878 he re-
ceived his present charge, which he has filled faithfully
since*
' Rev. Frederick Lang, pastor of the Church of the Im-
maculate, North Adams, was born in Allegheny county,
Pennsylvania, September 12, 1839, and is the son of
Nicholas and Mary Lang, both natives of Germany.
Father Lang received a thorough collegiate education in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then went to Dunkirk,
New York, where he entered the Theological college,
and was ordained as minister in 1862. His first charge
was the St. George church, of Dunkirk, where he was
pastor for four years, when he received a call from St.
Michael's church, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he
filled the pulpit tor nine years. October 13, 1875, Father
Lang came to Cincinnati, where he has been actively at
work in the pastoral field since.
T. E. Taggart, M. D., was born in Evans ville, Rock
county, Wisconsin. Having received a collegiate educa-
tion in the Hillsdale college, Michigan, in 1867, he came
to Cincinnati and graduated with high honors from the
Miami Medical college in 1870, when he began the prac-
tice of medicine in Fairmount, where he has been suc-
cessful in building up a very large and lucrative business,
now being the oldest practicing physician located in Fair-
mount. Dr. Taggart's preceptor, the late Dr. T. L. Tid-
ball, was one of the first physicians to locate in Fair-
mount. He was a graduate from Rush Medical college,
of Chicago. He enlisted as surgeon in the Thirty-fifth
Ohio volunteer infantry, and served there until the close
of the war. In 1865 he began his practice in Fairmount,
where he, by his knowledge of medicine, built up a large
and profitable practice. He died, respected and honored,
in 1873. Dr. Taggart, in 1862, during the late civil war,
enlisted in company E, Fourth Indiana cavalry, where he
served three years, participating in a number of engage-
ments. He was on the Wilson raid that captured Jeffer-
son Davis, and was honorably mustered out at the close
of the war, when he returned home, and has been located
at Fairmount since 1870.
Professor Theodore Lobmiller, principal of the St. Bo-
naventura Catholic school. Among the most successful
teachers of Cincinnati may be mentioned the above-
named gentleman, who was born in Germany, November
22, 1828, and came to the United States in 1850, landing
in New York city, thence coming direct to Cincinnati.
Here he began school-teaching, and has been actively
engaged ever since. He taught school in Dayton for
several years, and with this exception he taught in Cincin-
nati. About nine years ago he took charge of his pres-
ent school, then in a poor condition, and only forty
scholars in attendance. The school has been very pros-
perous, and has between one hundred and sixty and one
hundred and seventy scholars.
Rev. Jacobus Menchen, pastor of St. Bonavetura Catho-
lic church, was born in France September 2,1841, and is
the son of Matthias and Theresa (Von Hatten) Menchen,
both parents having been born in France. Our subject,
with his parents, came to America in 1846, and located
in Cincinnati, which has since .been his home. He grad-
uated with high honors from St. Francis college in 1864,
and was ordained by the Right Reverend Bishop Rose-
crans September to, 1864. He was located at St. Fran-
cis church until 1866, when he was pastor of St. John's
church, then of the congregation at Oldenburgh for two
years. In 1868 he returned and began his work in the
present charge, which has been faithful, building the
church up to a large and flourishing congregation.
Carl Kline, saloonist, was born in Nasau, Germany,
January 8, 1831. He came to the United States, land-
ing in New York April 28, 1854; thence he went to San-
dusky, Ohio, where he remained some two months, and in
the latter part of 1854 came to Cincinnati. He is a cab-
inet-maker by trade, which trade he had learned in
Germany. Arriving in Cincinnati in meagre circumstan-
5r4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Mr. Moormann was married in 1846 to Miss Catharine
Brune. By this marriage they have five children. In
1862 Mr. Moormann moved to Walnut Hills, where he has
been one of its active citizens since. He is a member of
the Catholic church.
F. B. Williams, retired, was born in Hamilton county
June 2, 1825, and is the son of Thomas and Mary (Tur-
ner) Williams, who were among the pioneer settlers of
Cincinnati, his mother having come here as early as
1810. She died May 14, 1865. His father, Thomas
Williams, was born in North Wales. He, when very
young, was bound over to his uncle to learn the tannery
trade, where he remained for several years. Not being
satisfied he determined to come to America. At twenty-
one years of age, he, having no money, went aboard
a ship, where he hid himself in an empty hogshead,
where he was discovered the third day after being at sea.
He came on in the vessel and was landed in New
Orleans. He then set out with a party and walked to
Bardstown, Kentucky ; on the way he came near starv-
ing. After remaining in Bardstown a short time he
moved to Cincinnati and located on the southeast corner
of Main and Second streets. Here -he established a
tannery in a log cabin, tanning mostly deer skins, making
parchments. Being very successful in his business he
invested in real estate. He owned where the Coliseum
theatre is on Vine street, where he pastured his cows.
After remaining in the tannery business for a number of
years he moved to the farm on Walnut Hills. Here he
operated a grist-mill and a distillery, with a capicity of
two barrels of whiskey per day. Here he carried on
business until he built a residence where the Coliseum
theatre is, and there moved and remained until his
death. He died at about sixty-nine years of age. Our
subject has remained on the old farm until it has ac-
cummulated in great value, being one of the most de-
sirable pieces of property on Walnut Hills.
Rev. Peter Tinsley, pastor of the Church of the Ad-
vent, was born in Powhatan county, Virginia, August 25,
1833, and is the son of John B. and Eliza (Trueheart)
Tinsley, both of Virginia. Our subject remained a resi-
dent of his native county until he was fourteen years of
age, when he moved to Prince Edwards county, Vir-
ginia, where he received his principal education, having
graduated from the Hapden Sidney college in 185 1. He
then went to Petersburgh, Virginia, where he was princi-
pal of a select school. He there attended the Alexandria
Theological college, and in i860 was ordained. His first
appointment was in Ronaoke county, Virginia, where
soon after, he was made chaplin in the confederate serv-
ice, serving in General Robert E. Lee's army. He was
with Lee's army at the time it surrendered. At the close
of the war Rev. Tinsley was made chaplin of the Uni-
versity of Virginia, where he remained two years. In
1869 he came to Cincinnati and took charge of his pres-
ent congregation, where he has remained ever since.
Rev. J. J. Kennedy, pastor of the Church of the
Presentation, was born in Ireland, June 24, 1849, and is
the son of Dennis and Nora (Scanlan) Kennedy, both
natives of Ireland. Our subject, when very young, came
to America with his parents and located in New Orleans.
In 1852 they came to Cincinnati, which has been Father
Kennedy's home ever since. He entered the St. Thomas
seminary, of Bardstown, and from there he entered the
Mount St. Mary's college, where he graduated in 1869
in high honor, and was ordained June 7, 1873. Rev.
Kennedy took charge of his present congregation in its
infancy, and by his faithful work has done wonderful
good.
Rev. Bernard H. M. Roesener, pastor of the Catholic
church at Sedamsville, was born in Cihcinnati in 1852,
where he received his principal education, having gradu-
ated from the St. Xavier college in 1873. He was or-
dained as minister and appointed to Brown county,
where he remained some four years, when he went to
New Boston, Clermont county, and from there came to
Cincinnati, and is assistant at his present place.
John Reichert, saloon, was born in Germany, in
March, 1814. He learned his trade as a brewer and
cooper in Germany, and in 1850 came to America and
landed in New York city. He worked for some three
years in Harrisburgh and Philadelphia at his trade, and
in 1853 he came to Cincinnati, where he worked in the
breweries until he entered his present business, when, in
1864, he moved to Mt. Auburn, where he has remained
ever since. Mr. Reichert was married in Cincinnati to
Sophia Ernst, by whom he has had four children.
John B. Neeb, proprietor of Mt. Auburn garden and
restaurant, was born in Germany, July 17, 1836. He
came to the United States and landed in New York city;
thence went to St. Louis and New Orleans. At the break-
ing out of the late civil war we find him at Louisville,
Kentucky. Here he enlisted in the army for three years in
company H, Fifth Kentucky regiment. He served as
orderly sergeant, participating in some of the most severe
battles and marches during the war — Pittsburgh Landing
(Shiloh), Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, sixty-five days
under fire at Atlanta, Chickamauga, etc. Mr. Neeb was
wounded twice — once at Mission Ridge, and once at
Chickamauga. He was mustered out at the expiration
of time, September 14, 1864, when he soon after came to
Cincinnati and commenced in the trunk manufacturing
business. In 1866 Mr. Neeb moved to Mt. Auburn.
Here he is engaged in keeping a garden and restaurant,
being a first-class place in every respect.
D. W. Landwehr, grocer, was born in Germany. Came
to America and located in Cincinnati December 10, 1848,
where he has been one of its active and highly honored
citizens ever since, with the exception of a few years Mr.
Landwehr was in Aurora, Indiana. Since returning from
that place he has been actively engaged in the mercan-
tile business. He is a cabinet-maker by trade, which
he followed for a number of years in Cincinnati. He
then entered the grocery business, and in 1874 he moved
to his present place of business. Mr. Landwehr has
filled several offices of trust. He was one of the organ-
izers of the German Protestant orphan asylum, which he
has taken an active part in ever since. He is an active
member of the German Protestant church of Mt. Auburn,
being its honored treasurer for several years.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
5i7
916 Central avenue, where for eighteen years he has
been manufacturing furniture. In 1877 he established
a branch store at Cumminsville, which is carried on by
his son, Oliver Mass, who is very attentive to business
and is gradually building up a good trade, selling furni-
ture as rensonable as it can be purchased in the city.
George Gruninger, merchant. Among the most suc-
cessful and active business men of Cumminsville, may
be mentioned the name of George Gruninger, who was
born in Germany in 1825. He learned his trade as a
tinner in Germany, and in 1854 he came to the United
States, and was a resident of New York city for some
eight and a half years, working at the tinner business.
In 1864 Mr. Gruninger came to Cincinnati, locating in
Cumminsville, where he has been engaged in the
hardware and tin business ever since, and is now the
oldest merchant in that line in the town. His stock of
stoves, tin, and hardware is very complete.
A. M. Streng, merchant tailor, Cumminsville. Among
the most successful and enterprising citizens of Cum-
minsville we may mention the above-named gentleman,
who was born in Bavaria, Germany, April 2, 1826,
coming to the United States and landing in New York,
July 4, 1849. He then went to Philadelphia, Pennsyl-
vania, where he learned the tailor's trade, and remained
until 1852, when he moved to Cincinnati, working at his
trade up to 1855, when he removed to Cumminsville,
where he has continued at his trade ever since, and is
now the oldest active tailor in Cumminsville. Mr. Streng
came to Cincinnati in meagre circumstances, but with
his hard labor and good management has accumulated a
good property. He has continued in his present place
of business for the last thirteen years. Mr. Streng has
filled several offices of public trust in Cumminsville:
Nine years a school-director, two years a member of the
council, and two years a member of the school-board of
Cincinnati. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss
Sophia Schrader, who was born in Germany. By this
marriage they have eight children. Mr. Streng has taken
a very active part in church matters. He is a member
of the German Protestant church, to which society he
has donated, and worked hard to organize.
Frederick W. Becker, merchant tailor, was born near
the Rhine, Germany, February 20, 1827. At thirteen
years of age he began to learn his trade as a tailor. In
1848 he enlisted and served three years in the German
army. In 1852 Mr. Becker came to the United States
and landed in New York city. He then went to Buffalo,
New York, and remained there a short time, and then
came to Cincinnati, arriving here in the summer of 1852,
he went to work at the tailor's trade. In 1859 he moved
to Cumminsville, where he has been engaged in business
since. He was married in Cincinnati May 28, 1854, to
Miss Margaret Weber, who was born in Germany, com-
ing here in 1853. They have three children living. Our
subject was the seventh son, for which his father received
one hundred dollars, according to the law at that time in
Germany.
Joseph C. Tarrant, dealer in boots and shoes, and
shoe manufacturer, was born in Welshire, England,
having come to America in 1852, and located in New
York, where he learned his trade as a shoemaker. In
1868 he came to Cincinnati and carried on the shoe
manufacturing business in the house of refuge; from
there he came to his present place of business, which
was started in 1871. Tarrant Brothers starting in the
business in a small way, employing some ten hands,
capacity of manufacturing about sixty pairs of shoes per
day ; the business has since gradually improved until to-
day he employs between thirty-five and forty hands, with
a capacity of manufacturing one hundred and twenty
pairs of shoes per day, manufacturing ladies', misses' and
children's shoes, occupying three rooms. The salesroom
is fourteen by fifty-four feet in size, the two manufacturing
rooms are fourteen by fifty-four feet. Mr. J. C. Tarrant
became sole owner of the business in 1880.
E. T. C. Woellert, merchant, was born in Germany,
in 1828. Came to the United States and landed in
New York city in 1854, coming direct to Cincinnati.
Here he commenced to work at the cabinet-maker's
trade, from this he began working in a picture frame
factory, which business he has continued for the last
twenty-two years. Mr. Woellert owns a very neat notion
store in Cumminsville, keeping on hand a full line of
picture frames. He moved to Cumminsville in about
i860, and has been one of its honored citizens ever
since.
Elizabeth Riesenberg, wife of the late Barney Riesen-
berg, who was born in Masen, Germany, November,
1803. He was married in Germany, in 1846, to Eliza-
beth Yelgers, who was born in Germany in 1815. His
business in Germany was in making turf, from which he
managed to save enough money to bring himself and
wife to America, arriving in Baltimore in 1847. He went
direct to Cincinnati. After working for a short time in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he returned to Cincinnati,
worked by the day in a cooper-shop, stone quarry at
teaming, and in a pork house. By hard work and good
management he managed to save a little money. In
1854 he came to Cumminsville and opened a grocery, in
which business he was about the first to start there. He
was successful in the business, and accumulated a good
property. He died, respected and loved by his fellow-
men, August 29, 1872, with fever, leaving a wife and
five children to mourn his loss. The children's names
are Henry, Lizzie, Mary, Caroline and Louisa.
Fred Spaeth, deceased. One of the old pioneers of
Cumminsville, was the above-named gentleman, who was
born in Bavaria, Germany. He came to the United
States and landed in Philadelphia in 1848, thence to
Cincinnati in 185 1. Coming here very poor, he went to
work in Herancourt's brewery, then in a distillery, and
then at the cooper trade. He was very active in life, a
hard worker, and no matter how small his salary was, he
managed to save a portion of it. He came to Cum-
minsville about 185 1. He commenced the feed store
business at an early day, about 1856, at the present
homestead, and was one of the first in that line of busi-
ness in Cumminsville. He then started a saloon, and
conducted a garden on a first-class principle. Being
5i<5
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ces he continued to work at his trade until 1867, when
he entered his present business, moving to Cumminsville
in 1874. Mr. Kline was in the late civil war, enlisting
in company G, One Hundred and Thirty-eight Ohio vol-
unteer infantry, as sergeant, where he served to the expi-
ration of his service, four months, and was honorably
discharged.
Henry Godelman was born in Camp Washington in
1846. His father came to Cincinnati from Germany
about the year 1839. He afterwards moved to Camp
Washington, and in 1849 moved to a gardening farm
near Cumminsville, where he carried on business as a
gardener up to the time of his death. In 1849 our sub-
ject moved to Cumminsville with his parents. About
twelve years ago he entered his present business, which
he has carried on ever since. Mr. Godelman was a sol-
dier in the late war, having enlisted in company L, Thir-
teenth Ohio volunteer infantry, where he served his full
time and was honorably mustered out.
George C. Scheffel, saloonist, is another of the pio-
neers. He was born in the province of Saxony, Germany,
October n, 1824. He came to the United States in
1844. He came direct to Cincinnati, arriving here Sep-
tember 14, of the same year. He came here with only
five dollars in money and went to work at his trade as a
shoemaker, which he followed up to the year 1850, when
he entered the grocery business on Vine street, Cicinnati,
in which he continued for about thirteen years. In 1864
he moved to Cumminsville, where he was engaged in
the grocery business until 1875 wnen he entered his pres-
ent occupation. Mr. Scheffel was married in Cincinnati
in 1846 to Amelia Wollenhaupt. She came to Cincin-
nati in 1844. Her father is eighty years of age, and is a
noted musician, residing in Chicago. By this marriage
they have seven children, six sons and one daughter ; all
natives of Cincinnati. Mr. Scheffel is a member of the
Protestant church and an active member of the German
Pioneer association,
G. H. Rabe was born in Germany in 181 6. At about
the age of seventeen he went to sea and followed the life
of a sailor for some twelve years, visiting almost every
region of the globe. In 1846 he came to Cincinnati, and
was, for a number of years, steamboating on the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers. In 1850 Mr. Rabe went to Califor-
nia, and remained there until 1854, when he returned to
Cincinnati. He then engaged in farming for about eight
years in Delhi township. In 1873 he began his present
business, locating in Cumminsville, and has been en-
gaged in the distillery business ever since.
J. W. Streng, butcher, was born in Bavaria, Germany,
May 13, 1 82 1. He came to the United States, landing
in New York July 4, 1849; thence he came direct to
Cincinnati. Here he entered the butcher business,
in which he has continued ever since. In 1853 he
moved to Cumminsville, where he still resides. He is
the oldest butcher in Cumminsville. For several years
Mr. Streng has been engaged, in connection with his
butcher business, in keeping a boarding house in Cum-
minsville. Mr. Streng was married in Cincinnati to Miss
Barbara Gensendoefer, a native of Germany, having
come to Cincinnati in 1849. By this marriage they have
four children.
Joseph Glins, grocer, was born December^, 1819, in
Hanover, Germany. He came to America and landed
in New Orleans in 1842, coming to Cincinnati the same
year. Being very poor, he began work as a laborer at
fifty cents per day. Accumulating some capital, he be-
gan the manufacture of soap, which he continued about
five years. In 1853 he moved to Cumminsville and
invested in real estate. In 1861 he opened a grocery,
and is now the oldest grocer in this vicinity. Mr. Glins
married Miss Tracey Morman in 1847, who came to
the city at an early day. By this marriage they have
seven children, all natives of Cincinnati.
H. A. Stoffregen, grocer, was born in Hanover, Ger-
many, April, 1839; came to the United States and land-
ed in Baltimore in 1857. Then he came direct to Cin-
cinnati, which has been his home ever since. He was a
soldier during the late civil war in company C, Fifth
Ohio volunteers, and served three years and three
months, participating in a number of the prominent bat-
tles, being wounded three times. He was a brave and
efficient soldier, and was honorably mustered out at the
expiration of service, he returned to Cincinnati, and
in 1870 moved to Cumminsville, where he began in the
grocery business. He now has one of the most com-
plete family groceries in the town. He married Jose-
phine Meyers, by whom he had five children. After her
dcease, he married Amelia Leppelman, and by her has
one child.
Aloys Walz, florist, was born in Baden, Germany, in
1817. He commenced to learn the florist business at
the age of sixteen, and worked in some of the leading
places of the old country, spending three years in Switz-
erland. In 1865 Mr. Walz came to the United States,
and went into his present business at Cincinnati. He
now owns one of the most complete green-houses in
Hamilton county, having some five thousand feet under
glass, and employing three hands. He has taken several
premiums for displays of cut flowers at the expositions,
and in 1880 took the bronze medal.
Herman Haerline, florist and landscape gardener, was
born in Germany, and after spending many years in Eu-
rope at his profession as landscape gardener, he came to
Cincinnati. He was first engaged by N. Longworth,
where he remained until 1858, when he went to Ken-
tucky and was employed in laying out private grounds
back of Covington. In 1861 he moved to Cummins-
ville, and in 1865 engaged in the florist business. He
now has under roof thirteen hot-houses, covering some
seven thousand seven hundred square feet of surface. Of
late years Mr. Haerline has not given much attention to
this part of his business, as he has been employed by the
State of Ohio as landscape gardener. He has laid out
many yards and parks belonging to the State, and his
work is pronounced among the best in the country.
G. W. Mass, furniture dealer, was born in Holland,
and came to the United States in 1850, since which
time he has been actively engaged in the furniture busi-
ness in Cincinnati. His main store is located at No.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
519
active member of the German Pioneer society. Mr.
Koehler came here and commenced to work in the
employ of a paper-hanging establishment, where he con-
tinued two years. He then commenced to learn his trade
(tailor) which business he carried on for a number of
years. In 1866 he moved to his present place. Mr.
Koehler was married in Cincinnati to Christena Schnider,
of Germany. She came to America when she was about
two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Koehler are the parents
of eight children.
William Buehler, proprietor of Buehler's Garden, was
born in Wedenburg, Germany, May 29, 1817, and is the
son of John and Caroline (Hedge) Buehler — both parents
born in Germany. Our subject came to America in
1849, landing in New York city, where he remained a
short time, and then came to Cincinnati. In 1852 he
moved to Corryville where he has remained one of its
honored citizens ever since. Mr. Buehler married Mrs.
Zeltner, wife of the late John E. Zeltner, who was born
in Germany in 18 13, where he married Mrs. Zeltner (nee
Miss Kunegunda Pleistiener), who was also born in Ger.
many. In 1839 they came to the United States, landing
in New York city and coming direct to Cincinnati.
Here he worked at his trade as a cutter, and soon after
established himself in the clothing trade. He then en-
tered the wholesale liquor business. On retiring he
moved to the country. In 1856 he established a wine
house on Vine street, known as the National Hall. He
was a very active man. He died with the cholera in
1866, respected and honored.
Joseph H. Bohm, butcher, was born in Bavaria, Ger-
many, in 1847; came to the United States and landed
in New York city in i860. He came' direct to Cincin-
nati and entered the butcher business, and has been
actively engaged in the business ever since. Mr. Bohm
is now the oldest butcher in Corryville, and is meeting
with good success in his present place of business. He
keeps a first-class butcher-shop, and as he buys nothing
but the best meats, customers trading with him receive
nothing but good, wholesome food in that line.
Thomas Bishop, dairyman, was born in England, but
came to America at an early day, and in 1845 located in
Cincinnati. Here he has been actively engaged in the
dairy business, and to-day is one of the oldest, as well
as one of the most practical, dairymen around the city.
In 1849 he began business for himself at his present
place. Here he started with a few cows, and by good
management his business has increased to such an extent
that he now owns fifty-four cows, nine horses and two
milk-wagons, and employs six hands. Mr. Bishop keeps
one of the best, neatest and cleanest dairies around the
city. He has forty acres of fine land, which he uses for
pasture.
Adam Fisher, dairyman, was born in Brown county,
Ohio, April 16, 1845, and is the son of Michael Fisher,
one of the pioneers of that county. In 1846 Adam
Fisher moved with his parents to Hamilton county,
where he assisted his father in the dairy business. He
now has a dairy of his own, with sixty cows, eight horses
and three wagons, employing three hands. He has a
large pasture of forty acres, and is doing a very good
and profitable business.
A. Sunderbruch, florist, was born in Hanover, Germa-
ny, in 1830. When young he entered zealously upon
what has since been his fevorite study, the art of land-
scape gardening and floriculture, at which he spent most
of his time in Europe, being at one time offered a posi-
tion in the king's garden at Berlin. In 1849 ne sailed
for America, and in the same year located in Cincinnati,
where he has been actively engaged at his trade, being a
private gardener in some of the leading suburbs around
Cincinnati. He, in 1854, with a small stock of plants,
started his present business in Clifton, on the Carthage
pike, with two green-houses containing some eight hun-
dred square feet of glass. Here he remained for some
nine years, being very successful. In 1863 he moved to
his present place, where he began with fifteen hundred
feet under glass. His business since then has grown
wonderfully, and he has now forty thousand square feet
of glass, employing a number of hands. Mr. Sunder-
bruch has taken a number of first prizes awarded by the
Cincinnati exposition, for the finest display of plants
and cut flowers; he has three gold and two silver med-
als. In 1845 he married Miss Mary Brining, and has
three children.
Henry Voss, manufacturer of brick, was born in Han-
over, Germany, March n, 1825. While in Germany he
married Minnie Rose; and in 1851 he and his wife
started for America, landing in New Orleans. They
took a steamer for Cincinnati, and on the way up the
Mississippi, near Vicksburgh, a son (Henry) was born to
them. Soon after arriving in Cincinnati, Mr. Voss be-
gan making brick, and has followed the business ever
since. He began with five hands, burning six hundred
thousand brick yearly, but for several years was not very
successful. By hard work and good management, how-
ever, he has accumulated a good property, and has be-
come one of the leading brick manufacturers of this
vicinity. He has furnished brick for a number of public
buildings, the Longview asylum, the school-house at
Corryville, and others. In connection with his brick
business, he deals in wood, coal and sand.
Jacob Rhein, grocer, one of the successful business
men of Corryville, was born in Bavaria, Germany, Oc-
tober 3, 1835. He came to the United States in 1851,
coming direct to Cincinnati. Here he commenced the
saloon business on West Fifth street, which he continued
about five years, when he moved to Walnut Hills, where
he was engaged in the stock business. He then moved
to Corryville. Here he has been one of its honored
citizens ever since. He was actively engaged in the
omnibus business in company with his brother for a
number of years, operating a line of omnibuses from the
suburb residences to the city. Commencing with four
omnibuses the business increased until they had eight
omnibuses doing a good business. Mr. Rhein, in 1862,
commenced the grocery business, and to day owns one
of the best family groceries in Corryville. He carried on
for a number of years a feed store. His present brick
store building he built in 1879.
Si8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
very successful in business, he had accumulated a good
property. He died December 28, 187 1, with small-pox,
a man respected and honored, leaving a wife and four
children to mourn his loss. Andrew Spaeth is attending
to business at the old homestead. He was born in Cum-
minsville in 1855.
Lawrence Theobold, retired, of the old and highly re-
spected citizens of Cumminsville, may be mentioned.
Mr. L. Theobold, was born in Germany, July 5, 1815.
He came to the United States, and landed in New York
in 1852, coming direct to Cincinnati, May, 1852. His
first work was in the garden business, near Cumminsville,
which he continued in for some fifteen years, when he
had accumulated a little money and invested it in the
feed store business, which he continued very successfully
up to 1877, when he retired. The business is now car-
ried on by his son. Mr. Theobold was married in Ger-
many to Miss Barbara Deil. They came to Cincinnati
with two children. Mr. Theobold owns three and three-
fourths acres of land where he lives, which is very
valuable. This he made by hard work and good man-
agement, coming here poor in 1852. Since then he has
accumulated a good property. He is a member of the
German Protestant church.
Conral Soellheim, M. D., was born in Bavaria, Ger-
many, January 30, 1836. Receiving a high school
education in his native country, he, in 1853, came to
America, and was for a short time a resident of New
Orleans. His father was a prominent physician. Our
subject went to Indiana, and for five years was engaged
in the practice of medicine in Dubois county. In 1858
he came to Cincinnati, and graduated from the Cincin-
nati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1861. At the
breaking out of the late civil war, Dr. Soellheim enlisted
in the Ninth Ohio volunteer infantry as assistant sur-
geon, which position he filled for some eighteen months,
when he was appointed surgeon, which he filled with
marked ability. During the war he was brigade surgeon,
also surgeon in charge of the hospital at Chattanooga,
where he did wonderful good work. He participated in
a number of the most prominent battles. At the close
of the war Dr. Soellheim located in Cumminsville, where
he has been established since, being very successful in
his practice of medicine. The doctor is the oldest phys-
ician in Cumminsville.
Professor John F. Grause, principal of the German
Catholic school, Cumminsville, was born in Prussia, Ger-
many, in 1843. He received sufficient education in his
native country that he taught school there for two years.
He is a graduate from the West Farland college. In
1866 Professor Grause came to America, and has been
very active in teaching school. He taught five years in
Fulton and five years in Ludlow, Kentucky. He has
been engaged at his present place for the last three
years.
Rev. Charles Schenck, pastor of the German Protes-
tant church, was born in Prussia August 13, 1843, com-
ing to America and landing in New York in 1847, thence
to St. Louis, and from there to California, Missouri, re-
maining there for some ten years. In 1873 he gradu-
ated from the Missouri college. Rev. Mr. Schenck was
ordained at Cumberland, Indiana. His first appoint-
ment was at Linnville, Indiana, where he remained for
five years in active work. He came to his present place
February 17, 1878, filling the pulpit of the German Prot-
estant church of Cumminsville since. Rev. Mr. Schenck
was married in Boonville, Indiana, to Miss Louisa Kin-
dermann, of Newburgh, Indiana.
Adolph Strauch, superintendent of Spring Grove cem-
etery, was born August 30, 1822, at Eckersdorf, near
Glatz, in the province of Silesia, Germany. At the age
of sixteen he entered zealously upon what has since been
his favorite study — the art of landscape gardening. This
he pursued in Austria for six years, under prominent mas-
ters in the imperial gardens at Vienna, Schoenbrunn and
Laxenburg. In 1845 he started on a tour of inspection
through Germany, Holland and Belgium. At the con-
clusion of this tour he remained about three months in
the celebrated horticultural establishment of Louis Van
Houtte, near Ghent. Paris was now his objective point;
and here he spent three years in the culture and perfec-
tion of his professional taste. At the breaking out of
the Revolution of T848 he went to England, and passed
three years there, being last employed in the royal botan-
ic gardens, Regent's park, London. He then started for
America, and landed at Galveston, Texas, November 5,
1 85 1. During the next winter he travelled through that
State, and in the spring went north to Cincinnati, where
he made an engagement with the late R. B. Bowler,
a gentleman of great taste, and an enthusiastic ad-
mirer of arboriculture and landscape gardening. During
the two years he remained at Clifton he inaugurated the
open lawn system, which, continued by others, has made
the environs of the Queen City of the west famous
throughout the world. In 1854, after making a tour of
the United States and Canada, he returned to Cincinnati
to take charge of Spring Grove cemetery, where he has
continued to reside, and where his genius has enabled
him to present the noblest effects of landscape garden-
ing as applicable to the adornment of rural cemeteries.
Leopold Mushaben, saloon-keeper, was born in Baden,
Germany, March 21, 1840. He came to the United
States, and landed in New York city in 1861, coming
direct to Cincinnati, where he soon after entered the army
in the Fourteenth Independent Ohio battery, enlisting
for three years. He was a brave soldier] participating in
over fifty battles — Vicksburgh, Atlanta, Pea Ridge, etc.
He was wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge in the left
leg. He served until the close of the war and was hon-
orably mustered out, and returned to Cincinnati. He
worked for six months in the Government employ; he
then worked as porter in the Spencer House, and after-
wards in the grocery business. In 187 1 he came to his
present place of business here, and has erected a hand-
some brick block where he has continued in trade since.
Frederick Koehler, saloon-keeper, was born in Ger-
many, December 5, 1827, coming to the United States,
and landing in New Orleans in 1842, thence direct to
Cincinnati, which has been his home ever since, and to-
day he is one of the old pioneers of the city, being an
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
523
1872, where he remained until 1874. In 1877 he started
his present business, keeping on hand a full line of hard-
ware, stoves, etc. Mr. Hopf was married in Hamilton
county to Augusta Gahn. They have five children.
B. H. Lammers, brick manufacturer, residence, Camp
Washington, was born in Prussia, November 27, 1817.
Came to the United States and landed in New York city
in 1847, coming direct to Cincinnati. His first work
was in a foundry, where he remained for a short time,
when he entered the brick manufacturing business, which
he has continued ever since. In 1852 Mr. Lammers
moved to Camp Washington, where he started in busi-
ness for himself. In 1850 he was married to Miss Fred-
ericka Heillebrandt, of Germany. They have seven
children. Mr. Lammers has been very successful in the
manufacturing of brick. He is now owner of some very
valuable real estate which he has obtained by his hard
labor and good management. He is one of the oldest
pioneers of Camp Washington, respected and honored
by all.
S. Rittee was born in Baden, Germany, January 11,
1835, and emigrated to the United States, locating in
Cincinnati, in 1854. He came here very poor, having
only one dollar, which he gave for his supper, lodging,
and breakfast. He went to work for a gardener for nine
dollars per month. After working here about six months
he went to Baltimore, thence to Philadelphia, then to
Pittsburgh, steam-boating to New Orleans ; he finally
returned to Cincinnati. He was for one year in business
in Lawrenceburgh. He enlisted in the Twenty-ninth
Ohio volunteer infantry, company C, and served one
year in the late civil war; did good service and was
honorably mustered out. He came to Camp Washing-
ton in 1861, commencing in business in 1865. Mr.
Rittee was married in i860 to Miss Louisa Lauhel.
Joseph Haarmann, principal of the Catholic school,
was born in Germany November 22, 1849, receiving his
education in his native country, graduating from a leading
institution of learning in 1866. He taught school in Ger-
many for six years. He, in 1872, emigrated to the Uni-
ted States, coming direct to Cincinnati, where he has
been very actively engaged in school teaching in the city
ever since. He has been teaching at his present place
for the last three and a half years, and is acknowledged
a fine teacher by all.
Rev. Henry Paul, pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Catholic church, Camp Washington, was born in Alf-
hausen, province of Hanover, Germany, October 27,
1848. At the age of ten years he came to America and
located in Cincinnati. Here he received his education,
graduating from the Xavier college June 19, 187 1. He was
ordained as minister by the Most Rev. Archbishop Pur-
cell, February 28, 1874. His first appointment was at
Marysville, where he remained from 1874 to 1876, when
he was on missionary work, visiting and working at the
ministry at different places, iMechanicsburgh, Milford
Centre, Liverpool, Richwood, Peoria, Woodstock, etc.
On the fifteenth of May, 1876, he received a call from
his present charge, where he has been serving very active-
ly and faithfully since, establishing a large congregation.
Rev. J. A. Voss, pastor of the German Reformed
church, was born in Holland, August 27, 1850. He
received his education in Germany. Coming to the
United States in 1873, he was for a short time in charge
of the German Reformed church at Covington, Ken-
tucky. In 1874 Rev. Voss came to Camp Washington,
and has been very actively engaged with the German
Reformed church ever since. His congregation is very
large, and since his pastoral work here he has done
wonderful good.
Major James Morgan, superintendent of the city work-
house, was born in the county of Cork, Ireland, April 1 2,
1835, and is the son of James and Katie (Conn) Mor-
gan, both parents born in Ireland. Our subject when
very young came to America, and in 1847 located in
Cincinnati. Here he began to learn his trade in an edge-
tool manufactory, continuing at work until the breaking
out of the late civil war, when he, in 1861, enlisted as a
private in company B, Twenty-seventh Ohio volunteer
infantry. He was made first lieutenant of the same com-
pany, and in 1862 was made its captain, which position
he filled until 1864, and then was made major of the
Twenty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. Here he
served until the close of the war, having participated in
the battles and marches with this regiment through the
entire service. He returned to his home in Cincinnati,
and soon after entered the edge-tool business, which he
followed very successfully for a number of years. Jan-
uary 1, 1874, Major Morgan was appointed to the office
of superintendent of the city workhouse, which position
he has filled with honor and credit ever since, with the
exception of some two years. He was a member of the
city council for some seven years, being a very active
worker. Major Morgan is a Republican in politics, and
in 1879 was chairman of the Republican county com-
mittee, being a hard worker in his party ranks.
T. J. McCoy, M. D., was born in Warren county,
Ohio, April 2, 1857, and is the son of Isaac and Lucinda
(Allen) McCoy, both parents natives of Ohio. Our sub-
ject, after receiving a thorough education, began to study
medicine. He attended three terms of lectures in the
Medical college in Cincinnati, when he went to Louis-
ville, Kentucky, and entered the Kentucky School of
Medicine, which institution he graduated from June 29,
1880, with the highest of honors, receiving a gold medal
for the best notes on medicine. . After graduating, Dr.
McCoy located in Camp Washington, where he is meet-
ing with very good success, and is recognized as being
the best educated physician of that place.
William Hoffmeister, saloon keeper, residence, Lick
Run, is one of the successful men of that locality. He
was born in Germany January 31, 1827. He came
to the United States and landed in New York in 1847,
then came direct to Cincinnati, arriving here July 12th
of the same year. Here he went to work at his trade as
a cigar maker, which he had learned in Germany. He
continued working at this trade for some five years, when
he entered the grocery business. After four years he
entered the brewery business in Lick Run, in the rear of
his present homestead, which he continued up to 1871,
520
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Mrs. E. Tuechter, grocer, was born in Germany about
1823. She came to America in 1845, landing in New
Orleans, where she remained about fifteen months and
then came to Cincinnati, where she was married about
1847 t0 Detrich Schussler, who died with the cholera in
1849. She was married the second time to Eberhard
Tuechter, who was one of the old pioneers of Cincin-
nati. He came to Corryville and entered the grocery
business, which is now carried on by his wife and was
about the first, if not the first, grocery located in this
vicinity. He continued in the grocery business up to
his death, which occurred in 1874, leaving a wife and
three children to mourn his loss. He was an active mem-
ber of the German Lutheran church, being at one time
treasurer of that congregation. He died respected and
honored. Fred and George are assisting in the grocery.
The daughter, Mary, is now the wife of John Mackle.
B. Eppens, grocer, Cincinnati, was born in Hanover,
Germany, in 1818. He came to America and landed in
New Orleans in 1854; thence direct to Cincinnati, ar-
riving December 23d of the same year. Mr. Eppens is
a rope-maker by trade, which he learned in Germany.
After arriving in Cincinnati, not finding work at his trade,
he, with a capital of some sixty dollars, started a small
grocery on Eighth street, near John. He moved his
business to Liberty street, thence to John and Chestnut,
and from there to his present place of business in 1873.
Mr. Eppens, with good management, has accumulated
a good property. He married, in Germany, Miss Lizzie
Dallmon, by whom he has had five children.
Conrad Hagedorn, grocer, was born in Germany, De-
cember 2, 1815; came to the United States and landed
in New Orleans in 1844, coming direct to Cincinnati,
arriving here July 7, 1844, in company with his wife,
whom he married in Germany. Her name was Mena
Heidorn. They came here in poor circumstances, and
Mr. Hagedorn went to work breaking rock on Jackson
Hill. He then worked in an oil-cloth factory, remaining
there for six years, after which he worked in a shoe-
maker's shop in fitting boots, working there some nine
years. In i860 he commenced the grocery business,
which he has been in every since. Mr. Hagedorn is a
member of the German Pioneer society. He is also a
member of the German Protestant church. He has three
children living.
John H. Fenneman, grocer, was born in the grand
duchy of Aldenburg, Germany, April 16, 1 816. He
came to the United States and landed in Baltimore in
1835, arriving in Cincinnati in November of the same
year. Coming here poor he went to work as a day
laborer. He was for fifteen years a porter in one of the
leading mercantile establishments of Cincinnati. In
1853 Mr. Fenneman moved to his present place, being
now one of the oldest residents of this vicinity. He
married Miss Louisa Nordman, by whom he has five
children living.
G. Emge, business merchant, was born in Germany
November 7, 1835. He came to the United States and
landed in New York city May 55, 1867. After remain-
ing there some three weeks, he came to Cincinnati, Ohio,
where he worked by the day as a laborer for nine years,
when he entered the grocery business on Clefton avenue,
where he remained until 1876, when he then came to his
present stand, which is one of the most complete family
groceries in the neighborhood. Mr. Emge was married
to Miss Delia Brehm, of Germany. By this marriage,
they have four children.
Augustus E. Lindemann, dealer in stoves and hardware,
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1854, and is the son of
John H. Lindemann, who came to Cincinnati in about
1846. Our subject learned his trade as a tinner, with
Mr. Augustus Konshein, who established the present
business in 1868. Mr. Lindemann, after the death of
Mr. Koftshein became owner, and since he has carried
on the business, which is the only stove and hardware
store in Corryville; he keeps in stock a fine lot of first-
class stoves and hardware. He is also doing a good bus-
iness in the tin roofing and guttering line, taking large
contracts.
Frank Ries was born in Bavaria, Germany, October
23, 1825. He came to the United States and landed in
New Orleans in 1841; then came direct to Cincinnati,
arriving here in March, 1841. Here he began to learn
the tailor's trade which business he followed for some
seven years. In 1853 he moved to St. Bernard, where
he engaged in the saloon business. In 1856 he moved
to Corryville, which has been his home ever since; and
he was engaged in the saloon business. Mr. Ries was
married in Cincinnati at St. Mary's church October 10,
1848, to Miss Mary Hufibower. She was born in Ger-
many, having come to Cincinnati in about 1843. By this
union, they have ten children living. Mr. Ries is a
member of the Catholic church, and has been one of its
active adherents. He was one of the building committee
in erecting St. George's Catholic church at Corryville.
He is a member of the German Pioneers' association; had
one son, Jacob, in the late war in the gun-boat service, who
did good duty, and was honorably discharged. Mr. Ries
came to Cincinnati in company with his mother and six
children. His sister, Catharine Ries, came to Cincinnati
in 1839.
Michael Fisher, retired, was born in Germany, and in
1837 came to the United States, locating in New York,
thence to Pennsylvania. In 1838 he moved to Brown
county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and in 1846
moved to Hamilton county and soon after established in
the dairy business which he has been very successful in,
and is to-day one of the oldest dairymen in Corryville;
for the last few years the dairy business has been carried
on by his son Adam.
Charles Teichmann, retired, was born in Prussia, Ger-
many, July 21, 1 81 2. He came to the United States
and landed in New York city in 1848, thence to Buffalo
and in 1849 to Cincinnati, coming here with wife and four
children. Soon after arriving here, he was taken sick
with the cholera, and suffered very much ; his wife also
had a slight attack of this disease. Mr. Teichmann's
first work was in a slaughter-house. In 1859 he entered
the saloon business which he carried on successfully up
to 1880, when he sold out to his son. He was married
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
525
cinnati July 2, 1845, which has been his home ever since.
He commenced to work at his trade as carpenter which
he followed for a short time; then commenced the dairy
business in 1852, with four or five cows; located on
Mohawk street. In 1856 he moved to the present place.
Here, with hard work and fair dealing, he at one time
owned seventy-five cows, doing a leading dairy business
successfully for a number of years. Mr. Rakers retired
from business, which is now carried on by his son-in-law,
Augustus Osterfeld, who is operating the business very
successfully. Mr. Rakers was married in Cincinnati to
Catharine Karner, of Germany; by this mariage, they
have one child, a daughter. Mr. Rakers is a member of
the Catholic church.
William Brickley, principal of the Carthage schools,
a resident of Cincinnati, was born in Herkimer county,
New York, August 28, 1809, where, after receiving suffi-
cient education at seventeen years. of age, he began to
teach school. He graduated at the Union college of
Albany, New York; taught school in his native county,
also in St. Lawrence county, being at the head of some of
the leading schools of those counties. In 1855 he came
west to Hamilton county, Ohio, and taught school in
Stors township in the Stone high school; has taught in
other schools very successfully, and is to-day the oldest
school-teacher of Hamilton county.
John Kauffman, jr., foreman of the Vine Street brewery,
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the son of John
Kauffman, proprieter of the Vine Street brewery. Our
subject was brought up in the brewery business. He
was appointed to the present position some one and half
years ago. He is now twenty-two years of age, and is
the youngest foreman of the Cincinnati breweries.
Adrian Bok, foreman of the Bellevue brewery, is a
native of Germany, where he commenced, at eighteen
years of age, to learn his trade as a brewer. In i860 he
came to America and first located in Terre Haute, In-
diana, where he worked at the brewery business for a short
time, when, in i860, he came to Cincinnati, where he
was employed in the Jackson brewery for some twelve
and a half years, and also worked in other leading brew-
eries of the city. February 14th he was made foreman of
the Bellevue brewery, which position he is filling very
satisfactorily.
Albert Carry, foreman of the Dayton Street brewery,
is a native of Germany. At the age of fourteen he be-
gan to learn the brewer's trade, which he followed while
in Germany. In 1869 he came to the United States,
and went to Jersey City, where he worked as a brewer
some two years. In 1871 Mr. Carry came to Cincin-
nati, and began work in the Western brewery. The last
two and a half years of his stay at this brewery he was
foreman, but left to take the foremanship of the Dayton
Street brewery. He is recognized as one of the best
posted brewers in the city.
Lewis Mark, "foreman of J. C. Sohn & Co.'s brewery,
was born in Germany January 2, 1834, where, at the age
of fourteen he began to learn the brewer's trade. In
1854 he landed in New York city, and for three years
wor' " ' • - '■-■■■-.--■-■--■"- -■'■- ="""--■• -■
;8 he came to
Cincinnati, and accepted a position at J. C. Sohn & Co.'s
brewery. At the outbreak of the late civil war, he en-
listed in company A, Ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, and
served bravely and efficiently for three years, participa-
ting in all the engagements and marches of that regi-
ment. He was mustered out as orderly sergeant, and
returned to his old position in the same brewery, where
he has since remained. He is the oldest foreman and
one of the best brewers in the city.
William Gerst, foreman of the Elm Street brewery,
was born in Germany, and at the age of sixteen began
to learn the cooper's trade. His father and brother are
both in the brewing business in Germany. In 1866 he
left the old country, and came by way of New York city
direct to Cincinnati, where he worked in several of the
leading breweries before securing his present position.
Mr. Gerst made a visit to the leading breweries of the
old country, and has gained a wide experience that makes
him a leading man in the business.
Andrew Wollenberger, foreman of the Jackson brew-
ery, was born in Germany, where he began to learn his
trade as a brewer at the age of fourteen years. In 1868
he left his native land and came by way of New York
city direct to Cincinnati, where he began work in the
Jackson brewery. After being employed there for two
years, he worked in other breweries in the city, being
foreman of one of them for two years and a half. In
1880 he returned to the Jackson brewery as foreman,
and has given entire satisfaction to his employer, as well
as won the respect of the men under his charge.
Mrs. R. B. Herancourt was born in Germany, and is
the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Harch, who, with
a large family, came to America and located in Cincin-
nati in 1832. Soon after their arrival they were taken
sick with that dreadful disease, cholera, and out of the
family of ten persons, seven died, including father,
brother and five sisters. They were buried near where
the Music hall is now .located. In 1843 Mrs. Heran-
court was married to the late G. M. Herancourt, one of
the pioneer brewers of the city. He carried on a suc-
cessful business until 1880, when he died, respected and
honored, leaving a wife and nine children to mourn his
loss.
Mrs. Margaret (Becker) Wust was born in Germany
and came to Cincinnati in 1842, and is the wife of the
late Jacob Wust, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, in
1 81 7. He learned his trade as a stocking weaver in Ger-
many. In 1840 he came to America and located in Cin-
cinnati. He then went to work at day labor. In 1843
he went to work for his brother, and in 1845 he entered
business for himself in the manufacturing of woollen
hosiery, which business he was very successful in and
continued up to his death, which occurred September 6,
1878. Thus passed away one of the city's honored and
respected pioneer manufacturers. He had been located
in the building now occupied by his sons since 1847. He
was married in 1 845 to Miss Margaret Becker, and at his
death left a wife and seven children to mourn his loss.
The manufacturing of wollen hosiery is carried on by
the sons, who are very industrious and doing a very sue-
522
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ing, where he managed well, and at the end of two years
employed sixteen hands. In 1873 he put up the present
building, which has a frontage of eighty feet, is three
stories high, the main building extending back forty feet,
with a wing extending one hundred feet. The tannery is
built with all modern improvements — seventy vats, and
thirty-six horse-power engine. Mr. Haffner has been
very successful in the tannery business, his trade extend-
ing to a number of States, and he carries the largest stock
of leather around the city.
Jacob Huebscher, tanner, is one among the enterpris-
ing business men of Camp Washington. He is a native
of France, coming to Cincinnati in 1870. He went to
Boston and learned the trade of currier and tanner, re-
maining there about two years, when he returned to Cin-
cinnati and embarked in business for himself, first locat-
ing at No. 393 Colerain avenue, where he worked alone.
Mr. Huebscher has, by his hard work and good manage-
ment, gradually improved in business, until he now has a
room thirty-three by seventy feet, and employs two men,
finishing as high as one hundred and fifty hides per
month. His trade is principally in the city, where he is
meeting with ready sales of his manufactured stock of
harness and shoe leather.
William Weihe, grocer, was born in Germany February
6, 1 82 1, and came to America, landing at Quebec, com-
ing to Cincinnati by way of Sandusky, locating at Camp
Washington June 26, 1847, and he has made it his home
here since, being one of the oldest pioneers of the place.
He started in the dairy business, which he carried on
about eleven years, and then engaged in dealing in wood.
In 1865 he started in his present business, and has con-
tinued in it since. He now resides in what was known at
one time as the Camp Washington House, an old hotel,
and one of the old land marks in this vicinity. Mr.
Weihe was married in Germany to Miss Ernestine
Munstd, by whom he has had four children.
William Bolia, florist, was born in Baden, Germany,
January 10, 1843. At fourteen years of age he com-
menced to learn the florist business at Lahr, Baden
where he remained until 1864, when he came to America,'
and was for a short time in the florist business in Newark,
New Jersey. In 1865 he came to Cincinnati, and was
engaged in different places in Clifton and suburbs. In
1877 Mr. Bolia commenced his present business, and
now owns four hot-hou'ses — two ten by sixty and two six-
teen by sixty. His business is very good, and he keeps
his plants in first-class order. He is recognized as keep-
ing one of the neatest places in the city, and employs
two hands.
Albert Wetterstrome, druggist, was born in Jackson
county, Indiana, in 1854, and came to Cincinnati in
1863 or 1864. Here he was engaged. as a clerk in a
drug store for about five years, receiving a practical edu-
cation in the compounding of medicines. In 1876 Mr.
Wetterstrome came to Mount Washington and com-
menced in the drug business for himself, since which
time he has built up a very valuable trade. He now owns
the oldest drug store in Camp Washington. He gradua-
ted from the Cincinnati College of Pharmaceutists in 1876.
John A. Andrews, druggist, was born in Cincinnati,
August 23, 1846, and is the son of Jacob Andrews, who
came to the city about the year 1830; his mother is still
living at the age of seventy-four years. Our subject is a
thorough, practical prescription and drug clerk. He grad-
uated from the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy on Septem-
ber 17, 1873. He came to Camp Washington in 1869,
and immediately started in the drug business, which he
continued Tor five years, when he sold out his business.
In 1878 he returned to Camp Washington and again
started in the drug business, and now owns one of the
neatest drug stores in the vicinity and is doing a good
business.
Charles Boch is one of the oldest settlers of Camp
Washington now living. He was born in Frankfort on
the Main, Germany, August 2, 1826, and came to the
United States, landing in New York city, in 1845. He
remained in that city one year, and came thence direct
to Cincinnati. In 1854 Mr. Boch moved to Camp
Washington, which has been his home ever since. Here
he began the feed business, which he is still carrying one
very successfully. He was married in Cincinnati in 1850
to Miss Margaret Miller, by whom he has seven children.
Mr. Boch has taken a very active part in the improve-
ment and advancement of Camp Washington.
John Hessler, merchant, is one of the highly respected
pioneer business men of Camp Washington. He was
bora in Bavaria, Germany, in 1826, and came to the
United States, landing in New York, in 1847, and thence
direct to Cincinnati. He is a blacksmith by trade, which
he had learned in Germany. On arriving in Cincinnati
he went to work at his trade, receiving for his services
eight dollars per month. In 1853 Mr. Hessler came to
Camp Washington and started the first blacksmith-shop
in the place. He continued at this business until 1865,
when he entered his present business. He was married
in 1847 t0 Sophia Seiss, a native of Germany, by whom
he has four children.
C. F. Schock was born in Wedenburg, Germany, June
26, 1833, and came to the United States in 1854. He
came direct from New York, where he had landed, to
Cincinnati, arriving here in March, of the same year.
Here he began to work at his trade as a baker, which he
had learned in Germany, continuing at this occupation
for a number of years. In 1873 Mr- Schock came to
Camp Washington, where he is now carrying on the con-
fectionery business, and has acquired a good trade. In
187 1 he erected the business block which he now occu-
pies, and is one of the finest buildings in the town.
John H. Hopf, hardware merchant, was born in Prus-
sia, June 11, 1838. He learned the tinner's trade in the
old country. In 1861 he came to the United States,
landing in Baltimore, and coming direct to Cincinnati.
He soon after enlisted in the First Ohio artillery, in
battery I, where he served as a faithful soldier during the
late civil war, participating in all the battles and marches
that his company was engaged in, and at the expiration
of his time of service returned to Cincinnati. In 1865
he moved on a farm where he remained until 1870, when
he came to Camp Washington, returning to the farm in
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
527
railroad for some three years. In 1876 he commenced
his present business, which he has continued ever since.
Mr. Sedler was married, in Cincinnati, to Miss Caroline
Lammot, of Hamilton county, Ohio, by whom he has
had three children.
John Zeiser, proprietor of Zeiser's garden and saloon,
was born in Cincinnati in 1847, and is the son of Leon-
ard Zeiser, who came to Cincinnati as early as 1847. He
was a stone-mason by trade, being a large contractor and
employing a number of working men. He entered the
saloon business and opened Zeiser's garden, which he
continued up to his death, which occurred in 1878. He
was a man honored and respected, being a member of
the German Pioneer association. H.e left a valuable
property, which he had accumulated by hard work and
good management.
John Eiser, wholesale liquor dealer, was born in Ba-
den, Germany, October 15, 1831 ; came to Cincinnati
April 27, 1855. Mr. Eiser is a cooper by trade, which
business he continued in until 1868, when he started in
his present business, and is one of the oldest in his vicin-
ity. He is meeting with very good su'ccess in his present
business. He was married, in Cincinnati, to Miss Mary
Ann Tucbfarber.
Fritz Engelke, baker, was born in Hanover, Germany,
in 1827, and came to the United States in 1853, landing
in New York city, where he remained three months, and
then came to Cincinnati, where he commenced at his
trade as a baker, having learned the trade at fourteen
years of age in Germany. He has worked at his trade
since, having been located in his present place of busi-
ness since 1867. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss
Henrietta Krueger. They have two children living — a
son and daughter. The son is working in the baker shop.
A. Dieterle, saloon-keeper, was born in Germany in
1831, and came to America in 1852, landing in New
York, thence to Cincinnati, arriving here in June of the
same year. He went to work on a farm near Cincinnati,
and in 1858 he started in his present business, which he
has continued in since, being very successful. In 1862 he
built his present place of business, where he has been lo-
cated since. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Cath-
arine Lehrer, of Germany, and they have three children
living.
John Schnell was born in Baden, Germany, January 13,
1823, and came to the United States in 1839, landing in
New Orleans, then removed to Indiana, where he re-
mained eighteen months, when he went as a carpenter on
a steamboat, at which he continued for a number of
years, when he came to Cincinnati, and was elected con-
stable, which office he filled with honor and credit for
eighteen years. He was also school trustee three years,
supervisor of Storrs township two years, and assessor one
year. He was in the wholesale liquor business, which he
carried on for several years. He was one of the first
members of the German Pioneer association, of which he
has filled the office of vice-president. He married Mary
Hoffer, who has since died, and then married Mary Gey-
man. They have five children living.
Arnold Guenich, foreman of malt house, was born in
Germany, and at seventeen years of age he commenced
to learn the beer-brewer's trade. He remained in his na-
tive country until he was thirty-three years of age, during
which time he worked in some of the leading breweries
of Vienna and Berlin. In 1866 he came to America,
and worked for a short period in the cities of Milwaukee,
Syracuse, and Indianapolis, and, with these exceptions,
Mr. Guenich has spent the most of his time working in
the leading breweries of Cincinnati. At one time he op-
erated several saloons. In 1880 he engaged with his
present employers. He is a hard worker, and is one of
best posted brewers in the city.
Henry Schnabel, brick manufacturer, was born in Ger-
many, June 4, 1817, and came to Cincinnati January 1,
1853, with only five dollars in money. He went to work
chopping wood ; worked on a farm in Kentucky about
eleven years, and returned here in 1866, when he com-
menced brick manufacturing in Goosetown, where he re-
mained about one year, and then removed to his present
place, where he manufactures about six hundred thousand
bricks per year. He has furnished brick for building
some of the public schools. Mr. Schnabel has been very
successful in his business, and he owns some very valua-
ble property. He married Catharine Hess, who was
born in Germany in 182 1. By this marriage they have
five children living.
Joseph Arszmann, mineral water manufacturer, was
born in Germany, and located in Cincinnati in 1853,
which has ever since been his home, with the exception
of ten years in Shelbyville, Indiana, where he was suc-
cessfully engaged in the mineral water business. In
1878 he returned to Cincinnati, where he has since re-
mained. He manufactures as high as three hundred
dozens of bottles in one day, and in busy seasons he
employs three hands. He has a two-horse delivery
wagon, and all. the latest improvements in the manufac-
ture of seltzer and mineral water.
Mrs. Anna Krusel, grocer on State avenue, is the
relict of the late John H. Krusel, who was born in Ger-
many and in 1864 came to Cincinnati. Here he began
work in a brick-yard by the day. By hard work he man-
aged to save a little money, and in 1873 commenced
making brick himself, in which he was very successful,
averaging six hundred thousand brick a year, and mak-
ing in his last year twelve hundred thousand brick. In
187 1 he started a grocery, which also succeeded, his
wife principally attending to it. He died June 28, 1880,
aged thirty-nine years nine months and one day. He
was honored and respected for his honesty and upright-
ness, and left a good estate to his wife and family.
Henry Ihorst, brick manufacturer, was born in Ger-
many and came to Cincinnati in 1866, where he com-
menced work in a brick-yard by the day. In 1873 he
commenced to manufacture brick himself in the Twen-
ty-second ward. Here he employs five hands and man-
ufactures six hundred thousand brick a year. He has
been very successful, meeting with ready sales.
Adam Krug, furniture manufacturer, was born in Ger-
many in 1824, and in 1834 came to Cincinnati, where
he secured work as a gardener. For several years he
5*4
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
since in his present business. Mr. Hoffmeister has held
several offices of public trust, was trustee of Mill Creek
township for three years, was clerk of the school board
and treasurer of the same for fourteen years ; was assist-
ant assessor of the United States internal revenue for two
years. These offices he filled with honor and credit.
He was married in Cincinnati to Anna Margaret Biegler,
of Germany. They have ten children. He is a member
of the German Protestant church.
Michael Gries, butcher, residing in Lick Run, was born
in Baden, Germany, February 5, 1826. He came to
America and landed in New York city in 1847. He
worked at the butcher business in Baltimore, Washington
and Pittsburgh. In the fall of 1848 Mr. Gries came to
Cincinnati in poor circumstances, in fact five dollars in
debt. He went to work by the day in the slaughter-
house. In 1849 ne moved to Lick Run, a place then
very thinly settled. Here our subject began the butcher
business for himself in a small way. Since then, with
hard work and good management, he has built up a very
profitable business, and is one of the most successful
butchers of Cincinnati. He has erected a very conveni-
ent slaughter- and packing-house in Lick Run. He em-
ploys five men. Mr. Gries was married in Cincinnati.
He has four children living. He is an active member of
the Catholic church.
John Ridder, butcher, residing in Lick Run, was born
in Prussia, Germany, February 26, 1845. He came to the
United States, and landed in New York in 1868, coming
direct to Cincinnati, where he commenced the butcher
business. In 1869 he moved to Lick Run, and is now
doing a leading business in his line, carrying on a whole-
sale business, employing five men. Mr. Ridder was
married in Cincinnati to Lizzie Tense, who died. He
was married to Aggie Roter, and they have now five
children.
H. W. Schorfheide, grocer, resident of Lick Run,
was born in Germany July 3, 1824. He landed in
Baltimore in 1850, and from thence came to Cincinnati.
Here he started the dairy business, and in 1854 he moved
to Lick Run, continuing in the dairy business until about
1866 when he entered the grocery business, being among
the oldest merchants in this vicinity. He was married
in 1852 to Miss Mary Ann, his present wife. She is a
native of Germany, and came to Cincinnati about 1841.
Frederick Gaefe, bristle manufacturer, residence in
Lick Run, was born in Hanover, Germany, March 23,
1827. Came to the United States, landing in New York
city in 1849; thence to Rochester, thence to Ohio, where
he worked as a day laborer until 1852 when he came to
Cincinnati. He soon after commenced to work in Bul-
lock's hair manufactory, driving a team. From this he
was appointed as superintendent, remaining in the em-
ploy of this house for about twenty years. In 1874 Mr.
Gaefe commenced business for himself, in a small way,
in Lick Run. By his enterprise and good management
he is gradually increasing his business, building up a
very profitable trade. He employes nine men in his
manufactory, turning out work not excelled. Mr. Gaefe
moved to Lick Run in 1853 and is now one of its oldest
settlers. He was married in Cincinnati in 1856 to Miss
Wilhelmina Huster, of Germany. She came to America
in 1850. They have six children. Mr. Gaefe is a mem-
ber of the Protestant church. He was elected a mem-
ber of the school board, filling that office with acknowl-
edged ability.
John A. Staab, retired, of Lick Run, was born in Ba-
varia, Germany, February 10, 1816, and came to America
in 1847, thence to Cincinnati, arriving here August 25,
1847. He came here in poor circumstances and went
to work as a laborer. In i860 he had accumulated a
little money and started a business, which he continued
until 1877, being very successful. Mr. Staab worked for
some thirteen years in the hair factory in Lick Run.
In 1848 he married Anna M. Metzer, a native of Ger-
many, by whom he has one child. After her death he
married his present wife, in i860, Mary A. Harris, of
London, England. Mr. Staab has been a resident of
Lick Run since 1851, being among the oldest living.
He is a member of the German Pioneer society.
Barny Freckers, grocer, Barrsville, was born in Ger-
many July 10, 1823. He came to America, landing in
New York city in 1851; coming direct to Cincinnati, ar-
riving here July 12th of the same year. Coming here in
meagre circumstances he worked at day's labor; he soon
after commenced in the dairy business in Cincinnati,
thence moved to Barrsville, commencing here in the
dairy business with some eighteen cows, His business
gradually increased by his good management until he
owned- as high as fifty head of cows, doing a good busi-
ness in the dairy trade. In 1874 Mr. Freckers started
in the grocery business — the first to start in Barrsville.
He married Miss Anna Morrien, of Germany. She
came to Cincinnati in 1849. They have one child. Mr.
Freckers is an active member of the Catholic church.
Henry Brune, dairyman, of Barrsville, was born in
Oldenburg, Germany, February 21, 1838; came to the
United States, landing in Baltimore in 1858, thence to
Cincinnati. Here he began to work as a laborer. He
soon after entered the dairy business, which he has now
been in for the last eighteen years, being one of the first
dairymen to locate in Barrsville. He commenced busi-
ness with twenty-five cows ; now owns forty and is doing
a good, profitable trade. His stables and dairy busi-
ness are kept in the best of order, employing four hands.
He was married in Cincinnati in 1862 to Elizabeth
Hunighake, by whom he has four children.
Henry Menke, dairyman, a resident of Barrsville,
was born in Germany February 9, 1839; came to the
United States and landed in New Orleans in 1857,
coming directly to Cincinnati. Arriving here December
of the same year, he went to work in a furniture factory;
thence in 1865 he entered the dairy business, commenc-
ing with twenty-one cows. He now owns a first-class
dairy with forty cows, employing two hands. He was
married in 1865 in Cincinnati, to Miss Kate Witerede, of
Germany. By this marriage they have three children.
Henry Rakers, retired, resident of Barrsville, was born
in Germany March 9, 18 19, and in 1845 came to the
United States and landed in New Orleans, thence to Cin-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
529
five thousand barrels of beer, finding sale for it princi-
pally in the city. Mr. August Froelking entered the
partnership in 1879. He has for a number of years been
one of Cincinnati's prominent merchants.
M. Butz, foreman of Walker's brewery, is a native of
Germany, and at the age of fifteen he began to learn his
trade as a brewer, following the business in his native
country until 1866. He came to America and landed
in New York city, thence to Ohio, and worked in several
places in Morrow and Lancaster until 1869, when he
came to Cincinnati, where he worked in one of the
leading breweries for some twelve months, when he re-
turned to Lancaster, Ohio, remaining there about one
year, and than returned to Cincinnati. Since then he
has worked in the leading breweries of this city. He
also worked a short time in Louisville, Kentucky. In
1879 he connected himself with the present brewery, and
to-day is its honored foreman, where he is giving the
best of satisfaction, and has the good will of the men
under his charge.
August Forn, foreman of the Gambrinus Stock Com-
pany brewery, is a native of Germany. When he was
near sixteen years of age he began to learn his trade as
a brewer, which business he has followed ever since. In
1869 he came to America and landed in New York city,
and thence to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked
in the brewery business a short time, and then went to
Lexington, Missouri. From Lexington he came to Cin-
cinnati, working here in the brewery business several
years. He then went to Lafayette, Indiana, remaining
there some fifteen months, when he returned to Cincin-
nati, and soon after entered the employ of the Gam-
brinus Stock company, and since 1876 he has been the
foreman of this establishment, which position he is fill-
ing with acknowledged ability.
Jacob Muth, foreman of the Schmidt & Brother
brewery, is a native of Germany, and at sixteen years of
age began to learn the brewery business. In i860 he
came to the United States, and his first work was in a
brewery in Covington, Kentucky. Remaining there
several months he came to Cincinnati and soon after
worked in Herancourt's brewery, where he remained for
some twelve years altogether. Afterwards he entered
into the brewery business for himself in Crawfordsville,
Indiana, where he remained for some three years. Re-
turning to Cincinnati he entered the brewery trade, and
soon after came to the present brewery, where he was
made its foreman, which position he is now filling with
satisfaction to all.
Adolph Speidle, foreman of Lackman's brewery, is a
native of Germany, where he, at sixteen years of age,
began to learn his trade as a brewer. In 1864 he came
to the United States, settling in Cincinnati, and entered
the employ of one of the large breweries, where he
worked some nine months, and then to J. C. Sohn &
Co.'s brewery, remaining in their employ over five years,
when he entered the Klotter Sons' brewery, where he re-
mained for some eleven years, the last few years filling
the position of foreman of that establishment. In 1881
he took charge of Lackman's brewery as foreman, where
67
he is giving the best of satisfaction, being recognized as
a practical and a first-class brewerman.
I. Grimm, manufacturer of malt-kilns and all kinds of
iron work; brewers' iron work a specialty. He com.
menced to work at his trade in Cincinnati in 1866; since
then, by hard work and good management, in 1873 en-
tered business for himself; and he now employs ten men,
doing a leading business. He has done work for the
most of the breweries of Cincinnati, and always gives the
best of satisfaction both in price and quality of work.
Mr. Grimm has furnished work for brewers in different
cities of the country : Dayton, Hamilton, Atlanta, Louis-
ville, Frankfort and other cities.
Christopher Liebel, foreman of C. Windish Muhlhauser
& Bro.'s brewery, was born in Bavaria, Germany, where
he, at sixteen years of age, hegan to learn his trade as a
brewer. In 1868 he came to the United States and
landed in New York city, thence directly to Cincinnati
and entered the employ of the Lion brewery from there.
He worked in the western brewery and then returned to
the Lion brewery, and for three years was foreman in the
malt cellar; from this he was made foreman of the
brewery, where he has given the best of satisfaction, gain-
ing the respect of the men under his employ, and is con-
sidered one of the leading foremen of the breweries.
John Daller, retired jewelryman, was born in Germany
on the fourth of November, 1814, came to the United
States and landed in New Orleans in 1838, thence to
Cincinnati, Ohio. Arriving here in February of the same
year, he began the watch-making business, being the first
regular watch-maker to locate in Cincinnati. He com-
menced business on Vine street, opposite the place now
carried on by his son. Here he remained for some four
years, when he moved to the old stand, where he re-
mained in active business up to 1865, when he retired;
the business has been carried on by his son, Joseph, in
a profitable way. Mr. Daller was married in Cincinnati,
to Theresa Kiehl, of Germany; by the union they have
two children. Mr. Daller has resided in Dayton, Ken-
tucky, since 1878, but he spent a portion of his time with
his son on Vine street.
A. Weizeneker, business, grocer, on Vine street, was
born in Baden, Germany, February 10, 18 19; learned his
trade as a tailor. In 1838 he came to America and
landed in New Orleans, thence to St. Louis, Missouri,
where he remained until 1842, when he came to Cin-
cinnati and commenced to work at his trade in the tailor-
ing and clothing store on Broadway, where he continued
in business for some five years, when he moved to Vine
street and entered the dry goods business which he con-
tinued for a number of years; then entered his present
business which has continued since. Mr. Weizeneker was
married in St. Louis to Miss Salma Lawrence, by whom
he has had six children.
J. H. Licht, manufacturer of pipes, was born in Bavaria,
Germany, December 9, 1807; came to the United States
and landed in New York city in 1838, thence to George-
town, Ohio, where he remained a short time and then
came to Cincinnati in 1838, where he has been engaged
in working at his trade as a turner in fancy articles. He
526
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
cessful business. They employ eighteen hands in their
business.
Rev. William Daly, pastor of the Catholic church, was
born in Roscommon, Ireland, June, 1841. He came to
the United States and located in Cincinnati in 185 1. He
graduated from Mt. St. Mary's college in 1870. After
being ordained as minister he was located at Oxford at
St. Mary's church. Some two years ago he took charge
of his present congregation, where he has remained since,
being a very active worker.
Jacob Frey, Vine street, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany, November 15, 1799. At thirteen years of age
he began to learn his trade as a tailor, working at his
trade in Germany until 1833. Mr. Frey was married in
Germany, November 30, 1830, to Miss Johanna Henri-
etta C. Haffly. She was born in Baden, Germany, Feb-
ruary 27, 181 1. In 1833 he, with his wife and three
children, sailed for America, landing in New Orleans in
May, after being on the trip from Bremen to New Or-
leans fifty-six days. They then came direct to Cincin-
nati. Finding no work at his trade, he went to work
here as a laborer on the canal, where he worked some
three weeks, when he went to work at his trade, tailoring,
which he continued up to 1849. He then entered the
book and newspaper business, being agent for the Volks-
blatt newspaper until 1877, when he retired, his son now
filling that position. Mr. Frey is one of the organizers
of the old tailor's association, which was organized in
1843, ne being one of its honored presidents. By their
marriage they have had fourteen children, of whom seven
are living.
John B. Ahlers, Central avenue, was born in Olden-
burg, Germany, January 9, 1809. He came to the
United States and landed in New York city in 1835;
then came to Cincinnati, arriving here August 9, 1835.
Here he went to work at day labor. He also, for a while,
worked in Natchez, Mississippi. Returning to Cincin-
nati he, in about 1845, began keeping a grocery on the
southeast corner of Liberty street and Central avenue,
one of the first to start in the grocery business in this
neighborhood, then very thinly settled. Here he con-
tinued in. business for about eight years. He made a trip
to Germany, and after returning he moved on a farm on
Colerain pike. Here he remained some eight years, en-
gaged in farming, when he retired to his present home,
where he has remained since. Mr. Ahlers has made
three trips to his native country, where he spent some
two and a half years visiting friends and relatives. He
has been married twice, and has had the sad misfortune
of losing both wives. His last wife died some eight
years ago. He has two children living — one by his
first wife and one by the second.
Charles Hess, baker, was born in Baden, Germany,
learning his trade as a baker. In 1857 he came to the
United States, locating at Cincinnati, working at his trade
a short time, He then went west, seeking gold, visiting
Pike's Peak. Remaining west one and a half years, he
returned to Cincinnati. He entered the service of the
Ninety-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry as baker, where he
served for some three years. At the close of the war
Mr. Hess returned to Cincinnati. Here he worked at
odd jobs until 1866, when he established his present
business, being one of the first bakers to locate in this
vicinity. Here, by hard work and good management,
Mr. Hess has been successful and won a host of friends.
He was made alderman of his ward in 1880, which office
he is now filling with entire satisfaction. He was married
in Cincinnati to Miss Minnie Peters, of Germany. By
this union they have five children.
Wendel Gruesser, saloon-keeper, was born in Germany,
March 3, 1825, and in 1848 sailed for America, landing
in New York city on the eleventh day of October of the
same year, and in November located in Cincinnati. He
is a machinist by trade, which he learned in Germany.
Not finding anything to do at his trade, he went to work
as a laborer on the canal. He then found work repair-
ing musical instruments, for which he was swindled out
of his wages. He soon after went to work in the Fulton
locomotive works, arid thence to Cleveland, Ohio. He
worked on a farm in different places; also in a saw-
mill on Licking river. He went south, seeking work in
Woodville, Mississippi; New Orleans, Algers, Carroll-
ton, but finding work for a short time. He then went to
steamboating on the Mississippi. In 1851 he returned
to Cincinnati, and worked at his trade, which he con-
tinued up to 1858, when he removed to Tell City, In-
diana, being one of the pioneers of that place. He, in
company with others, entered the saw-mill business,
which not being successful he returned to Cincinnati.
In 1861 he entered his present business, which he has
continued ever since. He was married, in 1853, to Miss
Mary Kaemmerling, of Germany, and has two children
living. Mr. Gruesser is" a member of the German
Pioneer association.
Mrs. Mary Engle, is the wife of the late David Engle,
who was born in Baden, Germany, in 1827, and at seven
years of age came to America and landed in New
York city, coming direct to Cincinnati, his home un-
til his death, which occurred in 1879. He worked on a
farm near Cincinnati burning charcoal, which he would
bring to Cincinnati by the wagon load and peddle to
customers. He then went to work gardening. In 1853
he married Mary Klunz, of Germany, who came to Cin-
cinnati in 1849. After he married he began keeping
a saloon and boarding-house. He soon after embarked
in the mineral water manufacturing business. In each
line of business he was very successful. He had accu-
mulated a good property, which he left to his wife and
family. Mr. Engle was one of the honored members of
the German Pioneer association. The business is carried
on by the sons, David having charge of the mineral water
department, and Chris the saloon. John is attending
school.
William Sedler, saloon-keeper, was born in Germany,
May 18, 1836. He came to the United States, and
landed in New York city in 1846, coming direct to Cin-
cinnati, arriving here about June of the same year. He
went to work as a laborer, working at different places.
He carried on the fish business for some fourteen years.
He was also a fireman on the Pittsburgh & Marietta
APPENDIX.
The following addition to the chapter on Religion was
received too late for insertion in its proper place :
The Catholic churches of the Mill Creek valley, form-
erly in Mill Creek township, but now within the city
limits, are: St. Boniface, of Cumminisville, which was
built by the Franciscan Fathers of Vine and Liberty, the
Reverend G. Topmoeller having now been in charge for
a period of about ten years. It has a large congregation,
and also a large parochial school. St. Patrick's, of Cum-
minisville, the church building having been erected by
Rev. D. B. Walker, the present pastor being the Reverend
P. Mazurett. The Sacred Heart of Jesus, at Camp Wash-
ington, was built by Rev. H. Kemper, the present pastor
being the Rev. Henry Paul.
The following notices were received too late for inser-
tion in their proper place in the chapter on Education :
HISTORY OF THE SIXTH DISTRICT SCHOOL.
This school is located in the northern part of the city,
about a block and a half north of Music hall, at the
intersection of Elm and Adams streets.
The school-lot, which has a frontage of ninety feet on.
Elm street and a depth of one hundred and ninety-eight
feet on Adams street, cost fourteen thousand dollars.
The school-house was erected during the years 1855-56.
It is a very substantial and fine-looking brick edifice, four
and a half stories high, and contains twenty-four rooms,
which have a capacity for seating one thousand four
hundred and forty-two pupils. The original cost of
erection, including also that of a subsequent remodelling,
was thirty-six* thousand three hundred and forty-eight
dollars.
The present school was organized out of the surplus
pupils of the adjacent districts — the Tenth, the Eleventh,
and the Thirteenth, and went into operation on January
5, 1857. It numbered at that time about one thousand
pupils.
The present boundaries of the district are as follows:
the west side of Vine street on the east, the east side of
John street on the west, the south sides of Green and
Liberty streets on the north, and the north sides of
Fifteenth, Fourteenth, Ann, and Betts streets.
The first principal of the school was Mason D. Parker,
who was transferred to the position from a similar one in
the Tenth district. He continued in charge of the school
until the beginning of the school-year 1858, when he was
transferred to the principalship of the Second intermediate
schools, and his position in the Sixth district was filled by
the appointment of William E. Crosby. The latter re-
mained in charge of the school until October, 1865,
when he was transferred to the First intermediate school
as principal; and N. K. Royse succeeded to the position
thus vacated. This completes the list of administrative
changes experienced by the school, the last-named prin-
cipal being in charge at the present writing.
ST. XAVIER COLLEGE.
St. Xavier grew out of an institution founded in 1831
by the first bishop of Cincinnati, the Right Rev. E. D.
Fenwick, and named by him the Athenaeum. At the
time of its transfer to the Society of Jesus, the Athenaeum
was half college, half seminary, the seminarians assisting
in the care and instruction of the other pupils. The in-
stitution had, during the nine years of its existence, been
only partially successful, and it was the earnest hope
of friends and patrons that the putting of it into the
hands of the Jesuits would establish it on a firmer basis
and give it new life and vigor. If we may credit the
city journals of the period, their hopes were from the out-
set realized to the full.
It was in 1840 that Archbishop Purcell addressed his
invitation to the fathers of the Society of Jesus to come
to Cincinnati. They eagerly responded to the call, and
Rev. J. A. Elet, with six companions, made up the first
deputation. The earliest care of the new faculty was to
have the institution incorporated by the general assembly
of the State of Ohio. The Athenaeum then became St.
Xavier college, and the Rev. Father John Elet was ap-
pointed its first president.
We cannot hope to interest the public with the details
of St. Xavier's, and we will, therefore, be contented with
its very general outlines. Few institutions of forty years'
standing will truthfully boast a career of unmingled pros-
perity. It is safe to say that St. Xavier has met with a large
measure of success. Its beginnings, as we have stated, were
eminently auspicious. At the close of the sixth year of
its existence its catalogue counted two hundred and sev-
enty students. The number was at that period made up
both of boarders and day scholars. Later, about the
year 1853, after the presidency of Rev. George Carrel,
S. J., and his elevation to the episcopate as first bishop
of Covington, the college ceased to receive boarders.
The decade following was a period of some gloom in
the history of the institution, noticeable in a sensible de-
cline in the number of students. Scarcity of funds, too,
operated as an obstacle to greater capabilities and useful-
ness— for it must be borne in mind that no State aid has
ever been given St. Xavier's, and that it has depended
almost entirely on the tuition fees received from its schol-
ars. However, the college bore up bravely through all
adverse circumstances, and from 1866 onward has wit-
nessed some of its palmiest days. In that year was
5^8
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
resided in Mercer and Chillicothe counties. In 1879
he started his present business, and in 1880 moved to
his present location, which is very extensive, and gives
employment to eight men. He confines himself princi-
pally to the manufacture of tables. His son, C. J. Krug,
though a plumber by trade, has gone into partnership
with his father, and makes the greater part of the pat-
terns for the tables, which are handsome and substantial.
His art in painting and ornamental work is of the finest
quality. Adam Krug married Miss Barbara Zetelmire, a
native of Germany.
William Oberhellmann, brick manufacturer, was born
in Germany in 1823, and coming to the United States,
landed in Baltimore April 1, 1846. He went to Phila-
delphia, and in 1847 came to Cincinnati, where he be-
gan work as a day laborer. In 1853 he invested his
earnings in a brick yard, and is to-day one of the oldest
brick manufacturers around the city, and by industry
and good management has made his business a success.
He is a member of the German Pioneer association.
Adam Mangold, grocer, is one of the most successful
business men in this vicinity. He was born in Hessen,
Germany, June 2, 1826. He learned his trade as a
cooper and beer brewer on Frankfort-on-the-Main. In
1848 he sailed for America, and landed in New York
city November 15, 1848, then came direct to Cincinnati,
arriving here November 22, 1848. He entered a Main
street brewery and worked at his trade some three years,
when he entered the produce business, which he con-
tinued about four years. He then entered his present
business, in which he has been very successful. It may
here be stated that Mr. Mangold came to Cincinnati with
two five franc pieces, being all the money he had. He,
by his industry and good management, has accumulated
a large estate. He was married in Cincinnati, September
24, 1854, to Margaret Zittel. She was born in Bavaria,
Germany, Junuary 9, 1834. She came to the United
States in 1848, locating in Illinois, thence went lo Cin-
cinnati. By this marriage they have five children.
Christ Kentner, foreman of Elsas & Pritz's tannery, was
born in Germany in 1840. He came to Cincinnati in
1859. In 1865 Mr. Kentner entered the employ of
Elsas & Pritz, and he gradually grew up in the tannery
business, so that in 1873 he was made foreman, which
position he has filled with satisfaction to his employers,
and gained the respect of the men under his manage-
ment.
John Peter Blaeszer, saloon-keeper, Twenty-fourth ward.
The subject of this sketch was born in Germany, January
30, 1820, and came to the United States and landed in
Baltimore in 1849, thence direct to Cincinnati, arriving
here in June, the same year. Coming here in meagre
circumstances, he worked in stone quarries, and in
slaughter-houses in the winter, continuing for a number
of years at this business, after which he entered the
saloon, which has been his business since. He moved to
his present place in 1859, near Hearencourt's brewery,
living in the vicinity ever since. In 1852 Mr. Blaeszer
was married in Cincinnati to Miss Rosa Baldus. She is
a native of Germany, having come to Cincinnati in 1851.
By this marriage they have three children living. He is
a member of the German Pioneer association and of the
Catholic church.
L. Schreiber, of L. Schreiber & Sons, building and
brewers' iron works, manufacturers of iron fronts, iron
stairs, etc., was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 24, 1828,
learning the machinist trade in Germany. In 1849 he
sailed for America, landed in New York city, and then
came direct to Cincinnati. He began to manufacture
surgical and dental instruments, which business he fol-
lowed very successfully for a number of years. About
1861 he began in his present business in a meagre way,
but since then his business, by his good management,
has increased wonderfully. He is now doing the larg-
est amount of work in his line in the city. He is
located on Walnut street, which has a fifty foot front and
two hundred feet deep. He is employing as high as
sixty hands, doing work for all parts of the Union — for
the leading brewers of Cincinnati and other large cities
as far south as Texas and as far north as Chicago, and
east New York. Messrs. Schreiber & Sons are now put-
ting up new additions to their business, and when fin-
ished, will be the most complete foundry of the kind in
the west. Mr. Schreiber was at an early day engaged
also in manufacturing fencing-swords, of which art he was
one of the best. He has been a member of the Turners
for the last thirty-one years.
George P. Bihn, potter, McMicken avenue, was born
in Cincinnati, and is the son of the late Andrew Bihn,
who was born in Germany, where he learned his trade as
a potter, and about 1843 came to Cincinnati and estab-
lished in business in 1844, near where the Jackson
brewery is now located. He continued in business until
about 1854, when he commenced the pottery "business
now carried on by his son, and continued it up till the
time of his death, which occurred May 23, 1875, in his
sixty-first year. He was, perhaps, at his death, the old-
est potter in the city. He was an industrious and honest
man. By his hard labor he had accumulated a good
property. Our subject was educated in the pottery bus-
iness under his father, and has followed the business
ever since he was able to work. He is making good
work, and has been very successful in the business. He
has one kiln which has a large capacity, making a speci-
alty in the manufacture of flower pots for the nursery
trade.
Mueller & Froelking, proprietors of the Main Street
brewery, which may be mentioned among the successful
breweries of Cincinnati and one of the oldest in the city.
Michael Mueller, the senior member of the firm, was
born in Germany, where he learned his trade as a brewer.
In 1856 he came to Cincinnati and entered the employ
of the breweries here, and worked in the leading brew-
eries of the city, being foreman of the Jackson brewery
for a number of years. Learning the full history of the
brewery business (being a very successful foreman) he en-
tered business for himself, and since than, we may safely
say, he has done exceedingly well, placing the Main
Street brewery beer among the best manufactured in the
city. They employ twenty-five hands, with a capacity of
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
533
Ohio. He is a member of the eminent law firm of
Yaple, Moss & Pattison, and served as a member of the
Ohio legislature to the credit of himself and his constit-
uents. He was the attorney of the committee of safety,
an organization composed of the leading business men
and capitalists of our city, and has been identified with
all the important reforms in our municipal government
that have been attempted during the last several years.
The name of Law has long been prominent in the
insurance business in Cincinnati. Dr. John S. Law was
appointed Cincinnati agent for the Royal Insurance
company of London and Liverpool, England, in 1852,
and he and his son have held this post ever since. Dr
Law was the first representative of this company in the
west, and one of the three agents first appointed in the
United States. His son, Mr. John H. Law, began in
the business of insurance in 1852, in the office of his
father. Here he remained until 1857, when he entered
business on his own account, as agent for the Howard,
Mercantile, and Commonwealth of New York. This
agency continued until 187 1, when Mr. Law formed a
partnership with his father under the name of Law &
Son, which lasted until the death of Dr. Law in 1877.
Since then Mr. Law has conducted the business alone.
In 1868 he was appointed the first agent of the Imperial
of London. He is now general agent or manager for
the Royal, of England, for the States of Ohio, Indiana,
and West Virginia, and for the London and Lancashire
for the same territory; and for the United Fireman's,
and Fire Association, of Philadelphia, and British Amer-
ica, of Toronto, Canada, for the States of Ohio and
Indiana. In this field for these companies Mr. Law has
six hundred agents, whose premiums amount annually to
four hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Law represents a
greater number of companies as general agent than any
other underwriter in the west. Under his guidance the
companies he represents are securing a constantly in-
creasing business, and his general agency ranks among
the leading offices of Cincinnati.
Isaac H. Turrell, principal of the Fourth district
school, was born in Franklin county, Indiana, December
J7i ^iJi anc* received his early education in a country
district school. He was fortunate, however, at this time
in having for his school-master William Cumback, then
a rising young pedagogue, but afterwards member of
Congress and lieutenant-governer of the State. Mr.
Turrell subsequently attended Springfield academy, at
Mount Carmel, Indiana, where he began the study of
Latin and Greek under the supervision of George A.
Chase, now principal of Louisville female seminary.
M. Louisa Chitwood was at that time a student in the
academy; she was a very attractive girl of about sixteen
years, and always had an original poem to read on Fri-
day afternoons — or composing day. She afterwards
contributed to the leading literary magizines of the day.
George D. Prentice, then editor of the Louis vi\\e Journal,
esteemed her very highly, visited her at her home in
Mount Carmel, and after her death, at the age of twenty-
two, edited a volume of her poems. While at the acad-
emy Mr. Turrell devoted his leisure moments to litera-
ture and the study of languages, but about the year 1859
he decame interested in mathematics, chiefly through
the mathematical department of the Indiana School
Journal, then conducted by W. D. Henkle. In the
year 1862, after having prepared himself for the junior
class in a university, he enlisted in the Eighty-fourth
Indiana volunteer infantry, then just organizing, and re-
mained in active service until the close of the war. In
the spring of 1866 he was mustered out, "his services
being no longer required." He has been a contributor
to several mathematical publications, which are devoted
to the higher branches of science.
ERRATA.
Page 9 — Second column, twentieth line, for "places," read "planes."
Page 10 — Sixth line, for the second " in, " read "is"; second column,
twenty-fourth line from the bottom, for "district," read "distinct."
Page 12 — Second column, seventh line from the bottom, for "1848,"
read "1847."
Page 15 — Thirty-second line, for "Fourth," read "Twelfth"; second
column, twenty-ninth line, for "1794," read "1793.'
Page 16 — First column, fifth line from the bottom, for "Indian,"
read "English."
Page 17 — Sixteenth line, for "Mound," read "Main."
Page 21 — Second column, eleventh line from the bottom, for "Wil-
liam," read "Cyrus."
Page 35 — Eighteenth line, for " Lutner," read "Luther."
Page 37 — Second column, thirtieth line from the bottom, for
"route," read "fort"; eleventh line, for "September," read "August";
eleventh line, for "Western,'' read "Eastern."
Page 45 — Second column, twenty-third line from the bottom, for
"Williamson," read "Wilkinson."
Page 47 — Seventeenth line, for "1764," read "1794."
Page 49 — Second column, twenty-fifth line from the bottom, for
"William," read "James."
Page 60 — Second column, twenty-eighth line from the top, for
"movements," read "moments."
Page 80 — First column, twenty-sixth line from the bottom, for ' ' ex-
perience," read "expectation."
Page 86 — Third line, for " Corrington, " read "Covington."
Page 90 — Tenth line, for "1849," read "1839;" thirty-second line,
for "twenty-nine," read "twenty-six."
Page 97 — Second column, as the seventeenth line, insert "Eighteen
hundred and forty-eight."
Page 108 — Eighteenth line , after ' ' Weitzel, " remove the asterisk.
Page 109 — Thirteenth line, between " though" and "always," read
"not;" thirty-fourth line, for "first," read "fruit."
Page 125 — First column, tenth line from the bottom, after "fifty,"
insert "thousand."
Page 142 — Seventeenth line, for "Hetch," read "Hecht."
Page 154 — First column, ninth line from the bottom, for " Carter,"
read "Collins."
Page 163 — Second column, twenty-seventh line from the bottom, for
"contest," read "contrast."
Page 201 — Second column, tenth line from the bottom, for "coun-
try," read "county."
Page 205 — Second column, twenty-eighth line, before "1880," read
"directors."
Page 222 — Second column, seventeenth line, for "we," read "is."
Page 243 — First column, seventh line from the bottom, for "west,"
read "east."
Page 253— Second column, eleventh line, omit ' ' four hundred and."
Page 255— Second column, nineteenth line, for "Whitney," read
"Whiting."
Page 257 — Second column, twenty-ninth line, for "by," read "be."
Page 290 — Second column, sixth line from the bottom, for "1815,"
read "1816."
Page 294 — Second column, nineteenth line, enclose "New Jersey"
in brackets.
Page 312 — Thirtieth line, for "found," read "fond."
Page 317 — Thirtieth line, for "Hamilton," read "Hammond."
Page 329 — First column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for "1849,"
read "1840."
53°
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO
commenced on Abigail street, thence to Vine street,
thence to Main, when he returned to Vine street, and has
remained here ever since. Mr. Licht was married in
Germany, where he lost his first wife; he was remarried
in Cincinnati, to Louisa Beierly, of Germany. He has
two children by his first wife and one by his present wife.
Henry Hasebrock, merchant tailor, was born in the
kingdom of Hanover, Germany, December 14, 1824.
He came to the United States, landing in Baltimore July
5, 1848, and thence came to Cincinnati, arriving here
July 28, 1848. He came here in meagre circumstances,
and went to work at his trade, which he had learned in
Germany. Mr. Hasebrock has continued at this trade
ever since, and with industry and good management has
accumulated a good property. He married, in 1848,
Miss Christina Lendermann. She died, and in 1850 he
married his present wife, nee Miss Johanna Beckenbush,
a native of Holland. Mr. Hasebrock started in business
for himself in 1865, and has been located at his present
stand since 1874. He made a visit to his old home in
Germany in 1874, where he found but few of his old as-
sociates. Mr. Hasebrock is a well known business man
of Cincinnati, being universally esteemed for his integrity
and honesty.
J. C. Wiechelmann, saloonist, was born in the duchy
of Oldenburg, Germany, in February, 181 7. He sailed
for America in T834 and landed in Baltimore. He, with
a party of sixteen others, journeyed on foot as far as
Wheeling, and there took a steamer for Cincinnati, arri-
ving at his destination in June, 1834. He went to work
on the canal, at twelve dollars per month and board .
then worked on a canal in Alabama ; returned to Cin-
cinnati and worked in a brick-yard; thence went to
Lexington, Kentucky, working on a turnpike; then worked
in a hotel on Main street, Cincinnati; took a trip to
Natchez, Mississippi, working on the Jackson railroad-
and finally returned to Cincinnati, and was engaged as a
private coachman, which occupation he followed for five
years. In 1845 by hard work and good management he
had saved a little money, and decided to invest it in the
saloon business. He opened a saloon at No. 99, Court
street, thence moved to the corner of Central avenue and
Liberty street, living there three years, and in 1850 oc-
cupied his present stand, where he has continued ever
since, and is one of the oldest saloonists on the street.
He keeps a respectable and orderly place. He is a
member of the German Pioneer association. He mar-
ried, in Cincinnati, Miss Mary Brocker, a native of Ger-
many. She came here in 1840, and died in 1851. Mr.
Wiechelmann married for his second wife Catharine
Wiegers, a German. He is the father of five children,
two by his first wife, and three by his second.
Peter Dater was born in Bavaria, December 25, 1819.
He came to the United States, landing in Philadelphia,
in 1829, thence he came to Ohio, locating in Brown
county, where he remained a short time, and then came
to Cincinnati, arriving here in 1829. Shortly after com-
ing here he entered the grocery business in company
with his brother, in which occupation he continued for
about four years, when he entered the produce business,
shipping his goods to a southern market. Mr. Dater
was a soldier in the late war, having served in the one
hundred days' service, and was honorably discharged.
He married, in Cincinnati, Miss Catharine Hasch. His
wife having died, he married his present wife, nee Miss
Barbara Schwab.
William Riedlin, is a native of Germany. He moved
to Cincinnati in 1870, where he engaged at his trade,
blacksmithing, which he followed for several years. In
1877 he started the Tivoli, which has been conducted
very successfully under his management. He gives a
free concert every Sunday afternoon and evening, always
furnishing good music. He has at present engaged the
Great Western band, which is recognized as one of the
best bands in the United States. The main hall is forty-
eight by eighty feet. The garden is well patronized by
the public, and is a quiet, respectable resort. The Tri-
voli is rented for balls, and some of the leading societies
and clubs of Cincinnati hold their balls there.
Francis Threm, manufacturer of wooden faucets, mal-
lets, ten-pins, balls, etc., No. 598 Walnut street, was
born in Prussia in 1822, where he learned his trade as a
wood-turner. In 1844 he came to America, landed in
New York city, and came direct to Cincinnati, where he
worked at his trade until 1846 when he began his pres-
ent business, and has been located at the same stand
during the last twenty years. Mr. Threm married in
Cincinnati, Isebella Dinis, a native of Germany, and by
her has six children. Mr. Threm has in his employment
at the present time from ten to twelve hands. His work
is of the very best quality and always gives satisfaction.
Mr. George Emig was born in Bavaria, Germany, De-
cember 14, 1846. Came to America with his parents,
brothers, and sister in 1852, landing in New Orleans
March 14th. Six weeks after the family arrived in that
city the father died with yellow fever. After a stay of
two years in New Orleans the family came to Cincinnati,
Ohio. Here the subject of this sketch attended public
school until he was ten years old, when necessity com-
pelled him to work. His first engagement was with
Waters & Barrett, washboard factory. During the win-
ter he attended night school, where he received most of
his education. His next work was with James L.
Haven & Co., iron foundry and machine shop, Liberty
street, east of Broadway. Here he remained until his
employers burned out, when he worked at boot and shoe
tap fitting until Haven & Co. started their new place on
Second street, between Elm and Plum. He remained
with Haven & Co. until 1863, when, his apprenticeship
being completed, he engaged with the Cincinnati type
foundry. From there he went to work for Day & Lee,
machine shop, corner Walnut street and McMicken ave-
nue. April, 1865, he engaged with Hollingshade &
Morire, bolt and nut works, Second street, between Elm
and Plum; afterwards changed to Thomas Phillips, and
succeeded by L. M. Dayton. In 1870 Mr. Emig was
promoted by Mr. Dayton to superintendent, which posi-
tion he still holds. During Mr. Emig's early life as a
machinist he attended the Ohio Mechanics' Institute
School of Design, where he learned mechanical drawing.
532
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
erected the handsome edifice standing on the corner of
Seventh and Sycamore streets.
Of its later history we need say nothing. "Old St.
Xavier" is a name that is to-day in many mouths, and
that awakens pleasant recollections in many hearts. It
has educated hundreds in the city which it adorns. Its
graduates are to be found in honored places on the bench
and at the bar. The medical profession counts many of
them among its members, some well known to fame, and
others fast rising into prominence. To ministers of the
religion it professes it has given birth by scores. But we
can give no more practical illustration of its work as an
educational institute, than by presenting to the public its
course of studies. We do this for the classical course only,
observing that the commercial course, designed to qualify
young men for the various branches of business life, is con-
ducted on the same general plan as far as this is consist-
ent with the different studies pursued therein.
The following notices, if received in time, would have
been included in the chapter on banking and insurance :
Cincinnati Equitable Fire Insurance company, No. 169
Race street. This company was chartered in 1829 — the
first in Cincinnati. The plan is mutual and equitable, as
well as virtually perpetual. Risks are taken on brick or
stone buildings in Hamilton county for a period of seven
years, at about the same rate of premium as the other
companies, and at the expiration of the term the policy
will be renewed, if desired, for seven years, and for as
many periods of seven years as the holder may wish ; or
if the depositor wishes to cancel his policy at the termin-
ation of any period of seven years, the whole deposit, or
premium, will be returned. The present deposits, which
are held subject to the order of the depositors, amount
to one hundred and ninety thousand dollars, the interest
on which, by judicious investment and careful discrimin-
ation in taking risks, has accumulated a surplus of over
one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, which, with the
aid of our efficient fire department, will render it im-
probable that any assessment will be made to pay losses
— one small one, only, having been made in the last
thirty years. It cannot be denied that it is as safe, and
certainly the most economical mode of insurance on first
class risks in the world. It simply costs the insured the
use of the deposit, and, in case of loss, there is no de-
duction in the amount of deposit or insurance. Every
member of the first board of directors of this company
has passed away long since, but there are a very few of
the members who have served over forty years. The in-
corporators were : Ezekiel Hall, John Jolly, John Wood,
Joseph T. Hodgson, Henry Miller, Henry Gassaway,
William Burke, John Duval, Stephen Burrows, Benjamin
Mason, William Barr, and Oliver M. Spencer, and they
formed the first board of directors. The names of the
present board of directors are: R. R. Springer, S. S.
Smith (the two oldest members in the board), George
Crawford, William H. Harrison, Charles Andress, James
Gilmore, M. B. Hagans, William Woods, William H. Al-
len, Jacob Seasongood, George Wilshire, and John Car-
lisle. S. S. Smith, president; T. S. Goodman, secretary
and treasurer; Charles H. Baldwin, assistant secretary
and surveyor. This was the first local company formed
in Cincinnati — and the only one on a similar plan.
Amazon Insurance company, of Cincinnati, has the
largest amount of assets of any fire insurance company
organized in Ohio. Its cash capital is three hundred
thousand dollars, and total assets six hundred and five
thousand three hundred and seventeen dollars. The
stockholders, although the capital is full paid, are, under
the laws of Ohio, individually liable for an additional
equal to their stock. Since its organization in 187 1,
the Amazon has paid losses amounting to two million,
eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The jcom-
pany's office building is at No. 260 Vine street. The
president is Gazzam Gano, and the secretary is J. H.
Beatie.
The Union Central life insurance company, which is
domiciled in its own elegant building at the corner of
Fourth and Central avenue, was organized in 1867, and
having outlived and absorbed all other Cincinnati life in-
surance companies, is now the sole representative of Cin-
cinnati enterprise and capital in that line. And it is one
to be proud of, its history being a continuous record of
the triumphs of correct insurance principles, judicious
enterprise, faithful management, and growing patronage.
Through these the Union Central has been brought to the
highest point of excellence as regards strength, soundness,
promptness, reliability and popularity, all desirable ele-
ments in an institution of its class, and possessed by it
in a degree that gives it rank among the first life insurance
companies of the country. The special features of ex-
cellence in the system adopted by the company confirm
it in this position. The company since its organization
has paid out in death losses and matured endowments
about one million dollars.
John Cochnower, president; John M. Pattison, vice-
president; E. P. Marshall, secretary; Jesse R. Clark,
cashier; John Davis, M. D., and William B. Davis, M.
D., medical directors; Matthews, Ramsey & Matthews,
counsel; John Cochnower, John Davis, M. D., William
B. Davis, M. D„ J. W. Weakly, D. D„ William Glenn,
of William Glenn & Son, wholesale grocers, N. W. Har-
ris, late secretary Union Central Life Insurance company,
William M. Ramsey, of Matthews, Ramsey & Matthews,
J. M. Pattison, of Yaple, Moos & Pattison, attorneys,
Jesse R. Clark, M. Cassat, M. D„ R. S. Rust, D. D.,
corresponding secretary Freedmen's Aid society, Cincin-
nati, Ohio, Hon. Peter Murphy, banker, Hamilton, Ohio,
W. G. Williams, M. D., Delaware, Ohio, directors.
Mr. Cochnower was the first president of the Union
Central Life Insurance company, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
and has occupied that position during the existence of
the company, except two years, when Mr. John M. Phil-
lips was president. He has lived in Cincinnati since his
eighth year, now more than a half century past, and has
been one of our most enterprising and successful business
men, noted for his integrity, energy and perseverance,
and for his warm and liberal interests in charitable, relig-
ious and public affairs.
Hon. John M. Pattison is the vice-president of the
Union Central Life Insurance company, of Cincinnati,
534
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Page 333— Second column, fourth line from the bottom, for "That
year," read "The year 1873."
Page 346 — First column, seventh line from the bottom, for "Na-
tional," read "Natural."
Page 350 — Thirty-first line. The general statement in the books is
as here given. Drake and Mansfield, however, in their Cincinnati in
1826, say the first steamer built at the city was the Vesta, in the year
1816.
Page 362 — Seventeenth line, for " fire," read "fine;" first column,
tenth line from the bottom, for "Kiljour, " read "Kilgour;" second
column, twenty-second line, for "piroque," read "pirogue."
Page 363 — First column, twenty-ninth line from the bottom, for
"games," read "game."
Page 364 — Fifth line, for " Odin," read "Ohio."
Page 366 — Second column, seventh line from the bottom, for "there,''
read "these."
Page 368 — Twelfth line, for "Niswell," read "Wiswell;" second col-
umn, third line, for "Sniton," read "Sinton."
Page 371 — Thirty-first line, read "feet," after "twenty-four;" second
column, twenty-ninth line, for "printed," read "re-printed."
Page 373 — Twenty-first linefor " Latton's," read ".Letton's;" second
column, third line, for "1836," read "1834."
Page 374 — Second column, twenty -first line, for "Trivoli," read
"Tivoli."
Page 375 — Fifth line, for "Heuicks, " read "Heuck's."
Page 377 — Eleventh line, for " Coleman," read " Colera in;" second
column, tenth line, for "Their," read "there;" eleventh line from the
bottom, for "place," read "price."
Page 378 — First column, tenth line from the bottom, for "Farnshaw,"
lead "Earnshaw;" second column, twenty-eighth line, for " Ewens,'
read "Evans."
Page 379 — First column, twenty-seventh line from the bottom, for
"Miller," read "Miiller;" twenty-sixth line, for "Rudolph," read
"Randolph;" last line, for "Rieley," read "Reily."
Page 380 — Twenty-first line, for " Nimrur," read " Nimmo;" second
column, eleventh line, for "Davis," read "Davies;" eighteenth line
(also page 382, fifth line), for "Johnson," read "Johnston;" nineteenth
line, add "William Means, 1881;" twenty-ninth line, for "Station,''
read " Stratton."
Page 381 — Fifth line, for "Brudsall," read "Burdsall;" twenty-eighth
line, for " Laffin, " read " Saffin ;" second column, twenty-second line,
for "Gaple," read "Yaple."
Page 382 — First column, twentieth line from the bottom, for "un-
due," read "unpaid;" second column, twelfth line, for " rapidly, " read
"ardently."
Page 383 — Second line, after "necessary," insert "means;" second
column, twenty-sixth line, for "eight," read "eighteen;" thirty-fifth
line, for "next," read "forty-fourth."
Page 384 — Thirteenth line, for " the," read "two."
J age 388 — Second column, first line, for "cause," read "cost."
Page 389— Twenty-third line, for "find," read "fluid;" tenth line
from the bottom, for "no," read "on."
Page 390 — Thirtieth line, for "neat," read "new."
Page 394 — Fifteenth line, for "4866, '"read "1866."
Page 396 — First column, fifth line from the bottom, for " character, '
read "charter;" second column, twenty-eighth line from the bottom, for
"changed," read "charged."
Page 397 — First column, eleventh line from the bottom, after "1826,'
read "the health of;" second column, fourth line, for "2.23," read
"2,230;" tenth line, for "22,867," read "2,867."
Page 398 — Second column, eighth line, for "chance, " read "channel. "
Page 399 — Second column, twentieth line from the bottom, after
"five," read "hundred;" nineteenth line, for "1859, " read "1869;" sec-
ond line, for "Bulloch," read "Bullock."
Page 400 — Twenty-fourth line, for " Convent," read "Covent;" sec-
ond column, thirtieth line from the bottom, for "crowed," read
"crowded."
Page 402 — Second column, second line from the bottom, for "Har-
meyer" read "Havemeyer."
Page 403 — Second column, seventeenth line, for "1887," read
"1877;" twenty-second and twenty-fifth lines from the bottom, for
" tracts," read "tracks."
Page 404 — Seventeenth line, for "Sedain," read "Sedam."
Page 406— Twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth lines, before
each sum read "$."
Page 407— Tenth line, for "thirty-eighty," read "thirty-eight;" sec-
ond column, eleventh line from the bottom, for "note," read "vote;"
sixth line, for "probable," read "probably."
Page 408— Second column, fifth line from the bottom, for " writer,"
read "village."
Page 409— Second column, sixth line, for "Hischmann," read
"Fleischmann."
Page 410— Second column, nineteenth line, for "appear," read "ap-
peal."
Page 41 1 — Second column , eleventh line, for ' 'Biegler, " read ' 'Ziegler. "
Page 412 — First line, after "which," read "was."
Page 413 — First column, sixth line from the bottom, for "Mr." read
"Mrs."; second column, twenty-sixth line, for "mission," read " Mis-
souri."
Page 414 — Second column, nineteenth line, for ' ' Dearbon, " read
"Dearborn; seventh line from the bottom, for "stone," read "store."
Page 415 — Second column, fifth line from the bottom, for "did,"
read "do."
Page 438— In Dr. James H. Buckner's biography, in fourth line, for
"Missippi," read "Maryland;" in eighteenth line, for "Harry," read
"Henry;" inl twentieth line, for "1827," read "1828;" in third para-
graph, twelfth line, for "Otto," read "sixth.1
In Cyrus D. Fishburn's biography, page 440, in third paragraph,
fifth line, for "had removed," read "removed;" same paragraph,
twenty-fifth line, for "were," read "proved."
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